Water Baptism has a serious problem . . .
Acts 2:38
Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
~ ~ ~
Due to this verse in Acts (and verses in other NT books), countless thousands of people - children, teens, and adults - are dead - dead, simply because they became convinced by the people that they looked up to, or because they were brought up in a particular religious tradition, they decided to get dunked under water.
As a Christian for 25 years, it had never dawned on me that water baptism could be dangerous. I did have questions concerning the mode, purpose, and perhaps the necessity of water baptism in our modern times, but I never, ever considered the safety of the procedure. As an atheist for the past 21 years, it never dawned on me that water baptism could be dangerous - but then one day it dawned on me, so I did a little research.
These reports below are merely the cases that I could easily find after doing a simple google search.
Just imagine the thousands upon tens of thousands of people who have likely been lost over the past 2,000 years as a result of this hazardous and often compulsory Christian practice.
By the way, I was baptized (dunked) back in 1979 - I wonder how many people were lost that year?
Nov. 1843
Crewe, in Cheshire England - In the early days of the Mormon Church, known now as Latter Day Saints.
On Thursday, the 23rd at 8 o'clock at night, the [wife] was taken by her husband and the . . priest down to the river, she was denuded of all her clothing, except a small flannel singlet, these wretched fanatics, after muttering some incantations, plunged her into the stream. The night was dreadfully cold and dark, and in consequence of the late heavy rains the river was running at a great rate, and was much higher than ordinary.
The priest, having hold of her arm, unfortunately let go his grasp, and the current . . . immediately carried her away and it being pitch dark she was instantly overwhelmed by the boiling flood and drowned! The husband walked home with the greatest deliberation and nonchalance, and told his neighbors what had occurred, and, after seating himself in a chair, declared his conviction "that it was the will of God that she should be drowned," adding that it was the weakness of her faith that caused it, but that he was now satisfied that she was in glory.
March 1871
McArthur, Ohio - Just a few weeks after Dr. A. P. Pownall was married, he was to be baptized. Rev. J. B. Hough was to perform the ceremony at Crooked Creek. As the pair waded some distance from the shore into deeper water, both suddenly slipped under water. Rev. Hough made his way back to shore but Dr. Pownall could not swim and was swept away by the current. His body was later found and brought to shore.
Aug. 1983
NATICK, Mass. A man being baptized in waist-deep water of Lake Cochituate was swept off balance by a wave and drowned, police said Saturday. John E. Blue, 37, of Boston, was being baptized by the Rev. Harold G. Branch Friday when the two toppled over and Blue fell into deeper water, police said.
Sept. 1996
An autopsy showed that the death of a baby girl 11 days after a baptism at Imani Temple on Capitol Hill was a drowning, and the case was ruled a homicide by the Washington D.C. medical examiner.
A student drowned in River Nile and five others were rescued as leaders of a religious sect, Rivers of Life Church, baptised them by immersion in the river. The incident happened at Kalagala Falls in Kangulumira in Kayunga district. The Police identified the dead student as Paul Wanume, 20, who was due to begin a course at Kayunga Technical School. The leader of the sect, Pastor Samuel Makayi, who led the baptism ceremony, fled after the incident. As the faithful were being dipped into the waters of the river, a rapid swept them off and Wanume drowned while five others managed to swim and were rescued. Eye-witnesses said there were over 100 converts awaiting baptism at the scene but they fled in disarray after the incident.
Oct. 2005
Kyle Lake, pastor of University Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, died Sunday after being electrocuted while performing a baptism. Lake, 33, was standing in water up to his shoulders in a baptismal when electrocuted. The woman Lake was baptizing was not injured. Lake had reached for a microphone when he was electrocuted as the congregation watched. Doctors present at the service attempted to revive the pastor, but were unsuccessful.
The experience of water baptism is one of the most treasured times in any believer’s life. It’s a public celebration of your decision to follow Jesus Christ and honor Him as Lord & Savior of your life.
~ Victory church ~
2010
A priest was accused of being the cause of the death of a six-week-old baby in Moldova. Father Valentin was blamed as witnesses said he did not cover the child's mouth and nose when he immersed the child in the water for the baptism.
Jan. 2014
A pastor and a recent convert he was attempting to baptize both drowned before 200 witnesses at a dam in Eastern Uganda. According to local news reports, at least seven other deaths have occurred at the same location, while baptisms were being performed.
March 2014
Rescue crews in California have called off their search for a 43-year-old man who was swept out to sea during an ocean baptism. Benito Flores, 43, had been helping to perform the ceremony in association with the Jesus Christ Light of the Sky church when he and two other men were washed away by the surf. Two of the men were able to swim back to shore without injuries but Mr Flores was lost at sea.
May 2014
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Police said a 25-year-old man died and two women ages 20 and 32 were rescued by good Samaritans after a current carried them away. The drowning occurred along a river mouth in the north-east coastal town of Luquillo during a baptismal ceremony.
Sept. 2014
A mother in Decatur, Ala., says her prayers were answered when, after years of trying, she had a baby boy. But tragedy struck when Brayden King was left in the care of his teenage sister at church on Friday - she lost track of him for a short while, and he was found dead, floating in 33 inches of water in the church's baptismal tank - Brayden was 22 months old.
Feb. 2015
A man has drowned during a baptism ceremony in Buccleuch, Johannesburg, emergency services said on Monday. "A 30-year-old man drowned along the Juskei river in Buccleuch, north of Johannesburg during a baptism ceremony this Sunday morning at around 10am," spokesman Robert Mulaudzi. "He was confirmed dead-on-scene." Mulaudzi said city emergency services urged church practitioners to make sure the area was safe before conducting baptisms, or to rather conduct them in a safer environment.
Throughout the history of Christian faith, people have been baptized in water to show they have accepted the message of God's love and have put their trust in Jesus.
~ Santa Maria Foursquare Church ~
Dec. 2015
Umdloti South Africa - A man who was being baptized at Mdloti Beach has drowned after being swept into the sea. According to Netcare spokesman, Chris Botha, despite the best attempts of lifeguards and paramedics, they were not able to resuscitate the man. “Lifeguards swam out, pulled the unresponsive patient onto the beach and started with CPR. Paramedics also arrived at the scene and started with advanced life support resuscitation. Tragically, despite the fervent effort from the paramedics, the man was declared dead at the scene,” he said.
April 2016
ECHAGUE, Isabela — Three children drowned during a baptism rite at the Cagayan river. Jerico Saturno, 10, Angel Opelada, 11, and Angelica Saturno, 13, were swept by strong river currents while being baptized by local pastor Ferdinand Nemenzo of the Heritage Bible Baptist Mission.
June 2016
Six children died following an early morning baptism session in a stream by a self-styled prophetess in Sadza, Mashonaland East Province. The tragedy occurred at Mutorahuku Stream in Muriwo Village. The victims — two boys and four girls from age 1 to 9 years old. Two suspects — Maud Dzvuke, the prophetess, and Jane Ruvinga have since been arrested in connection with the case.
July 2016
Dhaifal Ali, 34, a 101st Airborne Division soldier and former Muslim drowned in the Little West Force Creek at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, after he was swept away by strong currents as he was being baptized by popular internet preacher and fellow soldier Marcus Rogers in the same creek shortly before his death.
Army officials said Ali's body was found by emergency personnel on July 12, five days after he was initially swept away at the low water crossing on Fort Campbell.
Nov. 2016
Healdsburg CA - A father who drowned his own daughter inside a Bay Area church was not in his right mind and was high on drugs during the alleged incident, a close family friend tells NBC Bay Area. Gerardo Mendoza Ordaz, 42, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of drowning his 4-year-old daughter at a baptismal font as his young son watched, police said. He was found in the parking lot afterward, police said, naked and holding his limp daughter in his arms. Angel Delangel, who has known Ordaz since he was a boy, claims the father was high on drugs and was convinced Maria Jose had the devil inside of her.
July 2017
Two Christian farmers, aged 30 and 47, died as their pastors attempted to baptize them in the fast-moving current of the Ungwasi River in Rombo District in the Kilimanjaro region.
Being baptized the way that Jesus was baptized is an awesome, joyful experience! Forest Park has the joy of baptizing over 2,500 people in the past two decades. These people tell us that God did something special in their hearts when they followed the example of Jesus to get baptized
~ Forest Park Church ~
2018
Ethiopia - According to a BBC report , a crocodile attacked a pastor while he was performing a baptism in a lake. The pastor was bitten on his legs, back and hands. He later died as a result of the wounds that he sustained from the attack.
Feb. 2018
The police in Seshego outside Polokwane are investigating an inquest case following the death of the middle aged man who drowned during baptism in Blood River village. Limpopo police spokesperson Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe said it is alleged that the deceased drowned while baptizing a fellow church members in the local river. The body of the deceased was retrieved from the water by the Police Search and Rescue Unit.
March 2018
Three men drowned in Cape Town after a baptism went wrong. Sea rescuers have recovered the bodies of two of the three men who drowned during a church sea baptism at Monwabisi beach on Sunday morning. The body of the third victim is still missing.
Dec 2018
A 20-year-old man has drowned while being baptized by a pastor in a river south of Ghana's capital, Accra. In a video circulating on social media, Yaw Kyeremeh is seen stationed at the banks of River Densu together with a pastor who immersed him in the water. Then after brief prayers he was immersed a second time but he did not emerge from the waters.
Jan 2019
A South African archbishop drowned during a baptism. The leader of New Heaven Apostolic Church in Limpopo, South Africa drowned in front of church members who were queuing up to be baptized. When people realized the archbishop had been underwater for a while, they screamed for help as they were afraid to go in and rescue him.
June 2019
Police recovered the body of a 20-year-old man on Friday who had drowned during a baptism ceremony in KwaNdengezi, west of Durban. Mduduzi Blose, a member of the Nazareth Baptist Church, is believed to have fallen 3m from the rocks and into the Umlazi River, before disappearing below the surface on Thursday.
Water baptism is only intended for the individual who has received the salvation of God through faith in the atoning work of Jesus. In obedience to God’s command, and as a witness to all people that they are now a new creature in Christ – dying to self and rising to life in God – a believer should be immersed in water in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a symbolic demonstration of a believer’s union to Jesus Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection.
~ Bldg 28 Church ~
Nov 2019
The members of an Apostolic sect here were left with more questions than answers when one of their own drowned during a baptism ceremony which was conducted in Mutorahuku River. The 26-year-old Privilege Mabasa is said to have drowned and disappeared during the baptism ceremony. Her body emerged from under water the following day.
March 2020
In a very unfortunate incident, a South African preacher together with his congregant died earlier this week after they drowned during an unsuccessful baptism process.
Oct 2020
An evangelical pastor and a presbyter have drowned after going to a reservoir in Brazil to carry out a baptism. The pair lost their lives at the Atibainha reservoir, in the south-eastern Brazilian municipality of Nazare Paulista. The victims have been named by the police as 40-year-old pastor Davi Santos and 38-year-old presbyter Samuel Sergio.
Nov 2020
Three congregants have drowned during a church baptism ceremony in Bethlehem, South Africa, on Sunday. The adults, two males aged 24 and 25, and a female aged 24, drowned at Liebenbergvlei dam near Bethlehem on Saturday, 21 November 2020. They were part of a congregation from Botshabelo and reportedly drowned during baptism. The body of the female was retrieved, while the two men are still missing as the search was provisionally withdrawn due to bad weather conditions and heavy current water flow.
Jan 2021
Two men drowned in Moganwe spruit in Atteridgeville, Pretoria West, during an apparent baptism ceremony at the weekend. According to preliminary reports, a church member allegedly slipped during the ceremony and went under water. When the pastor reportedly tried to help, both drowned in the process.
Jan 2021
According to local reports, Rosa Jiménez Bartolo was getting baptized by her brother, a pastor, in Peru’s Rímac river on Dec. 28. With her sister-in-law watching, he lowered her into the fast-flowing river. “I baptize you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” her brother said in Spanish as he lowered her into the river. In a video recording of the baptism, Bartolo is seen lowering herself slowly into the hip-high water. As she started to rise, she lost her balance, and the river swept her forward, knocking over her brother. The brown waters carried the pair swiftly downriver, while another church member unsuccessfully tried to help. The person filming the baptism dropped the camera, and said “Oh my God!” The change from ceremony to calamity took only seconds to happen. Both were rescued by police.
If you’ve made the decision to follow Jesus, baptism is one of the most meaningful next steps you can take. Baptism is a public celebration of moving from death to life through faith in Jesus Christ.
~ Stonecreek Church ~
Feb 2021
Romania's Orthodox Church is under pressure to change its baptism ritual after a baby boy died following the ceremony. The six-week-old baby went into cardio-respiratory arrest on Sunday, after being immersed in a baptismal font three times during his baptism at a church in Suceava, north-eastern Romania.
Note - This post was published on March 26, 2021. People continue to drown during water baptism ceremonies. I will just keep updating.
Nov 2021
HARARE – Eight men drowned and three others were rescued last Saturday during a baptism ceremony in Rushinga, Mashonaland Central, police said.The dead men, aged between 21 and 50, included two brothers.
Police were called to a pool in the Mazowe River after 10AM on Saturday following reports that multiple people had drowned.
The eight bodies had been pulled out of the water and covered with white cloth.
Dec 2021
Bothaville - A 21-year-old priest took his congregants to a river near Kroonstad for a baptism on 22 December. While in the process of baptism, the 21-year-old priest and 41-year-old woman disappeared in the water. Their bodies were found by divers kilometres away from the drowning scene.DURBAN - A man drowned in Isipingo at the weekend while he was being baptized. Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said an inquest docket was being investigated by Isipingo SAPS after a 57-year-old man drowned on Saturday while being baptized. On Twitter, the SAPS said the man was being baptized in the sea near the Isipingo Beach tidal pool.
This is the second baptism-related drowning incident in Johannesburg in less than a month. 15 bodies were recovered from the Jukskei River earlier this month and the body of a three-month-old baby is still unaccounted for.
“I can confirm that we recorded a sudden death case of drowning. Amukela Ncube who is a pastor of an apostolic sect church went to Lumene Falls with congregants to conduct a baptism service. Ncube stepped into the river to check the depth of the water where he wanted to baptise the congregants and drowned,” she said.
Insp Mangena said a sub-aqua team tried to retrieve Ncube’s body yesterday but failed as he is stuck in between rocks and there is a lot of pressure from the water.
In Telangana, a pastor drowned during a baptism event. He slipped under the water as he dunked the new convert. Even though his followers immediately ran to help him. he drowned. However, the man whose baptism was being performed was saved.
His followers who were filming the ceremony immediately rushed to save the pastor and Citi Babu. Unfortunately, the pastor couldn’t be saved while Citi Babu was revived after being brought to the bank. Pastors have popularised taking new converts to water bodies for baptism in recent times. But it is endangering the lives of those who are lured into converting to Christianity.
Imagine what the friends and family were thinking in the minutes, hours, days, and years after the loss of their loved one as they were being "obedient to God” and participating in the water baptism ritual? I wonder if they thought “Well, God called him home to heaven”, or did they ask: “God, why would you allow this to happen”? Or did they think, “If only she hadn't converted to Christianity she would still be alive today”.
Wow. This is a lot of research. You contacted me about this post and this is my answer:
ReplyDeleteAll of us live on a precipice. None of us know when our last breath will be taken. At least those who were being baptized were open to God. They were preparing themselves to be with him. Will you be ready to meet him?
This world is filled with tragedy and injustice. Thankfully, this life isn’t all there is. There is hope in Jesus to live again. Why were the apostles almost all martyred? Jesus foresaw that too. Yet they all kept preaching the Gospel even though they were hated by most of the world.
God put humanity in a perfect setting. But humans make stupid mistakes. They drink and drive, baptize in rushing water, eat the fruit from the wrong tree, or reject the offer to have their sins covered.
They also act heroically, humbly, and wisely. They love others and love God. They rescue those in danger and care for the weak. This is the human condition. They have free wills to choose good or evil. I appreciate that those who were being baptized chose Christ. Little did they know how close they were to death. None of us knows but all of us can be prepared. Today is the day of salvation! “So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts … “ (Hebrews 3:7-8)