After a 3:00 AM start, long lines at Jet Blue Cuba in Ft Lauderdale, Florida and some very different immigration questioning entering the nation, a friend and I finally had feet on the ground in Cuba at 8:00 AM May 1st, 2019. About forty minutes later, our Cuban pastor contact came to pick us up in our rental car for the week.
Having just been in Haiti days earlier, I found Cuba to be very green, covered with trees and flowers all along the highways and very well maintained. There is a noticeable absence of traffic as the Cubans do not own cars. The highways have mostly trucks, taxi’s, touring buses, a few cars and a large number of motorcycles, the most interesting had added side cars. My personal favorite to capture on the roads and the small towns along the way were the 1940’s – 1950’s cars and trucks.
Santiago de Cuba is a city of half a million people. It is the second largest in the country, where the Castro revolution started, where the capital was at one time and where Fidel Castro is now buried. It is perceived to be the “warmest” city in Cuba because it’s in a valley. Luis, our Cuban pastor friend, is not from this city, but felt called to plant a church here after he had one convert from a personal visit many years earlier. The Lord had him move to the city which was not possible at the time because Castro would not allow the sale of your personal home in order to move to another location. But, as Luis repeated a lot, God provides.
It is very different being in a nation in which the government owns most everything: the water, most buildings which include the stores and hotels, the hospitals, the trucks on the highway, the electrical power generating plants, the farms and fields, etc. Almost every job is directed by or run by the government and the average worker makes $20.00 – $25.00 per month. A doctor could make as much as $60.00 per month. Luis shared with us that the Cuban government provides five pounds of rice, five pounds of sugar and oil to each family, nothing more in the way of food. He said for the average Cuban family this amount lasts for about two weeks.
Friday evening, we had a worship service at Luis’ building. (Luis’ home and church building are physically connected as are all of the “underground” churches.) The building would hold 125-150 somewhat comfortably, but we must have had well over 175 persons. The buildings in the city do not allow for air to flow through them and with the humidity and the number of bodies present, I’m guessing it was in the high 90’s. Our pants and our shirts were soaked through with sweat. But the worship was awesome and Luis allowed me to share the word that night.
Luis asked me to give an alter call and I am guessing around dozen plus people came forward to give their lives to Jesus. And then it was like someone threw a match on a pile of gasoline-soaked rags. The place exploded with dancing, prayer, deliverance and fiery worship. We came back to our room around midnight exhausted, but a bit dumbfounded at the revival and presence of God in this place.
The same thing happened the next night and the next. Cuba is experiencing revival like nothing I have ever experienced in my 48 years of being a Christian. Young and the old are coming to Jesus and it was thrilling to experience. Every church we visited has a building plan or a church planting plan because of the exponential growth taking place. I felt privileged to not only see it, but experience it first-hand.
Have you been on a mission trip lately? It will totally and radically change your life!
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.
I was speaking with a friend recently about a specific governmental department that I obviously did not have a good word for. Later in a text message, I apologized for my negative expressions. And here’s the reason for my apology: Holy Spirit.
I would be devastated, overwhelmed and heart-broken if my daughter suffered any kind of abuse from anyone in any fashion. I would give my life to make sure that did not happen. Further, I would be equally broken and horrified if one of my sons was falsely accused of abusing another. Having raised my children with very clear values and boundaries, I would believe them if they told me abuse occurred or did not occur.
In these times we are hard pressed to find any moral guidance coming from Washington DC, even as governmental leaders call for morality. And Hollywood continually puts out sexually provocative films and then expects morality among its ranks. You cannot have it both ways…sorry.
I had this question posed from last week’s blog, 
Clinical psychologist, Anna Salter, wrote a helpful book titled, Predators: Pedophiles, Rapists and Other Sex Offenders. In that book she said, “Decades of research have demonstrated that people cannot reliably tell who is lying. Many offenders report that religious people are even easier to fool than most people.”
In light of recent news articles about sexual abuse coming out of Pennsylvania, I thought it appropriate to consider this subject in brief.
We don’t spot them because they blend in and we’re not naturally looking for a predator. In fact, most of us can’t even relate to such evil. With the signs above you can watch out for your children within your extended family, your neighborhood, your child’s school, sports activities and yes, your local church.
Our family often had the nations around our table as our children grew up. We loved the cultural examples each one brought to us. I remember in particular a couple from Zimbabwe who we invited from a local college for Thanksgiving. In the middle of the meal the wife told us, “You throw away the best parts of the turkey.” We all had a great laugh because we do not eat the head, liver or the feet of a turkey. But we desired our children to know and understand that every life is valuable to God and His design for them. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of nations and nations represent people.
Proverbs 12 tells us, “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” What does your tongue bring to those around you, your co-workers and your acquaintances? I am personally challenged by my thoughts (not often spoken, but still thought) that do not think the best of others or those thoughts which do not give those different from me the benefit of the doubt. To have the privilege of traveling the world and to experience different cultures is enlightening, while at the same time difficult to not think comparatively, i.e., my culture vs. their culture.
Politicians can be an especially difficult bunch due to their near truths or outright lies, placating, patronizing, cover-ups, political correctness and bottom line desire of being reelected. You rarely know who is telling the truth today. You especially rarely know the full truth because of a press that now also includes “fake news.” Further, the news outlets often only report what will support their causes and their politicians. It is why I love inside reports from Christian leaders I am acquainted with (throughout the world) who are in the know about so much of what is truthfully happening around the world.
As Christ followers, we have a long way to go to do more listening, considering, growing and developing. But there are many undeniable written words from God that do not and will not change with culture. We are called to influence culture with Biblical truth. While our opinion may be valuable to some, it will not supernaturally change a life.
Is Judge Roy Moore guilty? Yes, he is. But then, so are you and I because we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. I do not know about any current accusations against him, but I pray he tells the truth for his sake and for the sake of the women who are accusing him.
When your neighbor’s house is flooded, the roof is blown away from a hurricane or gutted from a devastating fire, are you inclined to help them? Are you moved with compassion to serve them and pour all the effort you can into assisting them toward recovery?
Steve Prokopchak 