Healing through Baptism
into the Lord Jesus Christ
Paul Wong
Many Christians regard water baptism as no more than a ritual or a formality. They also consider it as only an outward expression of an inward grace; that it serves only as a witness to God, the angels, the devil, the world and those who gather for the "ceremony" that the person who is baptized has officially become a Christian. In truth water baptism is much more than that.
On the Day of Pentecost many Jews who came to
After his
We all know that water has no power to wash away sins, so where does the power come from? That is a good question! To get the answer we have to go to the cross of
"But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe." (Jn. 19:34-35)
The reason the apostle John recorded this phenomenon is because it is a significant miracle that combines the two important events in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The blood points to His crucifixion and the water points to His baptism. The apostle Paul wrote about the inter-relationship of the Lord's death, water baptism and the remission of sin.
"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin." (
Water baptism is more than a religious ceremony or just a witness that the person has become a Christian. It is to be crucified with Jesus Christ. It is the Christian’s death, burial and resurrection with the Savior Jesus Christ. Baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ has the efficacy of remitting sin. The apostle John wrote: “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” (Rev. 1:5). He had witnessed the miracle of the blood and the water at the crucifixion, and wrote:
“This is He who came by water and blood – Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” (1 Jn. 5:6).
At the cross Jesus shed His blood that came out from His side with the water. We are baptized “not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.” “God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?” (Heb. 2:4) “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.” (Mk. 16:20) There are innumerable testimonies from eye-witness accounts concerning visions of the blood in the water during the baptism. Visions that occur in various countries all over the world serve to confirm the word that is preached to be the truth.
Biblical Truth about Miracles
during the Baptism
There are two great miracles in the Old Testament time that prefigure water baptism. The first one is the salvation of Noah’s family in the ark during the Great Flood. . . . “when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us, namely baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pet. 3:20-21). The second great miracle is the crossing of the Red Sea by the children of
The healing of Naaman's leprosy, accomplished by washing himself seven times in the Jordan River according to Elisha's command, represented baptism for the remission of sins. Some friends brought a paralytic man to Jesus by lowering his bed from the housetop. “So when He saw their faith, He said to him, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.” (Lk. 5:18-20). The scribes and Pharisees questioned Jesus’ authority on forgiving sins. Of course Jesus can forgive sins because He is God manifested in the flesh. The important point in this incident is that healing takes place when sins are forgiven. Sins in a person are invisible and intangible but they are real. When Jesus pronounced the sins of a person are forgiven and he is healed, it is a powerful testimony and demonstration of this truth. In this light when a sick person is healed during the baptism it is the physical evidence that his sins have truly been remitted.
Biblical Truth on Infant Baptism
The Holy Bible clearly teaches death is due to sin. “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23). “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned – (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.) Nevertheless death reigned form Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” (
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.” (Psm. 51:5)
“The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.” (Psm. 58:3)
“Surely you did not hear, surely you did not know; surely from long ago your ear was not opened. For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb.” (Isa. 48:8)
It is an undeniable truth that all infants have the original sin because they die like everyone else. Some object to infant baptism because the little ones cannot believe or repent of their sins. In things that infants cannot think for themselves responsible parents will make decisions for them. Since baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ is for salvation, remission of sins, and regeneration parents can and should make decisions for their infants. God commanded the Israelites to circumcise their male infants and not wait for them to grow up and decide for themselves whether or not to be circumcised. All faithful and believing Israelite parents circumcise their male infants on the eighth day after birth. In the New Testament baptism into the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins have replaced circumcision (Col. 2:11-13). Infant baptism is biblically correct.
Regarding repentance of sins we can only repent of the sins that we have personally committed. Infants have not consciously committed personal sins therefore have no need of repentance. Moreover, no one can repent of the sins that are inherited from Adam’s transgressions. Infants do have the original sin that needs removal. God’s solution to this problem is the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sin through baptism into Him.
The apostle Peter’s statement: “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38) is given to adults who have personal sins therefore they need repentance. The power of remission of sins is not vested in repentance but in the name of the Jesus Christ and also in His Blood. “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:39) The promise of having remission of sins through baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is given to adults as well as children. “For the promise is to you and to your children” has no condition of race, gender or age. Israelites circumcise their male infants when they are eight days old (Lk. 2:21; Phil. 3:5). Baptism is called the “circumcision of Christ.” (Col. 2:11-12) The children of
Testimonies of Miracles
during the Baptism
The Lord Jesus Christ healed me during the Baptism
I am truly thankful to our Lord Jesus Christ for having five generations of Christians in our family. My maternal grandmother was the first person to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. My parents raised us (three boys and five girls) as a Christian family. My two sons, daughter-in-law, two grandsons and two granddaughters are also Christians. There is much blessings in having a large Christian family.
When I was one year old there was an epidemic of diphtheria in
Praise and thank our Lord Jesus Christ who completely healed my sickness during my baptism. My mother, who saw the miracle of healing in my life, and several relatives and friends believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were also baptized into Him.
A paralytic man was healed during the Baptism
My father, Zacchaeus Wong, a faithful minister of the Lord Jesus Christ, often quoted the words of Jesus: “Freely you have received, freely give.” (Mt. 10:8) I drove him around in his pastoral and evangelistic visitations and he was my mentor. His self-supporting ministry and fervency in working for the Lord Jesus Christ had been an inspiration to me.
There was an old paralytic man who was bedridden in an “Old Folks Home” (we call it convalescence home in the
Father and son healed during Baptism
Two sisters were very fervent believers in the Lord Jesus Christ because they had experienced God’s love and protection in their family. A huge tree limb had collapsed during a heavy thunderstorm and had narrowly missed their house. Their neighbors had heavy damages from the fallen trees. The elder sister was married to a professional soldier who held the rank of a corporal in the Malaysian army. They had a one-year old baby boy who they loved very much. Corporal Chen was an unbeliever who often made fun and rude remarks about his wife’s and sister-in-law’s prayer in the Spirit and speaking in tongues. The two sisters have asked our congregation in
One day my father received a phone call from one of the sisters to go immediately to their home to pray for Corporal Chen and the baby. Corporal Chen himself had personally requested us to pray for him, something the two sisters had been praying for a long time. He had an acute stomach-ache and a very high fever. The baby also had a very high fever and there were boils all over his head. It is ironical that Corporal Chen would request our ministers to go and pray for him and the baby.
I drove my father to their home. Other church members also came. We entered the bedroom and saw Corporal Chen lying on the bed groaning with pain. We also felt the baby’s forehead. It was burning hot with fever. He had boils all over his head. We taught Corporal Chen to repent of his sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and praise Him by saying “HalleluYah.” He did everything that we told him to do and not too long afterwards his stomach-ache had lessened. My father and I took the opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to him. He was very receptive to the gospel. We preached salvation is in Jesus alone, the atonement, the new birth of water and the Spirit, repentance, etc. Corporal Chen said he believed in the Gospel and wanted to be baptized. He and his wife also wanted their baby to be baptized.
The next morning was a Saturday and I assisted my father to baptize Corporal Chen and the baby. After coming out of the water Corporal Chen was completely healed. There was not even a little bit of pain in his stomach and his fever was also gone. The baby’s fever was also gone. The whole family came to attend our Sabbath morning service. Corporal Chen received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues. He was very joyful. On Saturday evening we held a special worship service and Corporal Chen sang spiritual songs. HalleluYah!
God opened the Door of Utterance
through Signs and Wonders
Not too long after Corporal Chen’s conversion to Christianity he was promoted to the rank of a sergeant. He was transferred to an army camp in Taiping which is about fifty miles north of
“And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4:31)
Mrs. Ku was like a priestess of the heathen temple situated next to the Chen family home. She cleaned, prepared and arranged all the idols on the altars and shelves in the temple. One morning she found all the idols on the floor. She could not understand how they were thrown all over the floor. She arranged them back on the altars and shelves. The following morning the same thing happened. The idols were on the floor again. She was puzzled and tried to find out the mystery of the fallen idols. She stayed up all-night and slept near the idols. At about seven o’clock in the morning there was slight tremor like an earthquake. The altars and shelves would rattle and shake and the idols would fall down on the floor of the temple. Mrs. Ku cleaned the idols and placed them back on the altars and shelves. The following morning at about seven o’clock the same thing happened. The earthquake would cause the altars and shelves to shake and the idols would fall to the ground. Mrs. Ku was frightened that this thing happened daily at seven in the morning. What could be the cause? She remembered that all these things happened only after the Chen family had moved next door to the temple. Could the neighbor have something to do with it? The following morning as the earth was quaking she went out of the temple and walked over to the Chen family home. She peeked inside the Chen family home from the corner of their window. She saw the Chen family, three of them, kneeling down on the floor and praying loudly in an unknown language. Could her neighbor be the cause of the seven o’clock earthquake? Impossible! She returned to the temple to clean and place the idols back on the altars and shelves. The following morning the earth shook again at about seven o’clock. She quickly ran to look inside her neighbor’s window again. She again saw Sergeant Chen, his wife and sister-in-law kneeling down and praying out loud in the unknown tongues. This time Mrs. Ku waited for them to finish their prayer. She knocked on the door of the Chen family home and wanted to know more about their faith. The Chen family lost no time to talk about the Lord Jesus Christ and His Gospel of salvation. Mrs. Ku told us that she wanted to abandon her false religion and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord, HalleluYah. The good part of this testimony is that God had given Sergeant Chen the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues which he had despised before his conversion, and also used his family to preach the gospel to heathens through signs and wonders.
The Hindhu neighbor also related his experience with the seven o’clock earthquake. He said he was so frightened that when the earth shook for the first time he literally jumped out of the window and ran to the Hindhu temple. This man did not investigate the cause of the earthquake and he missed the opportunity to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Cancer of the Spine healed during Baptism
Our family migrated from
On Saturday very early in the morning I drove to the Harris home and carried Mrs. Harris to my car. We drove to the beach in
We drove Sister Harris back to our home for the Sabbath morning service, Washing of Feet and Holy Communion. Our house was situated on a hill slope. We parked the car on the roadside and walked up twenty two (22) steps before reaching the entrance door. Sister Harris walked up the stairway with my wife and I holding her hands. During our Sabbath Service Sister Harris gave a testimony that God had healed her.
On Monday, two days after her baptism, her husband brought her to the hospital for her usual check-up. On Wednesday, two days later, she called me in the afternoon. She sounded very excited. She said her doctor had asked her to go back to the hospital for a medical assessment meeting. When she entered the doctor’s office she was told to sit down. The doctor wanted to ask her some questions. The doctor took out two x-ray photographs and placed them side by side. Pointing to the first photograph he said the x-ray was taken about ten days ago. It showed clearly that Sister Harris was still having the cancer of the spine. The doctor then pointed to the second x-ray photograph that was taken on Monday, which was only two days ago. He said that in the second x-ray photograph there was no trace of the cancer in the spine. He looked straight at Sister Harris and said, “I’m your doctor and I know that I did not heal you. This second x-ray photograph shows that you have been healed completely. I don’t understand. Did you go and see another doctor?” Sister Harris smiled and said, “Yes, I saw another doctor and He is the Greatest Physician in the world. His name is Jesus.”
Heart Disease healed during Baptism
After I got the job as Planner for a
Mr. Sha had been attending the Sabbath Services in our home for about six months. He said that he had only been baptized with sprinkling in
It was a sunny Saturday morning on October 14, 1978 when we drove to the
One week later Brother Sha testified that the Lord Jesus Christ had healed his heart disease. He no longer has pain in his chest anymore. He has also received the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues during one of our Sabbath Services. His wife also started coming to our Sabbath Services and she was also baptized in the
Teenage girl’s ear infection and
severe cold healed during Baptism
After attending a Bible conference in Sao Paolo,
I said to the folks who were present the only possible way for Helen Lo to receive baptism is for us to go out immediately (it was nearly midnight) to buy pure wheat flour and fresh grapes for the Holy Communion and also to get up at 4:00 a.m. in the morning to find a suitable place for baptism. They all agreed to do that. We hardly had three hours sleep. By the time we reached
We rushed back to Sister Lowen’s home and I administered Washing of Feet and Holy Communion. I did not have time for breakfast because we had to rush to the
Blind eye restored during Baptism
After attending the Apostolic Faith Christian Fellowship World Convention in
We went to the
We went back to the hotel for Washing of Feet and Holy Communion. Brother Robert Chrite testified how he came to the meeting. Robert is a steel welder. He was working at the top of a four-story building when he obeyed the voice of God telling him to attend the service at the hotel where I was preaching. That was how he came with his family to our meeting.
Robert was involved in an automobile accident three years earlier, and he lost the sight of his right eye. He testified that when he was immersed in the water he felt the palm of a hand that was much larger than mine touched his back. He thought it was the hand of Jesus Christ. As soon as he came up out of the water he saw a very bright light that he described as brighter than the sun, so he had to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again he could see the sky, water and everything around him. It did not take too long for him to discover that his right eye had been restored to normalcy. He said that he could then see everything even much clearer than anything he had ever seen before. Praise the Lord, HalleluYah!
Our Lord Jesus Christ once saw a man who was blind from birth. “And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.” (Jn. 9:7)
May God bless you
This Web Page is presented by Paul Wong to the
and dedicated to all cancer survivors who believe in God's healing power.
This article is published on this Website on July 15, 2009
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