Back To Home Page To Archives - Spring of Life - H. Roger Bothwell Visited by Two Missionaries I had a very disturbing experience last evening. Two nice looking young men appeared at my door calling themselves “Elder.” They wanted to share their faith. I invited them in. I wanted to hear their testimony. They started off sounding very Christian but soon they progressed to their extra revelation; one idea of which totally devalues every other person’s baptism. After we pressed them to know how accepting their message would change our lives they finally told us we would have to be rebaptized by a member of their church if we are to be saved. My first baptism into Jesus was not authorized by them therefore it was not valid. I asked them if this was not a work prescribed to be saved. They said, “yes, it was.” I then asked if they did not believe in righteousness by faith but instead believed in righteousness by works to which they both said, “Righteousness by works.” My heart broke. The Bible is so plain, so clear on this matter. Paul tells us in Eph. 2 that salvation is a gift and not of works. They tried then to tell me that it was a gift after we had done certain works and they could not see that if that was so it was no longer a gift but a payment. Alas it was the same story of the those who followed Paul about trying to circumcise Christians. These people have substituted their “authorized baptism” for circumcision and have fallen into the old old trap Satan devised to take away the glory of the cross of our Jesus. Folks - we are saved by Jesus. It is a gift. It is that plain. It is that simple. It is the gospel. Anything else is (I’ll let you fill in the missing word.) I'm Roger Bothwell and my address is hrb1@tiac.net or 151 Old Farm Rd. Leominster, MA 01453. Thank you for your support of our faith ministry. Past devotionals can be accessed at Archives