Mardi Gras #2

The Depravity of Man

A friend called me last week and invited me to go do some street evangelism at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. After thinking and praying it through I felt like I should go. I knew that Mardi Gras was wild and filled with partiers, but it exceeded my expectations. I have been among the party crowd before doing evangelism and this was similar just multiplied by a factor of 10.

What goes on at Mardi Gras? Most people are aware of the party atmosphere, the copious amounts of alcohol and the scantily clad (if clad at all) people. But, there are some things that you don’t hear about or see on t.v. There is open drug use, public sex acts, voodoo, demonologists, fortune tellers, and all kinds of lewd and lascivious behavior. A police officer once told a friend of mine that the only thing that is illegal during Mardi Gras is inciting a riot and public urination. All ten of the Ten Commandments were broken in clear site with no shame.

Let me give you an example. As we walked down Bourbon Street just as we passed the porno shop, I saw two girls dancing to the street music. As we got closer they were not just dancing but they were basically gyrating in a motion to imitate like they were having sex. Now, these girls did happen to have on their clothes, there are those who do not, but what really shocked me was their age. They stopped for a moment and I approached them and asked their age. They were 16 and 17. I attempted to share Christ with them, but they were more interested in resuming their lewdness. 16 years old!!!!

It breaks my heart to see such young teens caught in the bondage of sin. Their only hope is to be redeemed by Jesus Christ. I pray that He saves them before it is too late.
You might be tempted to think that the only people that do things that are done at Mardi Gras are the losers of society. Not so. The losers are there, but so are your neighbors, and co-workers. There were people of all ages, races, colors and creeds. These are people that could be a mechanic or an accountant. This is not something that is isolated to a few days in New Orleans. We may not see it exactly, but there are people that we see in our everyday life that are caught in sin.

I was thankful for what the Lord did in my own life. I was thankful for the opportunity to share the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray that seeing the depravity of man will motivate me to share that good news more often.

Mardi Gras

I just got back from quick mission trip to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. WHOA!!!! I am still processing all that I saw and what went on. The next few blog posts I will include some of my thoughts and experiences.

Let me start off with this; I knew it would be wild and crazy, I did not know it would be SO wild and crazy!

More coming soon.

Turn To Christ

If you have never heard of Richard Owen Roberts, he has been described as the closest thing to an Old Testament prophet there is. He is ancient old, feeble, and slow of speech. Yet, it is obvious that God's power is present. I was able to hear him twice last week, and both were humbling.

Here is one thing that stuck with me. Dr. Roberts has a lengthy book and ministry on Repentance. He talked about this subject from scripture with us. There are two tracks of repentance. Repentance for self and repentance for Christ. Repentance for self is when we turn from sin to avoid hell. That is a very real and biblical motivation for repentance. But, that is not all repentance is. If my repentance only stays on that level then it is selfish -- for my self.

Repentance is not complete until it also includes turning to Christ. This means that we turn from our sin and turn to Christ. It is recognition that Christ is so worthy and so loving that He deserves for me to turn away from my sin.

Repentance is not a one-and-done act. It is a life that continues to turn away from sin for the glory of Christ.

I pray that I would, "bear fruit in keeping with repentance." (Luke 3:8)

Show Me The Money

I don't do many posts about politics, but I was thinking about something and thought I would share my findings.

The government is debating a financial bailout. The politicians are batting around figures of about 800 billion$$$$. Whoa. Of course that bailout money would go to financial institutions, banks, and a myriad of political pet projects. (I don't think this is a good idea to begin with.)

Here is an alternative. The population of USA is about 300 million. What if the government gave the bailout money to every person. That would be a check for about $2,700 per person. That is for everyone. Every man, woman, and child. So, for a household of 4 they would get $10,800. That sure would bail me out.

No, I am not now nor ever running for office.