Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-11-23
BAPTIZED BY FIRE.
A Religious Sect That Brands q
vcrts With u Hot Iron.

VCCt9 with u H1OB 4cOHsf ~
Kansas missionaries Of the qu
sect known as the Fire Baptized al
citation, keep up their work in Fran
lin county. and a furore in religid
circles has been stirred up by them
certain districts, says the Chanbe
burg, Pa, correspondent of the Phi
adelpllia Record These people do
believe in the baptisaa by water, b !
in the later method-by fre-Sas
forth by St. Paul in the Acts of Il
Apostles. This they regard as a pc
sonal privilege granted only to tho
who join their association.
They also believe that one ma
should not have more of earthly pc
sessions than another, but that q
should share in common. In fac
they go little further than this an
take the thirty-second verse. of u
fourth chapter of the Acts literally
and say that their possessions are nc
their own, bNt are given to them y
divine being merely temporarily
They are seceders from the Rive
Brethren denomination, and durin
the first few weeks of their stay her
the missionaries concentrated thei
attacks almost entirely upon tina
church. Recently, however, they hay
turned their guns upon all religion
sects, and declare at their publ
meetings that their faith is the onl,,
one which guarantees absolute Safeti
in the life to come.
The Fire Baptized have located II
Lehman's Grove, about six miles from
this place. They hold two meetings
day:-one in the afternoon and anothe
in the evening. On account q. tn
novelty of the affair they attract large
audiences, but their converts haTt
been very few. One of these is Amos
Musser one of the most prominent
farmers in that section of the countyl
The evangelists have been making
their home with him. There are now
about q dozen here from Kansas.
Musser was baptized last Sunday, a
red-hot iron being used to brand him
on the back. So earnest is he in his
belief that while attempting to fly
from loft in his barn, he fell to the
floor, sustaining, however, but slight
injuries. He has also disposed of 81
large herd of hogs, believing the ass
sertion of the evangelist that hogs are
unclean. A few days ago he was
willed farm, but he declined to ac-'
cept it on account of neither said amy
of them that aught of that which he
possessed was his own Musser, how
ever, has not given an equal share i'm
the magnificent farm upon which he
resides to his brother evangclists.
The evangelists profess to be able to-
cure disease, and tell their hearers
that anything can be accomplished by
f~sA IL, -,
terrific shock few evenings ago,
when one of the number, to demon
strate their power. prayed that IL
neighbor would bring them supply
of buttermilll at once, which did not
come. All sorts of attempts are made
to prove their omnipotence, but, like
the buttermills, the things asked for
have failed to materialize.
AS the camp is established in close
proximity to the Air Hill Brethren
church, their opposition to that par
ticular denomination is made more
apparent. The converts SO far OBJ
tanned are former members of the Riv-
er Brethren church. That the latter
body is determined to present hos.
tile front to the seceders is shown by
the expulsion of a number of the
members of the mother church who
greeted the seceders with the holy
kiss. There is tacit understanding
that the members of the old denomi
nation are to have nothing to do with
the new sect. For this offense several.
members of Bishop Martin w. Over
holtzer's church were deprived of
their membership.
Were not the River Brethren an eN-
ceedingly law-abiding people it is
questionable if the seceders would
progress very far with their work.
Should they continue their TRADES
against other denominations trouble
will likely follow, for already there is
talk of driving them from the COM
munity in which they are located.