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Are you saved?  If you were a Swedish immigrant to America in the 1850s and 1860s and stood near a Swedish Baptist, chances are you would be asked that question. The curious thing about it was that the Swedes came out of the Lutheran tradition rather than the Baptist. Baptist views were not even introduced into Sweden until 1847, and that was by a sailor named Gustavus Schroeder. There was something curious about that fact, too: Schroeder was converted in a Methodist Church in the U.S.! However, before returning home, he encountered a group of Baptists, was convinced by their teaching and baptized by them. He shared his testimony with fellow Swedes.

About the same time, another Swedish sailor, Frederick Olaus Nilsson, became frightened in a storm and vowed to turn his life over to God. In New Orleans, he jumped ship and worked his way across America handing out tracts. Back in Sweden, he met Schroeder who explained Baptist views to him. Nilsson could find no one to baptize him in Sweden, so he traveled to Hamburg, Germany. He found a Baptist pastor there who returned with him and baptized his family and a few others one night; persecution was severe so secrecy was needed.

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