Harvest in Sin City

"If the mighty works done in you [Capernaum] had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day" (Matthew 11:23).

Unless you want to say that Jesus doesn't always mean precisely what he says, and that he is wont to exaggerate to make a point, I read in this statement that "sin cities" are more likely to respond to the gospel than religious cities. Go ask the prophet Jonah.

And if this is the case, then here is a prophetic promise for us: Bring the gospel to the most debauched places on earth. If someone had only brought it to Sodom, it's sure they would have repented. So get thee to a modern Sodom.

I got a letter from an inmate at the Cotton Correctional Facility in Michigan today:

"I've just returned from Tuesday night service where nine men were baptized. They have a portable baptismal which they fill with water and roll into the gym."

An off-point but interesting part of the letter was my correspondent's taking exception to the part of the general altar that ensued, in which the preacher said, "With every head bowed, every eye closed, no one looking around, quickly slip up your hand if you want to accept Jesus as your personal Savior." The inmate's problem with that:

"We may not be doing a new convert justice by leading him into the kingdom of God with so cowardly a profession (a silent prayer with no one aware) as his first 'act' of faith. . . . These were gang-bangers, thugs, rapists, murderers, dope dealers, women beaters, thieves, etc. Do you mean to tell me that these tough street-hardened thugs were big enough men to be outlaws for Satan yet need to be treated as cowering wimps for Christ? Yikes!"

To hear commentaries by Andrée Seu, click here.