Governor Bentley’s Spiritual Minefield

Minefields abound in relation to baptism and salvation. A recent report from Jordan described the area surrounding Jesus’ baptismal site as being full of mines. One politician learned that they exist in personal expressions of faith as well.

For decades, pilgrims have been baptized in the Jordan River at a site just south of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. The site is well kept with a railing leading in and out of the water and a nearby store supplying robes for rent, baptismal certificates and appropriate gifts and even some genuine Jordan River water. Thousands of Christian pilgrims have been baptized there, including a few by me on our ten tours to Israel between 1982 and 1997.

Farther south is the spot many have considered to be the more accurate site of Jesus’ baptism. It is not far from the famed Allenby Bridge, a short span that formerly accommodated tense passage between the warring nations of Israel and Jordan.

When peace was struck between the two countries in 1994, a Jordanian tank crew, on backing away from their battle station, heard strange crunching noises below them. Investigations led to excavations, and a large baptismal area used centuries earlier and fed by a clear eastern tributary was discovered. Shortly after the discovery, the Jordanian Tourism Director was interviewed on our broadcast, The Word And The World, to describe all this in detail. It was this site visited by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to the Holy Land in 2009.

All this substantiates John 1:28 and 3:26, which says John the Baptizer was doing his work “beyond the Jordan River.” In the King James Version, Mark 1:5 says it was “the river of Jordan,” which is a more accurate translation of the Greek, indicating it was a tributary. It is in this vicinity, off the main area, where countless mines still lie buried and fears of straying pilgrims keep officials alerted for their safety. As they are cleared, more tourist acreage will be declared safe.

Baptism, wherever it is received, is always a minefield for Bible believers. Immersion, as was practiced at the newly discovered site, reflects the burial and resurrection of Christ as enacted in one’s life by receiving Christ as Savior. The Romans 6:4 outlines this: “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.” The topic of Christ’s death and resurrection can be controversial, and the moment one takes a public stand, he is open to criticism or persecution.

Minefields even exist when a born-again Christian elected official dares to speak the truth in church. Alabama’s new governor, Robert Bentley, went to a Baptist church on inauguration day and declared, “There may be some people here today who do not have living within them the Holy Spirit. If we don't have the same daddy, we’re not brothers and sisters. So anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, I’m telling you, you’re not my brother and you’re not my sister, and I want to be your brother… But if you have been adopted in God’s family like I have ... and if you’re saved and the Holy Spirit lives within you just like the Holy Spirit lives within me, then you know what that makes? It makes you and me brothers. And it makes you and me brother and sister.”

Although what he said was correct in the context of his personal faith and the church environment, a furor ensued with many accusing him of insulting non-Christians and trying to convert them. What a minefield! What Bentley said has probably been declared countless times in every Bible-believing Baptist church as well as thousands of other denominational and independent churches, but he apologized for offending anyone and said he wished he hadn’t said what he did.

What is evident is, first, according to political correctness and pluralism, no one should speak any exclusionary words even though they might be true. Second, the media and even many Christians are woefully ignorant of biblical teaching. Believers should “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), and perhaps that love did not bleed through Bentley’s remarks adequately.

Bentley learned forcefully that Christian politicians, or any public figure for that matter, find that both watered-down biblical perceptions and pluralistic sentiments make a minefield of religious expression in a secular world.

Dave Virkler