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LIGHT OF THE WORLD INSPIRATIONS
The Baptism of Fire
by Tony den Hartog
Preached 3/18/2002
A transcription of tape 2130
Transcribed by Jackie Weber
You all have been reading the March, 2002,
letter, “The Lord Is My Shepherd.” What
does it mean, “He makes me to lie down in
green pastures; He leads me beside the still
waters”?--waters of rest. They are all
symbols. Today the wind was rustling in the
trees and the water was trickling over the
edge of the waterfall; and I noticed that just
the sound causes one to quieten.
The Holy Spirit is also likened unto a
sound--the sound of a mighty, rushing wind
(Acts 2:2), something that comes and
restores, refreshes and brings back the
memory of what we had in the beginning
with God. In other words, there are
symbols, pictures, things which are created
(such as waterfalls, trees, forests or
anything that is in this world which God has
ordained); and when we meditate deeply on
these things, a sound begins to reveal
itself--something that begins to quieten the
soul.
And that's the Lord. Now what is the Lord?
We know that the Lord is the Spirit. But
what is the Spirit? We know that soul is the
willed action of God, the creative intent of
God bringing everything into being perfectly
and harmoniously. And it is all so lovely, so
very pristine; and nothing can enter into that
soul (the soul of God, that is) that defiles or
makes a lie.
But now something has happened because
this soul that was really given into Adam
became overshadowed by certain beliefs.
They are voices that speak. Have you
noticed that sometimes your mind speaks
to you? Have you ever seen a person
walking down the street mumbling to
himself? He is talking to himself. We all talk
to ourselves, but not out loud.
I noticed that some workers at my house,
the moment power was available, put their
radios on blasting away; for they can't stand
the silence. They cannot be quiet because
it disturbs them--because their minds are
constantly speaking to them. It is not really
the mind, but rather the serpent mind--the
mind of flesh. It's this world, and it speaks;
and we all experience it, sometimes
consciously, but most of the time
unconsciously.
Of course when it is unconscious, we
experience heart palpitations or anxieties
that we cannot explain. We get shaky and
uncertain of ourselves, and we don't know
what's going on. That is really the serpent
that is stirring you up on the inside. But he
never lets you know that he is there; he
works behind the scenes. For once you
know it's there and how it works, it loses its
power.
What then can break this syndrome (or
mentality) that is working in the
unconsciousness, as the unconsciousness?
And it is not just individual serpent
influence; it is universal. And it has become
a great red dragon (Rev 12:3) that is
functioning now in every race, color, creed
and nationality. Everywhere you look there
is nothing else but disturbance. And usually
the wars and conflicts that exist are
generated out of a religious belief. The
Hindus are burning down the Moslem
mosques, and they are all destroying each
other. But if they knew what they were
doing, they wouldn't do it.
Jesus came to us, first of all, as the last
Adam, born of a woman, born under the
law. That means that He, in his humanity,
drew to Himself the same thing that we
draw to ourselves. It's called cosmic law, or
the law of sowing and reaping. If he had not
been subject to this law, he could not have
been crucified.
Romans 8:3 For what the law could not
do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
God sending his own Son in the likeness of
sinful flesh. . . .
Or I could also say in the likeness of a
serpent mind--because if it had been the
mind of Christ in its totality, nobody would
have been able to touch Him. So He took
upon Himself the nature of sinful flesh and
experienced the same feelings of “Can't you
just stay and pray with me while I go
through this thing?” No, because there is
not one human that can help another;
nobody can help you, not even God.
What helps me then?--the recognition of
this verse: "The Lord is my shepherd" (Ps
23:1).
Jesus also said, “You will not leave my soul
in hell. You will not allow Your Holy One to
see corruption. You have shown me the
pathway of life" (Acts 2:27-28). You have
shown me the divine intent of soul--that it
was not ordained for Me to be crucified.
But at the same time, there was an
ordination to destroy the serpent. And in
order to destroy the serpent, Jesus had to
become the serpent. That is the mystery of
Calvary--that God descended into the
lowest parts of the earth, became one of us,
experienced all the pain and anxiety and all
the voices and all the impressions and the
feelings that we do. And He went through
the cross, calling out, “The Lord is my
shepherd.” Jesus was saying that just as
we are.
Then something happened. “Though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I
will fear no evil.” Why not?--because evil is
not an ordained law or substance. So Jesus
could say that He feared no evil and feared
no death because “You will not leave Your
Holy One to see corruption. You have
shown me the pathway of life. So I can, in
total trust in the Lord who is my shepherd,
descend into hell."
That's what Jesus did; He made his bed in
hell, then rose out of that hell; and then the
Lord who was the shepherd…. You know
what it is now? This Jesus, whom ye have
crucified, God has made this Jesus the
Lord [which is the shepherd] (Acts 2:36).
First Jesus called out for the Shepherd to
lead Him right into death and out the other
side. And in doing so, he became the
Shepherd. But by descending first, He
became the serpent. And then the serpent's
head was split open; and out of the serpent
came the Lord which is the Spirit. Then
Christ rose from the dead and ascended on
high. Now He is Lord and Christ of all.
That's the mystery of “the Lord is my
shepherd.”
We are still crying out, “The Lord is my
shepherd,” but now we are growing. We are
going through the baptism of fire. Every
voice, every high thing, every imaginary
thing, everything that exalts itself against
the true knowledge of God is being
consumed by fire until the Lord is my
Shepherd no longer--because then we are
fused as one. And the Lord IS.
First He leads you, but now you are in the
leading. You are now the body of Christ.
You are the shepherd leading. But of
course that takes the whole process. You
cannot become “the Lord IS” until you go
through the metamorphosis--until the whole
of the serpent is extinguished within you
and you are prepared to lay down your life
for your friends (Jn 15:13).
I'm talking as one who has to experience
this myself. There are degrees. But we are
now beginning to speak of the Father
openly; we are now beginning to see that
as He is, so are we in this world (1Jn 4:17).
We have tried so hard to convert people to
Christianity; but nobody has ever been able
to do that because it doesn't work that way.
Every man, woman and child will have to go
through the same realization.
I am getting messages over the Internet
from men and women who have for years
been in despair in religious circles and
churches where they felt condemned and
terribly oppressed by the words that were
spoken from the pulpit. Now they are
reading the Light of the World teachings
and are saying, “It's so wonderful and
refreshing reading this because it doesn't
condemn. It doesn't warn you of some
terrible Armageddon or destruction or the
end of the world.”
No, we don't talk about that. I know that the
world is going to come to an end; the
serpent is coming to an end. The activity of
the unconsciousness, which is really the
generation of a viper, is coming to an end.
Matthew 3:9 And think not to say within
yourselves, We have Abraham to our
father: for I say unto you, that God is able of
these stones to raise up children unto
Abraham.
We have tried so hard to convert people,
while God says that He can make them out
of stone!
Matthew 3:10 And now also the axe is laid
unto the root of the trees: therefore every
tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Now what is the fire? It is the love of
God.
It doesn't mean people. I call these trees
the mutants--the things that God has not
ordained. They are all consumed by fire, all
the trees that are what I call human
inventions, things that have been generated
over the years which attempt to justify and
make legitimate all the terrible things that
are happening in the world.
Everything that has not been generated out
of God is cast into the fire; but we learn in
1Corinthians 3 that the fire will consume all
that which was not ordained, but the soul
(which is God, which is you, which is I) is
saved--saved as by fire (v 15) --because no
man can lay any other foundation than was
laid--and that was Jesus (v 11).
He both laid the foundation and became the
foundation; and He became the chief
cornerstone (Eph 2:20). In other words, that
was the perfect and absolute ordained
image of the living God in whom we are all
complete. And everything else that has
caused disturbance in the soul, in the world,
will be dissolved by fire. Read the book of
Revelation; even death, hell and the devil
(everything which has been so called evil,
which never really was) are all consumed
and will never be remembered anymore
(Rev 20:14-15).
This is big, isn't it?--to know that God will
not allow anybody to be lost. Anything at
all that has a God essence within itself
(which all human beings have, never mind
what you are. You might be a headhunter
or a drunk, a homosexual, black or white)--I
don't care what you are; everyone has
the God light, or the Spirit, in them. It
might be overshadowed by all sorts of
concepts and beliefs and religious feelings,
phobias and anxieties; but they are all
going to be consumed by the baptism of
fire--in one way or another.
But God will not allow you to be tempted
beyond what you can bear (1Cor 10:13). In
other words, He will not turn up the fire
when you are not ready for it. He just lets
you go a little bit further until you come to
the end of your tether and start screaming
out for mercy. Then He says, “Okay, let Me
just turn up the heat a little bit.” Then you
will be ready to let go of that thing, knowing
that you don't need it anymore.
I remember St. Nicholas in Holland who
comes at night and brings presents. And
with him he has Black Pete. Of course St.
Nicholas knows exactly which children have
been naughty; they will be put in a bag and
taken to Spain. As children, we were
terrified because we knew we had been
naughty. And that developed within us a sin
consciousness. It was a feeling of guilt that
we thought was a good thing. But that's not
good for children or adults either. It's not
good for adults to hear from the pulpit, “If
you die right now, you know that you will go
to hell, don't you?” Then everybody quickly
goes forward to receive Jesus because
they don't want to go to hell. It's all a fearful
thing.
Jesus did away with all these cultural,
religious ideas; and He brought in the
freedom of Spirit. Don't misinterpret what
I'm saying when I say that I'm not guilty; I
am not innocent in the sense that I will
never do anything wrong. The guilt is there,
and the reward is there for the guilt--as long
as we do not judge it. Don't forget, every
deed, every word, everything that proceeds
out of the mouth and the heart of man will
have its own reward. The wages of sin, or
the out-working of it, will bring its own
reward. Nobody is going to judge
you--because your sin judges you. Your
own fear judges you. Like Job said, “What I
feared greatly has come upon me” (Job
3:25). It has nothing to do with God; God
doesn't judge you (Jn 5:22). We judge
ourselves.
But now I do not have to judge myself
because there is no self to judge. I
died--because if one died for all and as all,
then all our dead (2Cor 5:14). First of all,
you've got to realize that the recognition of
that frees you--that's grace! It frees you
from the curse of the law; it also frees you
from the influences of what is called karma.
You are free from the law--if you are not
afraid. If you are afraid of God, afraid
that He is going to judge you, you are
under the law.
When your fear is judging you, you can
easily misinterpret that and think that it is
God. You must know what happened on the
cross--Jesus was destroying the body of sin
as He was baptized into death. That's why
He said to His disciples, “The baptism that I
am going through, you are not able to bear
right now.” This is why I am saying that
God will not put you through a baptism
of fire if you are not ready for it. You
actually have to surrender to the fire,
saying, “I'm walking right into the fire, and I
know that I am going to come out on the
other side unscathed, unhurt--complete and
whole. All my anxieties and all my fears, all
my trust in materiality--everything will be
gone." That's where your freedom is, and
that's where I want to be.
You won't be able to get there any other
way. You have to actually present yourself
to the fire. It may take years before you are
ready to do this. That's what Jesus did; He
went through it and was consumed by that
fire.
Then where is He now? He is now alive for
evermore. And I am alive forever more, for I
am in Him, aren't you?
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of
us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were
baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we
are buried with him by baptism into death:
that like as Christ was raised up from the
dead by the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life. 5 For
if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the
likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing
this, that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For
he that is dead is freed from sin. 8 Now if
we be dead with Christ, we believe that we
shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that
Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more; death hath no more dominion over
him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto
sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
John 1:12 But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his
name: 13 Which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God.
Actually, the flesh and blood was dissolved.
Flesh and blood and spiritual being cannot
exist together. Paradoxically, for a while
they both seem to be there. Like Paul said,
“The things that I don't want to do I seem to
be doing” (Rom 7:15). For a little while this
is the case; and there is condemnation and
also feelings of guilt, the feeling of “I
shouldn't have done that.” But after a while,
these things become less and less, as we
are
Looking onto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith who, for the joy that was set
before Him, endured the cross, despising
the shame, lest I should be weary and faint
in my mind (Heb 12:2-3).
John the Baptist said:
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with
water unto repentance: but he that cometh
after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I
am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
There are two aspects. The first one is the
baptism in the Holy Ghost on the Day of
Pentecost. They were all together with one
accord, and suddenly the house was filled
with a mighty, rushing wind, and they all
began to speak in other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4). And
there was great joy, tremendous healing,
deliverance and provision. They were all
together in one accord, and nobody dared
even to come near them. This was a holy
time.
But every one of them was still a Jew; they
were not yet Christians. A Christian really
is an enChristed one--one who has, to a
large extent, experienced the dissolving
of his own ego, of his own fleshly
identity. I don't know that anyone has ever
experienced this completely, for then he
would disappear out of sight. But we are
progressing.
So the baptism of fire is not something
that you get one moment on the Day of
Pentecost. It is a continuous process of
eliminating the old that the new might
come forth. You must present yourself
over and over again to the invisible Father
that is within you and around you and
through you.
Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living [not a dead,
sick or afraid one] sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service. 2 And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
You can see, then, that Paul is drawing a
contrast. Be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed. The word “transformed”
is metamorphoo. This is the same thing that
a butterfly goes through when it is a
caterpillar.
A caterpillar doesn't just suddenly become
a butterfly; it has to go through a
metamorphosis where the old is gradually
dissolved. But notice that there is no more
memory of it once it is gone. Once the
caterpillar has gone into its cocoon and
gone through a state of death and comes
out the other side as a butterfly, the
caterpillar is no longer there. It is not a
caterpillar AND a butterfly; the caterpillar is
now a butterfly.
It is the same with Jesus. There is no
more Jesus; there is now only a
life-giving Spirit. There is not a Hebrew
man sitting in heaven on a throne on a
cloud somewhere. No, the man is gone.
He is now a life-giving Spirit. That's the
Spirit of the Lord, the same Spirit that
raised up Jesus from the dead.
Resurrection is not just a body becoming
alive again like Lazarus. Otherwise,
Lazarus could have said, “I am the
resurrection.” No, Lazarus did not
experience the resurrection.
Only Jesus experienced the
resurrection--which is the resurrection of
the original idea, the original son, the
original offspring that is invisible to human
sense. It cannot be seen, but neither can
you see the tree--because everything that
God created is invisible to human sense.
But it is not invisible to those who are
spiritually regenerated. This is why only
500 could see Jesus after the resurrection.
And there were only three who could see
Jesus in His transformed being when they
were on the Mount of Transfiguration.
But don't forget that Jesus first had to go
through all the fulfillment of the law. In other
words, it was not yet finished, even though
He showed Himself the way He really is
and they saw Moses and Elijah as well. But
it was not possible for the disciples to
partake of this invisible resurrection life until
Jesus rose from the dead.
That is of course the argument. What was
the difference between Jesus on the Mount
of Transfiguration and Jesus after the
resurrection? On the Mount of
Transfiguration Jesus had not yet
completed the destroying of the serpent, or
the fulfillment of the law.
But when Jesus rose from the dead, He
could say to his disciples, “All power has
been given unto Me both in heaven and in
earth; now you go in My Name (in My
nature, in the abilities that I now have) (Mt
28:18-19). The same Spirit that healed the
sick, raised the dead and cleansed the
leper--I'm giving it to you. Now go and do
likewise."
So that is a whole different dimension.
There is not just Jesus born under the
law--because Jesus transcended through
all material law. Everything that this earth
represents, which is gravity, which is
life-and-death, Jesus transcended and
cannot be touched by it. That's the
ordination of God.
All of us will also experience this, but
one step at a time. There are people who
are sort of thinking that we are already
there. We are there with Jesus before the
cross, but we are not yet there after the
cross--because we still have to go through
the cross. All of us.
First we have to go through the baptism of
the Holy Spirit. Don't think that if you don't
have the baptism of the Holy Spirit that you
can go through the baptism of fire. It is
impossible. When you are baptized in the
Holy Ghost, your tongue changes; you have
the ability to speak words that before you
were not able to say, “Father, forgive them.”
You begin to see people in a different light.
When I came home to my wife, I said, “My,
you have changed!” But it was not her that
had changed; I had changed. I began to
see her the way she truly was. And then our
relationship began to change because our
perspective was changing. We saw
everything in a different light.
And that is how the progression takes
place.
So let's meditate on this.