43. Baptism
If the baptism of a child is performed by a clergyman who regards it merely as an official duty, it is absolutely meaningless, it brings neither benefit nor harm. When an adult is baptized, on the other hand, his inner readiness to receive helps to ensure in addition, that depending on the force and purity, whether something spiritual is actually received or not.
With a child only the belief of the person doing the baptizing can be considered as a means to achieving this purpose. Depending on the force and purity, the child receives a certain spiritual strengthening through the act, as well as a protective wall against evil currents.
Baptism is not an act that every person appointed by earthly church leaders is able to carry out effectively. For that it requires a human being who is connected with the Light. Only such a person is capable of mediating light. This ability, however, is not achieved through earthly study, nor through ecclesiastical ordination or appointment. It does not hinge at all on earthly practices, but is merely a gift from the Most High Himself.
And one so endowed is a Called One! There are not many in existence; for the gift requires as a precondition a corresponding soil within the person himself. If the precondition is not given in him, the connection from the Light cannot come about. The Light is not able to sink into unloosened soil or soil that strives away from the Light, since this process, like everything else, is strictly subject to the Primordial Laws that flow through everything.
Such a Called One is indeed really able to transmit spirit and force through the act of baptism, so that baptism receives that value it expresses symbolically. Nevertheless, it is still preferable to bestow baptism only to those who are themselves fully conscious of the effect of this act and who feel a yearning desire for it. Baptism is therefore contingent on a certain age of maturity and a voluntary request on the part of the person to be baptized, as well as a person called to perform baptism, in order for it to be fully effective.
John the Baptist, who to this very day is regarded and recognized by all Christian churches as the truly Called One, had his biggest adversaries specifically among the Scribes and Pharisees, who at that time wrongly believed themselves to be ones called above all to pass judgement. The people of Israel at that time were themselves called. There is no doubt about that. The Son of God was to fulfil His earthly work in their midst. In this accomplishment, of course, the calling of the whole people would conclude. A new Israel was to arise for a new fulfilment. At the time of John, the people of Israel were still the Called Ones. Accordingly, the priests of this people should also have been the Called Ones for baptism at that time. But nevertheless, John the Baptist had to come as the only one called solely to baptize the Son of God in his earthly cloak at the beginning of His actual earthly Mission. This event also proves that earthly appointments to an office have nothing to do with Divine callings. Actions taken in the Name of God, that is, in His authority, as is the case with baptism, can only be fulfilled effectively by those with a Divine calling. The high priest of the Called people at the time did not acknowledge the Divinely Called John the Baptist, who called his adversaries “generation of vipers”. He denied them the right to come to him.
The same priests of the Called people at that time also did not recognize the Son of God Himself, persecuted Him constantly and worked towards His earthly destruction, as He was superior to them and therefore a nuisance. If Christ were to come among humans today in a new form, He would undoubtedly encounter the same rejection and hostility that He did then. One sent by Him would fare the same. All the more so because mankind today believes itself to be “well-advanced".
Not only from this one instance of John the Baptist, but from numerous similar cases the proof emerges quite decisively, that earthly ecclesiastical ordinations and ministerial appointments, which always belong only to the “organizations of the churches” as such, can never bring a greater ability for spiritual activities unless the human being himself is already called for this purpose.
Considered in the right light, the baptism of church representatives is therefore nothing but a more preliminary act of acceptance into the community of a religious association. Not an admission to God, but an admission to the corresponding ecclesiastical-earthly community. The confirmation that follows later can only be seen as a further affirmation and extended admission to the customs of these communities. The priest acts as an “decreed servant of the Church”, therefore purely earthly, as the Church and God are not one.
