One Sunday, the minister was talking on baptism and in the course of his sermon he was illustrating that baptism should be performed by sprinkling and not by immersion by pointing out some instances from the Bible.
He said, “In the Bible where it says that John baptized Christ ‘in’ the River Jordan it didn’t mean ‘in’ but meant close to, round about, or near by. Then again where it tells us that Phillip baptized the eunuch in the river it didn’t mean ‘in’ but close to, round about, or near by.”
After the service, as the people were filing out, one old fellow stopped by the minister and said, “Reverend, that was the best sermon I ever heard and it uncovered many of the mysteries of the Bible to me. For example, it tells us in the Old Testament that Jonah was ‘in’ the whale for three days which seemed hard for me to believe but now I see that he was not ‘in’ the whale, but that he was close to, round about, or near by swimming in the water.”
“Then there is the story about the three young Hebrew boys who where thrown ‘into’ the fiery furnace but not burned. Well, it seemed impossible but now I see they were not ‘in’ the furnace but were close to, round about, or near by just keeping warm. But the hardest to believe was where Daniel was thrown ‘in’ the lion’s den but wasn’t hurt. Now I see that he wasn’t ‘in’ the den but was close to, round about, or just near by…like at the zoo.”
“The revealing of these mysteries was very rewarding to me, but the greatest comfort of your sermon was because I am a wicked man who sinned much and it tells us in the Bible that the wicked will be cast into Hell. But now I see that I won’t be cast ‘into’ Hell but ‘close to, round about, or near by’!”
“And…next Sunday, I won’t have to be ‘in’ church; I can just be close to, round about, or near by. Thanks for the sermon. You have really put my mind at ease.”
-- Author Unknown
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