Celebrity and professing Christian Russell Brand has posted another photo of himself baptizing someone. This time he traded his “tighty-whities” for swimwear.
Brand, who started posting about his faith journey late last year—sharing he was reading the Bible and C.S. Lewis and that he needed a personal relationship with God—was sternly criticized for baptizing someone while wearing only underwear less than two weeks ago.
“You know you can wear clothes to baptize people,” one person wrote. Another said, “Am I the only one wondering why the guy getting baptized is in surf gear and the two baptizing them are in their literal underwear???? This is quite odd.”
However, some came to Brand’s defense, including Bobbie Houston, wife of former Hillsong Church global senior pastor, Brian Houston. “The comments are hilarious. Pretty sure we’re all gonna die laughing in heaven about all our lives down here! Jesus: ‘Dude, remember that time…’” Bobbie commented. “I personally love the innocence here.”
The criticism prompted Brand to address his baptismal attire on social media. He asked his followers if his “tighty-whities [were] satanic?”
“I suppose lookin’ at it now it does look a bit immodest, me doin’ a baptism in underpants like that,” Brand said. “But the truth is, I took off my clothes and my underpants is all I’m wearing underneath my clothes. That’s what I’m wearing right now.”
“It wasn’t a planned photo shoot,” he added. “Some of my mates took photos for their friend, actually. Evan was getting baptized.”
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Houston and others encouraged Brand to ignore the critics and continue growing in his faith. “Ignore them,” Houston said. “We think your new found faith and enthusiasm is delightful. You’re full of Jesus…hungry, curious, asking questions, reading ya Bible and quoting it…and that’s the most important thing.”
