Heart Talks on Holiness

[marks]

Amen, I like what you said there about not having any issues with however He may provide to make us holy. Same here.

I've heard some call what we're discussing here a baptism of fire, burning up what remains of the flesh nature, according to how I've heard them testify of it.

I sure appreciate the opportunity to talk through these things!

I've heard some talk about the baptism of fire being purification, and to others it is judgment. I know in my life I've sometimes struggled to find the right words to talk about things that He has done in me.

Much love!

 

[Lizbeth]

I sure appreciate the opportunity to talk through these things!

I've heard some talk about the baptism of fire being purification, and to others it is judgment. I know in my life I've sometimes struggled to find the right words to talk about things that He has done in me.

Much love!

Same here brother! Bless you! :)

 

[quietthinker]

When we read that Satan presents or disguises himself as an angel of light, what do we think that means?

 

[ChristisGod]

When we read that Satan presents or disguises himself as an angel of light, what do we think that means?

my top 10 list

1-he twists scripture- Genesis 3, Matt 4.
2-cause one to doubt was God has said- Genesis 3
3-the desiring of flesh, lust of the eyes, pride- 1 John 2
4-religious like the pharisees- their father was the devil- John 8:44
5-denies and twists the gospel- Galatians 1
6-promotes a false christ denying the bodily Resurrection- 1 Cor 15, 1 John 4:2-3, 2 John 7
7-performs miracles signs and wonders to deceive- Matt 16:4, Matt 24:24
8-justifies sin rather than obedience to Christ- 1 John 3:8-10
9-lacks love for brothers/sisters in Christ- 1 John 3:11-15
10-sows discord among the brethren, dissension- Galatians 5, Prov 6:12-15

and a host of other things I could add to the list.

 

[Lizbeth]

When we read that Satan presents or disguises himself as an angel of light, what do we think that means?

Christophany went into more detail, but overall i believe it means the devil is very subtle, sneaky, conniving and deceitful.

 

[Laurina]

Ok, I'm back...sorry, family circumstances came first. So, I'm reading "Helps to Holiness" by Brengle and I'd like to discuss chapter 2....so I posted it if anyone is interested. (It is available on the internet as a pdf file) There are some things in it that I wish to discuss but to post just snippets of it wouldn't give the whole context. Some of you have already had issue with calling this a "second blessing"....that's what Brengle called it....some say it's not biblical....call it whatever, a deeper work, whatever, I don't want to get caught up with a "name", but more with the result of it. So here is chapter 2:

"CHAPTER II.
Holiness— How to Get it.
" My people perish for lack of knowledge" (Hosea iv. 6)
"This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John xvii. 3).
Said an old professor of over eighty years, in a certain holiness meeting; "I believe in holiness; but I don't think it is all got at once, as you people say. I believe we grow into it."
This is a very common mistake, second only to that which makes death the saviour from sin and the giver of holiness, and it is one which has kept tens of thousands out of the blessed experience. It does not recognise the exceeding sinfulness of sin,” (Rom. vii, 13) nor does it know the simple way of faith by which alone sin can be destroyed.
Entire sanctification is at once a process of subtraction and addition.
First, there are laid aside "all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking (1 Peter ii. 1); in fact, every evil temper and selfish desire that is unlike Christ, and the soul is cleansed. In the very nature of the case this cannot be by growth, for this cleansing takes something from the soul, while growth always adds something to it. The Bible says, “Now ye also put off all these—anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication.” (Col. iii. 8.) The Apostle talks as though a man were to put these off in much the same way as he would his coat. It is not by growth that a man puts off his coat, but by an active, voluntary, and immediate effort of his whole body. This is subtraction.
But the Apostle adds: “Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering." (Col. iii. 12). No more does a man put on his coat by growth, but by a similar effort of his whole body.
A man may grow in his coat, but not into his coat; he must first get it on. Just so, a man may “grow in grace,” but not into grace. A man may swim in water, but not into water.
It is not by growth that you get the weeds out of your garden, but by pulling them up, and vigorously using
your hoe and rake.
It is not by growth that you expect that dirty little darling, who has been tumbling around with the dog and cat in the back yard, to get clean. He might grow to manhood, and get dirtier every day. It is by washing, and much pure water, that you expect to make him at all presentable. So the Bible says: “ Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” (Rev. i. 5) “ The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John i. 7).
Those facts were told to the old brother mentioned above, and he was asked if, after sixty years of Christian experience, he felt any nearer the priceless gift of a clean heart than when he first began to serve Christ. He honestly confessed that he did not.
He was asked if he did not think sixty years were quite long enough to prove the growth theory, if it were true. He thought they were, and so was asked to come forward and seek the blessing at once.
He did so, but did not get through that night, and the next night came forward again. He had scarcely knelt five minutes before he stood up, and, stretching out his arms, while the tears ran down his cheeks and his face glowed with Heaven's light, he cried out, "as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed my transgressions from me” (Ps. ciii. 12). For some time after, he lived to witness to both small and great this wondrous grace of God in Christ, and then went in triumph to the bosom of that God whom without holiness no man can see.

 

[Laurina]

Chapter 2 continued:

"But," said a man to me, as I urged him to seek holiness at once, "I got this when i was converted. God didn’t do a half work with me when He saved me. He did a thorough job."
“True, God did a thorough work, brother. When He converted you, He forgave all your sins, every one of them. He did not leave half of them unforgiven, but blotted them all out as a thick cloud, to be remembered against you no more for ever. He also adopted you into His family, and sent His Holy Spirit into your heart to tell you that blessed bit of heavenly news; and that information made you feel happier than to have been told that you had fallen heir to a million dollars, or been elected Governor of a Stale, for this made you an heir of God, and a joint heir of all things with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Glory to God! It is a great thing to be converted, but, brother, are you saved from all impatience, anger, and like sins of the heart? Do you live a holy life "
“Well, you see, I don’t look at this matter exactly as you do,'” said the man. “I do not believe we can be saved from all impatience and anger in this life." And so, when pressed to the point, he begged the question, and really contradicted his own assertion that he had got holiness when he was converted. As a friend writes, he “would rather deny the sickness than take the medicine."
The fact is, that neither the Bible nor experience proves that a man gets a clean heart when he is converted, but
just the contrary. He does have his sins forgiven; he does receive the witness of adoption into God's family; he does have his affections changed. But before he has gone very far he will find his patience mixed up with some degree of impatience, his kindness mixed with wrath, his meekness mixed with anger (which is of the heart, and may not be seen of the world, but of which he is painfully conscious), his humility mixed with pride, his loyalty to Jesus mixed with a shame of the Cross, and, in fact, the fruit of the Spirit and the works of the flesh, in greater or less decree are all mixed up together.
But this will be done away with when he gets a clean heart, and it will take a second work of grace, preceded by a whole-hearted consecration, and as definite an act of faith as that which preceded his conversion, to get it.
After conversion, he finds his old sinful nature much like a tree which has been cut down, but the stump still left. The tree causes no more bother, but the stump will still bring forth little shoots, if it is not watched. The quickest and most effective way is to put some dynamite under the stump, and blow it up.
Just so, God wants to put the dynamite of the Holy Ghost (the word “ dynamite ’’ comes from the Greek word “ power," in Acts i. 8) into every converted soul, and for ever do away with that old troublesome, sinful nature, so that he can truly say, “ Old things have passed away, and, behold, all things have become new" (2 Cor. v. 17).
This is just what God did with the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Nobody will deny that they were converted before Pentecost, for Jesus Himself had told them to “rejoice because your names are written in Heaven," (Luke x. 20) and a man must be converted before his name is written in Heaven.
And again, He said, “ They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” (John xvii. 16), and this could not be said of unconverted men. So we must conclude that they were converted, yet did not have the blessing of a clean heart until the day of Pentecost.
That they did receive it there, Peter declares about as plainly as it is possible to do in Acts xv. 8,9, where he says: "God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did with us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying
their hearts by faith."
Before Peter got this great blessing, he was filled with presumption one day and with fear the next. One day he declared that, “Though all men be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended; though I should die with 'Thee, yet will I not deny Thee” (Matt. xxvi. 33, 35). And shortly after, when the mob came to take his Master, he boldly attacked them with the sword; but next day, when his blood had cooled a little, and the excitement was over, he got so frightened by a little girl, that he cursed and swore, and denied his Master three times.
He was like a good many Soldiers, who arc tremendously brave when there is a “big go," and everybody is favourable, or who can even stand an attack from persecutors, where muscle and physical courage can come to the front; but who have no moral courage to wear the uniform alone in their shop, where they have to face the scorn of their mates, and the jeers of the street urchin. These are soldiers who love dress parade, but do not want hard fighting at the front of the battle.
But Peter got over that on the day of Pentecost. He received the power of the Holy Ghost coming into him. He got a clean heart, from which perfect love had cast out all fear; and then, when shut in prison for preaching on the street, and commanded by the Supreme Court of the land not to do so any more, he answered, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts iv. 19, 20) And then, just as soon as he was released, into the street he went again to preach the blessed good news of an uttermost salvation.
You could not scare Peter after that, nor could he he lifted up with spiritual pride either, for one day, after he had been used of God to heal a lame man and "the people ran together... greatly wondering,” Peter’ saw it and said, “Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God... of our fathers hath glorified His Son Jesus...And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong; yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness.” (Acts iii. 12, 13, 16).
Nor did the dear old Apostle have any of that ugly temper he showed when he cut off that poor fellow’s ear the night Jesus was arrested, but armed himself with the mind that was in Christ (1 Peter iv. 1), and followed Him who left us an example that we should follow His steps.

“But we cannot get what Peter got on the day of Pentecost,” wrote someone to me recently. However, Peter himself, in that great sermon which he preached that day, declared that we can, for he says: “Ye shall receive the Holy Ghost; for the promise is unto you Jews, to whom I am talking, and to your children; and not to you only, but to all that are afar off”—nineteen hundred years from now—“ even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” or convert. (Acts ii. 38, 39.)
Any child of God can have this, if he will give himself wholly to God and ask for it in faith: “ Ask, and ye shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; for if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him” (Luke xi. 9, 13).
Seek Him with all your heart, and you shall find Him; you shall indeed, for God says so, and He is waiting to give Himself to you.
A dear young fellow, a candidate for Salvation Army work, felt his need of a clean heart, went home from the holiness meeting, took his Bible, knelt down by his bed, read the second chapter of Acts, and then told the Lord that he would not get up from his knees till he got a clean heart, full of the Holy Ghost. He had not prayed long before the Lord came suddenly to him, and filled him with the glory of God; and his face did shine, and his testimony did burn in people’s hearts after that!
You can have it, if you will go to the Lord in the Spirit and with the faith of that brother; and the Lord will do for you “ exceeding abundantly above all that "you" ask or think, according to the power that worketh...in us (Eph. iii. 20).


Receiving before Giving.
There is spiritual bankruptcy, as there is a pecuniary one. I may become so eager to help the poor, that I indiscriminately give away all my property, and so become a pauper myself. Likewise I may be so eager to help souls, that I give away all my spiritual capital. I talk and talk and talk, without waiting on God to fill me. This is folly. We should wait to be clothed with power from on high. We should take time to hear what the Lord will say; then speak so much as He gives us to speak, and no more. Then again seek His face, and be quiet and attentive before Him till He refills us. If we do not do this we become weak inwardly; we draw on our reserve power, and become exhausted both spiritually and mentally.
We may be so eager to give, that we become impatient of waiting upon God to receive, forgetting that Jesus said: without Me ye can do nothing.”
Those who have blessed men the most, and blessed the most men, have taken time to listen to God’s voice, and to be taught of Him."

 

[marks]

This is just what God did with the Apostles on the Day of Pentecost. Nobody will deny that they were converted before Pentecost, for Jesus Himself had told them to “rejoice because your names are written in Heaven," (Luke x. 20) and a man must be converted before his name is written in Heaven.

This is the writer's assumption. But no one was born again until after Jesus' resurrection. This is not a valid evidence of this "second benefit".

“But we cannot get what Peter got on the day of Pentecost,” wrote someone to me recently. However, Peter himself, in that great sermon which he preached that day, declared that we can, for he says: “Ye shall receive the Holy Ghost; for the promise is unto you Jews, to whom I am talking, and to your children; and not to you only, but to all that are afar off”—nineteen hundred years from now—“ even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” or convert. (Acts ii. 38, 39.)

And so what Peter received on Pentacost is Who we receive in our rebirth.

We are reborn with a new nature. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds to live in that new nature. If we delay, and resist, God will chasten us, so that we will bear righteous fruit. If we trust Him, we may walk in His Spirit.

I do not think we should deny having the ability to live holy lives, considering God's promises to us.

Consider this passage, and let me ask you,

2 Peter 1:2-4 KJV
2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

What do you now lack?

What does it mean to you to be "converted"?

Much love!

 

[Laurina]

The first thing I'd like to address is this:

"Said an old professor of over eighty years, in a certain holiness meeting; "I believe in holiness; but I don't think it is all got at once, as you people say. I believe we grow into it."
This is a very common mistake, second only to that which makes death the saviour from sin and the giver of holiness, and it is one which has kept tens of thousands out of the blessed experience. It does not recognise the exceeding sinfulness of sin,” (Rom. vii, 13) nor does it know the simple way of faith by which alone sin can be destroyed."
......
Those facts were told to the old brother mentioned above, and he was asked if, after sixty years of Christian experience, he felt any nearer the priceless gift of a clean heart than when he first began to serve Christ. He honestly confessed that he did not.
He was asked if he did not think sixty years were quite long enough to prove the growth theory, if it were true. He thought they were, and so was asked to come forward and seek the blessing at once.
He did so, but did not get through that night, and the next night came forward again. He had scarcely knelt five minutes before he stood up, and, stretching out his arms, while the tears ran down his cheeks and his face glowed with Heaven's light, he cried out, "as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed my transgressions from me” (Ps. ciii. 12). For some time after, he lived to witness to both small and great this wondrous grace of God in Christ, and then went in triumph to the bosom of that God whom without holiness no man can see.

What I want to address is that you can't teach something you don't know. Brengle, at the time of writing this book (said in another chapter of this book), was walking for 10 years in a power I would say is unknown to most Christians in our day. (I have no reason not to believe him.) The chapter starts with the verse in (Hosea 4:6) which says "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge", but the whole verse says: "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children." Scary thought that we could be rejected by God because we reject knowledge.
So, in reading this book and in reading the Bible which says without holiness none shall see the Lord (Heb. 12:14). I need to reject (and I think I have) what I was taught as a child in church, that you only become holy after you die. I also don't believe that we "grow" into holiness. I've been a Christian for long enough to realize that I'm not getting any holier. I love God, but I am impure and anything added to me will still be impure, so something has to break, to be removed, emptied to be refilled but in a clean heart....mine is stained with the world. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Ps. 51:10)
What I'm saying is, I believe there is more to Christianity than what is being presented by most Christians. I believe Brengle experienced a walk that is available to everyone (if you don't get caught up by his calling something a name you don't agree with) and I wonder if maybe @Episkopos may know something of this?

 

[Laurina]

This is the writer's assumption. But no one was born again until after Jesus' resurrection. This is not a valid evidence of this "second benefit".


And so what Peter received on Pentacost is Who we receive in our rebirth.

We are reborn with a new nature. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds to live in that new nature. If we delay, and resist, God will chasten us, so that we will bear righteous fruit. If we trust Him, we may walk in His Spirit.

I do not think we should deny having the ability to live holy lives, considering God's promises to us.

Consider this passage, and let me ask you,

2 Peter 1:2-4 KJV
2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

What do you now lack?

Much love!

I guess what I would have to say is, faith....I lack faith....and sadly, there's no excuse for it!!

 

[marks]

Those facts were told to the old brother mentioned above, and he was asked if, after sixty years of Christian experience, he felt any nearer the priceless gift of a clean heart than when he first began to serve Christ. He honestly confessed that he did not.

This is sad if true, but none the less anecdotal, and doesn't change the meaning and sayings of Scripture. Failing to hold Scripture above opinions about our perceptions of our selves results in much error, I think!

We should seek to understand our lives by Scripture, not the other way around.

This is why I don't talk much about my experiences, only specifically as the Holy Spirit moves me to do so, and then only carefully to stay within the bounds He sets.

I need to reject (and I think I have) what I was taught as a child in church, that you only become holy after you die.

Agreed . . . we should not place limits on God, or the work He will do in our lives if we allow Him, and cooperate with Him.

Much love!

 

[marks]

I guess what I would have to say is, faith....I lack faith....and sadly, there's no excuse for it!!

You could begin here . . .

2 Peter 1:2-4 KJV
2) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3) According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Trust Him that this is true!

Much love!

 

[marks]

I've been a Christian for long enough to realize that I'm not getting any holier. I love God, but I am impure and anything added to me will still be impure, so something has to break, to be removed, emptied to be refilled but in a clean heart....mine is stained with the world. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. (Ps. 51:10)

1 John 3:1-3 KJV
1) Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2) Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Much love!

 

[marks]

What I'm saying is, I believe there is more to Christianity than what is being presented by most Christians.

I tend to agree, but I don't like making overgeneralizations.

But it seems a great many don't understand or accept the amazing truth,

Romans 6:3-11 KJV
3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7) For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Believe and receive!

Much love!

 

[quietthinker]

my top 10 list

1-he twists scripture- Genesis 3, Matt 4.
2-cause one to doubt was God has said- Genesis 3
3-the desiring of flesh, lust of the eyes, pride- 1 John 2
4-religious like the pharisees- their father was the devil- John 8:44
5-denies and twists the gospel- Galatians 1
6-promotes a false christ denying the bodily Resurrection- 1 Cor 15, 1 John 4:2-3, 2 John 7
7-performs miracles signs and wonders to deceive- Matt 16:4, Matt 24:24
8-justifies sin rather than obedience to Christ- 1 John 3:8-10
9-lacks love for brothers/sisters in Christ- 1 John 3:11-15
10-sows discord among the brethren, dissension- Galatians 5, Prov 6:12-15

and a host of other things I could add to the list.

how does this list qualify him as appearing as an angel of light?

 

[Laurina]

I tend to agree, but I don't like making overgeneralizations.

But it seems a great many don't understand or accept the amazing truth,

Romans 6:3-11 KJV
3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7) For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11) Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Believe and receive!

Much love!

This is where I am stuck, what I can relate to:
Romans 7:21-24
​

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

 

[quietthinker]

Christophany went into more detail, but overall i believe it means the devil is very subtle, sneaky, conniving and deceitful.

Yes Lizbeth, I think we all know he has these 'qualities'. The question is however, an 'angel of light' does not manifest these things, so what is it that makes him appear as an angel of light?

 

[marks]

This is where I am stuck, what I can relate to:​

Romans 7:21-24​

​

21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Do you believe/understand that being baptized into Christ you join Him in death, meaning you are also dead? Dead to sin and alive to God?

The reason I ask is that there are two very different possible questions being asked, depending on what you believe.

If you understand that your flesh remains to be crucified, then you will be asking, How do I crucify my flesh? If you understand that your flesh is crucified with Christ, then you will be asking, Why don't I live in agreement with that truth, and how do I?

Much love!

 

[Laurina]

Do you believe/understand that being baptized into Christ you join Him in death, meaning you are also dead? Dead to sin and alive to God?

The reason I ask is that there are two very different possible questions being asked, depending on what you believe.

If you understand that your flesh remains to be crucified, then you will be asking, How do I crucify my flesh? If you understand that your flesh is crucified with Christ, then you will be asking, Why don't I live in agreement with that truth, and how do I?

Much love!

Mark 16: 16-18:

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

 

[ChristisGod]

Mark 16: 16-18:

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

You do realize the passage you quoted is in ITALICS in your bible for a reasons right ?