By Timothy Cockes —
Stories of older Christians being baptized are serving as a reminder that it is never too late to take a step of obedience.
One of those is Bernice Oliver at Glasgow Baptist Church in Glasgow, Ky.
Erdie Carter, senior pastor at Glasgow, said Bernice’s wife Evelyn had been a faithful member and attender at the church all the way up until the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the couple began watching the church’s services on a local TV broadcast.
Carter said the couple have been married for 67 years, and Evelyn has faithfully prayed for Bernice to receive Christ as his personal savior.
Carter visited Bernice, 93, many times in their home and shared the Gospel with him, but had never seen a responsiveness from him. That all changed a few weeks ago.
Carter said Evelyn told him that her husband had begun faithfully watching the church’s Sunday services with her.
After a few weeks, members of the church visited their home to bring food as part of the church’s community outreach program. While at the home, Bernice said he was ready to make a decision for Christ.
After walking him through this decision, the church members followed up by asking if he would like to be baptized. He said he would.
Carter said Glasgow also observed the Lord’s Supper the day that Bernice was baptized, adding that seeing the transformation in Bernice deeply affected him and his congregation.
“Pastors often talk about that it’s never too late … but to actually see this man at 93 come to this spiritual realization and then want to publicly profess his faith in Christ, it was joy,” Carter said. “It overwhelmed me with emotions. It renewed the strength of my church members’ prayers for their own lost loved ones.”
Ena Campbell-Reid began attending Grace Fellowship: A Church for All Nations in West Palm, Fla., when a friend in her neighborhood invited her.
Campbell-Reid, 92, grew up going to a Methodist church in Jamaica and had never been baptized by immersion.
After being immersed at Grace Fellowship Campbell-Reid told Baptist Press she was glad she made the decision to do it.
“I would encourage anyone else in the church to get baptized because everyone at the church is very nice and they will treat you very well,” Ena said.
She said another factor in her decision to get baptized was the encouragement from pastors at the church such as lead pastor Jeff Robinson.
Robinson, who also serves on the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, said Campbell-Reid provides a great example for his church to reflect on the importance of following through in baptism.
“We routinely remind our church family that in spite of the suffering and brokenness we see around us, in the news, and on social media, to never forget that God is still very much at work in the world,” Robinson said.
“Ms. Ena’s following Jesus in public believer’s baptism by immersion is both an encouragement and a powerful motivation for our entire faith family.”
Carter said seeing Bernice and others be baptized goes right along with celebrating with the SBC is supposed to be about.
“The mission of the SBC is to go and preach the Gospel so that people may know and believe in Christ,” Carter said. “His desire to be saved and baptized just reminded me what Christ will do. When Christ changes our heart, it changes our perspective.”
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[…] entanto, de acordo com God Reports, há algumas semanas, isso mudou. Evelyn contou ao pastor que seu marido começou a assistir […]
[…] entanto, de acordo com God Reports, há algumas semanas, isso mudou. Evelyn contou ao pastor que seu marido começou a assistir […]
Great to see old people get saved.
Nothing Biblical mentioned here though about baptism. The Bible says that water immersion (baptism) in the Name of Jesus Christ is for the remission (forgiveness of and removal of) sins, also for the “washing away of sins.”
See Acts 2:38 & 22:16.
People say (rightly) that “only the Blood of Jesus can forgive and wash away sins.” This is true. I enquired of the Lord about it and he said that the Blood of Jesus is applied at water baptism and the water symbolizes His Blood. So when you are immersed in water in His Name, you are immersed in the Blood of Jesus in God’s sight, and therefore are clean!! Which explains why the Apostles were always in a hurry to baptize people who’d repented and believed on Jesus, doesn’t it. See Acts 2:38 and following, Acts 10:48; 19:6 and 22:16.
See how immediately after repentance people were baptized.
Of course, unless a person has repented and made the decision for Christ, their baptism has no efficacy at all.
Today, we’ve created a different thing where pastors will typically say, “Baptism is only an outward sign of one’s commitment to follow Christ.”
No it isn’t: it’s far more powerful than that.
I hope what I’ve said might help someone reading this.
The Bible is right.
Truly water baptism by immersion in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ is part and parcel of OBEDIENCE unto salvation of anyone who truly repents on hearing the gospel of God preached. It was the practice of the Early Believers under the true apostleship of those who walked with Jesus and were taught by Jesus. Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the Gift if the Holy Ghost (which is the gift of Eternal Life). In the days of apostle Peter and apostle Paul every believer is scripturally baptized and followed on to receive the baptism of the holy spirit without which you are not part of the body of Christ, the church of the Living God, the church of the Firstborn. The gospel out there today is a counterfeit gospel where money is preached not the Cross of Jesus. It is an accursed gospel. Let us return to the good old way, the way chartered by the apostles of Jesus Christ in the beginning. Amen.
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