Mardi Gras — connected to end-time
events?
 What
does Mardi Gras have to do with Bible prophecy? Nothing
except it stems from Roman and Greek paganism, is deeply
rooted in so-called “Christian” tradition, teaches the
concept of play-and-pay, encourages the rankest of moral
degradation, extends toleration to virtually every form
of deviant behavior, saps a lot of time and energy in
preparation and brings in a lot of money to private
and city coffers. Thus, it seems it would fit quite
nicely in those religious and financial activities associated
with the end-times and wretchedly vile religious prostitute
of Revelation 17 and 18.
Mardi Gras , or Carnival as it is
called in other places, is celebrated in many major
cities of the world such as Venice, Italy and Rio De
Janeiro, Brazil among many others. It is known as Fasching
in Munich, Germany. Basically, it is a time of revelry
that provides both license and opportunity for just
about any kind of conduct imaginable just before the
Lenten season begins at midnight on Ash Wednesday.
During Carnival people are allowed
to really get down and dirty just before Lent because
when Lent begins it all becomes sin. You know, sort
of the “last hoorah” before getting religious. According
to Wikipedia the purpose of Lent is to prepare the believer
— through prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial
— for the commemoration of the death and resurrection
of Jesus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent). So, Mardi
Gras gives license to anyone to reduce their moral standard
of living to that of a pot-licker hound, and then on
Ash Wednesday to become remorseful, go to church, ask
forgiveness and do an act of contrition so that everything
suddenly becomes OK between them and God.
Is it really that bad, or is the above
just an embellishment of the facts? If a person has
ever been to Mardi Gras in New Orleans that question
would not have to be asked. Still, consider what others
have said.
John Edward Koerner III, Krewe of
Rex, in an interview with WDSU TV 6, said that at Mardi
Gras people “...waive about half the Ten Commandments…”
and that “People choose to waive what commandments they
wish.” That is an interesting comment since the celebration
is deeply rooted with what most people call Christianity.
But, is it really Christianity?
Not at all. Nobody, religious leader
or not, can point to any scripture that even hints that
God’s prohibitions against drunkenness, fornication,
adultery, homosexuality, etc., can be waived to any
degree by anyone for any reason. If that is true, what
makes people believe they can do those things with impunity?
The answer is in two parts. First, many religious leaders
say it is OK. And second, great numbers of people want
license to do what they are going to do anyway. Having
it associated with religion, you see, salves their consciences.
Does this not remind us of the direction
the false “Christian” religious world is going presently,
whose vileness and destruction are seen in Revelation
17 and 18? People are being told that tolerance is
now god, that to condemn any one’s conduct is too judgmental
and that as long as everything is consensual and nobody
gets hurt there is really no harm done. What we have
here is the old, “Well, God understands.” kind of thinking.
One tourist described the 2008 Mardi
Gras this way (verbatim with a little editing): Sixty
year old women walk about topless, with elaborate designs
painted on their chests, and teenage boys pause to gawk
and take pictures...Balconies sponsored by Trojan, Bacardi
and Frat Boyz are filled with virile youth. Crowds
gather on the street below them, and they engage in
a base conversation, where beads, breasts and vulgar
gestures take the place of words and phrases...A very
hairy man who is clearly wearing nothing but over-sized
extra-large overalls...wanders about, allowing glimpses
of his full profile...women in short tight skirts dance
with him...girls act coy but secretly pleased to get
cat calls, “Show me your ____! Show me your ____!” The
street smells literally like human waste...people are
finding themselves and enjoying life as only the very
lonely and the very drunk can. For some reason the
smiles seem sad, the cat calls seem disinterested...I
always thought Bourbon St. and the French Quarter to
be a happy place. But call it the heeby jeebies , call
it psychic intuition, call it whatever you will: this
place drains my spirit, it sucks away my happiness and
I will be glad to leave this city...tomorrow. This,
folks, is the truth about any kind of debauchery, not
just Mardi Gras.
It is impossible to fully address
this subject with such limited space, yet it is necessary
to take some of that space to make a note at this point.
Lest anyone misunderstand, there are any number of Mardi
Gras parades that are family-friendly with people who
do not subscribe to the raunchiness most often publicized
by the media. Yet, when one steps back and objectively
examines the whole idea of pre-Lenten revelry that one
quickly sees that at the core of even those more pleasant
events lies the same kernel that gives life to the depraved
and lurid side of the show.
Though I have seen Fasching , and
it is very similar to Mardi Gras , yet naturally I am
most familiar with the Louisiana version. The French
Catholic heritage of Mardi Gras came to Louisiana by
way of the Le Moyne brothers, Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville
and Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville in the late
1600s. About 60 miles downriver from New Orleans, on
3 March 1699, Iberville stopped at a place where a small
bayou drained into the Mississippi from the west bank,
and named the spot Point du Mardi Gras (Mardi Gras point)
in honor of the holiday. The tradition took root and
has prospered like a weed ever since.
During the tribulation God will send
two witnesses to be placed at the epi -center of the
action on earth at that time (Revelation 11:3ff). These
men will call attention to man’s sin and God’s wrath,
and no doubt to the rottenness of the prevailing and
false church. Mardi Gras was not without something
similar. FoxNews.com featured a story on Wednesday,
February 6th that mentioned a Christian group preaching
on Bourbon Street. Douglas Barry held up a large sign
(you might have seen it on some TV reports) warning
the raucous crowd their actions was the doorway to hell.
Barry said, “Not everyone welcomes our message, but
people never needed to hear it more than today.” Barry’s
group was mostly ignored, but one reveler said, “He
told me I was headed to hell, but all I’m doing is wandering
around taking in the sights. He said that makes me
a dirty old man, which is probably true, but I’m a happy
one today.”
We have not been told all the details
of the harlot religion of Revelation 17, but the connection
between it and what we see presently is undeniable.
The forerunner of the harlot church is much more than
simply a single, specific church. It includes all
that we see as vile corruptions of Christianity. It
is an attitude and practice that lays claim to Christianity
with certain liturgical buzz words and panoply, but
which at its core reeks of paganism. It has the pomp
and circumstance of world-class religion with wealth,
power, bright colors, intrigue and mystery, but at its
essence it is like a ruptured wormy cyst filled with
putrefaction, filth and a foul stench that causes the
godly to gag.
The false church will not only be
tolerant but also tolerated. She will be endured by
anti-Christ for obvious reasons, but will, in reality,
be hated with a passion. When anti-Christ has used
her to the fullest he will then destroy her with fervor
and rage (Revelation 17:16). Tyrants have no personal
interest in religion of any kind, but they are not so
stupid as to not recognize the usefulness of religion
in the pacification of the masses. If stupidity is
to be found in any of the world-wide entities of the
tribulation period, it will be found in this harlot
church which believes she will maintain control over
the religious and economic aspects of anti-Christ’s
kingdom. What a revolting development it will be for
this false religious church empire to be suddenly destroyed.
The commercial world will be horrified (Revelation 18:8ff).
That which was so used to great power and wealth will
suddenly become hated and quickly reduced to ashes.
The roots of the economic relationship
this coming world harlot church will have with anti-Christ’s
government is present today in several ways. Specifically,
that a church can and will issue both license and absolution
for unrestrained lust is an important part of overall
economic considerations today and in the future. Its
all about money and power.
Think about it. Why do city fathers
not denounce the degradation of carnival? Why does
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin openly welcome Southern
Decadence, the yearly Labor Day homosexual party in
New Orleans? One does not have to be very smart to
figure out that one. Note the following quote from
the Southern Decadence website: Southern Decadence
started thirty -seven years ago as a simple going-away
party. As a top gay Labor Day Weekend destination, it
has evolved into one of our world's major annual events.
One of the largest annual celebrations in New Orleans,
it has become known as the "Gay Mardi Gras."
People begin to arrive on the Wednesday before Labor
Day, and generally don't even think about stopping or
going home until the following Tuesday. With over
100,000 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender participants,
the economic impact on the city was estimated to be
in excess of $95 million. The city has recognized
its importance with an Official Proclamation to welcome
the event. (Emphasis mine.)
Prior to Hurricane Katrina the economic
impact from Mardi Gras was $250 million. It is near
that level presently if not more. Is there any wonder
the city fathers do nothing to discourage the activities
of Mardi Gras ? Their thinking is that a few days of
gutter-level filth is not too much to tolerate for a
return of $250 million.
Perhaps even more to the point is
the fact that anyone who might take issue with the moral
climate of Mardi Gras will quickly find themselves in
a confrontation with the religious powers-that-be.
To indict Mari Gras is to indict the area’s French/Catholic
heritage, and that would be the economic and social
death-knell for any business or politician. See: “Catholic
Roots of Mardi Gras” at http://americancatholic.org/Features/MardiGras/default.asp.
So, how can otherwise “religious”
people buy into this thing? Simple. Over thirty-five
years ago a woman took it upon herself to talk to a
fellow student about her sleazy lifestyle. She asked
this Bible-carrying, church-going, loud-praying friend
how she could claim to be a Christian while doing a
lot of heavy partying and sleeping with a different
man every weekend. Her friend smiled broadly and said,
“Oh, Jane, you just don’t understand. That’s why Jesus
died for us!”
The modern religious world shows us
something we need to get straight. The idea that the
false church of the tribulation period will be some
sort of aberration that will repel people with its leadership,
worship protocols, indulgencies, etc., is not accurate.
That false church will be as much a part of the God-hating,
post-rapture world as Mom, the flag and apple pie were
to Americans of the 1950s. In fact, the world will
be so dazzled by anti-Christ that people will not be
able to believe everybody is not worshipping him (Revelation
13:3 ,4 ). We see this same way of thinking every time
a “religious” persons says, “I can’t believe you don’t
want to go to Bourbon Street for Mardi Gras !”
Will things get better? No. A hurricane
is strengthened when it moves into the right conditions
like seasoned, warm tropical waters. The foundation
for the harlot church is being strengthened each day
as the moment of the rapture gets nearer. World-wide
religious, political and economic conditions are presently
seasoned and ripe for the introduction of anti-Christ
and his hideous false religion. I venture to say when
the harlot church of the tribulation comes onto the
scene it won’t be a dramatic change from what we see
today, but rather it will be just one more step, one
more gradation from the present condition.
I know of no reputable Bible prophecy
teacher that sees the anti-Christ behind every bush,
or who knows his and the false prophet’s identities.
Beware of such charlatans, for God has not chosen to
give us such details. But, there are two things we
must keep in mind as Christians living in these last
days. First, to ignore the obvious is to not take seriously
those things God has chosen to reveal to us. And second,
to be so timid as to refrain from bringing those matters
to light is to be derelict in our duty.
So, in the analysis are religious
celebrations like Mardi Gras and their associated corrupt
practices connected in some way to post-rapture events?
In my opinion, yes. DLM
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