“The people who were sitting
(living) in
[spiritual] darkness have seen a
great Light, And for those who were sitting
(living) in the land and shadow
of [spiritual and moral] death,
Upon them a Light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to preach and say,
“Repent
[change your inner self—your old way of thinking, regret past sins, live your
life in a way that proves repentance; seek God’s purpose for your life], for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4:16-17 AMP
One of the
outreaches our Youth With A Mission team had the opportunity to participate in,
during February 1988, was to witness on the streets of the French Quarter in
New Orleans during that year’s Mardi Grass.
At first the “culture shock” was not as great for me as it was for many
of my teammates since I had lived in New Orleans as a child, but I soon understood
that the city I knew as a child was not the city I was now seeing. I realized that my parents had protected me
from much of what went on in the city during this yearly celebration. I remembered parades with floats and people
on the floats throwing out candy and plastic jewelry, lively music, brilliantly
colored costumes and feathered masks.
What I saw in 1988 were crowds of blatantly drunk tourists stripping,
exposing themselves, going far beyond kissing, right on the streets – and this
was in the day-time! Many of the
costumes were of ghoulish graveyard themes and satanic symbols. There was a spiritual oppression in the air
that was so thick, using an old phrase; you could cut it with a knife. Gone was the city of jazz and joy of my youth
and in its place was a city full of debauchery and evil. It was quite overwhelming and I must say that
half our team would stay at the church we were sleeping in and pray for the
other half of the team as they went out to witness. Please do not get me wrong; marvelous things
happened in the spirit with people listening to us and accepting the Lord in
the midst of this bedlam but those blessings things were few and far between.
The one thing that I
remember the most about that outreach was a puzzling fact. Almost every member of the church we were
given to rest and sleep in that week were out of town. They always took their vacation week during
the week of Mardi Grass. They got out of
the city to avoid being around the evil and depravity. I know the Word of God tells us to flee from fornication
and idolatry (1 Corinthians 6:18; 10:14) but these believers fled and left
their city in the hands of the enemy. I
could not help but wonder that if they stayed, submitted to God and prayed,
that more miracles could have happened in the midst of all that evil.
Halloween reminds me
of Mardi Grass with its festive costumes and customs. No, for the most part we do not see the
debauchery that happened in the streets of New Orleans in our cities during
Halloween but we do sense the spiritual oppression around the holiday. After becoming a Christian and having a
linage that comes from Wales, Great Briton (the seat of Druidism), I have
shied away from this holiday and its practices, but I am becoming more and more
convicted that should I stay in my home tonight with my lights off and watch
TV, hoping no one knocks trick-or-treating at my door, then I am like those
believers who deserted New Orleans in the midst of its yearly evil ritual.
Believers, let me
encourage you here and now to spend this evening in prayer for your city, for
your street, for your neighbors, and for all those young and old out
trick-or-treating. Instead of retreating,
stand against the devil tonight in prayer and watch him flee (James 4:7)! Who knows for maybe your prayers may break
the spiritual bonds of someone tonight and they will be released to come to
Jesus. Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
let us not run from the darkness but BE THE LIGHT of Jesus on this darkened
night (Matthew 5:14-16).
“Be
careful. Hold firmly to your faith. Have courage and be strong.” – 1 Corinthians
16:13 ERV
