The Mobro 4000

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded (James 4:7-8.)

On March 22, 1987, the barge Mobro 4000 set sail from Islip, New York. It’s destination was Morehead City, North Carolina. There, it would turn over its cargo to the proper authorities. The mission failed.

A WRAL-TV news crew had flown by helicopter to investigate and on April 1, 1987, revealed in a newscast the contents of the Mobro 4000’s cargo. Outrage required that the Mobro 4000 sail on. The barge sailed along the Atlantic coast all the way to Belize. In port after port, the ship was not allowed to unload its load.

Back up the coast the Mobro 4000 sailed, finally arriving at the New York City suburb of Brooklyn in October—seven months later. What was the Mobro 4000 carrying that caused every port to reject her entry? 3,168 tons of… garbage.

I wish Satan had it that hard. Every day he seeks to unload garbage in our minds and hearts. He transports his garbage on vessels as big as billboards, and as minute as a mass media messages in our email accounts.

If we stopped him there, things would not be so bad. Instead, if we are not on guard, we invite him into our ports and invite him to unload his garbage—and leave it behind. We promise to take care of it. But too often, we never get around to incinerating it.

Lowell Harrelson and Salvatore Avellino were the two who contracted with the owners of the barge named Mobro 4000. Maybe next time they would have better success contracting with the devil.