NOTE: An email from a reader that I got today. Glory to God! Pastor A. Strom.
STRANGEST BAPTISM in HISTORY - True Story
by Mikayla K.
Hello Brother Strom!..
Years ago, God used your book about the sinners prayer to open my eyes so much more about baptism. Since then it has been such a joy to baptize people and see the power in it for myself. Watching lives get transformed is glorious! God is so faithful.
I didn't know it was possible but I even ended up baptizing a homeless man over the phone one time!
This is what happened to the best of my memory:
He was on youtube at the library one day, completely high on meth and he was watching videos when suddenly a video from my Christian youtube channel popped up and he clicked on it and tried to click away but something stopped him, I think he
said the buttons stopped working or his hand wouldn't move. So he was stuck watching my video teaching about the Bible.
Then suddenly the Holy Spirit came over Him and he was on the floor weeping and weeping. Then he suddenly started writing the name "Jeremiah" and the numbers 2911 but he had no idea what it
meant. (He knew nothing about the gospel or the Bible).
The video had my email on it so he emailed me and I called him. He asked if I knew anyone named Jeremiah and what the numbers meant. I knew immediately it was God speaking to Him the words
of Jeremiah 29:11 and I read it to him. "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future."
He was weeping. "God has plans for me?" He was in the foster care system as a kid and had such a rough life it seemed too good to be true.
So starting from the very beginning about creation I shared with him who God was and how man sinned and rejected God. When I told him about how our sins separate us from God he was so sad. He realized he had no way of making himself right to a holy God.
But then I shared about how God sent Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. He was shocked and overwhelmed "he did that for me??" He cried. "How can I pay him back? There's nothing I
can do! The only thing I have to give to him is my life."
It was incredible. He felt the full weight of sin and his need to repent and he went and flushed his drugs down the toilet and then soon after went into a private place and got on his knees and cried out to
God weeping and weeping, totally broken and humbled over his sin asking forgiveness and to be changed. He said he felt God's presence come and hug him. It was so incredibly genuine and
so beautiful. He even started praying for people that he had hated and had a love for them all the sudden.
I knew he needed to be baptized right away after his repentance but I didn't know of anyone there in his city who could do it at that time. I felt the Holy Spirit tell me just to baptize him over the phone! I was surprised but I did it in faith and then right after the
baptism he said he felt so clean and new and I then cast out a demon in him and he was violently throwing up and then suddenly he was free!
Then the Holy Spirit just came and he started speaking in tongues! But he had no idea what tongues were (he had almost no exposure to Christianity so he had never heard of tongues before
and I had forgotten to tell him) and so he was so shocked and didn't know what was happening or what the words flowing out of him meant. But his heart was filled with such love and joy and peace, he was totally transformed. He couldn't seem to stop
thanking God and praising God. He said he has never felt love before. He was so so so happy to be loved by God and to be His son.
He has been walking with God ever since (its been about 6 months). He was totally freed from drug addiction that night too (one time he tried a drug after and then immediately realized he couldn't do
it and blew it out of his nose and never went back) and now he is off the street and in ministry classes in a World Challenge program where he is being discipled.
It is so wonderful. He has such a hunger for the Word of God. God has totally captivated his heart
and he is truly reborn. His name is Thomas if you think of it to pray for Him.
I wanted to share that story with you because I thought it would
encourage you...
-Mikayla K.