A pastor in the UK is facing a maximum sentence of 18 years after a home baptism went awry. Cheryl Bartley, 48, would typically livestream her baptisms on Facebook, but in Oct. 2023, one of her congregants tragically lost his life. In a later video that has since stirred controversy on social media, Bartley claimed she saw the late congregant in heaven “dancing with Jesus.”
According to the New York Post, the congregant was Robert Smith, who was 61 years old at the time of his death. Smith was reportedly a faithful member of Bartley’s Life Changing Ministries and lived with Parkinson’s disease. He identified as a born-again Christian and had emigrated from Jamaica 25 years earlier. He worked as a barber in Brixton, London, and was a proud grandfather of seven.
