Founder of Christ Embassy, Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has said there is nothing wrong with a child being baptised as long as the child is born to Christian parents.
He made the submission in a recent online broadcast sighted by Church Times.
Oyakhilome’s position is in line with the position of some orthodox churches that preach that age is irrelevant when it comes to water baptism.
The Anglican Church for instance does baptism for infants with godparents as witnesses. The baby is then put under the care of godparents to be nurtured in the fear of the Lord to the point when he can physically confess Jesus in a ceremony known as confirmation.
But most Pentecostals believe those who qualify for baptism are those who have confessed Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They believe babies can’t decide to follow Jesus.
But Oyakhilome stated that the child of a Christian does not have to grow old before the child is baptised.
Referring to the scripture, he said, “The Bible says train up a child in the way he should go when he is old he will not depart from it. Christian parents have a responsibility to train their children in the way of the Lord. Those children can also be taught about Baptism
Oyakhilome said, “As long as they are children of Christian parents, the Bible says they are sanctified unto God. Some people say before you get baptised, you have to know the meaning of baptism otherwise your baptism is invalid. That is not true.
“What is true is that the child of a Christian is sanctified. Sanctified means separated unto God. That means God claims you as his own. So, you are supposed to train a child in the way he should go. If you can teach a child about Jesus, you can as well teach the child about baptism”
Read also my thoughts on Anglican theology by Bishop Akinpelu Johnson:https://churchtimesnigeria.net/bishop-johnson-anglican-church/
According to him, when the child grows the parents can now explain the meaning of baptism to the child.
He then submitted that if a child is to be baptised in water, you don’t need to wait too long, A child can be baptised at any age. It’s very real”
He also cited in his delivery the example of John the Baptist who according to him was filled with the holy spirit from his mother’s womb.
Explaining further, he said, children can also be filled with the holy spirit right from their mothers’ wombs. “Right from conception a child can be filled with the holy spirit if the parents are filled with the holy spirit. When you are filled with the holy spirit it is your whole body, spirit, and soul that experience the filling.”