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Roman Orthodox Church rejects demands for baptism changes after infant’s death
The leadership of the Romanian Orthodox Church has decided not to change its ancient practice of full-immersion baptism of babies despite public outrage that followed the recent death of an infant during christening.
The denomination’s decision-making body, Holy Synod, has announced that the baptism ritual will remain and that it will only urge priests to be more careful when they perform the ritual, according to Radio Free Europe.
“We do not demand the [end] of the practice of baptism but its modification so [babies] are prevented from unnecessary and even absurd risks!” reads an online petition that had gathered over 65,500 names as of Saturday.
The petition, arguing that the tradition involves brutality and should be abolished, was launched by a teacher, Vladimir Dumitru, in response to the death of a 6-week-old baby on Feb. 1 after suffering cardiac arrest while being baptized in a church in the northern town of Suceava.
The priest, identified as Alexandru Mazarache, fully immersed the baby in the water three times in the baptismal font, DW reported earlier. The child first cried, then became still, then the infant’s lips turned blue. The baby was taken to a hospital, where he died a few hours later.
The priest is a suspect in the investigation on charges of involuntary manslaughter. His lawyer, Marcel Balatchi, was quoted as saying that the priest had “performed the ritual according to church canons.”
Romania’s ombudsman has suggested some health and safety measures to the church, including increasing the age of the child for baptism.
A spokesperson for the Orthodox Church, Vasile Banescu, earlier suggested the churches could sprinkle holy water over babies instead of immersing them.
“It is, without a doubt, a tragic case, a case that will have to be investigated. Let’s not imagine that a child can be put in water without covering his nose, mouth and ears,” Banescu told Antena 3. “There is a technique that an experienced priest always uses. This is how a baptism is celebrated with the utmost care.”
Teodosie Petrescu, the archbishop of Tomis in the country’s southeast, had rejected calls for babies to be sprinkled with water. He was quoted as saying earlier that the tradition of immersing a child three times during baptism has carried on for 2 millennia and will continue.
“There’s no way for the ritual to change. These canons of faith will be available for another 1,000 years. That is why we will not change. We’re not intimidated,” Petrescu said.
The archbishop added that babies should be immersed in cold water, which not only “sharpens” their spirituality, but is also suitable for their health.
Over 80% of Romanians are Orthodox Christians.
Sources:Christian Post
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Franklin Graham Sees ‘Pockets of Revival’ in UK After 800+ Turn to Christ in Manchester
More signs of a spiritual awakening have been on display in the United Kingdom this month. Rev. Franklin Graham, who just saw a massive crowd respond to the Gospel in Manchester, believes God is up to something big, as many Christians are praying for a full-blown revival to hit the UK.
“I think you do see pockets of revival, no question,” the evangelist recently told .
Since 2022, Graham has been holding his “God Loves You” tour, reaching nine cities across the United Kingdom. He reports that more than 10,000 people packed the arena at his latest event in Manchester, and over 800 of them gave their lives to Christ.
Amy Reonnah, a 19-year-old who put her faith in Christ at the event, said, “When I walked forward and prayed, it felt really amazing—as if someone touched my soul—and I really felt God’s presence.”
Graham believes that, despite the region being increasingly secular, “there are millions of hungry hearts” and “searching souls” who feel cold toward modern secular education and are looking for a relationship with their Creator.
“There’s supernatural Holy Spirit-filled power in the gospel of Jesus Christ. When you tell a person that they’re sinners, and they have to repent and put their faith and trust in Christ, in Him alone, there’s power in that,” Graham told CBN News. (Screengrab image: via BillyGraham.org)
The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) reports Christians from nearly 600 evangelical churches invited people to hear the hope of the Gospel in Manchester, and they booked seats on a fleet of more than 200 buses to bring people to the arena.
“Jesus came to save us. He didn’t come to condemn us,” Graham, president and CEO of the BGEA, preached. “If you remember anything tonight, remember this: God loves you.”
As CBN News reported in recent years, the “God Loves You” tour has faced significant opposition from various groups who have attempted to have venues cancel Graham’s contracts by falsely labeling him a “preacher of hate.” But he tells us that the legal outcomes of these disputes set a positive precedent for Christian groups in the public square, stating, “Just because somebody doesn’t like you, they can’t force you out of the public square.”
Sources: Breaking Christian News
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The Devil’s Hidden Strategy: Allen Parr Reveals How Christians Become Trapped
Author and YouTuber Allen Parr is on a mission to help people think through the spiritual barriers that could be holding them back from a fruitful life.
Parr’s new book, “Breaking Through: How Ordinary Believers Experience Extraordinary Freedom,” is all about finding freedom. He relies on his own experiences to help readers explore this essential topic.
“When I look at my life, there’s a lot of challenges … I refer to them as soul chains, but really, that’s probably a synonym for strongholds, things that hold Christians back from walking in their full potential,” he said. “As Christians, we know we’re saved, we know that we are forgiven, we know we’re on our way to Heaven, and that’s great.”
Parr said the book’s premise is Jesus died to forgive human beings for their sins, but also to offer freedom so people can live a “life of abundance.”
“I wanted to write a book to help Christians understand how they can experience the freedom and the victorious life that Jesus promised us,” he said.
Parr also spoke about why some churches might not openly speak about matters pertaining to mental health or even spiritual warfare.
“Maybe one of the reasons why a lot of churches don’t want to deal with it is that they don’t really know how to go about addressing a lot of these things,” he said. “Because, as church leaders, we’re trained in the areas of apologetics. We’re trained in the area of theology and hermeneutics and all of that. But a lot of times, we’re not trained to understand how to deal with someone who’s dealing with serious mental health issues. So oftentimes, churches may not be equipped … to know how to handle it.”
He also spoke to another dynamic: the human penchant for picking extreme “either, or” positions on demons and the supernatural.
“We err on two extremes,” Parr said. “One extreme is, ‘Hey, you know, every single thing is a demon. Everything is a demon. Everything needs to be cast out. If you’re having a bad day, that’s the demon of depression that’s attacking you,’” he said. “No, it’s just life. We have difficult days.”
The author said the notion “everything is a demon” can heighten spiritual warfare and lead some people to exaggerate or sensationalize what they or others face. That said, he pointed to the other side of the paradigm.
“The other side is the other extreme, and that’s the fact that, ‘Hey, we’re not in a spiritual war. There is no such thing as demons and supernatural … and you just need to work everything out by yourself.”
Parr encouraged Christians to find common ground in the middle of these extremes, and pointed to the words of Ephesians 6 to make his point — a chapter in the Bible that discusses the wrestling humans face against spiritual powers.
He spoke about his own struggles and the “soul chains” so many people struggle with, including lust, among other issues. He believes these soul chains are sometimes formed as a result of emotional wounds.
“I struggled with toxic relationships, having grown up in a home where there was a lot of divorce,” Parr said. “My mom and dad got divorced multiple times over, and that created a fear in me to get into a committed relationship and a committed marriage.”
He said the devil often seizes upon these soul wounds to open up emotional pain. Parr said divorce created a chain of fear over getting married. He also had father wounds as his dad was around in his life but not living in his home.
“I talk about the soul chain of perfectionism, and I struggled with that,” he continued. “Lots of different things, a poverty mentality because we grew up without much money, and so all of these things are things that we don’t even realize a lot of times until we’re in our later stages of life.”
A lot of these issues are built on deception and will hold people back, he said.
“Every soul chain is established on some sort of lie that the enemy would want you to believe instead of the truth,” Parr said.
He believes it’s essential to pinpoint the “chains” holding people back so that they can be dealt with. Part of that process is having people in life who individuals are close with; these people can then raise issues they observe.
“So the question is, whenever people bring certain things up to you, like, ‘Hey, you’re dealing with perfectionism,’ or ‘Hey, I see this issue of anger in your life, or unforgiveness, or shame, low self-esteem,’ I mean, there’s a ton of them that I talk about in the book,” Parr said. “The question is, do you receive that, or are you resistant to that? Oftentimes, if we’re resistant, that’s a sign that maybe this thing has a chain and a hold on us that we’re not realizing.”
After identifying these ties, he said, “Breaking Through: How Ordinary Believers Experience Extraordinary Freedom,” offers an opportunity to explore a biblical roadmap to help walk toward freedom.
Sources:faithtrack
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Thousands Seek Christ at Revival Event in San Diego: ‘Every Baptism Represents a Life Changed’
The Gospel is alive and well in California as more hearts are awakening to God. The latest example came over the weekend as faithful followers of Christ created space for hungry souls to encounter Him at Movement San Diego 2026.
Thousands gathered along the Pacific coast in Oceanside, California, for the event, declaring faith in Jesus through worship, prayer, evangelism, and powerful oceanfront baptisms.
“Thank You, Jesus! Every baptism represents a life changed, a heart surrendered, and a YES to following Him!!” the Movement San Diego group declared in a social post.
The massive multi-church evangelistic gathering took place Saturday, October 17, at the Oceanside Pier Amphitheater, featuring live worship music from groups like Circuit Rider Music and Upper Room, alongside mass open-air baptisms right by the ocean.
Beforehand, Pastor Mike Doyle of Movement Church in New York City, who also founded Movement San Diego, explained, “The whole heart for the event is we want to see revival in California, and we want to see people come to know the Lord Jesus.”
And that’s just what happened.
Baptize the World posted afterward, “Movement San Diego was INCREDIBLE! So many people made the decision to publicly declare their faith in Jesus through baptism, and we’re still celebrating every life changed and every YES to Jesus!”
The California-based Baptize the World group has been on a similar mission to stoke the fires of revival in the state. While that baptism movement isn’t technically connected to the Movement San Diego group, they share the same mission.
Pastor Mark Francey of Oceans Church in Irvine, California, initially launched that baptism-focused effort as Baptize SoCal at Pirate’s Cove, in which more than 4,000 souls were water-baptized back in 2023. Over the years, it expanded into Baptize California, then Baptize America, and now Baptize the World.
Sources:CBN News
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