Another Holiday Corrupted By Sin...

Many people world wide are getting ready to celebrate Carnival. This festival season is associated with the Roman Catholic faith and is often celebrated with costumes, parades, and a circus like atmosphere. Brazil holds claim to the largest carnival celebration in the world, which is held in Rio de Janeiro. This celebration is theoretically a social event for all but truly is a celebration of the immoral. The gala is known for hedonism and indulgence of immoral human desires. Those who are seeking pleasure and gratification of their sinful nature can be found celebrating along side families and communities. Like its sister celebration in the United States, known as Mardi Gras, Carnival is a celebration which is held 40 days before Easter and marks the beginning of Lent. Why hold a celebration to start of the time of year? Well, during Lent, Roman Catholics are supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures, including the consumption of meat. The carnival is considered an act of farewell to the pleasures of the flesh.

Like too many in scripture, this is a celebration of the individual and of sinful nature. Like the Israelites of old, the people love to celebrate what their hands have made (Acts 7:41b / Exodus 32:1) and what their sinful nature desires. Please pray that we will be a clear example of Godly character during this period. Also pray for the lost people of Brazil, those who do not care to know God as well as those who follow a false God and false teaching, that they may experience the love of God for the first time.

Our Little Missionary Girl...

Tara and I have been so blessed to watch our four-year-old little girl become an instrument in our Savior’s hand. In an earlier post, Tara told a story of Lydia braving the heat, the mosquitoes, and the language/culture barriers to hand out gospel tracts. Lydia said, "Even though I can't speak Portuguese, I can still tell people about Jesus."

On another day, while taking a walk with her father, Lydia saw a man walking down the street. She stopped her father and said, “Daddy, maybe he does not know Jesus.” It so touches the heart of a parent to know that God has burdened this small child’s heart for the lost.

From the mouth of small child, we have been reminded of the reasons that we have left the comforts of the United States to come to Brazil. We, the Gilpin family, have been blessed to be called to bring the greatest gift in history to lost peoples. At times it is easy to feel sorry for ourselves and to allow the difficulties of living in foreign country to cause us to fall into Satan’s traps. However, the words of our little girl sent a clear message to us that God desires that all may know the good news. We hope that we never forget that we our no longer our own. For Christ’s death on the cross released these pitiful sinners from our prison cell of sin. Whether, we live in Brazil or in the United States a four year old little girl has shown us again the love of our Savior.