A lot of people wrongly assume that Christianity is a dying religion. That could not be further from the truth. God is still very much at work in the world. The church is growing by leaps and bounds, you just won’t hear about it on the news. Positive stories don’t pull in nearly as many viewers and readers as all the salacious stuff, and since advertising revenue for news organizations is largely based on that metric, many publications and networks don’t bother paying any attention to stories that might actually build up and encourage consumers of their product.
A great example to illustrate how the power of the gospel is infiltrating the world all around us and building up the ranks of the church is the recent baptism in California over the weekend where a whopping 12,000 people were baptized in what is being called the “largest synchronized day of water baptism in American history.”
These are folks who have professed faith in Christ as Lord and Savior and are seeking to obey His command to be baptized and grow in their faith and obedience to His Word. Despite all of the darkness, all of the rampant sexual deviance and sin plastered all over the internet, social media, and television, no matter how hard the devil works to deceive humanity, God is using the church, His people, to spread the gospel and bring home new believers into the kingdom.
The group that organized the massive baptism in the Pacific Ocean is known as Baptize California, which defines itself as a “statewide movement of water baptisms on Pentecost Saturday,” featuring Saddleback Church, Sandals Church, Zoe Church, Restoration Life Church, and Higher Visions Church, which formed a unity under “a part of theology we can all agree on, which is the public profession of faith through water baptism.”
via Protestia:
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While the flagship event took place in Huntington Beach, there were dozens of regional baptisms across California, with many people signing up to partake in the festivities beforehand and others deciding to get baptized spontaneously.
Along with the baptisms, there was live music from Bethel Worship, Martin Smith (Of Deliriou5), and Sean Feucht of #Letusworship fame. Notably, the event encouraged anyone who wanted to “publicly declare their faith in Jesus Christ” to be baptized, even if that meant being baptized away from their local church.
6 hours in and worship is STILL GOING on the beach in California!!!
God is not finished with this state! The oppression and darkness has moved the church to unity and hunger after Jesus!
HAPPY PENTECOST SUNDAY🕊️🕊️🕊️ pic.twitter.com/Q6kiKTxEug
— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) May 20, 2024
We just were apart of the largest recorded synchronized baptism in world history!
It happened in California and it was over 12,000 people today alone. More numbers are still rolling in!!! #PentecostSunday
— Sean Feucht (@seanfeucht) May 20, 2024
We’re living in an age where people are more overt about their celebration of darkness and sin than ever before in history. Women shout to the rooftops, gleefully, about murdering their unborn children through the act of abortion. Perverts and pedophiles continue to push the transgender agenda on children in public schools in order to groom them for their own sick and nefarious purposes. If you dare to express a Christian worldview, you get mocked, ridiculed and canceled.
And yet, despite all of the pressure and persecution, God strengthens His church and produces spiritual maturity in his believers. Miracles still happen, every single day, if we take the time to see them.