I watched a program on a popular social media platform that listed the most populous 50 cities in the world, and to be perfectly honest, I was astounded at the incredible numbers of people living in the big cities of the world. Tokyo, the most populous of all, has nearly 40 million people! Let that sink in – there are 40 million people in one city! Several other cities were listed that have over 20 million. China and India, of course, have most of the great cities, but there are many others – Buenos Aires, Argentina and Sao Paulo, Brazil, as well as Mexico City have unbelievable numbers of citizens, so many as for it to be unfathomable to try and wrap one’s head around them.
I’m old enough to remember when a city with a million people was considered to be way overpopulated, but now a million in a city is no longer remarkable at all. Think about how complicated the supply chains must be in order to get enough provender and other necessities into those places on a daily basis to keep everyone fed and clothed. Most all of them require electricity to survive too. I wonder what the kilowatt needs are per person and how things came to be in order for that much energy to be made available.
Most of the overpopulated cities in India like Calcutta and Delhi sit in huge clouds of smog so dense that just breathing there puts a person’s life in danger. Most vehicles do not have adequate emission controls and coal-fired power plants put out huge volumes of pollution. Garbage collection in a lot of those places is simply nonexistent and huge piles of waste are strewn everywhere. Textile industries produce toxins that are discharged untreated into what natural waterways still exist, as well as raw sewage, all of which make surface water sources unusable. On some of the websites that report on things like this, there are usually pictures of kids swimming in the slimy, black rivers lined with piles of discarded plastic and rotting fish trimmings. Rampant corruption at every level of governments ensures that things aren’t going to change for the better. A big portion of this extreme abandonment of the human condition can be attributed to the curse of unfettered capitalism. And the abandonment of the God who created us.
Our world is in sad shape, especially in the overpopulated cities of the “developing” nations, but in all of them there exist indisputable grounds for an invisible hope. Even in the filthiest, most overcrowded and noisome places, human beings, human entities with souls are nevertheless entitled to commune with their Creator. Jesus Christ intimately knows each and every person in those crowded prisons and awaits their response to His call for them to choose faith in Him. In His keep there is a hope that cannot be bound, a promise of a better life in a place so much better than any could imagine. In the eternal home He offers, there is no strife, no hunger, no fear of tomorrow, only a joyful, peaceful fortress of serenity in the company of God the Father, Jesus Christ, and more beautiful angels singing beautiful songs than the mind could ever imagine. Such a place exists and patiently awaits our decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
The poor folks who endure captivity in such places as this post describes, have an opportunity to accept their own invitation to paradise, dwelling in a mansion especially prepared for them by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as He promises. He seeks the poor, the humble, the salt of the earth to accept His offer of eternal life in a far better condition than anything anyone could ever imagine. The key is to get to know Jesus Christ – His burden is not heavy, in fact, when we accept Jesus, we have the opportunity to feel the weight of the world we have been carrying lift from our weary shoulders, even in this life, but so much more in the next one.
I write this post in the hope that words like these might get to some of those in the places that are described herein and they might read it and give thought to the offer Jesus Christ makes. There are Christian ministries in every place – find one and learn how you can get to know Jesus Christ. From what I saw on that documentary just by the sheer numbers of people it’s obvious, the fields are indeed ripe for harvest and people in such places need to hear the Gospel of Christ. They need to know that Christianity as all other religions, can and has been misrepresented, often by charlatans seeking personal gain, but Jesus Christ can never be corrupted. Neither can His true followers be corrupted. His ministry is separate and apart from other religions in that it is the only truth. He said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by Me.”
Please, if only in your mind and spirit, escape the crowded place and find solace in a sanctuary of peace with Jesus. He waits at the door of your heart.
May the blessings of the Almighty Father find and keep us – whether in Mumbai or Lagos or anywhere else.
MK