Is water baptism necessary in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit?

When you hear a command of God, "believe and be baptized," I don’t think you should ask that question at all. Why would you ask such a question when God says you must believe and be baptized?

It is because you are afraid you might go against the teaching of the church you grew up in—maybe some Orthodox, Anglican or Methodist church that gave you baptism as a child. The word baptism means immersed. It doesn’t mean sprinkled. It’s a Greek word which means immersed. It’s a sad thing that it was not translated into English. He who believes is immersed in water when he is saved (Mark 16:16).

So the question, "Should I get baptized?" is a question from people that come to the Lord and say, “Lord, what is the minimum I have to do in order to come to Heaven?” I am not interested in such questions. What is the minimum I have to do? Jesus did not come to earth and say, “Father what is the minimum I have to do for you here on this earth before I come back to heaven? What a shame it is after Jesus gave everything that any Christian should come and say what is the minimum I have to do for you? "Just believe"—is that enough? I want to do the maximum.

So if your approach is, "Is baptism necessary?" I say you have the wrong attitude. If you are ignorant, read the Scriptures, and don’t be afraid of what your pastor or church teaches. I grew up in the Orthodox Church, and when I was a little child I was sprinkled. They called it baptism, but when I was born again, I got immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Break with tradition. Break with those dead systems in which maybe your parents brought you up according to the light they had. But now that God has given you more light, live according to it. So, I would not answer that question.

Now, if you are lying on a sick bed and you can’t get up to be baptized, that is different. The dying thief on the cross was not baptized. But as some say—and for you—"You are not a dying thief. You are living thief!" There is a lot of difference between you and that thief on the cross. So if you are lying in a bed in a hospital and you are born again and you can’t get baptized, I say baptism is not necessary you can be filled with the Holy Spirit without it.

Before Cornelius got baptized (Acts 10), he was filled with the Holy Spirit and his family, but he got baptized immediately thereafter. So there is no reason why you shouldn’t be baptized.