Article | - 5:52 pm
The Delay in Repentance Keeps a Person From Changing and Experiencing a Life Transformation
Upon seeing the world corrupted by sin, God did not hide that He reconsidered His creation, as we read in Genesis 6.5-6: “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” However, in the continuity of the Scripture, in Genesis 6.8, it is written: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.”
Jonah also watched Divine repentance envelop the city of Nineveh, something that bothered him, as described in Jonah 4.2: “So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”
It is curious how God does not force repentance nor reject those who are repentant! Repentance is associated with a gift granted by Him (Romans 2.4 and 2 Corinthians 7.9-10). Although the Adamic nature refuses to repent, as it is inclined to what is evil, God cannot resist a repentant heart. It doesn’t matter what a person has been in the past; if there is a true manifestation of repentance, God, in His Trinity—through the Person of His Son and His Spirit—will be present.
Someone who repents must abandon old customs, opinions, and convictions to solidify a change in attitude. Additionally, repentance comes with a commitment to the Word of God (as noted in Genesis 8:20-21), embraced by those who genuinely accept this condition for themselves.
Repentance overwhelms the person within, causing embarrassment. Before granting an inexplicable peace, it prevents them from being at peace until they expel all the dirt and evil from within. In Ezekiel 18.27-28 (NIV), it is written: “But if a wicked person turns away from the wickedness they have committed and does what is just and right, they will save their life. Because they consider all the offenses they have committed and turn away from them, that person will surely live; they will not die.” Therefore, the prophet advises in verses 30-31: “Repent! (…) Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit.”
God Himself joined the repentant in the Jordan River when the Lord Jesus was immersed in the waters by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:13). There, in fact, repentance became linked to the need for baptism by immersion. However, baptism must be accompanied by “fruits worthy of repentance” (Matthew 3.8). Regarding this, in Romans 6.2-4, we read: “(…) How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
The baptismal “bath” is merely a superficial gesture that fails to truly address the individual’s past actions. Unlike true and sincere baptism, which signifies a transformation where human flaws become insignificant, a person who simply bathes in water remains unchanged. They continue to carry all their mistakes, deceit, and unresolved pain. The only difference is that now, they may feel a misleading sense of well-being. Only for those drenched in repentance do the Heavens find space to open (Matthew 3.16), and the Holy Spirit, instead of encountering a creation, finds a child born of God (Matthew 3.17) and, thus, makes His home within that person. The Holy Spirit, thus, testifies that that water baptism was valid.
Recently, Bishop Edir Macedo explained that repentance is a manifestation of Faith, a decision, and highlighted that baptism “means the burial of the old and corrupt nature of the flesh. That’s what happens when a person dies and their physical body is buried.” Amidst the facilities of baptism, the bishop recalled that the miracle of burial does not always happen there. “It’s easy to get baptized; It is easy to fulfill a religious obligation, a doctrine,” he warned.
“What God sees is (…) the intention to start a new life: water baptism is only valid when the person repents. Once repentant, the person is taken to water baptism, which is a burial. It is the burial of their old creature, of their heart, of their wills, of the lust of the eyes, of everything evil,” he said.
When quoting Acts 2.36-38, Bishop Macedo reiterated that there is a protocol that necessarily begins with repentance: “Otherwise, the person stays in the church, is baptized in water, and receives blessings, but their soul remains lost. Repentance is the gateway to the Kingdom of Heaven; without repentance, there is no way for there to be a miracle from God; there is no way for a person to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit.”
The Jordan River is mentioned 175 times throughout the Old Testament and 15 times in the New Testament. Jacob wrestled with an angel on the banks of the Jabbok River—a tributary of the Jordan—until his identity was changed (Genesis 32 and Hosea 12). The conquest of the Promised Land also involved the Jordan River, whose waters opened like the Red Sea (Joshua 3:15-17).
Naaman, “a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the LORD had given victory to Syria” (2 Kings 5.1), had to dive seven times in the Jordan River because, beneath his uniform, leprosy was consuming him. From then on, he, who even enjoyed blessings and deliverances, tasted a heavenly experience like never before.
Ultimately, the Heavens opened to the Lord Jesus in the Jordan River, and the Father confessed that He was His Beloved Son. Many whose lives have been touched by God and who experienced miracles in their lives fail to understand the crucial and absolute necessity of repentance and becoming a true child of God. They make the mistake of only including going to church in their social life and do not understand that, above the longing for the Promised Land, there is the Promised Heaven.
Self-employed Raquel Costa Pina, 51 years old, started suffering very early in life. “As soon as I was born, my mother met another man and abandoned my father,” she says. What Rachel didn’t know, however, was that she was with someone with psychiatric problems. “I grew up watching my mother get beaten up and with the police at the door of our house,” she continues. As a teenager, Raquel was introduced to marijuana and alcohol until meeting a young man who, like her, was “inclined” to addictions. “I got married, got pregnant, and lived through hell because the abuse started, and I had to separate,” she says.
One morning, 23 years ago, Raquel turned on the TV and came across a program of The Universal Church. “I watched a testimony that fit with my life. The next day, I went to church, began the process of deliverance, and got better. However, for years, I deceived myself because I did not have the most important of all, which is the Holy Spirit. I was part of the physical church but not of the Kingdom of God and the spiritual church of the Lord Jesus. So, I distanced myself from His Presence,” she states.
Raquel remained in The Universal Church until 2018, volunteering in the ministry for nine years. After departing and backsliding into her old life, everything harmful from her distant past returned, much worse than before. “I went back to the addictions and was much more thirsty, to the point of going to the drug house to look for marijuana—when I went in there, people called me ‘auntie.’ I became a regular customer, and my daughter witnessed everything. There was a certain point when my daughter also used marijuana with me. We were mother and daughter, together, using drugs at home,” she narrates.
Raquel mentions that she exchanged messages that she is ashamed of and details another episode: “I had fantasies about men, and I even went to the swing club with a married man. One of the things that hurt me the most at that time was my daughter calling me trash and saying that if I died, she would be happy because she would have one less problem in her life. That’s when I realized how deep into the pit I had fallen.”
Upon returning to The Universal Church in 2020, Raquel knew what she needed to do, as she says: “This time, I understood the true meaning of repentance, the burial of the old creature and my habits. As I repented, I allowed God to fill every space. He forgave me, cleansed me, and then I was able to receive the Holy Spirit. With that encounter, I was made His daughter, and I was never the same person again. I, who until then had never had love, can say that His love is incomparable. I became defined, determined, and confident. Today, I have character,” she concludes.
When he set foot in The Universal Church for the first time, the self-employed Luciano da Silva Santos, aged 46, considered himself a living dead man. “My life was a misery. I was a bad person, the devil incarnate,” he says. He led a life characterized by excessive use of drugs, such as cocaine, and, therefore, fights at home became constant and were marked by attacks on his wife, Andreia dos Santos Ferreira, 51 years old.
Luciano was part of a troubled family with few resources. “Because of all the suffering, I got involved in robberies and drug trafficking, a choice that resulted in a total sentence of 78 years in prison,” he details. In total, he spent 15 years in prison.
Despite being separated from him, Andreia turned to Faith. “Luciano spent 365 days on drugs, so I said his body couldn’t handle it. I only thought about his Salvation,” she mentions. Andreia has been attending The Universal Church for ten years. He, in turn, arrived at The Universal Church on May 16th of 2024 and, according to him, even with little time on this journey, one Word was enough for him to wake up: “The Pastor determined that, if there was surrender of life, it would never be the same and I clung to that Word. I was able to see my real condition and understood that I needed to make a decision. It was then that there was true repentance within me,” he assures.
It was this understanding that made Luciano recognize who he was. “I have some regrets, such as not listening to my mother, not considering the warnings about drugs, crimes, and a life of crime, and staying away from my family,” he lists. All the regret stemming from his choices was nothing compared to what Luciano experienced when coming to know God. He describes the moment: “A film about my life came to mind. However, a Voice spoke loudly inside me, ‘All this is over.’”
True repentance led him to water baptism and, after that day, as he assures, “There was a commitment and responsibility with God for the care of my soul.” Thus, he began to ask God for His Spirit. “I knew that, without Him, I wouldn’t be able to overcome myself. It was then that God said yes to me, and I received the Holy Spirit. Today, I have peace. My family and marriage have been restored, and now our home is a little piece of Heaven. I became a new Luciano,” he guarantees.
Read more about his story by clicking here.
There is a Jordan River for every repentant person—there is a chance to build a new story. This possibility can be enjoyed at the Campaign of Israel for a New Life at the Jordan River, which proposes an awakening to those who do not want to remain the same. This Faith continues to write stories and provides people with unimaginable change in life. Take advantage of this opportunity.
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Contributors:
Flavia Francellino (Translated and Adapted From Original) / Photos: Mídia FJU Rio de Janeiro and Demetrio Koch
