Baptism (from the Greek noun Βάπτισμα baptisma; itself derived from baptismos, washing) is a Christian rite of admission (or adoption), almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also a particular church tradition. Baptism has been called a sacrament and an ordinance of Jesus Christ.
In some traditions, baptism is also called christening, but for others the word "christening" is reserved for the baptism of infants.
The New Testament reports that Jesus was baptized. The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the naked candidate to be immersed totally (submersion) or partially (standing or kneeling in water while water was poured on him or her). While John the Baptist's use of a deep river for his baptism suggests immersion, pictorial and archaeological evidence of Christian baptism from the 3rd century onward indicates that a normal form was to have the candidate stand in water while water was poured over the upper body. Other common forms of baptism now in use include pouring water three times on the forehead.
Francis Chan (born 1967) is an American preacher. He is the former teaching pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, CA, a church he and his wife started in 1994. He is also the Founder and Chancellor of Eternity Bible College and author of the best-selling book, Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, which came out in 2009. He released his second book Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit in August 2009. He also sits on the board of directors of Children’s Hunger Fund and World Impact.
Chan is known for speaking at major national and international events and conferences.
Chan and his wife founded Cornerstone in 1994 with only 30 people. Within two months, the church had grown to 100 people, and by 2000, Chan was leading a $1 million project to provide for the 1,600 member congregation. Cornerstone is now one of the largest churches in Ventura County, California.
In 2005, Francis was the featured speaker in a now international video called Stop And Think (JustStopAndThink.com) which virally travelled, landing in every state and 30+ countries.
The summer breeze made ripples on the pond
Rattled through the rings and the willow trees beyond
Daddy in his good hat, mama in her Sunday dress
Watched with pride as I stood there in the water up to my chest
And the preacher spoke about the cleansing blood
I sank my toes into that East Tennessee mud
Then it was down with the old man up with the new
Raised to walk in the way of light and truth
I didn't see no angels, just a few saints on the shore
But I felt like a new born baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord
Amazing grace, oh, how sweet the sound
There was glory in the air, there was dinner on the ground
And my sins went for many, were washed away and gone
Along with a buffalo nickel, I forgot to leave at home
But that seemed like such a small, small price to pay
For the blessed peace of mind that came to me that day
And it was down with the old man, up with the new
Raised to walk in the way of light and truth
I didn't see no angels, just a few saints on the shore
But I felt like a new born baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord
This road is long and dusty, sometimes the soul, it must be cleansed
And I long to feel that water rushin' over me again
Down with the old man, up with the new
Raised to walk in the way of light and truth
I didn't see no angels, just a few saints on the shore
But I felt like a new born baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord
I felt like a new born baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord
The summer breeze made ripples on the pond
It rattled through the reeds, and the willow trees beyond
Daddy in his good hat and mama in her Sunday dress
Watched with pride as I stood there, in the water up to my chest
And the preacher spoke about the cleansing blood
As I sank my toes into that cool East Texas mud
And it was down with the old man, up with the new
Raised to walk in the ways of light and truth
I didn't see no angels, just a few saints on the shore
But, I felt like a newborn baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord
Amazing grace, oh how sweet the sound
There was glory in the air, there was dinner on the ground
And my sins, which were many were washed away and gone
Along with the Buffalo Nickel, I forgot to leave at home
That seemed like such a small, small price to pay
For the blessed peace of mind that came to me that day
It was down with the old man, up with the new
Raised to walk in the ways of light and truth
I didn't see no angels, just a few saints on the shore
But, I felt like a newborn baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord
This road is long and dusty, sometimes the soul, it must be cleansed
And I long to feel that water rushing over me again
I didn't see no angels, just a few saints on the shore
I felt like a newborn baby, cradled up in the arms of the Lord
Hold my head under water
Take a breath for the Father
Learn to love. Lessons repeating
The Chronicles are so misleading
This is your baptism
and you can't forgive em
This is your baptism
and you can't forgive em
Hold my head under water
Take a breath for the Father
Learn to love. Lessons repeating
The Chronicles are so misleading
This is your baptism
and you can't forgive em
This is your baptism
The day is mine
The night is also mine
Thou has set all the borders of this earth
I've never been one to believe
The preconceived limit that's set for me
Spit in the face of the haters as I march closer to victory
And my time is here, my time
And my time is now, now
That's gods honest combine this with the knowledge that I've acquired
Learn from my mistakes I'm baptized by fire, by fire
That's gods honest combine this with the knowledge that I've acquired
I've had, I've had the ground fall from beneath my toes
Scraped my knees on the concrete still I rose
And my time is here, my time
And my time is now, now
That's gods honest combine this with the knowledge that I've acquired
Learn from my mistakes I'm baptized by fire, by fire
That's gods honest combine this with the knowledge that I've acquired
This war has just begun
And my time is here, and my time is now
And your time is here, and your time is now
That's gods honest combine this with the knowledge that I've acquired
Learn from my mistakes I'm baptized by fire, by fire
That's gods honest combine this with the knowledge that I've acquired
This war has
This war has
"Temples transformed into tombs
are cast down over ashes" (-Eliphas Levi)
No more escape to the rotten past of Christian idolatry
Future will be the ancient days reborn in understanding
From the fertile ashes of Armageddon
Under the reign of brilliant star of the Master
Under the morbid wings of Sathanas
"Christianity was never sincere" (-Eliphas Levi)
Hark! So many streams of pagan blood
Hark! So many screams of the tortured
From the chambers of inquisition
From the dungeons of the Christian bastards
"Hate in the name of true awakening of nature
hate the Creator in the name of supreme primal Darkness"
There is only one true God, the Truth itself
The majesty of night and kingly mountain scapes
The Spirit cloaked wll under the form of the black goat
Under the Pan-Theos of a new Serpent Christ
"Under the morbid wings of Sathanas
wings of master Sathanas"
chorus:
There will be no light left
For the new dawn will be black
Hail great flames encrowning our lord Lucifer
Hail the master enthroned on world cube
Hail the glory of the spread wings
My death, so well we know another
and now, as we meet face to face
I read from your eyes such a wise, perverted love
that the believers of our time can never fathom
in the dim light of this old forest we are one
My soul journeys the path unseen
paces of uncountable brethren before me
uncountless stars sparkling around me
the night, the depth, the velvet
a voyage to the darker than darkness...
"My joy and my sorrow,
the Abysmal Lord within my heart
in the moments of silence do the worlds slide to oneness
the dagger of Astaroth, moonsickle slices the sky open"
Sinun tulessasi koko ruumiini palaa
Ja sieluni laulaa ylistyst� sinulle
My spirit journeys to the temple of nature
the dreary wilderness all around me
blazes the divine presence
the darkness embraces me and I am one with reality
the Jachim and Boaz of the ancient fire
This world is only rot
Only burning light
I feel? I remember falling
Somewhere inside the elders sing their discordial poetry
I see? here is the promised flesh, tainted
Our souls are burning
In this baptism of the serpent night
In ecstasy of the obscure and perverted
Your wings are burning in hell's fire
In the primitive hall of Evil
With these hands I destroy
Those shadows I follow
These pathetic humans I hate
This body of mine I shall sacrifice
Malicious rites
Strongly possessed to the Left Hand Path
All these live to honour you, Satan
You are made of us, I see it clearly now
All this disgusting ugliness
Only to build a new un-dead ritual
In deep devotion and respect
I kneel before the black-clad altar
with grief and glory, love and rage
sweet tunes and the Doomsday's hell-clang
playing in my dark soul's scenery
and beyond the frozen waste
divinity presents itself
A Satan's servant I am
a pupil of forgotten doctrines
of nature's grandeur, courage and self
true wisdom of my god
I choose to serve
without he bonds of the prayer-beads
without the collar of orthodoxy
Apotheosis of my human spark
shedding away its reptile skin
as the true light embraces these ravines of mortality
hell awakens and is conquered = by me
my own liege, my lord I am
channelling my magic
through this human focus
In the embrace of the divine flames I walk
had I tears, I'd weep for this splendour
the unseen temple portals open wide
in hilarious blasphemy or a manasir prayer
animal masks will betray the godly countenances
no dogma for the Satanic order
An age wihout fire = An age without meaning
No stains in their hands, still guiding to the purpose
They turn the wheel of life, new sparks are flying
Spinning to distance and nearer to the reality.
In the place of our destroyed sacred woods
does the new arson lighten the starry night
Its flames strike high above,
breaking the surface of the self-proclaimed sanctity
The crystal globe of sky does crack,
greater perfectness beyond...
The power of Satan's flame does burn
stronger in our hearts
With awe and wonder will be remembered
this time of re-illumination
For all that is done and sacrified only strengthen us.
worshippers of the black cult
Us, the children of the Goat, before the bare throne
Everburning are the flames of hell, which strike the sky.
An empty room is full of life and spirit at last
In the farthest corner the unholy altar,
beginning place of the rituals
Fiery altar, fiery cross,
a mass of the Serpent has begun
It leads my soul towards perfectness
I set off to wander in the night, going somewhere
pondering the swamps of my minds, unexplored roads
Where seems to be even too much time
It is extremely hard to feel anything that would be
in this world
From emptiness and despair
total hate
shadows reflecting my crumbled body
Satanic supremacy, leading my journey to the distance
"Now hard it is to understand how our souls can travel
without wounds and when once our travel takes us
to some stinging, burning, incomprehensible thorn
that tries to break our route to darkness
because the emptiness is the beginning
and the untimely end of our travel"
Your overwhelming presence conquers my heart
fascinating spirit of Satan!
Melancholic feelings, poisonous thoughts,
the enormonous will of emptiness
Divine idols trampled to wet stone,
burnt in dank rain
The divine touch of emptiness, ahh.
I have come back to my roots.
"I cross my hands and pray a new fire for my soul.
I close my wounds and rip them open again,
with insurmountable hate.
Like the worms burrowing in the burial coffings,
I crawl to the darker and more anguishing"
Rekindling again the flame of soul,
to the great shining, burning like a torch
The overwhelming yearning of emptiness on the chasms'
When time has left behind almost all that
which one would need of life
That was the beginning of the moments which could be
called by the abyss, the comprehensive darkness where to
only the most brilliant,
the self-learned souls opened their gates
The cold hands, leaking as the mind of the weak
in this painful distress that someone would name a hell:
all this spiritual work for the devil, the self-sacrifice.
All this cold time, the prayers and the rites.
(cho) This life is fucking painful
the destructive hybrid of life
the last voyage of the black soul
the genocide of the heartless world
There is no end to this blatant blasphemy against me
this sharp shattering of my perfect ideal
forever they follow, forever they breath
those clockwork hell-hounds of profane making
as the coldness demands my will I am laughing
the multitude of flies forms a face of the other
absent skin dresses the unworthy that watch and gnaw
See how the rain falls as blood
Now every breath is a suffocation
Every step a new breath
Torture everlasting, existence
Without a place to rest, there is only pain
This is the embrace of lord Satan
This is our joy of spiritual blazing
In this deep hell the world is made real
Everything awakens.
Wearing the cursed pentagram
We have crucified ourselves for eternity
Living a never-ending hell of existence
In pride and joy immortal.
There is no door to afterlife
This is my hell
There are no tears to comfort
There is only death