WHEN WE FAIL TO SEE THE CLOUD MOVE

How we quickly become irrelevant - when we fail to see the cloud move. 

Growing up, I was raised in an extended family, where being born-again was held in high esteem. I saw the generation of the "Tukutendereza" or "Bazukufu" and the ones that followed immediately after them. When my elder brother Ed joined kings college Buddo, he returned home after his first term a totally changed man; he came in with a new perspective to salvation, one that I could associate with, and yet it was not any less compelling on Holiness.

I took that “version” of gospel on, and on January 19^th 1986, at St. Francis Chapel at Makerere University, during an Anglican church Service I responded to the alter call, walked to the alter and gave my life to Jesus. Then I begun my journey of understanding our LORD and Savior Jesus.

Growing up:

In 1987, I joined Namilyango College and there I met my now long-time friend and brother Julius Wegoye. I attribute my significant spiritual growth and discipline to Julius mentor-ship. He impacted my life significantly and introduced me to a number of spiritual disciplines that to date have not left me. I remember we used to pray behind the pyramid, in the school sports field, at the school farm, behind the chemistry lab and in “Miracle Chambers” (Julius’ room) whenever we had opportunity to (electricity those days was not as stable as it is today); so we used all blackout times to pray. We fasted once a week as a team of about 5 prayer partners (including Adrian Braka and Samuel Kwiri, Baliddawa Hussein).

In 1992 I joined Makerere High school where I now met a bunch of passionate born again girls and boys. I was blessed to lead the fellowship during my last year there and I remember the growth being astronomical. One of the factors that triggered this growth was the miraculous salvation of a brother in the LORD, Frank Rusa, whose salvation became a big testimony. Frank not only got born again but was thrown straight into evangelism and ministering to others in miracles, signs and wonders. I remember in that one year we grew from a regular meeting of 30 people to one of over 200 people. I still remember how we did our first ever mission trip as a fellowship (the concept was not popular then); our fellowship mobilized to go for three days to Namutamba TTC beyond Mityana (The Roads were not that great then) to preach and lead people to the LORD! boy was the harvest big!!! We scaled the entire TTC, and surrounding villages preaching and leading many to the LORD. We crowned it off by preaching at the Anglican church in the area. I recall clearly that the presence of God was massive on this trip.

Shortly afterwards I joined Makerere University, and in came the Main C.U as we used to call the central fellowship of believers at the University, and the LUMBOX FELLOWSHIP. It is amazing how people that fellowshiped in different congregations and Christian faiths laid down their denominational crowns and enjoyed each other in the LORD's presence. To date I still cherish those relationships.

Let me hold it right there in order that I may highlight a bit of what happened in between my alter experience in 1986 and my entry into University. During the holidays I used to pray at an Anglican church in Mpererwe called St. Stephens church. We had some active Christian leaders at the helm; I recall among many a one Dr. Luboga, Mr. Mungherera, and many others like my former Headmaster at Makerere High school Mr. Godfrey Njagala (R.I.P); these men and women led us quite well together with the provost Reverend Wandera. One of the more active and charismatic bits of this congregation was the Youth ministry. We were allowed to lead some Church services during school holidays, be involved in taking readings, and plan unique presentations on high holidays like Christmas and Easter. I remember on this team Rebecca Namirembe, William the organist, Joyce Nakate, my siblings Sarah and Ruth among many other youths. This is where I learned to play guitar and hone my skills. We were blessed to minister to the congregation.

During this period my only growth came from this Anglican church fellowship of youths and significantly from the Namilyango fellowship under different leaders like Bro. Bujingo William, Bro. Magambo Emmanuel, Bro. Mujugira Andrew and many others. A lot of emphasis was made for personal spiritual growth, prayer, fasting and reading the Bible for oneself. We had to preach to our fellow students, carry out deliverance sessions for the oppressed,  do follow-up for new converts,  and challenge each other in righteous living. I also remember that we took on the responsibility to run the Anglican church services at the College working with ministers from Bishops theological college in Mukono.

Something else that a totally helped us to harden was the knack the school leadership had for closing down the fellowship and clamping down on our actions, apparently because too many kids were getting born again (confused as they called it) and leaving certain religious practices they had been brought up with. In fact, on many occasions fellowship was banned from college and we ended up having it, but underground in smaller cells or in the bushes around the school (We too came from the “Bush”). I am grateful for this early confrontation with hatred for the full gospel, because it taught me how important personal growth was and I grew into a relatively hardened Christian that was ready to die for the gospel. Those lock-downs made us! 

I started going to mainstream born again churches in my High school days at Makerere High school; my first church was Kampala Pentecostal church, now Watoto central.  Pastor Gary was and still is very solid on teaching; I learned lots from sitting under his teaching ministry. I learned a lot about order and excellence by just being a member of this congregation. All these learnings have defined me to date. 

So by the time I was walking into Makerere University main C.U, I was a relatively mature Christian that could not be blown around by any wind of doctrine. Here at Main C.U and LUMBOX FELLOWSHIP I became an active member, and served in many capacities: as a worship leader, as a faculty papa, as a Hall fellowship leader, etc. I served even as i grew. Here I was exposed to the mainstream born-again churches and did attend both Redeemed of the LORD Makerere and Miracle Centre Rubaga (at the older location and a bit of the new). 

It is here that I started realizing how blessed I was to be part of what God was doing in the world in my day. I got exposed to global preachers and teachers, and to worship movements of the likes of Hosanna Integrity Integrity music bringing to us leaders like Ron Kenoly, Alvin Slaughter and many others. I was exposed to contemporary gospel music (Steve Ochola and Joni Kasule, thanks to you).  My life grew into the things of God. It was then that I realized, that just as the pillar of cloud and fire to the children of Israel was,  God operated in seasons and that often times when He did something new He moved from the old, literally. I also realized, that having been part of such a great heritage of born again people and experiences, many of the people I could see in my past, people that passionately loved God and lived for him,  people whose walk with God I could not question, people that had been my role models, they had stalled when the pillar of God had moved, and as a result they were left behind and thus sadly missed the new move of God.

Often times listening to them,  they were full of judgment of the new workings of God, which to them often looked diabolical: "they clap their hands", " they drum in disrespect to God in their church services", "they play these guitars and pianos and they dance around and are not humble before God during prayers", "they shout on top of their voices as if God cannot hear", "they use over night prayers to commit immoral acts", etc. The accusations and criticisms went on and on. Meanwhile God worked in us, and He transformed us. We who were inside the movement were moving more and more into liberty and peace as the criticisms grew, and the chasm between “us and them” grew ever wider with each party claiming to know God more and better and claiming to speak for Him. During this time, it suddenly occurred to me that good intention was not good enough in following after God.

I started lifting up a personal prayer that to date I still pray, "...LORD do not ever leave me behind when you move; let me be humble enough, and eyes open enough to see your move and recognize it as such when you do; let me not be ‘too experienced’ to despise your move; let me never be too old to be sensitive to your move; let me never be left behind when the pillar moves..."  This was so because having observed the huge heritage of God loving people I had lived among, I realized that many of them had missed the Holy Spirit movement of our day. They rejected everything that came with this movement, the signs and wonders, the joy of salvation, the ministries of the prophetic and much more. Albeit, they still loved the LORD with a passion!

Pharisaic fetters:

One of the biggest fetters any one can ever break is the pharisaic fetter. It usually attacks mature Christians and those that have tarried long in salvation. My simple definition of a Pharisee is that he/she is one that is well tutored in certain doctrine(s) but is not willing to understand and accept that our God keeps doing new things, yes even unveiling new doctrine(s). It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, so is the journey to becoming a Pharisee. Pharisees are often religious role models, passionate people, often almost zealots, and that is largely seen as a great attribute by most people that pursue God. All this begins as innocent passions for things God, then it grows into rules around them, and then it becomes a closed box where all other thinking and views out side the box is wrong and ungodly.

Pharisees, in their passion to please God and in their pursuit of righteous, never see this coming. The Pharisee is usually the last person to see themselves that way. They often are well tutored in Christendom doctrines and have massive experiences of the hand of God in their personal lives. They are typically people of integrity. Their lives will exude God Himself as it were. The sad and sudden departure is often around the thinking that our God has stopped doing things new. There is an assumption that all the truths have been unveiled, inspite of  a tenet that Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 13 verses 9 to reading  "9  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part....12  For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known". Thing to note there is that whilst God remains the same yesterday, today and forever, the way we know His workings today does not remain the same; it is ever changing forward to the benefit of the Church. He continuously is working His way into our limited knowledge of Him, by revealing Himself piece by piece, until that day that the church will know her master fully in glory.

As children of God we should not be caught in the business of criticizing those that have gone before us, thinking we are more noble than them.  I remember sitting in a meeting where Apostle John Mulinde was speaking. He mentioned that he was not the first to create a prayer mountain in Uganda, but that the former Arch bishop of the Anglican church of Uganda, Bishop Henry Luke Orombi was the first to do so in Nebbi; now that for me was shocking, but it was the truth. Everything that the current evangelical or prophetic movement is enjoying today, is seated on the foundations that the Martin Luther's, the John Calvin's and other Generals in the faith built. It's only that a bit more has been revealed to us, so we see more clearly than them on certain things.

It is not wisdom for us today to attack anything we do not understand simply because it looks strange and new to us. Let's provide due steer where we see obvious error but often times the mistakes are from the pains of child birth for new things God is doing.  More recently for me has been the grace movement, the rise in the prophetic and apostolic manifestations, the unveiling of the revelations of the love of God and many more to come with ever increasing speed. The mistake as well is the carriers of these new things and revelations have not known how to manage and introduce change in any community, so they have broken the older vessels. God has called us to maturity and balance and to examine doctrines before we reject them fully.

What we shall see more of is this as the young people that you led to the LORD are becoming vessels of God in these new movements, simply because they are more open to God to use for "New wine". God will not put new wine in old wine skins as it will break them. That is why God avoids the "experienced Christians" that have forgotten the place of Grace where we should all habitually fall to refresh our views and hearts. If God poured this new stuff into most of us we would go apostate and be destroyed. I have seen God use men and women I led to Him and mentored to growth, in ways I never even knew about.

May God help us to see the cloud when it moves, and to have the grace to get up and walk after it when we see it move inspite of our current comfort. May we not be so comfortable with the old wine, that we loose flexibility for the new wine that God is pouring out, or else, in His love for us we may be left out of the new move, and in our darkness, we may be caught in ever increasing battles fighting the work of God, battles we shall never win.

Throwing the Baby out with the bath water

I have not felt the unction to specifically pray about COVID-19 per say, but during this period I have felt a deeper pull to take in as much personal time with God as I can. 

Really ? !  I hear someone say back there. Well,  let me explain; when this year started out, I was feeling weary from lots of fasting in 2019. So I told the LORD that I would do a week a month at most through 2020. I did that for January and February. However mid February I felt a very strong and deep unction to fast and pray starting March 1^st 2020 for 3 weeks. I actually wanted to do a vegetable and fruit fast for the period. Because I never wanted to interrupt my exercise regimen I ended up fasting for 12 – 18 hours a day on fluids and leaving out about 2 days a week for my exercise. I however determined to do the vegetable and fruit fast with fluids for the last week. I put my gym trainer on notice that I would not show for that week. By the end of that fast, the Uganda lock down drama had started. What was I fasting for ? That I may draw closer to Him in my walk with Him. I determined at the beginning of the year that my prayer item would be that.

Now today, I do not have to drive through a traffic jam (3-4 hours daily saved). Then I do not have to make time to dress up. I can directly hit my work bench and deliver on my work related outputs with ease. by 5 pm I am able to align myself to do the family alter, have time for myself on other personal development, get to bed early, and then engage in midnight prayer watch. So for me the lock down is an opportunity for the church to sharpen up.

Initially I did not understand, but as soon as I tuned in, the instructions from God of how to use this time started coming in. Those that have gone before us desired to see this time but to no avail; my pastor friend called it "Sabbath" ! the LORD has called the entire earth to a global Sabbath. But Sabbaths were meant to draw Holy convocations. Sabbaths were meant to be times of rest, reflection and personal retreat in order to revive one’s spirit. The Reference in the book of Hebrews about sabbath talks about “Entering into His rest”; His shalom !

On another front however, there has been increasing prophetic direction for the church and the nation. Many of these words do not look good and can conjure up fear if one is not careful to perceive them correctly. This is the time also the aversion of a number of Christians to gift like prophesy has become very apparent. I have bumped into a number of professing Christians that will not hear of a prophetic word, or a word of knowledge as they call is all fake! Now, I understand the effect of the false prophets; what however I do not understand is why a child of God will totally reject a mode that YAHWEH Elohim has opted to use down through out the ages. Now, if we are all crying out to God, but will not accept Him to talk back to us, why do we cry out at all? Or have we fallen so far away that we now believe in a God that does not speak? Are we not the ones making the words of God of non effect? Jesus said in Mark 7:13 "Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye." He was addressing the Pharisees who were now emphasizing tradition as if it were the oracles of God and as a result, they had grown insensitive to the workings of the Spirit.

Today we are quick to judge anyone that calls us to order or discipline as a "law" governed Christian, a “Pharisee of Pharisees”. We do not seem to appreciate that in pursuit of our pains and hurt, rather than the proper working of the gifts of God, we have now created our own version of god; it has a form of Godliness, but lacking the real power thereof (2 Tim 3:5). To this god, no one can hear from God, for direct instructions about life and Godliness; I have been told by some that those days ended in the book of Acts ! I have shared a number of prophetic words given during this recent pandemic that the entire world is working to wrestle down. I shared these mostly with the children of the House. I have received in some cases some really shocking reactions of straight rejection for the prophetic utterances !

So when God speaks back to us and we block our ears, how then shall we hear ? Another defense I have heard repeated on more than one occasion seems to form the theology of some today; some one asks "how can a loving God do this ?" " how can a loving God even say disaster is coming?"; they have said that their loving God will not give prior warnings about “negative” events to come. They do not realize that according to the tenets of the word of God, when men become evil and wicked, He (God) does not even need to punish them, but  rather allow for nature to revolt. The bible calls it "the land vomiting out its inhabitants" (Leviticus. 18:25 - For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants; Leviticus 18:28 That the land spew not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you.)

Nature has a voice; the blood of Abel spoke, the Fig tree the Jesus spoke to heard, and David the psalmists repeatedly refers to trees singing and clapping hands, and mountains jumping. Even Jesus in Mark 11:23 talks of speaking to the mountain, and it obeying the voice of our commands. The land too has feelings; nature has feelings and its only a matter of time before it reacts in repulsion and begins to vomit its inhabitants out of the land. God does not even have to be involved in this process. However, His involvement is in allowing nature to process with its course of action.

So "How can a loving God destroy His people?" He doesn’t! God in His love begins to warn us the day we first err (Isaiah 30:21 - Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left.) Problem is that when He speaks to us, we like little spoilt brats will often tempt Him again, the same way your stubborn little son will want to defy your word. So we go off into the opposite direction or pretend we did not hear. So in progression he sends us our pastors, friends or family who site His oracles to us. We still turn the other way and soon our consciences begin to become seared. Progressively we no longer even listen.

Then he sends prophets; ah but remember that we do not believe in them. In that instant we become masters at discernment, and alas every prophet is false, simply because he does not repeat to us what our ears itch to hear (2 Tim 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;) this is the point at which the child of God begins looking for their own "prophets". At this point now we are our own masters and nothing stands between us and destruction. Even satan at this point will abandon you because you are already in self destruct mode; he has "better use" for his time on more serious Christians. This is the point at which nature takes over, because then it has also had enough. Nonetheless, nature never comes at us without warning; but remember we already have a culture of not paying attention ! Then disaster strikes.

So we run off to pray, and God in His loving self same begins to tell us the very same things He had always wanted to draw our attention to, but then we quite have not yet gotten to the place of humility where we are open to listen to the instructions from the prophets. so we reject the word and the cycle of self destruction repeats itself. Unfortunately, at this point, often times we hold the abort key that enables us to return to sanity.

The question is, "Will you use that key this time round ?"

AT THE COVID-19 JUNCTION: WHICH TURNING DO WE MAKE NOW ?

Recently the world has been overtaken by events triggered by the onset of the COVID-19 infections. No one anticipated the avalanche that has followed after it. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, since the second world war ended, the world has not been brought to such a standstill as this. But God speaks in the calm of the storm.

One evening as I got into my bed, so tired from my days’ work, and wanting to immediately shut down my “systems” and join “the other world” where dreams meet with men, my already tired brain for some reason was taken over by a swift trend of thoughts; my thoughts run away with me but into the future however mostly around this COVID-19 thing and its impact on our global economy. Eventually it came to a stop; at this point the thought in my mind went something like this:

    "The world has no idea what it is going to have to handle when COVID-19 is done with it; the Global Economy will be so shaken that to reboot it is going to take huge sacrifices across the globe. No economic model drawn before now really has a clear solution as to how this recovery will happen. It will take serious inertia to get this machine moving again." 

The thought was so weird and yet so profound for me. I dropped it and went to bed. Two weeks later I now realize I was not by myself at that moment. Fast forward: President Trump locked down the U.S borders, then was swiftly followed by multiple European nations, Asian and now, Africa has followed suit. Stock markets have crushed, panic has set in, conspiracy theories are rife, and confident trading is not happening. All this is having cumulative shutdown effect on the Global economy; at some point the shutdown effect becomes exponential and then it runs away and now has a mind of its own. But what does it really mean when you stop a machine like the Global economy? Interesting thing is that it is formed by all the smaller economies across the world.

Money 101: The money cycle has credit somewhere in its structures. When credit is given, often there is terms that govern it to ensure that it is paid back with added value compared to the prevailing environment. This means that a shilling or dollar or any currency given in 2005 should have an equivalent value if it is repaid in 2020. Value of money is determined by what it can do for you at the moment. Thus, often you will find that because of inflation, 1 shilling in 2005 may translate to perhaps 6 shillings in 2020. The figure should have stayed the same, but if it does then the value it returns with the passage of time is significantly less. Then enters Interest rates; these were primarily designed to protect the value of money with the passage of time. Credit is also designed to build in profit for the creditor, so that their money makes more money for them. Now because of stability, the credit system gets ingrained into many of the workings of money and soon it is a given that life must run normally with credit being managed responsibly.

The problem with an adhoc shut down like the one currently imposed on the world by COVID-19 circumstances, no one saw this coming, therefore no one planned for it.  All the disaster recovery plans are relatively so decentralized and narrow is scope and have nothing close to a central command beyond the entities they serve, as they presume nothing of the kind we are currently facing. So suddenly there is a shut down and yet the credit counters keep running; there goes your problem number one. Credit is often paid back by the earnings from one’s business dealings and transactions. But since the system is shut down, earnings are reduced to a mere trickle until eventually, if nothing stops the trends, there is no earnings; in comes the other word "Penalties". Penalties are designed to safeguard credit and ensure that the debtor pays back, or else sink. So the cycle now is loaded further with penalties, but still the debtor, even with all good intentions to pay back, cannot pay since they are not earning.

The thing though is that the lack of earnings also has another perspective and pressure point to it. Debt is not the only need being serviced by a debtors earnings; they also have normal operating costs that consist of the very basics like food, housing, health, transport, utilities, etc. But remember that there is severely impacted earnings. Thus, whatever small earning is managed from other sources, this will most probably go to servicing those other needs first, but this leaves the debt growing. Perhaps, even now new lines of debt keep opening, given that the debtor must survive; so they keep taking more debt to service their necessities as highlighted above already. But also note that many peoples wealth is held up in the Global Stock markets, that are right now slumping and crushing, and there is no telling as to what happens to this value after COVID-19.

Remember that this cycle is not at an individual level this time, but is at a global level. You have many such distressed debtors and investors. Soon, the debtor can't service the debt, so it keeps growing. But remember the debtor cannot earn and possibly now are running serious operating losses because revenues are significantly below projections. The manufacturers as well are not moving their stock due to this ailing cycle, and thus are running high Operating costs. Their projected revenues are well are significantly reduced. They too now must cut back, but remember there is always that optimum minimum, below which you only keep losing capital. So, at some point the manufacturers shutdown the production lines to stop the bleeding. This triggers another event; scarcity of goods, which also eventually triggers shutdown of dependent services, and after a little while services also ail, slow down and grind to a halt.  So now, no goods, no services, but people must survive, etc, etc. the cycle keeps working itself.

Eventually the cycle can only be stopped by those privileged enough to have leverage (read "real wealth"). They now must reboot this entire system up by “sowing seed” back into the system to get it running again. Goodwill at all levels must prevail; penalties must be foregone, interest might be written off by debtors, debts will probably be written off, credit must be restructured to align with the prevailing circumstances. There must be patience, and to that understanding by the creditors. after a while, the system begins to come back online, but only this time working differently, and as well with a new set of class of society being born. In this new world, it is those that really know how to work, how to serve, how to handle others, how to make friends, how to see opportunities, that now take over the new "wealthy class".

COVID-19 is going to reconfigure the world. I am not an economist, and perhaps an economist needs to build a model that will run the worst-case scenarios against futuristic parameters and then project for us how to get out of this one. What remains to be seen is how long will it take for COVID-19 to be wrestled down so the world can begin opening its doors, which in turn will trigger the recovery.

Perhaps the good that is likely to come from this is that the world must learn then to return to real community. People must once again break down the barriers of selfishness and work together to lift each other up. I do not see how anyone can be self-reliant in this scenario. The would be a rise and a return to true leadership away from the political leanings of the world today. Law and order is likely as well to return as it is not possible to achieve recovery from this pit without an adept focus on the things that matter, like collective responsibility. The world is also most likely going to return to true work, true earnings, true community, true worship of God and wholesome living.

Save for the benefits above, God help us that this lock down is not sustained for a long time, otherwise this world may not remain the place that we currently know it to be for the reasons above. Rebooting the world economy is the real issue to worry about; COVID-19 is simply a catalyst that must be swiftly stopped as soon as possible. The leaders of the world must put on their thinking hats and get real teams of solid thinkers around them. This transcends selfish interests and will only sink those that keep that old way of thinking.

At a Global level we need God! We also need men and women of wisdom to prevail over nations leadership. This new world abhors vacuums created by a lack of wisdom and brains. At this point I would advise any leader at the helm of nations to get rid of the political types and surround themselves with real leaders, brilliant leaders that are not afraid to deploy strategic thinking, and as well that are not afraid to make the right decisions and recommendations in-spite of political correctness; nations shall need many of those kind of leaders. At an individual level too, this is when having wisdom and a personal net worth of physical fixed assets that far exceed one’s credit may be the game changer when COVID-19 lifts. 

Let us watch and pray !

BAPTISM: HAVE YOU BEEN IMMERSED?

Today we talk about baptism, something that every Christian knows about. In my service as a Minister in the house of God, I have witnessed people being delivered from the demonic as we dipped them in water to baptise them. I have seen others receive the in-filling of the Holy Ghost as this process was being done. Others have testified of significant shifts having happened in their lives. As a child born in the Anglican faith, I was baptised by sprinkling of water. When I later got born again as a teenager, I struggled to accept baptism by immersion. I gave all kinds of excuses until one day when I was about 17 years of age I gave in and got baptised by immersion by a one Reverend Nyanzi our Patron of the Scripture Union at the time.

Perhaps it serves well at this point to get certain definitions away and done with before we delve into the deeper stuff. The word baptism comes from the Greek word "Baptizo"(Strongs: 907) which means the following: to immerse, submerge; to make whelmed (i.e. fully wet); wash; cover wholly with a fluid - clearly anything less than totally under water does not seem to align well with the Greek meaning. My personal doctrinal foundation is: I believe that all New Testament doctrine has clear shadows (precursors) in the Old testament. However in the case of baptism this eluded me until recently when I was studying about the number "FOUR" in relation to a book I am writing (more on my study of "FOUR" in a later blog).

In the bible, the book of Matthew Chapter 3, the episode opens up with a scene of a preacher called John the Baptist. He is preaching a gospel  of repentance and preparing the way of the LORD . This mans lifestyle was one of full surrender to the purposes of God. John preaches so much to that the pharisees, the Sadducees, the soldiers, the tax collectors and many of the "scum of the earth" of his day come to him to be baptised as a way of repentance from their sins and indeed respond to the gospel he preaches. Somewhere along the way, Jesus Christ of Nazareth comes to this John the Baptist, in the wilderness near the Jordan where he is baptising people as a sign of repentance. The eventual conversation between the two men proceeds as follows from verse 14 of that chapter: 

John: "Noooo Jesus! Please don't do this to me !!! I have need to be baptized by you instead; why do you come to me?  

Jesus: "John, let things be as they are. Let us not interfere with this process: I must show by example to everyone by fulfilling all righteousness!" 

[after a long begrudging, contemplative silence, and multiple exchange of looks (as if he were thinking "must I really be doing this?"):]

John: "OK, my LORD! Let’s do this!" 

Scripture says that when Jesus was baptized, He went up straightway out of the water: and, behold, the heavens were opened unto him, and John saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Jesus. God in a voice audible to all present said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." This was a clear endorsement of both the action of John as being right and the one of Jesus being baptised. Indeed, on the latter Jesus maintained doctrine of baptism and he ensured to pass it on to these disciples as a direct instruction for all new believers. Now, based on this and the emphasis laid on this by the disciplines from the very beginning, the New Testament church ought to align to this. But one thing kept me curious; I kept wondering where John the Baptist had gotten this doctrine from.

I discovered that the doctrine of baptism is all over the Old testament and is as well a key principle in Judaism! You will have to keep with me in order to see the origin of this key principle, which in turn will help us see things more clearly. Baptism, in the very origin is how traditional Jewish women cleanse themselves after the monthly period "When she becomes clean of her discharge, she shall count off seven days, and after that she shall be clean..."  (Leviticus 15:18). The Jews’ are so serious about it that her whole body and hair must go under the water and ensure that she is not touching the walls or floor of the cistern/baptismal (Mikvah - is a bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity per Old Testament Law). They were also specific about the minimum amount of water that was to be used; it was a minimum measure of 40 “seah" of water (Equivalent to 200 gallons). So, the number 40 in the bible carries some connotation to some of the inferences behind baptism, but that is discussion for another day.

In the book of Joshua 3:5, the revelation at Sinai, all Jews were commanded to Sanctify themselves (i.e. immerse themselves) in preparation for coming face to face with God. Also, Aaron and his sons were treated the same way at consecration to priesthood “…And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate [Read: immerse] them, that they may minister unto me in the priest's office.” (Ex 30:30). Among the Jews, On Yom Kippur, the holiest of all days, the High Priest was allowed entrance into the Holy of Holies, the innermost chamber of the Temple, into which no other mortal could enter. This was preceded by immersion in the mikvah. Mikvah is also used by men on various occasions; apart from conversion, they are all customary. The most widely practiced are immersion by a groom on his wedding day and by every man before Yom Kippur. Some Jewish men use the mikvah before each Shabbat and Jewish holiday, some even making use of mikvah each day before morning prayer. This Mikvah process is what John the Baptist was doing.

Understanding the Mikvah (Baptismal)

Jewish law states that constructing a mikvah takes precedence even over building a house of worship. They also believe that immersion in a mikvah signals a change in status — or more correctly, an elevation in status, a transformation, or metamorphosis. The water standing for the Spirit, they believe water has the power to purify: to restore and replenish life to our essential, spiritual selves.

Further still, the mikvah personifies both the womb and the grave; the portals to life and afterlife. In both, the person is stripped of all power and prowess. In both, there is a mode of total reliance, complete abdication of control. Immersion in the mikvah can be understood as a symbolic act of self-abnegation, the conscious suspension of the self as an autonomous force. In so doing, the immersing Jew signals a desire to achieve oneness with the source of all life, to return to a primeval unity with God. Immersion indicates the abandonment of one form of existence to embrace one infinitely higher. In keeping with this theme, immersion in the mikvah is described not only in terms of purification, revitalization and rejuvenation, but also, and perhaps primarily, as rebirth. In relation to this, Judaism teaches that the source of all purity, is life itself. Conversely, death is the harbinger of impurity. All types of ritual impurity, and the Torah describes many, are rooted in the absence of life or some measure—even a whisper—of death. Thus, a woman’s menses signals the death of potential life. Each month a woman’s body prepares for the possibility of conception. The uterine lining is built up—rich and replete, ready to serve as a cradle for life—in anticipation of a fertilized ovum. Menstruation is the shedding of the lining, the end of this possibility. The presence of potential life within fills a woman’s body with holiness and purity. With the departure of this potential, impurity sets in, conferring upon the woman a state of impurity. So according to the old law, only immersion in the mikvah, following the requisite preparation, has the power to change the status of the woman. Among the Jews, Mikvah immersion (baptism) was the culmination of the purification rite in every case of impurity stated in the Old testament.

Thus, the concept of baptism as a physical sign of inner purification was not a strange one to John the Baptist, and indeed to any Jew. In fact the Jews that watched John knew exactly what the act meant, thus his comments to those he baptised "Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:" (Matthew 3:8) can now make sense because he was simply saying "you are now clean; keep clean." So, Jesus great commission as documented in Matthew 28:18 - 20 states:

"...And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them (repentance and turning away from sin is presumed here) in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

What is clear, baptism is a tenet that transcended the Old Testament, into the New Testament to the extent that our LORD issues this as a command to His church as he leaves for Heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of the Father.

Have you been baptised? Have you been immersed in water as a sign of your turning away from death with true repentance, New Life and new commitment to Jesus, as well as full dependence on Jesus alone?

References:

https://www.betemunah.org/four.html

https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/1541/jewish/The-Mikvah.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh#Requirements_of_a_mikveh