The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1899-11-25
BAPTIZED BY FIRE.
i Religious sect The, Brands Co

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yerts Witha BDt Iron.
Kansas missionaries of the queer
sect known Is the Fire Baptized asso.
iation, keep up their work in Frank
in county, and q furore in religious
%.ircles has been stirred up by them in
certain districts, says the Chambers.
burg, Pa, correspondent of the Phil
idelphia Record. These people do not
8%oelieve i'll the baptism by water, but
II the later inethod-by tire-as set
Forth by st. Paul in the Acts of the
Apostles. This they regard as a per-
sonal privilege granted only to those
Who join their association.
They also believe that one nan
should not have more of earthly pos
sessions than another, but that all
should share in nj III fact,
they go a little further than this and
take the thirty-second verse of the
fourth chapter of the Acts literally,
and say that their possessions are not
their own, bnt are given to them by
divine being merely temporarily.
They are seceders from the River
Brethren denomination, and during
the first few weeks of their stay here
the missionaries concentrated their
attacks almost entirely upon that
church. Recently, however, they have
turned their guns upon all religious
sccts, and declare ut their pubhc.
meetings that their faith is the only
IN which guarantees absolute safety
in the life to come.
The Fire Baptized have located in
Lehmnn's Grove, about six miles from
this place. They hold two meetings Il
lay-one in the afternoon and another
in the evening. On account of the
novelty of the affair they attract large
audiences, but their converts have
been very few. One of these is Amos
Musser, one of the most prominent
farmers in that section of the county.
The evangelists have been making
their home with him. There are now
about n dozen here from Kansas.
Musser was baptized last Sunday, q
rcd-hot iron being used to brand him
on the back. So earnest is he in his
belief that while attempting to fly
from a loft in his barn he fell to the
aoor, sustaining, however, but slight
injuries. He has also disposed of u
large herd of hogs, believing the as
;ertion of the evangelist that hogs are
unclean. A few days ago he was
Milled u farm, but he declined to ac-
,ept it on account of neither said any
Of them that aught of that which he
possessed was his own" Musser, how
ever, has moi given an equal share in
.he magnificent farm upon which he
resides to his brother evangclists.
The evangelists profess to be able to
,,,,. 1tra,.n -,,1 -taIl f1,ai,s4 ~ lp1 rang
that anything ran be accomplished by
terrific shock a few evenings ago,
When one of the number, to demon
stratc their power, prayed that a
ncighbnr would bring them a supply
of buttermilk at once, which did not
come. All sorts of attempts are made
to prove their omnipotence, but. like
the buttcrmilk, 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 S o far OBJ
tanned arc former members of the Riv-
or Brethren church. That the latter
body is determined to present a 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 a 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 Over
holtzer's church We're deprived Of
their membership.
We're not the River Brethren an eN-
,eedingly law-abiding people it is
questionable if the secedcrs would
progress very far with their work.
Should they continue their Trades.
against other denominations trouble
will likely follow. for a~lrendv-there is
talk of driving them from the ON
munity in which they are located.