The Devils’ Door

by Neville Doherty

JOHN BYINGTON (1798–1887) was a Seventh-day Adventist minister and the first president of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. In an article published in 1856 in the Advent Review & Sabbath Herald of February 7, he had this to say:

The “mystery of iniquity” began to work in the church in Paul’s day. It finally crowded out the simplicity of the gospel, and corrupted the doctrine of Christ, and the church went into the wilderness. Martin Luther, and other reformers, arose in the strength of God, and with the Word and Spirit, made mighty strides in the Reformation. The greatest fault we can find in the Reformation is, the Reformers stopped reforming. Had they gone on, and onward, till they had left the last vestige of Papacy behind, such as natural immortality, sprinkling, the trinity, and Sunday-keeping, the church would now be free from her unscriptural errors (p.148).

Notice the word “sprinkling”. What is that? That means infant baptism. Notice that it is called an “unscriptural error”, along with “the trinity” and also “Sunday-keeping”, and that it came from the Papacy.

What is the purpose of “infant baptism”?

They claim it is to cleanse the child from original sin. However, history reveals that the doctrines of infant baptism and original sin come from Babylon along with the trinity doctrine and sun worship on the day of the sun. From Babylon many false doctrines were adopted by Pagan Rome, and were “Christianised” by Papal Rome, and have never been renounced by the majority of the Protestant churches.

Infant baptism originally included the following:

In the Romish ceremony of baptism, the first thing the priest does is to exorcise the devil out of the child to be baptised in these words, “Depart from him, thou unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy Ghost the Comforter.” (“The Two Babylons,” p. 193, 1862)

In the New Testament there is not the slightest hint of any such exorcism accompanying Christian Baptism. It is purely Pagan.

Why, you ask, would they need to “exorcise the devil out of the child”? Because they believe it inherited original sin from Adam, that it is a child of the devil, and that the devil needs to be exorcised as soon as possible after it is born, because, if it dies, it will go to hell:

Question: What becomes of young children who die without baptism? Answer: If a young child were put to death for the sake of Christ, this would be to it the baptism of blood, and carry it to heaven; but except in this case, as such infants are incapable of having the desire of baptism, with the other necessary dispositions, if they are not actually baptised with water, THEY CANNOT GO TO HEAVEN (Ibid, p. 188).

What a sad, evil ‘Dogma’. Do they admit that it isn’t Biblical? Yes:

The reader has seen already how faithfully Rome has copied the Pagan exorcism in connection with baptism. All the other peculiarities attending the Romish baptism, such as the use of salt, spittle, chrism, or anointing with oil, and marking the forehead with the sign of the cross, are equally Pagan. Some of the continental advocates of Rome have admitted that some of these at least have not been derived from Scripture. Thus Jodocus Tiletanus of Louvaine, defending the doctrine of “Unwritten Tradition,” does not hesitate to say, “We are not satisfied with that which the apostles or the Gospel do declare, but we say that, as well before as after, there are divers matters of importance and weight accepted and received out of a doctrine which is nowhere set forth in writing” (Ibid, p. 199).

Rome is not shy to admit that her doctrines come from “Unwritten Tradition”, and that she is “not satisfied” with a thus saith the Lord.

Is there evidence that this “exorcism” was believed and practised by Protestants as well as Catholics? Yes, most certainly:

Above is a picture of All Saints Church, Covington, Cambridgeshire (England), this view is of the south side with entrance door and porch. On the north side we find yet another door.

This door is not simply the “back door”, but it is a door reserved only for the Devil and his minions. It is called “the Devils’ Door”.

The picture above shows the outside view of the north side of the building and the Devils’ door circled.

Many church buildings have these doors, they are normally located on the north side, the Devils’ side (Devils is plural). This north door has a 12th century tympanum carved with a wingless griffin and a lion facing at the top, both are Pagan symbols.

Inside the church we find the font for infant immersion is placed between the entrance (southern door) and the north or Devils’ Door which would be open to allow devils to escape to the north during baptism.

Notice the following:

The system of infant baptism, came from pagan Rome, from the earliest time it was an initiation ceremony into the Sun God. This ceremony has remained, the Sun now being the Son.

In the early Catholic Church, those adults bringing children to baptism would face the rear of the church, away from the Sun, the sponsors renounced the Devil, then they turned, facing the rising Sun in the East, made their covenant with Christ and the priest then held the baptismal ceremony and exorcism of the child (Dictionary of the English Church, Ancient and Modern, 1881, page 194).

Notice that it all centres around sun worship on Sun-day and that it was copied exactly from Babylonian paganism to wash away ‘Original Sin’. But what is it really doing? What is the real purpose of this ‘Dogma’? Dedicating the child to the Sun-god. What a deception!

It has been said, “Infant baptism is responsible for sending more people to Hell than any other cause.” Why would that be so? Because as we have seen, the child is dedicated to the Sun-god, and would go through its life believing that it is saved when it isn’t.

When I was converted to Christianity, I knew nothing of the truth, being brought up as an Anglican, so I just studied my Bible. When I found out about true Bible baptism by full immersion, I asked my Anglican minister for baptism. I was asked if I had been baptised as a child, and I answered yes. He then said that that is all that is needed, and refused to baptise me as an adult.

The scripture states plainly, “Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5).

If I had followed what the Anglican minister told me, I would be lost, but praise God I needed a plain thus saith the Lord for my faith, and God led me to the SDA faith and true baptism.

But what were the consequences to faithful Christians earlier on in history who refused to follow the ‘Dogmas’ of the church and insisted on adult baptism? In part two we will explore the fate of these faithful sentinels of gospel truth.

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