Russell Brand Explains More on Recent Baptism, Says ‘There Appears to Be a Return to Religion’
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Actor, comedian, and podcast host Russell elaborated on his recent baptism last weekend. As Crosswalk Headlines previously reported, Brand announced he was baptized in the River Thames in Southern England last weekend. At the time, he told his followers that the experience was “intimate and personal.”
“The truth is this: As a person that has in the past taken many, many substances and always been disappointed with the inability to deliver the kind of tranquility and peace and even transcendence that I’ve always felt I’ve been looking for, something occurred in the process of baptism that was incredible, overwhelming,” he said
In a video posted Wednesday, Brand explained further why he decided to get baptized and why others will follow suit.
“I’ve reached a point where the figure, the personage, the presence of Christ has become overwhelming, unavoidable, and welcome, even necessary,” he added.
According to Relevant, Brand considers his experience as part of a larger movement making a “return to religion.”
“It’s not just me that’s experiencing a spiritual awakening — there appears to be a return to religion,” he said.
Brand also noted that despite whatever is taking place around the world and what people face daily, young people are “recognizing that the material world that I sought to find solace and comfort in, is no longer serving that function for many of them.”
“Sometimes the material world and human relationships are not enough. We report on this stuff every single day – corruption, institutional corruption, violence, unnecessary wars, the refusal of the powerful to participate in peaceful solutions, the corruption of powerful groups, the desire of powerful interests to hide malevolent intent behind beneficial measures,” he explained.”
“‘We’re doing this to help you,’ they say, ‘it’s for your safety and convenience.’ My whole life long, I’ve felt a calling, mistranslated at time after time as various forms of addiction: substance misuse, drinking too much, and an overwhelming urge to lose myself in concupiscence, continually looking for love in all the wrong places.
Brand also asked how those who have undergone baptism had a similar experience to his and how one can be born again.
“Isn’t it extraordinary for any of you that have experienced this already to get baptized? Do you feel like how can this ceremony have any real import? How can the gentle or actually, in my case, quite radical immersion beneath water, and in my case, a live river, make any real difference? How can the sins of the past be washed away? How can you be born again? How can you awaken anew?” he asked. “To answer that question, you have to inquire of what you consider the self to be, whether you’re made up just of impulses, urges, and memories, or whether you believe there is a ghost in the machine, or more likely, the Holy Spirit, if you’re willing to invite it into your life.”
“For me, I’ve reached a point in my life where, for a long while, in fact, I’ve known that the material world was not enough, and more than that, as many of you are surely already mouthing, it’s not even about you,” Brand concluded. This, I’ve learned as an addict in recovery — the pursuit of my own goals on my own agenda always leaves me cold, empty, and wanting more. You can never have enough of what you don’t really want.”
Related: ‘Blessed’: Comedian and Actor Russell Brand Gets Baptized at River Thames
Photo credit: ©YouTube/RussellBrand
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
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