Amy Valentini, Romance Author and Romancing Editorially Editor

The Holy Spirit revealed to me the proper way to pray, the Apostasy, and why Baptism is imperative for our salvation. If you are Christian or close to choosing to be, please read this! God Bless you!

July 2025

Greetings to all my fellow Christian believers, as well as those who have not yet opened their hearts and minds to God, our Heavenly Father and Creator—I have a very important and urgent message from the Holy Spirit for everyone!

No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.  2 Thessalonians 2:3-4*

The Apostle Paul wrote this in his letter to the Thessalonians about the coming tribulation before Jesus’s return. This warning about the apostasy to which he was referring was for their salvation, and ours. This apostasy is not a rebellion from outside the church, but rather a departure from within—those who have or will renounce their Christian beliefs. However, there is another group of Christians who are falling away but do not know it—believers who are not giving proper reverence in prayer and who are rejecting baptism.

And at that time many will fall away, and they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will rise up and mislead many people. And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will become cold.  Matthew 24:10-12 

But what Matthew states here is only a consequence of what the real falling away is, and as Christians, we can prevent many from falling victim if we spread this urgent message from the Holy Spirit. For those who do not know what the apostasy is, the definition is the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief. Many will fall away because they choose to; even after being saved, but more distressing is that many who believe they are saved actually are not. Without accepting the Holy Spirit, these Christians were never saved and will suffer the consequences of this unforgivable sin. When religious teachers began dismissing the importance of baptism, the apostasy began. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we are in the Falling Away right now!

I have been walking with the Lord for the greater part of my life. I have always put my full trust in my Heavenly Father and done my best to obey what He asks of me, even when it was not something I wanted to do. But I obey Him because I know that He knows what is best for me, and all of His children. Over the past several months, the Holy Spirit has provided me with revelations that, at first, I accepted as wonderful words of guidance but after the Holy Spirit gave me a vision and led me to scripture that boldly revealed it all, He told me to write it down because this message is urgent and imperative for all to know if God’s children are to enter the kingdom of heaven. As His obedient and honored servant, I am doing His will.

There is a lot to unpack, so please pay attention. Please hear His message, and if you are already reborn in the Spirit, take this message to God for confirmation in prayer. I pray that once you understand what the Holy Spirit has shown me, you will spread the word so that others will not fall away and suffer the consequences of never seeing the glory of God’s eternal future for us.

The first revelation the Holy Spirit gave me was in February 2025, and it concerned free will. I have questioned God often regarding how I could have free will if He has already written the plan for my life. Throughout my life, I have heard priests, ministers, and pastors state that God is the author of our stories. If this is true, then how can we have free will to journey our lives in choice rather than as puppets in a plan already laid out as someone else wants it to be?

The truth is that God has never planned our lives for us, but rather knows what lies ahead. Our Heavenly Father, the Creator of all things, is all sovereign, all knowing, all present, and all good. He is the Alpha, and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. He exists outside of our earthly realm and outside of time, so He can see everything. One of my favorite verses that helps keep me trusting in Him always is Jeremiah 29:11, ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’ But this verse also confused me, so the Holy Spirit gave me clarity.

The truth of this verse is that God knows the plan for our lives even before we are born. He knows every step we will take, every choice we will make, and even every sin we will commit, but because He has given us, His children, free will, He watches over us and uses His never-ending, eternal, and infinite love for us to keep us on the path that will lead us to the best life we can have, and all the while hoping with faith in us that we do not succumb to the evil authority that rules our world. We are made in the image of God, not in appearance but in His attributes—faith, hope, and love. The greatest of these attributes is our infinite capacity to love just as He loves us. We need to love and be loved as much as we need air to breathe. In this way, we are like Him but can never love as greatly as He loves us.

Walking with the Lord is not easy. That is something we are never told before choosing to do so, because as soon as we are with the Lord and against the authorities of this world, we get a target painted on our backs. Spiritual warfare is real, and anyone walking with the Lord knows this. A burglar does not break into an empty house, so the enemy does not attack those he knows already belong to him. But I will admit that even if someone had told me what I would be up against by choosing God over the enemy, I would have still exercised my gift of free will and chosen my Heavenly Father. Being a soldier of Christ is one of the greatest titles I can ever hold. So, do not be afraid of following our Lord because He truly does free us in a way that walking our path alone does not provide. He is always with us, always watching over us, fighting for us, and working through us for the good of all who love Him. Amen!

The Holy Trinity and Why How We Pray is Important

The next revelation from the Holy Spirit was last month, June 2025; this time it was regarding the Holy Trinity. Not what it is but rather how God, as three eternal and divine persons, works together and why our reverence for each must be addressed in our prayers.

To understand God’s most important imperative will for us, we must understand more thoroughly how the Holy Trinity works as a triune to be fully revered, worshiped, and made a priority in prayer. Through the Holy Spirit and scripture, God revealed to me how the Trinity works together. I was raised Catholic, so I have always known about and revered the Holy Trinity but as a mere human, I have not the capacity to understand it in its entirety—no one does. We are unable to comprehend how one being can be three separate persons at the same time, but understanding how three can work together as one might appease our human brains. The Holy Spirit showed me the separateness and unity of Their existence in the Bible. It has always been there for us to see from the very first page of Genesis and throughout the Old Testament.

As I stated before, God, our Heavenly Father, and our Creator, exists outside of time and outside of our worldly realm. He is something we cannot imagine or perceive. Because He exists outside of what we perceive, and because He can do anything He wants, He uses the Lord God, the Son who is also our beloved savior Jesus, and the Spirit of God, who we know as the Holy Spirit, to connect with us in the physical. The Lord God and the Spirit of God have been with God the Creator since before anything existed. They are One Being, yet three separate and eternal persons in the existence of God the Father. The Lord God (the Son, Jesus) and the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit) can and do enter our worldly realm and interact with us.

God the Father spoke everything into existence through His Son, the Lord God, whom He eventually sent to dwell on earth in the flesh to free us. But the truth is that He did more than free us from sin because sin still exists. His true purpose was to enable us to speak directly with our Heavenly Father for the first time since Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden. This was revealed in my vision, and I will explain this more thoroughly after I explain how the Holy Trinity works together and does the will of our Heavenly Father according to how the Holy Spirit revealed it to me.

The Trinity was never named in the Bible, but first coined in the 2^nd Century by Tertullian of Carthage, an early Christian writer, and then one hundred years later, the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. established the doctrine of the Trinity for the church as orthodoxy.

The term Holy Trinity is our understanding and way of revering our unified God. The Trinity is God the Father, who has a will encompassing all of creation and redemption, but His will, His desires, and His power are all accomplished through His Word. His Word is the Lord God, the Son, our beloved savior Jesus. He communicates and keeps tabs on us through the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind.  John 1:1-4

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14

The Lord God, the Son, accomplishes God the Father’s will by creating all things and doing all things. God the Holy Spirit speaks God the Father’s will for us to all baptized believers and acts like a transmitter, allowing us to speak directly to the Father through the Son, and the Father directly to us through the Holy Spirit. There is an unmistakable and consequent unity of purpose between the Three, and yet a unique diversity in how each operates. Jesus told His disciples: You heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.  John 14:28

Jesus was the first to refer to God as the Father which tells us that God has always considered Himself our Father and we are His Children, not just something He created. In my mind, I now see God the Father as a whole Being, the Son is His Hands by which He performs His Father’s will, and the Holy Spirit is His voice through which God the Father communicates with us.

So, in understanding this, we know that the Son, Jesus, has always been in existence just as God the Father and the Holy Spirit have been. Jesus’s own words as preserved in John 12:44-50 give us how God the Father used Him during His time in the flesh—Now Jesus cried out and said, “The one who believes in Me, does not believe only in Me, but also in Him who sent Me. And the one who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world, so that no one who believes in Me will remain in darkness. If anyone hears My teachings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. The one who rejects Me and does not accept My teachings has one who judges him: the word which I spoke. That will judge him on the last day. For I did not speak on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.

Then again, in John 14:11, His words demonstrate this unified yet individualistic cooperation between the Three Divine Persons of the Trinity—Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Jesus provided a foundation for the concept of the Trinity even though He did not name it. A few verses later—in verses 16 and 17—He told His disciples of the third eternal and distinct person of the Holy Trinity—I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; the Helper is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him; but you know Him because He remains with you and will be in you.

The first mention of the Holy Trinity in the bible comes almost immediately:

Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.  Genesis 1:26-27

The first mention of the Holy Spirit comes immediately after we meet God the Father.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was a formless and desolate emptiness, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.  Genesis 1:1-4

The first actual mention of the Son comes in the second chapter of Genesis.

This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living person. The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God caused every tree to grow that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Genesis 2:4-9

God the Father, the Creator of all things, spoke everything into existence through His Word—the Son, the Lord God—who actually created everything, including us.

We can see the Lord God, the Son, at work throughout the Old Testament.

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and tend it. The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”

Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”  Genesis 2:15-18

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. And the Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.  Genesis 2:21-22

Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”  Genesis 3:1

Now they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”   Genesis 3:8-9

Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

Cursed are you more than all the livestock,

And more than any animal of the field;

On your belly you shall go,

And dust you shall eat

All the days of your life;

And I will make enemies

Of you and the woman,

And of your offspring and her Descendant;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”  Genesis 3:13-15

This was the Lord God’s warning to Lucifer that He would be defeated because God the Father knows all, including Lucifer’s eventual fate.

And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.  Genesis 3:21-24

The Lord God set a barrier between Adam and Eve and God the Father as a consequence of their sin of disobedience, so that they were left to fend for themselves without the intimate relationship they had once enjoyed with their Heavenly Father.

Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed the door behind him.  Genesis 7:16

Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless.”  Genesis 17:1

Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not being consumed.  Exodus 3:2

Because the Lord God needed to appear in a way that Moses would not see a person but a miracle, His spirit filled the bush as fire.

When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God [the Father] called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Exodus 3:4

Then God [the Father] said, “Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform miracles which have not been produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live will see the working of the Lord [the Son], for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.  Exodus 34:10

Now it came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. Then I looked, and behold, something like the appearance of a man; from His waist and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His waist and upward like the appearance of a glow, like gleaming metal. And He extended the form of a hand and took me by the hair of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner courtyard, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.  Ezekiel 8:1-4

We also see the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible:

Now the Lord [the Son] spoke to Moses, saying, “See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God [the Holy Spirit] in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to create artistic designs for work in gold, in silver, and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for settings, and in the carving of wood, so that he may work in all kinds of craftsmanship.”  Exodus 31:1-5

And He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all craftsmanship;  Exodus 35:31

And Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.  Numbers 24:2

Then Saul sent messengers to take David, but when they saw the company of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing and presiding over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul; and they also prophesied.  1 Samuel 19:20

So he proceeded there to Naioth in Ramah; but the Spirit of God came upon him also, so that he went along prophesying continually until he came to Naioth in Ramah.  1 Samuel 19:23

Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded, and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you. For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without the Law. But in their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel, and they sought Him, and He let them find Him.”  2 Chronicles 15:1-4

Then the Spirit of God covered Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest like clothing; and he stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God [the Father] has said, ‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord [the Son] and do not prosper? Because you have abandoned the Lord, He has also abandoned you.’” 2 Chronicles 24:20

And it was by the Holy Spirit that Mary, Mother of Jesus, was impregnated, but it was another thirty years before He made His appearance again.

After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him, and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:16-17

So, as explained to me by the Holy Spirit, God the Father speaks His will and the Son makes it happen, while the Holy Spirit is the power through which our Heavenly Father speaks to man in our earthly realm. As it was from the beginning, it is now and will continue to be so, if we willingly accept the Holy Spirit through whom God the Father speaks directly to us.

Jesus told the disciples: Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.  John 14:10-14

You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  John 15:16

Whereas this is true, for anything we pray in the name of Jesus, He will take it to His Father, but this does not mean that we should only pray in the name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit told me that we are to revere all Three Persons in God equally, for they are all God. Yes, Jesus told His disciples to ask anything of Him and it will be given, but that is because He will take it to the Father on their behalf, and it will be done if according to the Father’s will.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”  John 4:6

So yes, it is fine for us to pray in the Name of Jesus, but only as long as we also pray in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There are many things about Catholicism that I do not agree with, but this is one thing that the Catholic Church got right. Whereas Catholicism refers to it as the sign of the cross, the Holy Spirit revealed it to be much more. We acknowledge more than the work of the cross when we put our hand to our head, then our chest, and then to each shoulder. By beginning and ending each prayer time by making the sign of the cross in the Name of the Father [the head of the triune], of the Son [the heart and implement by which the Father’s will is done], and of the Holy Spirit [embracing our body as the temple in which the Holy Spirit resides], we are praying in the names of all three divine persons and giving reverence, worship, and praise to all in the Trinity. This is how we should pray, for this is God’s will. I pray that all of His children, not just Catholics, will adopt this as a part of their prayers to give all the glory to our Heavenly Father. Amen!

The Falling Away—the Apostasy

The next revelation from the Holy Spirit came quickly after the last, about a week later. While trying to understand why He had revealed the importance of praying to the Holy Trinity rather than to Jesus alone, I kept hearing a specific piece of scripture— Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. I asked the Holy Spirit why, and He sent me to scripture after scripture, and as I read, it became clearer.

The deception leading many Christians to their condemnation is not sin per se but a deception from the enemy that is spreading throughout believers. This deception is far more distressing to our Heavenly Father than any other sin we can commit. The deception is that baptism is not necessary for our salvation—this is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit—the only sin that will never be forgiven. This unforgivable sin will send many believers to hell, even though they believe they are saved.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus commanded His disciples to baptize all converts, and it is clearly commanded throughout scripture yet somehow baptism has become seen as inconsequential for our salvation by Christians today.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a person be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?”

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”  John 3:1-8

“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20

We see Jesus’s warning to us about the unforgivable sin—the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit—in the New Testament, yet I never heard this verse taught in any church or religious education.

“Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”  Matthew 12:31-32

So, now you might be asking why the Holy Spirit says baptism is imperative for our salvation. The vision the Holy Spirit gave me when I asked Him the same question made it all clear. He showed me what our Lord Jesus really did for us on the cross. I pray you will see it too, and believe it as I do. Amen!

God’s Promise of the Spirit

It will come about after this

That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

Your old men will have dreams,

Your young men will see visions.  Joel 2:28

The Holy Spirit gave me a vision—a vision so powerful that it was both mind-blowing and heartbreaking. This was the first time I ever had a vision like this, and it took me by great surprise.

I saw our beloved Jesus on the cross. The sky had grown dark, and the wind began to blow with great might. Onlookers began scattering away. I saw Jesus lift His eyes to the heavens and He called out in a language I did not understand, but I knew what He said, “It is finished.” And then He died. My heart broke in that moment, but then what followed made clear what He had actually done for us on the cross.

I heard a loud boom, which I recognized as the start of the earthquake. More people ran from the site, but His loved ones remained. I heard the sounds of cracking, and when I looked, I saw the great stones in front of tombs crumbling to the ground like gravel. Then I saw spirits, or rather souls, departing the tombs. These souls were filled with immense joy.

Next, I was standing before a thick, richly decorated drape hanging from the ceiling. I realized I was standing in the Holy Place of the Temple before the Holy of Holies. I have never seen images of it, but somehow recognized it. There were lit candles along the walls and beautiful urns set on the floor. Suddenly, that great wind filled the room, blowing out the candles and tumbling the urns, breaking them. The wind seemed to blow around me with great force but without touching me. Then, as if the wind had fingers, it reached out and tore the drape. It did not just tear the drape, but shredded it so that it fell to the floor, destroyed. Suddenly, I was in outer space looking down on the earth. It was surrounded by a shimmering as if enclosed in a bubble. The shimmering faded until it was gone. I heard the Holy Spirit say, “Now the Father can speak directly to His children.”

It was then that I understood that the tearing of the veil in the temple represented the destruction of the barrier that the Lord God, the Son, had placed between God the Father and Adam and Eve when they were banished from the Garden of Eden. That barrier had prevented everyone who came after the sin in the Garden from hearing from and speaking directly to the Father unless He willed it so. Before Jesus came to us the first time, God had not spoken to His people through prophets for approximately 400 years. This means that all those, with a few exceptions, who had lived and died since Adam and Eve, before Jesus became the last blood sacrifice by dying for us on the cross, had not been forgiven, no matter how many blood sacrifices of repentance had been made. They were following God’s commandment to make such sacrifices as a test of their faithfulness to His will, but forgiveness was not given until Jesus destroyed the barrier with His blood on their behalf, and ours.

Jesus did die for the redemption of sin so that we might have eternal life, but there is more to His sacrifice. He did take sins upon Himself, but only the sins of all those who loved the Father, and who had died up to the moment He died. He then went into hell to liberate those souls unjustly incarcerated there before defeating death and resurrecting. Jesus spoke often of freeing man, but I now understood that it was not just to free us from sin. Sin continues to exist in our nature and in our world, and will as long as Lucifer is loose in it. The freedom that Jesus provided the world was far greater than has been understood, possibly because of deception. Yes, Jesus freed us from the consequences of the original sin of disobedience, but it came with a new test of obedience. Since His sacrifice, we have been under a new covenant with our Heavenly Father and a new test of obedience to God, but His children are failing again. We must do more than exercise our free will to choose God instead of the world. We must obey His imperative will of baptism for our salvation.

The rejection of baptism and consequently, the rejection of the Holy Spirit, is the unforgivable sin that will send many to hell even though they believe themselves saved. We have been taught that baptism washes away original sin—the sin of disobedience committed by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden—but the truth is that Jesus washed that sin away with His blood on the cross. John the Baptist declared this at the baptism of Jesus.

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”  John1:29

Jesus did not take away the sins of the world, but the original sin that had kept us from an intimate relationship with our Father. Baptism is not for freeing us from sin, for it still remains in the world and so we will continue to fall to temptation. However, baptism allows us direct communication with our Heavenly Father so that He can discipline us through conviction individually as any good father would any child because He loves us that much. We are not God’s adopted children, but have been His children from the moment of our creation. After Adam and Eve disobeyed Him, He cut off all communication with them hoping man would learn from their disobedience. As we know, man did not, and so God decided to start again. This time, He put His hope into Noah and his offspring to remain faithful to Him, but again man failed. God saved His children once more, this time from slavery in Egypt, but gave them the Commandments to guide them. After finally seeing their commitment to obedience, He sent His only Son to restore the intimate relationship He first intended to have with us, but set another test of obedience with the hope that we would succeed this time. Baptism is that test of obedience. Someone can believe in God, believe in Jesus, that He died for us, resurrected on the third day and sits at the right hand of the Father, but unless he is born again through water and Spirit through baptism, he is not saved—no matter how many times he says the sinner’s prayer or how hard he believes and prays.

Some Christians believe that salvation comes solely through faith in Jesus and His grace, and that baptism is a public expression of that faith rather than a requirement for salvation itself. They believe they do not need to be baptized to solidify their relationship with the Father, but they are very wrong.

Some churches perpetuate this idea and so are leading their followers down the wrong path. Far too many Christians see baptism as a symbolic act, representing the believer’s identification with Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, or a public declaration of faith. But the truth is that Jesus set in place a new covenant with God and His desire that we once again choose obedience to His will. With God, it has always been about respecting and obeying His will, and loving Him. Once we obey His will and are baptized, we have His grace for forgiveness through true repentance which we can directly ask Him for, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. In this way, we will always have God’s forgiveness for our sins. But if we refuse baptism, we are being disobedient and committing the one sin that God will never forgive and condemn us with eternal separation from Him. This is the last test and one we do not want to fail!

There are many reasons that believers do not choose baptism, but all of these reasons are deceptive and are leading them away from God rather than to Him. Some individuals may feel unworthy of God’s grace and delay baptism until they feel they have achieved a certain level of spiritual maturity or have overcome particular sins. The truth is that we are all worthy of God’s grace and love if we surrender to Him. Baptism is about surrendering to God’s will, trusting in Him for everything in our lives, and less about a public commitment to follow Jesus and participate in the Christian community. We, His children, are the church, not a building, institution, or organization, and baptism belongs to Him, to God the Father, not any denomination or religious leaders.

Many denominations, such as Baptists and Anabaptists, only practice baptism for those old enough to profess faith and so reject infant baptism, leading those with infants in these traditions not to baptize them until they are older, if ever. This is an individual choice for the innocent are already welcome in the kingdom of heaven, but when a child is old enough and cognizant enough to understand who God is and what Jesus did for us, it is wise to allow them to be baptized so they do not inadvertently blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.

Many individuals feel that certain churches place too much emphasis on religious tradition, including baptism, rather than genuine faith, leading them to delay or abstain from it. Other denominations, such as Quakers and the Salvation Army, do not practice baptism at all as part of their religious practices. This is misleading to their followers and leaves people in a position of blaspheming the Holy Spirit through false teaching—all part of the Apostasy.

In certain circumstances, such as persecution or lack of available water, individuals believe they are unable to be baptized, so they delay or avoid it. The truth is that it can be done anywhere, at any time, by any baptized believer. John the Baptist was not a priest or a minister. He was a Jewish man who believed in what God pressed on Him to teach and to do in his ministry. Baptism is between man and God. It allows restoration of the intimate relationship our Heavenly Father originally planned to have with each of us, and so with water and the right words, anyone can be baptized when they are ready to surrender to His will.

If a body of water, pool, or tub is unavailable, enough water to make the sign of the cross on a person’s forehead while speaking the following words, I baptize you, in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, will suffice. What is important is the person’s willingness to surrender to the will of God and accept the Holy Spirit into his bodily temple.

However, some might have been baptized due to an emotional experience rather than a deep personal conviction and surrender. If this is the case, the believer must examine their inner belief, looking to the Holy Spirit and Jesus for their place in the family of God through sincere prayer. It is about more than just someone believing in God and what Jesus did for us on the cross; it is about putting our complete trust, the surrender of our lives, and our worldly existence in God the Father. If anyone is unsure about the reason for having been baptized, or was baptized as a baby before understanding true faith in God, let this person be baptized again through water and Spirit so that they might truly be a member of God’s family.

Many believers will cherry-pick scripture as a reason to deny baptism as a means of salvation. This is a dangerous path for any believer to walk. Please pay attention to how these teachings might be leading you to hell rather than heaven. Some examples that I hear far too often are:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  Ephesians 2:8-9

But if we continue reading, we see that Paul writes: For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the hostility, which is the Law composed of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two one new person, in this way establishing peace; and that He might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the hostility. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.  Ephesians 2:14-22

Another cherry-picked scripture I hear extolled for denying baptism is: Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  Romans 5:1

But Paul continued to say: through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.  Romans 5:2-5

Another cherry-picked scripture used by those who wish to lead believers away from the path is: But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy,  Titus 3:4-5

But Paul continued with: by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  Titus 3:5-7

Do not be deceived!

Many believers say that baptism is not necessary because the thief on the cross next to Jesus was forgiven without baptism. Yes, he was. But he was forgiven, as anyone who has never heard the teachings of Jesus will be. The thief did not know about baptism, and died with Jesus as He was completing the purpose for which He came—to restore an intimate relationship between God the Father and His children. It was by Jesus’s grace, even while He suffered horribly, that the thief was promised he would be in paradise with Him that day. This is the reason that Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission: And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. The one who has believed and has been baptized will be saved; but the one who has not believed will be condemned.”  Mark 16:15-16

While many Christians do not believe that baptism is a requirement for salvation, it is! In fact, it is an important act of obedience for all believers. Refusing baptism when one has the opportunity will be seen by God as a lack of submission to His will, committing the unforgivable sin—blasphemy against the Holy Spirit—and condemning the believer to eternal damnation rather than salvation and eternal life with our Heavenly Father.

Whereas not everyone may have the opportunity or even the knowledge of baptism as the only way into the kingdom of heaven, I do believe that God, in His mercy, will allow them to stand in judgment when the time comes, just as He extends mercy to babies who die before baptism can seal them with the Holy Spirit. But if a person chooses to believe in Jesus and what He did for us on the cross, but does not commit himself to full, surrendering faith in the Father, in the Son, and the Holy Spirit through baptism, that grace may not be given to him. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.  James 4:17

If the rapture does come, something I do not believe will happen, the question always asked is, what will happen to those left behind? There will still be time for those remaining to accept God, Jesus as our savior, and be baptized so they may be sealed with the Holy Spirit, and gain the protection of the angels from the wrath about to be sent on the world. God’s gift of free will is forever and will never be retracted from us, but we have to make the right choice.

As a Catholic, I was taught that baptism removed original sin—Adam and Eve’s sin of disobedience. This removal of original sin is understood to restore the individual’s relationship with God and cleanse the soul, and in part, this is true. But Jesus accomplished the removal of original sin through the blood He shed on the cross, and He restored the ability to have an intimate relationship between God and His children by destroying the barrier separating us from our Heavenly Father. However, without the act of baptism, the restoration of an individual’s intimate relationship and communication with God cannot be completed. The first thing that Jesus did in His ministry was be baptized by John the Baptist. This was not a passing thing. It was Jesus showing God’s people that the only way to true salvation was to accept the Holy Spirit so that the intimate relationship God originally planned to have with His children could be restored.

Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have the need to be baptized by You, and yet You are coming to me?” But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and settling on Him, and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:13-17

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  John 3:16

Baptism does renew our hearts and souls, but more importantly, it signifies our submission and obedience to God’s will for His children. Refusing baptism is a continuing sin of disobedience. Baptism is the new covenant between God and His children in the Holy Name of the Trinity. It belongs to God, not to a church or any particular denomination, and is the only way to pass this last test of obedience before Jesus’s return.

While Jesus did not need baptism for forgiveness of sins, He did need the Holy Spirit to enter His human flesh so that He might have the same intimate communication with His Father that is being provided to us—if we accept God’s command that we be baptized according to His will. Knowing that all things are possible with God, He could have imparted the Holy Spirit onto His Son at any time, but He chose for Jesus to do it in public. Jesus’s baptism gave Him that inner connection with the Father, but also set an example for believers to follow. He demonstrated the importance of obedience to God’s will and the act of cleansing the body and soul to make a proper temple home for the Holy Spirit to abide within us. The only true way to be saved and remain saved is to be baptized in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and continue to have faith in that gift of salvation.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.        Matthew 7:21

The world is passing away and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God continues to live forever.   1 John 2:17

The one who keeps His commandments remains in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He remains in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.  1 John 3:24

I pray that all Christians will see what the Holy Spirit has revealed in scripture for themselves. It has been there the entire time, but those we have trusted to instruct us on God’s word have led us astray. Now is the time for all of us to listen to our Heavenly Father instead of false teachers. My plea to all who hear this message from the Holy Spirit is that if you are not yet baptized, please do so as soon as possible, and spread this important and urgent message so that more of God’s children will not fall away. May God Bless and keep you always. I pray this in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!

*All scripture is from the New American Standard Bible translation.