"For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us in to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Colossians 1:13-14
Last night I went down to the red light district, called Zona Norte, "the North Zone," with my fellow staff Michael, our buddy Julian who works for Spectrum ministry, and 3 Mexicans, including the lady who led us down, called Francelia, who was an ex-prostitute, now a believer, in Zona Norte. Michael had been approached by our boss' old youth pastor, Pastor Von, who is 83, but still works down here in Mexico 4 days a week for Spectrum, about having someone lead us down into Zona Norte. He told us we ought to see what "true" darkness looks like. Michael and I talked a bunch and prayed often about it. We understood that sin is darkness, but we had been told that this place is just different, that you walk in and you can feel spiritual heaviness. We thought it would be beneficial for us, especially because we both want to go into ministry overseas and we're going to have to deal with prostitution, drugs, violence. And so we went last night. It was sad, but it was powerful. We came from this place called Playas and took this highway all along the ocean, right next to the red light. Then we stopped and got out, and lugged this huge pot of rice up a block. There we made a right into this dark alley. And it was dark. You knew going in that this was it. We then made another right through this doorway into this group of "houses". I say "houses" because they were no where near a house by American standards, but where people lived nonetheless. A picture that will stay in my mind forever: I was standing over this pot of rice, handing out cups and I feel a man tap me on the shoulder. I turn around and there's this man and his buddy in this hole probably about the size of a dumb waiter, about 3x3 hole, and they have all their stuff jammed in there in the back, probably about 6 feet deep, and then they just sleep in there. And something else about all these people that came up for rice where all high. This one guy came up, with all matted down dredlocks, a big trenchcoat, and he was walking like a handicapped man, convulsing, because he was so high. And that's just the life these people live. They are poor, destitute, and so turn to drugs, and it just turns into this cycle of constant striving. And they're striving after nothing. Emptiness. From there we drove down into the heart of it all. As soon as we got out and parked, right by the bathrooms there was a guy shining his girlfriend's shoes, making her look nice to sell. We proceeded down the street and made a bunch of rights and lefts and found ourselves facing this street, about 300 yards long. Now on our way there, there were prostitutes around. But we went down this street and every 5 feet, no exaggeration, there was a prostitute waiting for business. Girls that could be as young as 13. There was this line of guys on our side of the street, and I turned to Julian and ask, "Porque están allá?," why are they there? He says to me that there waiting for all the girls to come out from across the street and there's going to be an auction. We passed by places for child prostitution, and all around this block are cops, and I asked Julian about this too and he tells me that the pimps pay off the cops so that they can keep business going. I'm hoping to go again before I leave, and I hope to go to the river. There's a canal that runs down the middle of the highway and there are druggies that live down in the sewers.
From this night, God opened my eyes to hurting people. But even more so that, yes these people need food, clothing, jobs, but immensely more they need the gospel. These girls that are selling themselves have no idea that Jesus came to die to set them free from the enslavement of sin. And these people are slaves to sin and Satan has a hold on their lives. They have no idea that Jesus has rescued them from the dominion of darkness. That he has brought redemption. Down there in Zona Norte there is a dominion of darkness. But people like this need to know that Jesus died to bring them into the Kingdom of God. And there are people all over the world that need to know about the love of God. The cross that paid for their trespasses. Are you willing to take the Gospel, which contains the promise of eternal life, forgiveness, grace, and an abundant life for all of us as believers, to people like these?
