A little bit about Soho

Tonight, at 6:30p (1:30p EST) Reality London will be doing a prayer tour of a square mile area in London called Soho. Soho is London's red-light district, meaning an area overgrown with prostitution, sex shops, strip clubs, homosexuality, and drugs. The Lord has placed this area of town on my heart and brought me here a few times to see what goes down at night -- it resembles Sodom & Gomorrah all too well.

So, I've been doing the only thing that I could do for Soho and that's prayer. I want to invite you to join us in prayer for this sin riddled part of town and for Jesus Christ to be Glorified here, redeeming and healing those He draws close.

Here's some history of Soho:

• Farmland until 1536 when Henry the VIII turned the land into a royal park.
• The name Soho, a former hunting cry of the Anglo-French people, came about in 1636 being used to describe a group of houses in the area. It is also said to be used as a rally cry by the Duke of Monmouth in the Battle of Sedgemoor.
• In 1667 the Crown allowed Richard Frith to begin development of the area.
• Soho was (and is) known for its tolerance and cheap living so many immigrants made it their home causing most aristocrats to peace out. The French, Germans, Italians, Russians, Polish, Jews, Swiss, Greeks, and the Chinese all have immigrated to Soho over the years.
• Prostitution became vibrant in Soho in the mid to late 17th C, running rampant for 200 years.
• By the mid 1800s music halls and small theatres moved into the Square mile.
• Early 1900s cheaper eateries opened by the multiple nationalities came about attracting writers, musicians, and artists to the area.
• 1959 the Street Offenses Act came into play pushing the prostitution in doors where stores and night clubs would run as fronts for the services. By the '60s nearly 100 strip clubs could be found in Soho.
• In the mid '70s sex shops thrived into business littering the area.
• 1980s brought the police closing in on the clubs, brothels, and sex shops, and a reduction, or at least restricting occurred.
  
• And by 2000 the red-light area had been reduced to areas surrounding Brewer Street and Berwick Street, but sex shops and prostitution are still widely popular, with tons of shops around the area and prostitution being a huge force at night.
  

Needless to say, Soho needs our prayer for the Holy Spirit to reveal and draw people to Jesus Christ.

" And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- among whom all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- and raised us with him and seated us with him in the heavenly place in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not at result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:1-10

Pray that God, just as He did for us, shows His love, mercy, and grace to the people of Soho, redeeming them into His Kingdom. Pray for the people to receive the gift that He's offering.