‍This coming Sunday we will celebrate multiple baptisms in our Sunday services. These are always very special services for me, as I am afforded the incredible honor of baptizing many of these believers and bearing witness to their confession of faith and their uniting to the church of Christ. This practice has existed for almost 2,000 years and will exist until the return of the head of the church—Jesus Christ, who is the Son of the living God.

Recently I have been reading through some stories detailing the spiritual awakening that took place in both the Union and Confederate military camps during the final years of the Civil War. One particular story stood out to me due to both its beauty and subsequent sadness.

Leonides Polk was a Confederate Lt. General known more for his deep and abiding faith than his military acumen. He had come to know Christ in his twenties and was discipled by none other than E.M. Bounds, his close friend and a man who is now known for his excellent books on prayer. General Polk was much beloved by the men under his command, the Third Corps of the Army of Tennessee. One day, while riding with Texas’s infamous Maj. General John Bell Hood and discussing battle plans, Hood asked Polk about his faith. After sharing, Hood, who had already been considering turning his life over to Christ, asked Polk if he would baptize him. That very night Hood was baptized in front of his assembled troops (against the backdrop, it is reported, of artillery fire). When news spread throughout the Confederate army concerning Hood's baptism, the wife of Maj. General Joseph Johnston wrote to Polk and asked him to take the time to share with her husband, whom she feared would die in battle without professing faith in Christ. Polk served under the direct command of Johnston, so the opportunity soon presented itself, and he gladly shared the gospel with him. On May 18, 1864, Johnston publicly proclaimed his faith in Christ and was also baptized by Polk. Polk wrote this about the event to his wife: "It was a deep, solemn scene, and what a passage for history! God seemed to be drawing our hearts to Him. Our trust must not be in chariots or horsemen, but in the living God. May he take and keep all our hearts until that day."

As is true with so many stories from the Civil War, its retelling is bittersweet. Less than one month later, Polk and Johnston's troops were spread too thin across the mountains of central Georgia, making them vulnerable to General Sherman's Union forces, a vast army marching toward Atlanta. As Generals Johnston, Polk and Hardee gathered on horseback with their staff to discuss defensive strategies, they were spotted in an exposed field by General Sherman himself, who ordered his artillery to fire upon them. Although the artillery batteries did not have the opportunity to zero in on the trio, and therefore shot sporadically, one piece of shrapnel tore through Polk's chest, killing him instantly. Inside his pocket were found three copies of a tract entitled Balm for the Weary and Wounded. They were inscribed to Generals Johnston, Hood, and Hardee, and each had been signed, "With the compliments of Lt. Gen. Leonides Polk, June 12, 1864.” It had been his intention to give them to his friends that very day. When presented with his tract, General Johnston said through tears, "The autograph, and the noble blood that almost effaces it, makes it an object truly precious, one which I shall cherish while the Almighty leaves me on earth."

Baptism has a long and sacred history, dating back much further than the Civil War. Jesus himself was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and the early church practiced the ordinance/sacrament at his command (Matt. 28:19). Many in the first two centuries of the church submitted to baptism at the cost of their lives. Although believers do not die in America as a result of their public confessions of faith, it does not make baptism any less precious. Anything we do in obedience to Christ's call is notable.

Baptism does not save us, but it does mark us as those who belong to Jesus Christ and serves as a direct act of obedience to the call of Christ. If you are able to be with us on June 29, you will be witness to confessions of faith that are no less inspiring than those of Hood and Johnston, and the multiple millions who have made that same profession throughout the New Testament age. It will be a glorious morning of celebration.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Jym

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