Posted on 10/24/2004 8:44:57 PM PDT by xzins
Horse baptised to raise funds for church
JOHANNESBURG: A South African preacher baptised a thoroughbred racehorse called “Running Reverend” yesterday in front of his congregation in a controversial bid to raise church funds.
Members of St. Peter's Congregational Church watched as Reverend Deric Derbyshire splashed the horse's forehead with water at the Villa Felix stud farm outside the southeastern coast city of Port Elizabeth.
“I did a scripture reading and a prayer and then sprinkled the horse's forehead,” Derbyshire said.
“The Lord's hand is definitively on this horse he's going to be a champion,” he added.
Running Reverend will now be raffled for 200 rands (RM123) a ticket to raise funds for church buildings and an old age home.
The raffle winner will earn a 49% stake in the horse, to be co-owned by the Eastern Cape racehorse breeders who donated the animal, Derbyshire said.
All prize money will be shared.
It was not the first time Derbyshire, 56, and his congregation had become involved in thoroughbred racehorses, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
In 1983, when the church needed a hall, Derbyshire bought a racehorse called “Sheldon” at a yearling sale and raffled him off, making enough money to complete the building.
But the baptising of a horse has landed him in hot water with the more conservative elements of his church.
“I'm not worried about that,” Derbyshire said. “It's between me and the Lord.” – AFP
Which raises the interesting question: If there are horses in heaven, are there horse races?
If he wasn't immersed the baptism wasn't scriptural and the horse is going to hell.
When immersed we call them seahorses. Therefore, it is legitimate only to sprinkle thy thoroughbred.
Now they need to rename him Horsey Heretic.
LOL. It was a protestant church, wasn't it?
I can't find the verse right now but I know that somewhere it says that you can lead a horse to water but you can't immerse him.
I think it's pretty routine to baptize cattle. That's why we say "holy cow!" all the time.
Yep. "Holy Horse" is quite common in our area. I have heard a lot of "Holy Goat" around some of our more charismatic churches. :>)
yes, there are horse races in heaven. the bummer is that you're not allowed to bet on them. also, they have to strap the jockeys on real tight as the wind lift from their wings often times causes them to become airborne. injuries are few as the jockeys are trained to just glide back down to the track. a few reports of lost halos though. you can lead a horse to holy water but . . . .
My Parish Priest would baptise a fly walking up the wall, if he thought he'd back a winner!
LOLOL!!!
That one was worth the groans to get to. 8~)
Thought you'd get a kick out of this.
In the eyes of the Lord, all men are created equus.
The best pun on the page so far! LOL!
As for me and my Horse, we will serve the Lord...
Had this occured in a Charismatic church, the horse would have immediately begun barking like a dog.
Nope, we Pentecostals don't allow horses, at the snakes' insistence.
(Actually, my church DOES own a horse, but that's a different story - and she's not a race horse)
This is a joke right.....My God I hope so..
To take one of the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith (baptism) and cheapen it like this is at the very least, strange..
I wonder if this guy is a PETA member...God have mercy..
Maybe I just don't have the since of humor I used to have, but this, to me, isn't funny, the pastor I mean, not the post.
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