Baptized in Crocodile Waters: A Miracle Story

Speaker A 00:00:01 - 00:03:04 It's all too often said that there are no miracles performed these days. Well, I'd like to challenge this with my story of the crocodiles that never came. Welcome to Miracles in the 21st Century. I'm David McClintock. 2011, Papua New Guinea. Pastor Peter Karava had taken his theology 4th-year students from Pacific Adventist University Up the Tarama River to Kumayo, a distance of about 100 kilometers inland. And they had encountered a problem. There were about 40 people waiting to be baptized, but they couldn't physically baptize them. For the previous 5 or 6 years, nobody from the village had gone into the river because of crocodiles. They no longer washed their clothes in the river. They no longer fished in the river. It was just too dangerous. How were they going to baptize these 40 people? They had a church board meeting. They talked about maybe they could baptize them in the very tiny stream they took their water from for drinking. But to do that, you'd have to lie down flat. It was just too— it just wasn't going to work. Maybe they could dig a channel. But the river was 100 meters wide at that point. It would be too hard. And then one brave person said, but baptism is God's work. Let's just go out in faith. And so the church elders and the 4th-year theology students volunteered to form a human barrier in the river. They stood in the river holding hands. and praying. And the 40 folk who were waiting for baptism came down one by one into the river as Pastor Peter Karavari and the district director baptized them, spoke about their story, had prayer, and took them back out. They were in the water for over an hour. Hundreds of people were watching because they'd heard That the Adventists were going to hold a baptism in the river where nobody had been to for 5 or 6 years because of the threat of crocodiles. That day, everyone who walked into the river, the 40 who were baptized, the church elders, the theology students, Pastor Peter Karavi, the district director, all emerged safely. The power of prayer overcame the crocodiles. That day, hundreds of people, many of whom were not believers, saw God in action. They saw God ready to take action when he was put to the test. You do that today in your life as you read the Bible promises. Take care. God bless.