In his book, Passport to Heaven, we find the following anti-biblical (and blasphemous) understanding of water baptism from Micah Wilder:
Water baptism isn’t
to join a church or to be saved; it is a public witness of one’s faith in
Christ and a symbol of becoming a new creation in him. It represents the death
of our old self and our resurrection into newness of life through the Spirit—just
as Christ was buried and then rose from the grave. More so, I believe true
spiritual baptism is not about being dipped in physical water, but immersion into
the Word of God, who is Jesus Himself, And once the Spirit of God has given
that baptism, no man can take it away from you . . . The more I read the
Scriptures, the more I began to see baptism in a different light. I wondered, Could
baptism be more of a picture—an allegory—than an actual ordinance? When
Jesus said that His baptism fulfilled all righteousness, what did that really
mean in the simplest of terms? Was it possible that when Jesus was demonstrating
all righteousness in the River Jordan, He wasn’t showing how to be
baptized, but rather, what baptism represented? If so, maybe baptism
wasn’t as much of a physical act as it was a picture of our righteousness—from justification,
through sanctification, to ultimate glorification. I couldn’t help but notice
the not-so-hidden theme in His baptism. (Micah Wilder, Passport to Heaven:
The True Story of a Zealous Mormon Missionary Who Discovers the Jesus He Never
Knew [Eugene, Oreg.: Harvest House Publishers, 2021], 177, 178)
In reality, the Bible, whenever it
discusses the relationship between salvation and baptism, teaches that baptism
is the instrumental (not meritorious) means of remission of sins and
regeneration. Furthermore, there is not a single individual in the first 1,000
years of Christianity (unless you want to include Gnostics!) who rejected baptismal
regeneration.
To see why Wilder is simply wrong and
peddling a false gospel on this and other issues, see my book-length work
defending baptismal regeneration (which I sent to Micah a few weeks ago and is a topic I would be more than happy to have a full, moderated debate on):
“Born of Water and of the Spirit”: The Biblical Evidence for Baptismal Regeneration (*)
For articles on this blog addressing baptismal
regeneration, see, for e.g.:
Christ's baptism is NOT imputed to the believer
J. Paul Sampley on Baptismal Regeneration and Ephesians 5:25-27
(*) if anyone wants a free copy, I will happily send a PDF—contact me at ScripturalMormonismATgmailDOTcom