Do we really need an Uprising
I have been on many mission trips, here in America. My wife, much like many of my friends, has been to other countries as well. I seem to always hear the same response from those who come back from a week in the mission field. Honduras, Africa, Nicaragua, the stories seem very similar: hundreds and hundreds saved. "They are so open to the Gospel. They are just hungry for it. They have nothing; we are so blessed here in America. You have to get out of your comfort zone."
Praise God for salvations! However, spend an afternoon on your local street corner and you will see a VERY different picture. American's are not "open to it." Our streets are being devoured by corruption and hopelessness. Rather than reach out to God for deliverance, as so many foreign countries do, our streets blame God, politicians, the upper class, their parents, anyone but themselves. Without repentance there is no salvation. America is blessed, and at the same time bleeding. This country, in many areas, breeds resentment rather than repentance. Americans have bought the oldest lie on earth; "you won't die. God is hiding the truth from you. He owes you more. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't won't you to know that you can be just like Him, if you just do this." –my translation of Genesis 3.
America is my home. Tennessee is my home. Chattanooga is my home. If I know that there are people here in my home that are smothering in depression and addiction, why would I not start here? I think that in most cases it's because people go on mission trips to get "INTO" their comfort zone. It seems easier to go thousands of miles away to a place where you don't know anyone and can leave when you get ready. In many cases you've raised your money and have all your needs met before you leave and sometimes even bring your own food with you from home. Day to Day life, as we know it, is left behind for a week or so.
Please understand that I firmly believe that the message needs to go out into the entire world and I'm not shaming anyone for doing that. In fact, I support many missionaries worldwide both financially and in prayer. I think it is not only necessary but a command from Christ himself and those that fulfill that call are both bold and self sacrificing. I just feel that, for most people, it is much harder to face the same street and the same people everyday as a light in the darkness. It is much harder to reach out to someone while the stress of life and the burden of earning a living are staring you in the face. It is, perhaps for many, much more difficult to share the love of Christ in the presence of the very people and lifestyle that you escaped from. Our streets, our jobs, our very own homes, need him; and the fact is…..we know him.
It was a VERY hot day when the Extreme Tour pulled into Los Angeles. Our concert was with an organization called Set Free Ministries. We were playing on Skid Row. As we pulled in, it was obvious that this was something that we would never forget. I still have images burned into my mind that I doubt will ever leave. The church was a collapsing corner store front, surrounded by homeless people on all sides. We pulled into a very small courtyard/parking area behind the church that would be our location for the event. It was surrounded by 10 foot walls with razor wire on top. There were various articles of clothing that had been claimed by this fence during several attempts to get in or out. The only way in was a giant sliding steel door that we all drove through. This was not a prison, it was a church; a small, very poor church. The streets were filled with make-shift homes on the sidewalks. The smell of urine in the air was so strong that it took several days to wash it off. There were people all around that were completely aimless. A young girl, right beside the gate, held a syringe in hand, loaded with Heroin. Then in broad daylight, in front of everyone, she shot up as if she were eating an apple for lunch. Later she was dancing around the stage area completely naked and 'barking' at the ground. Several men stood and watched the concert from the street while smoking crack through glass pipes. All this was in plain view, in the middle of the afternoon on a VERY public street, in the heart of downtown. I hurt inside as I began to take in all that I was seeing. The director of the tour said something that I will never forget. As we stood together looking down the street at the hundreds of homeless and hopeless people on just one block, he said "This is Satan's vision for mankind."