“And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized, and her household…”

Acts 16:14-15

THIS IS GREAT!  May God give us good, kind and powerful answers!

   James Coleman was saved when he was eleven-years-old, in 1838.  As an adult was a county sheriff, but went on to become a gospel preacher.

    Coleman was gifted with a clear and quick mind and a way with words.  He was often asked to participate in debates with other preachers over doctrine, and often he consented. 

    On one occasion he was asked to debate the subject of believer’s baptism with a Methodist named William Caskey.  As the debate developed Caskey declared that when the Bible states that complete households were baptized it must have included infants and so babies are Biblical candidates for baptism.

    In his rebuttal Coleman stated: “I am surprised at Brother Caskey's limited information concerning Lydia's household. He has inferred that Lydia had children under the age of accountability, and that, therefore these children were baptized.  I am surprised, Sir, that you do not know that Lydia was a widow, and a traveling cloth merchant, and that she never had but one child, and that was a daughter, who married a red-headed, one-eyed shoemaker, and had moved off to Damascus, and had not been at home for years, and that her household at that time consisted of herself and servants who assisted her in her business. I am surprised, Sir, that you did not know this.”

    Thoroughly confused, Caskey said, “Dr. Coleman, how do you know what you have just said?”  The Baptist preacher paused, then filled his lungs before declaring, “I inferred it, sir, just like you inferred that there were children in the household.”   The Bible says no such thing.  The audience roared with laughter and the meeting promptly came to a close.

    The rest of the story is that one of Methodist Caskey’s leading church members soon became a Baptist, serving the Lord in Baptist churches in Missouri and further west.   (adapted from David Oldfield)