“Don’t judge me!”
“So, if God loves me, why did He kill my one and only beautiful daughter?” screamed the lady of the night as she peered at us through semi-detached, cosmetic eyelashes that were now soaked with tears!
I became concerned and prayed earnestly and quietly, asking God not to let her lashes fall off. She had trailed us from the “Pit” (the middle of the Hitstrip, which is the darkest and hottest part of the street). As she clung to us tightly and hollered, we were able to look spiritually beyond her brokenness and realise that she was why Jesus had come; she was one of the many lost sheep (Luke 15:3–7) God had sent us to find at 1 o’clock in the morning!
“And He spake this parable unto them, saying, ‘What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth he not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he finds it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.’”
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Three ‘soldiers’ had reported for night evangelism duty at 10 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, 2024. After spending the first half of the night ministering to only men, we paused briefly for another Spiritual “plug-in” before proceeding to the “Hitstrip,” to face what would turn out to be a battle royale.
To our astonishment, almost all the bars that were usually teeming with drunken patrons were closed! We looked across the road, towards a wall that, two weeks ago, was usually bestrewn with “ladies of the night.” It was bare!
We “bumped” into a new convert (the poultry supplier to the jerk vendor), who had almost gotten killed two weeks prior in a freak accident that only God could have averted. When a 20-foot trailer came within a hairline of a small car driven by a drunken soldier, the poultry supplier was at the same spot delivering poultry that day. He informed us that he had lost one job because of the sudden closure of one of the many exotic nightclubs, but thanks be to God, he had picked up something else. We prayed with him and invited him to church.
It was approximately 12:30 Sunday morning! We prayed and declared and decreed into the atmosphere as we marched towards the “Pit” (where most of the immoral acts of lasciviousness took place!) This was where we had previously snatched a young prostitute from the enemy’s camp. We stood speechless! The entrance was bare! Where did all the nocturnal patrons and their clients go? We continued for about 100 metres before crossing to the opposite side of the road. A few ladies were looking up and down the road, posing, with the hope of attracting clients.
WHO IS THIS IN THE CAMP?
As we prayer-walked out of the dark pit, towards the square, we suddenly became aware of a fourth person marching alongside us! She turned out to be a lady of the night! Her hair was dyed scarlet red, and her lashes extended about an inch from her face. A plastic cup with that notorious yellow substance in it was clutched in her hands! As she strutted past us, we slowed our steps and gave her some attention.
As we approached a part of the street that was better lit, she said, “Ladies, please do not judge me! Not all of us that you see want to be here! Some of us cannot do any better!”
We stopped and told her that God loved her and that He had a better way of life for her!
That touched a nerve in her, and she broke down, sobbing, “If God loves me, why did He kill my one and only daughter?”
She sat on the wall, and we sat as well. She asked us if we remembered Rahab from the Bible (Joshua 2). We told her “Yes,” and that was why God had sent us out tonight, to point her back to Jesus!
She wept buckets of tears until her hair became soaked and matted and threatened to become entangled with her lashes, which were almost detached! She went through almost the entire pack of mini wipes that I had pressed into her hands! Like us, she too was why Jesus had died.
The anguish, grief, pain, and suffering that emanated from her twisted body were enough to break any heart made of banded iron! She was the epitome of pain! She blamed God for taking her daughter, shutting down her multiple thriving businesses, and allowing her mother to scorn her for being a prostitute.
We summoned Emergency Reinforcement from heaven, the Balm in Gilead, to soothe and mend this broken vessel!
“I’M REASONING WITH MY CHURCH SISTERS!”
By this time, many of her associates had sauntered by to check if she was okay. Between the tears, she assured them that she was reasoning with some of “her church sisters!”
We had to shut down a monitoring spirit in the form of the driver of a very dark-coloured car that was parked way too close to us for comfort. He quickly moved the vehicle to another location. Cab drivers slowed and stared—some even reversed to get a better view of the sobbing night-worker! We held her until her tears subsided.
She did not forget her cup and searched behind her to dispose of it, but we had long discarded it. She smiled and said, “Thank you!” divulging that she had wanted to do that for a long time but just had not had the will! She was a backslider and hated her former church members because when she fell and approached them for assistance, they had scorned her!
She was sober enough to cry out to Jesus to save her and forgive her of her sins! She confessed that she had watched us marching and praying up a storm as we approached the “Pit.” In the dark, from the opposite side of the road, she said she had decided to await us as we headed back towards the square!
This must have been Divine intervention or interception because, at that time, we did not know that the Holy Spirit would have changed our route, which brought us directly into her path!
After praying for her, she asked if God would really provide a job for her or dinner for her children so that she wouldn’t have to go back on the streets! We told her yes and pointed her to an assembly close to her home that would offer tangible assistance immediately. She clutched the copy of the Freedom Come Rain newspaper that we gave her and said she found it very interesting, as she had read the previous publication.
We literally dragged ourselves away, collectively concluding that Jesus was still in the saving business.
The night was well-spent. It was 1:58 Sunday morning, and our vehicles were waiting!
“For God so Loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting Life!” St. John 3:16.
