Wright's conversion enabled escape from satanic
clutches
By Major Frank Duracher
Southern
Spirit staff
Wayne Wright insists that for much of his life,
few men could say they were further away from God. Wright had been heavily
involved in a satanic church, rising to the post of high priest. His
"worship" included everything from sorcery to blood sacrifices. 
All of that changed when he accepted Christ as his Savior at the
Army's Harbor Light Corps in Houston.
"Before I
became a Christian, society had given up on me. I was in a psychiatric
hospital, facing the prospect of heavy medication for the rest of my
life," Wright said.
Shaking himself loose from the
satanic church's grip seemed impossible to him. He was tormented mentally
and spiritually. "The devil had an unyielding hold on my life. Everyone
thought I was mentally ill," he said.
Right: Wayne Wright
escaped from his involvement with a satanic church and found a new life in
Jesus Christ.
Wright
recalls that he began to see his life as the result of a spiritual warfare
being fought over his soul. He had tried the Harbor Light program a few years
before but didn't stay. This time, he promised himself that if he got out
of the hospital, he would go back and make it work.
That's exactly what happened. Wright re-enrolled in the
program and dedicated his life to serving God instead of the devil. Now he is a
soldier of the Harbor Light Corps. He is an employee of the Houston Area
Command, as facility manager.
Wright likens his experience
to the demoniac whom Jesus delivered in Mark 5.
"I've taken the fight to the devil, this time,"
Wright testified. "The only blood offering I'm interested in now is
the one Christ gave to ransom me!"
__________________________________________________________________ Harbor Light
corps effective addition
Continued from page 1
Other weekday activities are
more easily recognized. As the men progress in the program, they become
involved in League of Mercy visits and even a Men's Fellowship Club. But
the most sought-after privilege seems to be singing in the Houston Harbor Light
Choir.
Right: The Harbor Light Choir performs at various Salvation
Army functions, as well as many events in the community.
The group practices often during the week, is regularly featured
on Sunday mornings and often performs in the community for special events. The
choir is becoming quite famous in the Houston area, especially among non-profit
agencies. The Nelsons consider the choir to be a great public relations
tool.
James Privette's incredible journey to the Harbor
Light Corps began in his hometown of Raleigh, N.C. A seventh-grade dropout,
Privette had no prospects for success and saw his life spiraling downward into
alcoholism and drug addiction. Wanting to turn his life around, but not knowing
how, Privette began to pray for guidance.
Below: James Privette
used the last of his money to buy an Amtrak ticket from Raleigh, N.C., to
Houston, saying he was "drawn like a magnet" to the Harbor Light
ministry. He is in recovery and wants to dedicate his life by helping other
addicted men.
"I felt
drawn to Houston for some reason, even though I'd never been to
Texas," Privette said. With what little money he had, Privette bought an
economy ticket on Amtrak to Houston. Soon after stepping off the train, someone
suggested The Salvation Army Harbor Light.
Privette is now a
soldier and has shown a remarkable interest in teaching, often assisting Major
Lee Ann with her classes. He has also discovered a gift for solving mathematic
equations.
"James is a good example of what the Lord is
doing here at Harbor Light," Major Kenneth said.
"What appointment could you have where at every meeting, no
less than four or five men come to the altar - not just because the invitation
is given after the sermon. But because they truly want to bring their burdens
to the Lord and give them to Him!"
__________________________________________________________________ 
Hogwash
By Captain Jonathan
Gainey
Amazing new discoveries concerning the gospels have
been developed over the last half-century. These discoveries are changing our
understanding of some of the sacred texts.
For instance,
as David Bivin points out in his book "Understanding the Difficult Words
of Jesus," the belief that Jesus taught in Aramaic has been seriously
challenged, which helps us to understand long misunderstood Hebraic idioms
within the gospels. Discovering the meaning of many of these idioms, such as
"a good eye," which means "to be generous," as apposed to
"an evil eye," meaning "stingy," will change the way we
teach.
As scholars and archeologists dig deeper into the
cultural setting of first century Jerusalem, more discoveries will influence
our current philosophies and transform our current theology from a Greek-based
message to a more Hebraic style of reflection and interpretation.
For example, understanding that a "prayer closet" is
actually a tah-lit (a "small tent" or "prayer shawl," which
was laid over the shoulders and pulled up to cover the face, rather than an
actual room) impacts the message. No longer will we tell people that they
should "go home" and pray in private, knowing that first century Jews
carried their "closet" with them everywhere they went.
I believe that going back into the history of first century
Palestine will help the church develop a clearer message and erase centuries of
misunderstandings, such as when Jesus said to a "would-be" disciple
who wanted to bury his father first, "Let the dead bury the dead."
This statement is in reference to the "second-burial" system of that
time, when the Hellenized Jews were influenced by Gnosticism. These Jews would
bury the loved one and one year later dig up the body and place the bones in an
ossuary. They believed that the one year between burials was a time of
redemption when the "sinful" flesh was removed, thereby doing away
with the sin so that the body could now be buried sinless with its
ancestors.
Jesus' words to this "would-be"
disciple were actually to say, "Hog-wash! Your father has been dead for a
year. Let's go!"
Delving into the historical facts
of first century Palestine will give us a more believable message for the
masses. As long as we rely on intellect (Western mindset), rather than the
practical, useful, wisdom of the Western mind, we will continue to perpetuate a
"spiritual only" gospel.
Our beliefs are deemed
more important than our actions. In other words, if I stay home and do nothing
to imitate Christ, but believe in the fundamental doctrines of the church, I am
safe to call myself a "child of God." But, if I feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, etc., yet believe that YHWH is God, Jesus is His
"favored and chosen" son (among all of His children) and Messiah, and
that the Holy Spirit is Yahweh's power and sovereignty, rather than
believing that God is one and three, I am a "child of Satan."
The influence of Greek thought on the Scriptures and theology has
allowed redactors of the texts to place anti-Semitisms and angelology
throughout. As more research is done, we learn that the influence of Greek
thought has done more to damage the message of God than to preserve a people of
God.
I have chosen to use less and less of the Westernized
commentaries and stick with texts that are more Hebraic - there are far too
many misunderstood texts when Hebraic idioms, parables, etc., are interpreted
in the Greek or even English contexts. "The Bible says it. I believe it.
That settles it" is incredibly silly, considering the completely different
worldview of a very Jewish Jesus who spoke to a very Jewish people in a very
Jewish time. To ignore the difference between Western and Eastern thought is to
harm the message that Jesus taught.
I respect all of those
who worked hard to understand the words of the Scriptures without the last
half-century of discoveries, but should we allow the respect for 1900 years of
hard work to outweigh the discoveries of the last 50?