18/10/2025
Last week my ecclesia (church) in Charlestown which is in Newcastle AUS. was blessed to witness a lady be baptised into Christ. With her permission, I have included the letter that she prepared and read to us prior to her baptism. It is a beautiful and comprehensive statement of her faith and I felt that it would be great to share it.
God bless
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For a long time I had been wanting to develop a Christian faith, yet it felt as though I was hearing something true and beautiful through a wall. The sound reached me but it was faint and distorted and I could not grasp its meaning.
A bit over a year ago that changed when I was introduced to the Truth. It gave me a clearer and more consistent picture of God, the Creator of all things and the only true God, and of His Son Jesus Christ, our Messiah, Lord and Saviour.
Early on I found myself wrestling with big questions about who we are as human beings, why we suffer and die, where our oppositional and destructive nature comes from and whether there is an evil presence in the world. In Genesis, particularly in the Edenic promise, we find clear answers to these difficult questions.
We are children of God, made in His likeness but separated from Him because of the sinful nature we inherit from Adam. This nature is the root of sin, not the result of any external or supernatural power often described as Satan or demons. The wages of sin are death, a return to the dust, not eternal torment in hell. We are in need of forgiveness and God has provided this through the sinless life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice covers our sins.
From there, the promises to Abraham and David opened my eyes further to God’s unfolding purpose for the earth. Through Abraham, God declared that all nations would be blessed through his seed and through David He promised a king who would reign with justice and peace. In Jesus I have come to see the fulfilment of these promises.
He is the Messiah, the one spoken of by the prophets, the suffering servant and the coming King. He will ultimately bring God’s plan to completion at his return, when the hope of Israel will be fully realised. God has kept His people through history, He is restoring them to their land and He will establish His Kingdom on earth, centred in Jerusalem.
Throughout my study over the last year I have focused on different parts of scripture and on core doctrines and biblical concepts. What has consistently come into focus for me is the character of God, His great justice, mercy and steadfast love, so perfectly reflected in His Son, Jesus Christ. Seeing these qualities more clearly has taught me trust in His plan for the past, present and future and has helped me to recognise that true wisdom belongs to God alone. This has deepened my desire to live in humble obedience to Him.
Even though I know I still have much to learn, it was this shift from wrestling with doctrine to wanting to live in full devotion to God that made me realise I was ready to be baptised. Baptism, for me, is the natural response to this realisation. It is a commitment to leave behind the old life of sin and to live a new life in Christ, trusting God’s guidance and striving alongside others who share this same hope and desire.
In all of this I give thanks to God for His provision and guidance through the Lord Jesus Christ and for the people He has worked through to bring me to this point.
