Baptism to enter the Kingdom of Heaven
After finishing the 10th online lesson on the content written in the Bible of the Church, I prepared myself with a "beautiful soul" to attend Baptism on a day in early May, which, according to them, would allow me to have my name written in the so-called Book of Life in Heaven.
One evening during the April 30 - May 1 holiday, I received a text message from Thom (who took care of me during Bible study days) saying that Passover would take place on Thursday (May 4).
To participate in this Passover which only happens once a year, one must be baptized first, so I only have Wednesday to do that. Because, on Passover, there is no baptism.
“I really hope you will celebrate Passover with us, to receive God's seal of protection for life,” Thom texted.
All messages are exchanged via Telegram, an application used by this church to communicate, exchange, and share information with each other. To attend this Passover, which only happens once a year, you need to be baptized first, so I only have Wednesday to do that. Because, on Passover, there will be no baptism.
On the evening of May 3, Thom picked me up in the lobby of the apartment building. Early the next morning, the two sisters moved to another area to study God's law, a lesson I still "owe" to the Church.
The door of the 7th floor of an apartment building in Ha Dong just opened, a woman in her 20s enthusiastically greeted us. The lesson about God's law, as Ms. Thom had said, was essentially advising me to abstain from eating blood (both living and dead), food sacrificed to idols, and suffocated animals.
“What we eat and what we don’t eat is up to God to see if we obey Him or not. All offerings at the temple are given away, and the people at the temple never eat them,” Thom said.
Ms. Thom also gave me an example of why we should not burn incense. She emphasized that burning incense is a tradition. In the past, our people also followed the tradition of riding horse-drawn carriages and wearing loincloths, so why not keep that tradition now? Therefore, burning incense should also be abandoned.
I nodded and ignored Thom’s words which, according to her, were God’s commandments. Because, in fact, those arguments were not convincing at all, nor were they true to reality.
“Done, let's get ready for the Baptism ceremony,” Thom excitedly closed the computer, packed her things, and took me to another apartment complex.
Before leaving, the girl opened the door and gave us a box of sticky rice, and did not forget to tell us to eat it all because this was food given by our parents and eating it would bring us blessings from our parents.
The large room on the 23rd floor of an apartment building in Ha Dong opened. Three well-dressed women came out, bowed and shook our hands. All of them said: “Hello - Many blessings”. At the entrance, an elderly man was having his hair dried by a middle-aged man. A “Saint” whispered to me: “He just finished Baptism”.
After knowing that I was the one to be baptized today, a woman smiled, gently congratulated me but did not forget to say: "If I cannot attend Passover tomorrow, I will have to wait a year and I don't know if I will still have the chance."
While waiting to be “reborn spiritually”, Sister Thom took me on a tour of the apartment building, which in the language of the Church is Zion. On the wall opposite where I stood was a picture of a clear blue sky, dotted with a few clouds. Nearby, a man was staring intently at a computer screen. Seeing me engrossed in admiring the scenery from the 23rd floor, Sister Thom said that Zion was chosen to be located on the upper floor to be closer to God, and it was also convenient for brothers and sisters to live.
According to Thom, before 2018, each Sion had a large number of people attending activities and worshiping. However, after that, each group only had 10-20 people and worshiped at the brothers and sisters' homes.
The year 2018 was the time when the press published a series of articles exposing the tricks and schemes of this Church. The authorities then got involved, many gathering places were exposed and disbanded, and many "Saints" also left.
Thom also did not forget to share with me about the way of calling when entering Zion, everyone calls each other sisters or brothers whether the person in front of them is a husband or wife, a child or someone who is 80 - 90 years old because there is no distinction in status, position, age or relationship. This way of calling, according to their explanation, is because they and I are children of God.
When going out, to avoid being noticed by others, we still distinguish between age, status, and relationship by addressing each other like uncle - nephew, mother - child... otherwise "strangers will say we are impolite".
“Before, my best friend and I used to call each other “may” and “toi”, so when we both became Saints, it took a while to call each other “sister”. We don’t have language habits, but because our parents gave us the gift, we need to change and we will change,” Ms. Thom shared.
While we were chatting, the group of people who had been baptized walked to the sky-shaped area to take a photo. A Saint told me that this was a “quadruple birth” because all four people were baptized on the same day.
Seeing that I did not understand, this "Saint" explained further that after being baptized, today was the day I was born, the day I was actually born spiritually.
After the group took pictures and each person shook hands with the words " Many blessings " , I was invited into a room and the Baptism began.
A man with a familiar face, who had appeared many times on television, sat across from me, in front of him was a piece of paper with personal information of the person being baptized written on it.
Just like the other people in the Church dressed in a suit, this man always had a smile on his face. According to the revelation, this man was a Deacon, a rather high position in the Church. “Each person can only be baptized once,” this person smiled and said.
After that, the man carefully recorded my personal information such as: full name, phone number, date of birth, time of Bible study, religion I follow... Even the information of the leader was also required to be declared.
Once done, I was given a prepared blue outfit to change into before the water dousing ceremony.
Inside the bathroom of this room, a bucket of warm water was waiting for me. The man asked me to kneel on the floor and test the water temperature with my finger. All the steps completed, the water pouring ritual began. Outside, the church people covered in white scarves stood praying.
The chorus of “Many Blessings” rang out once more. As he confirmed my acceptance of Baptism, the man instructed: “When I pray, please respond Amen. Please fold your hands and close your eyes.”
Having said that, this person used a clear voice to pray, and began the ritual of pouring water on me:
“The Father is God, the Son is Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is Ahnsahnghong, God, in the name of the three holy beings in unity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, I baptize this daughter.
So please Father, please wash away all the sins of this daughter's life and raise her soul to new life as Jesus rose on the third day.
All prayers are made in the name of Christ Ahnsahnghong Most Holy.”
A bucket of water was poured directly on my head. The man again loudly recited prayers. As soon as he finished reciting, about 10 buckets of water were poured on my head one after another.
The prayer was recited again: “Holy and Divine Father God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, I have baptized this daughter.
So from now on, I pray that Father, please have this daughter's name written in the Book of Life in heaven and make her name shine brightly forever.
Please Father, fill this daughter with the power of the Holy Spirit to carry out the mission of the Prophet…”.
I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of “Blessings” and applause from everyone. Like everyone else, I went out to change back into the clothes I was wearing earlier, dried my hair, and continued walking back to the room.
I was given a white scarf to cover my head, and sat on a chair with my eyes closed. The well-dressed man from earlier came forward, placed his hands on my head, and loudly recited a prayer with the implication that he had already baptized this daughter, so from now on, he asked the Father to take this daughter as his child…
The prayer ended, before me was a small cake and a cup of red wine.
Looking at the glass of wine on the table, I felt a little doubtful, but I remembered what the saints who had left the Church had shared. That glass of wine was completely normal, there was no problem, but the problem lay in the “psychological manipulation” of the Church members.
At this point, I calmed down and continued listening to the man's prayer from earlier to "ask God for blessings".
This man loudly spoke mysterious words: “… Now, Father, make this bread and wine become the flesh and blood of Christ according to Your promise, and we who believe in that promise should eat this bread and drink this wine. So, Father, make us one body with the living God so that we too may have eternal life, and also give us faith so that we may overcome until the end…”.
Then the man himself divided the bread and wine in half so that he and I could both believe and eat and drink it all.
“Come here and congratulate me on becoming a daughter of God.” After drinking the wine, this person smiled and spoke, not forgetting to remind me to follow God’s teachings, attend worship services on Tuesday evening and the Sabbath on Saturday, and attend Passover the next day.
Before leaving Sion, Thom planned to take me to a room to thank Father and Mother. But as if suddenly remembering that I was not wearing socks, Thom told me to sit down on a chair, cover myself with a scarf, and pray, say goodbye to Father and Mother, and ask for their blessing for a safe journey.
Sister Thom told me to keep the white headscarf carefully and always carry it with me, but not let others see it.
With handshakes and “Many blessings,” we left Zion to prepare for the Passover celebration on May 4.
Next: The secret history of Passover
We came to Zion to meet our brothers and sisters, to worship, the offerings were envelopes with money inside, but the deeper meaning as taught is that coming to this holy place is to meet God.
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