The New Life Gospel Explosion Crusade, an undertaking by the Seventh-day Adventist Church, had its opening night on Sunday, October 26, under the spacious tent, on the grounds of the Clayton Lloyd International Airport.
The welcome remarks were delivered by the Resident Minister, Pastor Trent Berg. He particularly welcomed Chief Minister, Mr Hubert Hughes; Minister of Infrastructure, Mr Evan Gumbs; and Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Haydn Hughes.
Pastor Berg took the opportunity to introduce Evangelist Mil Robinson, who originally hails from Montserrat, but is residing and serving in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands. She frequently travels throughout the Caribbean region, and to many other areas of the world, conducting evangelistic campaigns on behalf of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. This is her second crusade in Anguilla, the first having been in 2011.
The crusade was opened by Pastor Earl Daniel, Stewardship and Trust Services Director at the North Caribbean Conference (NCC) of Seventh-day Adventists. “I am so delighted to be representing the NCC on the opening night of this wonderful meeting,” he told his listeners, hoping that there would be a revival and commitment of lives as a result of the crusade.
In her opening topic, Evangelist Robinson took a hard look at the decay of Christian morals and what has been called ‘the new gospel of the age’ and ‘the new morality’. She went on: “The concept is that nothing itself is wrong; and this concept breeds contempt for authority; contempt for rules; contempt for standards; and, worst of all, contempt for a God and His Word. It has become fashionable to laugh at God and I wonder how much more can God stand.
“Then there is the idea of situational ethics – the concept is that the characters are controlled by the situation. If you happen to be at home, while your wife is a thousand miles away on vacation, then the situation calls for a girlfriend; and that doctrine, ladies and gentlemen, was born in hell. If that was not enough, here is prosperity gospel. You sow a seed of a thousand dollars – in other words, send me a thousand dollars and God will bless you with ten thousand dollars. It is a get-rich scene, and so they bleed the poor and those who are not sensible enough to read God’s Word, and know what He says for themselves, [are fooled]. These men on the television you are looking at are getting rich off people. They have private planes and big houses. They are getting rich because people send them their money expecting to get something.
“Then there is nudity on the streets, turning our world into a world of flesh worshippers. They cannot even advertise toothpaste or a wheelbarrow without you seeing naked women on the television screens and at the same time sex crimes are increasing.”
The Evangelist also took a swipe at immodest attire among women – not only on the streets, but at church as well. She called on parents and other adults to be examples in the home and in the community to their children and other young people.
“I want to tell you something that one of the reasons young people are not interested in joining the church is that they are tired of the obstructions they see in the church,” she continued. “They are tired of people saying one thing and living another. They are tired of parents who tell them don’t smoke, but who sit down with a pack of cigarettes and start smoking. They are tired of parents who tell them that they shouldn’t drink, but sit down with their friends and drink their cocktails. They are tired of going to church and hearing the pastor preach and their parents and everybody else cutting up the pastor, the deacons and deaconess…They are tired of parents doing whatever they want to do and are yet trying to counsel them. They are tired of double standards. These religious obstructions have turned off a whole generation, and it is not safe for young people to be turned off from God, and we must bear the responsibility.”
Evangelist Robinson urged parents and other influential persons “to straighten up and stop being crooked” and, as the Bible says, not to “have a form of Godliness but denying the power thereof.”
