(Your MilesAhead.tv Jamaica crusade blogger wasn’t able to get back on to the Internet last night (Saturday). But here are some notes she made during the phenomenal evening at Dump Up Beach. Wish you were there!)
Music in Montego Bay
Saturday, May 3, 2008, Jamaica Crusade, 9:38 p.m. (Jamaica time)-–Jamaicans talk fast. Their musical accent and patois sometimes stretches my ability to understand. Okay, not sometimes; all the time. So when you put that way of communicating with reggae and rap, well, I confess I’m lost. But I had a great time listening to the music anyway! The performers were passionate and professonal, and the crowd loved them all.
Top Jamaican gospel superstars Omari and then Carlene Davis opened the evening, and Papa San closed it out. Papa San is wildly popular in Jamaica. Throughout his set, the crowd just throbbed, waving rags, flags and caps to every beat. In between was American Christian rapper TobyMac, who had the audience jumping too.
You have to understand the magnitude of the crowd. Picture an American football stadium full of people, all on their feet. (Of course, if it’s NFL, they already will be.) There are children and teens, adults and seniors. Now make the stadium flat, and jam the people together shoulder to shoulder — for four hours.
If music was playing, they were dancing, so it was a big, big dance party out there. Click here for a glimpse of the crowd last night (Saturday) http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dgsbbfz_594358zx26
Miles’ Message
Miles McPherson talked straight with the Jamaica Crusade crowd tonight. The topic of his message was “Sex in Paradise.” He told the Montego Bay audience that the evil one has a weapon he uses to destroy us. (No, the weapon isn’t sex… God invented sex!)
Pastor Miles said that when Adam and Eve were in the Garden, the devil told the woman if she did what God told her not to do, nothing would happen. “You will not die,” Satan lied.
The devil’s chief weapon is to convince us that there are no consequences to our action. He wants us to believe that we are in charge of our lives. Everytime we disobey God, the devil whispers in our conscience, You will not die.
“The devil is lying to you,” said Pastor Miles. “He doesn’t tell you the whole story. He only tells you what you want to hear.”
When it comes to sexual relations, Satan has perverted God’s plan, he said. God created a man and woman to become one. “What the media tells you is sex, God designed as oneness It’s symbolic of your spiritual oneness with God. It’s supposed to be a picture of the church,” he said.
He acknowledged that sometimes sin is fun “for a season.” But it doesn’t last, and it destroys. He reminded the crowd that one of the consequences to sex outside marriage is sexually transmitted diseases. For instance, the Caribbean has the second highest HIV prevalence rate, second to sub-Saharan Africa.
After Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God. The fellowship they had had with the Creator was broken, and they were ashamed. They wanted to cover up their sin.
“Let me tell you,” said McPherson. “You cannot cover your sin with leaves. You cannot cover your sin with food. You cannot cover your sin with money. Let me tell you. You have to die to cover your sin. But there’s good news,” he said.
He said that the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The penalty of sin is death. But while we were all sinners, Jesus (“Everybody say JeSUS!”) died on the cross for our sins. He was buried and rose from the dead.
“He wants so bad to fill your heart with peace. He wants so bad to heal you of your addictions. He wants so bad for you to walk with him. And why don’t we? Because we hide from Him,” said Miles. “God asked Adam, you used to walk with me. Now you hide from me. Where are you?”
That’s the question everyone needs to answer, Miles said. “Where are you? Where are you going? God has exactly what you’re looking for. Eternal life. Let me give it to you. It’s free.”
Pastor Miles told the crowd all we have to do is A.B.C.: Admit that we’re a sinner; Believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and died and rose from the dead for us; and Confess our sin and be cleansed of unrighteousness.
