{"id":6458,"date":"2020-01-30T09:21:10","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T07:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/four12global.com\/the-pool-party"},"modified":"2023-11-23T13:00:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-23T11:00:52","slug":"the-pool-party","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/four12global.com\/news\/the-pool-party\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pool Party"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s an expensive-looking indoor pool, like you might see in a movie: crystalline, surrounded by sandy terracotta tiles and lit under studio-quality down lights. It\u2019s the kind of pool a powerful person jumps into after a long day of trading on the stock exchange. It\u2019s the kind of pool many people dream about but could never enjoy. It\u2019s the kind of pool a very wealthy person owns. But something\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

For a start, there are musicians playing in the corner . A worship team, in fact. That\u2019s unusual. Also, everybody seems to be dressed the same: simple, black T-shirts with three bold symbols in white: a cross, an equals sign and a heart. As the keyboardist and vocalist sing their song, a group of about thirty people mill about the edge of this luxury pool in what is obviously some kind of mansion. Some hug, some chat, some sing, some simply sit waiting.<\/p>\n

So a football player may be religious, but any outward expression of his faith is only tolerated in small, vague doses<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the camera pans across the group, an athletic young man stands near the steps at the water\u2019s edge. We see someone else already in the pool, waiting. Suddenly the young man on the edge gingerly steps into the water as the friends and family behind him applaud and cheer. Now he is given the microphone so he can say something. \u201cJesus \u00e9 amor n\u00e3o tem explica\u00e7\u00e3o. Basta crer nele, basta acreditar e sentir o Esp\u00edrito Santo,\u201d he beams in Portuguese. Roughly translated: Jesus\u2019 love has no explanation. Just believe in Him, just believe and feel the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Then two men are standing alongside him, with a woman in the water as well. His wife. They place their hands on him, lower him into the water and bring him back up. He\u2019s just been baptised. Just like three thousand people were baptised on the day of Pentecost, just like an Ethiopian official was baptised on the road to Gaza, just like Saul the murderer was baptised in Damascus, just like a repentant jailer and his whole family were baptised in Philippi, and just like millions upon millions of Jesus’ followers have done for the last 2,000 years. His wife, crying, embraces him. He gives a triumphant fist pump into the air and then lays his head on his wife\u2019s shoulder. They weep together.<\/p>\n

His name is Roberto Firmino<\/strong>, and he is one of the goal-poaching superstars of Liverpool Football Club, arguably the best club team in the world right now. In the water with him is the team\u2019s goalkeeper, fellow Brazilian, Alisson Becker<\/strong>. Firmino posts the baptism footage, 57 seconds long, to his Instagram feed, where four million people view it. As the clip fades to black, a portion of Mark 16:16 fills the screen: ‘Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved\u2026’<\/em>
\n(Watch the Instagram Clip here)<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Firmino and Alisson aren\u2019t second-string reserves or former players who feel brave now that the heat of public scrutiny is behind them – they are at the top of their game.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Barely-Tolerated Faith of Football Stars<\/h4>\n

If you understand anything about the English Premier League, and global football in general, you\u2019ll know that many religious gestures are found on and off the field. They\u2019re tolerated but not encouraged because, in all honesty, football is the true religion. The multi-millionaire football stars are quite literally worshipped. Songs are sung about them. Their stats are obsessed over. The moods of millions upon millions of fans are directly affected by how well they perform. TV channels, websites, social media feeds, radio stations and print magazines discuss them endlessly.<\/p>\n

So a football player may be religious, but any outward expression of his faith is only tolerated in small, vague doses: an angel tattoo, a sign of the cross made over the chest, two fingers pointed to the heavens after a goal. But a full-on, public, unashamed New Testament baptism posted to one of the world\u2019s biggest media-sharing platforms? Firmino and Alisson aren\u2019t second-string reserves or former players who feel brave now that the heat of public scrutiny is behind them – they are at the top of their game. Yet there they are, not only proudly standing in a pool and declaring their allegiance to Jesus, but posting it online so that as many people as possible can see it. That\u2019s not normal.<\/p>\n

So what exactly is going on here?<\/p>\n

A Genuine Conversion<\/h3>\n

Well, for one thing, it would seem to be a sign of a genuine conversion. Responding to the gospel involves not only a private revelation inside a person\u2019s heart, but also a public acknowledgment that they have become a new person. Being born again requires not only sincere repentance but a bold declaration of allegiance. Many of the baptisms that I have been part of have taken place at a small pool created by a rocky enclosure on a beach in the city where I live. On a summer day, the place is filled with people, and I\u2019ve watched friends proudly pray, worship and celebrate a new life coming out of the water, no matter who is watching.<\/p>\n

In many countries where the gospel is actively suppressed, you may be targeted upon a declaration of faith in Jesus, but your life actually becomes endangered when you enter the waters of baptism because you have taken a physical, unambiguous stance. These two Premier League footballers are loved and celebrated, not persecuted, but the fact remains that they\u2019ve publicly done something that polarises many people and has the potential to create enemies who were once friends. That requires true and uncompromising faith.<\/p>\n

Two Christian Camps<\/h3>\n

I believe that there\u2019s also a bigger picture for us to take note of, and it\u2019s something that shows us the way the world is heading.<\/p>\n

Roughly speaking, Christians seem to divide into two camps when it comes to how the world is going to play out before Jesus returns. The beliefs aren\u2019t based on a highly developed eschatology, but more on a feeling brought about by a combination of what the Bible says and what popular leaders preach.<\/p>\n

Lager-To-Live<\/h4>\n

The first camp sees the world getting darker and darker and understands that the true church is being whittled down until only those who are truly prepared to follow Jesus remain. This view is perfectly legitimate and grounded in reality. Jesus spoke alarmingly about the final days, the deception of many and the love of most growing cold. But this truth can quickly morph into a circle-the-wagons-and-stock-the-nuclear-bunker mentality. It\u2019s all getting irretrievably worse, a person thinks, so hold on for dear life and consider most other people \u2013 including many Christians \u2013 with skepticism, as those who\u2019ve been deceived. That\u2019s one view.<\/p>\n

Dominionists<\/h4>\n

The other view occupies the opposite end of the spectrum: God\u2019s people are the head, not the tail. We\u2019ve been given dominion on this earth, and we\u2019re going to rise to the top of all sectors of society in order to get this world ready for Jesus\u2019 return. In this view, different sectors of society are like mountains, and we\u2019re meant to scale their summits. The world may have lost its way, but the people of God are going to rise up in dominion, take control and bring godliness onto this earth. We\u2019re going to see Christians getting to the top, a person thinks, and exerting influence in spheres like education, government, media, arts and entertainment and business. Of course, there are already many believers in these sectors who are bringing godliness into their places of influence, but how do you balance such an all-conquering view with the fact that Jesus said the world would hate His followers? If the first camp is too much doom and gloom, then the second one is an overreaching expectation of societal triumph.<\/p>\n

The Darkness is Increasing<\/h3>\n

No, I see something different, and I believe that a sign like a global football star being publicly baptised by his teammate points us towards what we can expect to see in these last days.<\/p>\n

I believe we\u2019re going to see days of unprecedented evil, rebellion and disorder, but also unprecedented signs of God\u2019s power, grace and redemption right alongside it.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake: open, blatant evil is on the increase and will continue to rise as Jesus\u2019 return draws nearer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Finding signs of increasing evil is not hard. It makes its way into our car radios, our news websites, our social media feeds and our casual conversations. Day by day, there is so much to be genuinely alarmed about that it can feel overwhelming. ‘The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honoured among men’,<\/em> wrote David in Psalm 12:8, and surely this has never been more true in human history. The true church is indeed being whittled down, Foundational doctrines are collapsing one on top of another like a line of dominos. The Word of God is suppressed, oppressed, neglected, ridiculed, ignored. Things that were unthinkable to say just a few years ago are being proclaimed brashly and without fear of consequence. We are being told what we are allowed to say, to think, to believe.<\/p>\n

Being a Christian is not socially beneficial at all. It has gone from being aspirational to quaint to dangerous. Articles and interviews about abandoning Christianity abound in the media, enticing those who doubt to throw away their confidence. Being an apostate is a badge of honour, not shame. Make no mistake: open, blatant evil is on the increase and will continue to rise as Jesus\u2019 return draws nearer. He repeatedly said that it would happen and there\u2019s no way around the inevitable.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not all. That\u2019s never been all.<\/p>\n

But So Is The Light<\/h3>\n

In John 5:17<\/a><\/a>, Jesus made a definitive statement: ‘My Father is always at work to this very day, and I, too, am working.’<\/em> God told the prophet Joel that He would pour out His Spirit, and that prophecy, dreams and visions would be unleashed. Peter remembered and proclaimed that message on the day of Pentecost, and the truth is that God is still at work, moving across the earth. We hear snatches of rumours of awakenings in nations that are hostile to the gospel, we read testimonies about people being born again, and every now and then some prominent person, some improbable person, some Justin Bieber or Kanye West, stands up in front of the flashing bulbs of the world\u2019s media and says: I\u2019ve genuinely met this man Jesus who died for the sins of the world and I\u2019ve been changed.<\/p>\n

Great deception and great deliverance, great trials and great triumphs, great sickness and great salvations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’re going to see more of this in these last days. We\u2019re going to open websites and read news of wickedness that can hardly be imagined, but also see powerful, public signs of redemption that could not have been invented. They\u2019ll be happening side by side. Great deception and great deliverance, great trials and great triumphs, great sickness and great salvations. God is always at work. And the last time I checked, He\u2019s still sovereign over everything in creation. May these profound moments of grace in the midst of the chaos remind us of the true reality.<\/p>\n

A Sign To Us<\/h4>\n

In the last five or so seconds of Roberto Firmino\u2019s Instagram clip, he\u2019s draped in a white towel and leans into the hug of a loved one next to the pool. There\u2019s a look on his face \u2013 I think it\u2019s peace. He\u2019s at peace. This millionaire sportsman with the world literally at his feet. This public figure onto whom millions of young fans project their hopes and dreams. This footballer who will spend years receiving cheers and jeers, tackles, taunts and temptations. This man who will face ups and downs and have to live by his Christian conviction imperfectly and under a microscope that very few people understand. In the clip, he\u2019s at peace. He\u2019s at peace because he has found something. Someone. He\u2019s essentially just a talented guy who kicks a sphere around a rectangular patch of grass for ninety minutes, but he\u2019s also more: he\u2019s a sign to us. A sign of what God is doing on this earth in the midst of the madness, and what He still plans to do.<\/p>\n

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<\/a>INSTAGRAM CLIP: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/B7WCbhRF-FZ\/<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Te dei meus fracassos e as vit\u00f3rias te darei tamb\u00e9m ?? Meu maior t\u00edtulo \u00e9 o Teu Amor Jesus! Portanto, se algu\u00e9m est\u00e1 em Cristo, \u00e9 nova cria\u00e7\u00e3o. As coisas antigas j\u00e1 passaram; eis que surgiram coisas novas\u201d! Novo tempo ??\u2764\ufe0f?<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Roberto Firmino<\/a> (@roberto_firmino) on