As to be expected, now that Pat Robertson has taken the lead many others are venturing to add their two cents worth and provide an innocuous account of what has happened.

The Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas tries his hand at an answer, but fails to answer why God allows such extensive suffering? He Says:

“It is similarly irresponsible for anyone to second-guess God’s redemptive purpose or explain what He is doing through an individual disaster, such as the Haitian earthquake. To try and do so would be to twist the dagger in the backs of people who are hurting.”

“Where was God during this tragedy? The same place He was 2,000 years ago when His Son died. Was God in control? Of course He was. Why did He allow it? I don’t have a clue. He has not revealed His purpose.”

Well, if he doesn’t know I would suggest he find another line of work because the passage he quotes gives the answer, “Repent, or you shall likewise perish.”

“God is ultimately responsible for the earthquake in Haiti and has a reason that is beyond our ability, trapped in time, to understand or comprehend. But it would be theological ignorance coupled with absolute arrogance to try and interpret God’s actions as a judgment against a particular person or nation.”

Thank you Dr. Robert Jeffress, for keeping us in the dark. At least Pat Robertson was honest. It appears to me that Dr. Jeffress is trying hard to be religious by preaching a nice five point sermonette and never getting to the point of sin; but of course that may offend someone.

Elizabeth McAlister, Associate Professor of Religion, Wesleyan University says:

“Vodouists in the Haitian diaspora are praying on their knees today, just as Catholics and Protestants are. Why did this devastating earthquake have to happen in Haiti. . . ?  In Vodou most ritual is about finding balance, putting yourself into equilibrium with the spirits, with your family, and with yourself. In Haiti things are way out of balance. We might say that spirits of death have launched a coup d’état.”

My friend and colleague, the artist, educator, and priest of the spirits, Erol Josué, has been praying and crying in Brooklyn. Through Twitter, Facebook, and his cell phone he has learned of at least twenty dead friends in several Port-au-Prince congregations. He told me today that for him, as a spirit-worker, this event is both scientific and symbolic. This is indeed a natural disaster for Josué. But the land in Haiti is a person, he said. We consider it a woman, our mother. “Haïti Chérie,” as the well-known ballad goes. She wants to know, ‘who will make me beautiful, put clothes on me, and take care of my children?’ When you mistreat her, and uproot her trees, when you give her too much responsibility, she is like a woman with cancer. The tumor metastasizes, and explodes.

For Erol Josué, the earthquake was mother nature, the land of Haiti, rising up to defend herself against the erosion, deforestation, and environmental devastation that have been ongoing for the last few decades. Said the famous painter and Vodou priest André Pierre, “The first magician is God who created people with his own hands from the dust of the earth. No one lives of the flesh. Everyone lives of the spirit.” We humans live in the material world, and other spirits–called lwa, or mystères, “mysteries”–dwell in the unseen realm. God created the spirits to help govern humanity and the natural world.

Others, who may read this and disagree with great force, will not necessarily share it. But Vodou works through spiritual revelation, and this is the revelation Erol gives me today. Vodou has no single spokesperson and no inerrant text. It has God, the angels, and the spirits in the unseen realm.

O.K., now were getting somewhere, NOT! Obviously Ms McAlister belongs in the Emerging New Age camp of Post Modern Christianity. Can you believe these words coming out of the mouth of a “Christian”? These are those who condemn the straight talk of judgment on sin and sinners. Jeremiah would no doubt be left in the well to die, if he had to depend on Ms McAlister.; no, Ms McAlister would have been among those who put Jeremiah into the well (see Jeremiah 38).

It may be prudent to look at the writing of another person, one Silvianus c424, known for his “plain dealing” with sinners, during the time of the collapse of the Roman Empire, when the collapse was being blamed on the Christians.

THE EIGHTH BOOK

1. I think, nay, I am certain, that the great length of my argument will arouse distaste in many, especially since it upbraids our vicious lives. For most men wish praise, and no one enjoys censure. Worse than this, however evil a man is, however profligate, he would rather be falsely praised than rightly reproved, and prefers to be deceived by the mockery of false praise than healed by the most salutary admonitions. Since this is true, what are we to do? Must we accede to the will of wicked men? Or if they wish even empty praise conferred on them, is it fitting to proffer silly and meaningless eulogies? Surely we must consider that, as men of honor should not mock even those who wish to make themselves ridiculous, so they should not laud in lying phrases those who yearn to be adorned by praise, however false.  We must not take into account the preferences of individuals, but rather what is fitting for us to say, especially since the prophet said: “Woe unto them that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

We must by every means hold fast to the truth, so that what a thing is in fact, it may also be in words, and those that contain sweetness be called sweet, and those that contain bitterness, bitter.

You say, however, that he does not bid, but merely permits us to endure them. Suppose we grant this point, still I ask how far he is from ordering what he permits? For he who knows we endure such woes and can prevent our suffering them, proves beyond a doubt that we ought to endure whatever he permits. From this it is manifest that his acquiescence is part of his judgment, and that we are enduring a sentence from heaven. As all things, are subject to sacred authority and the will of God rules everything, whatever evils and whatever punishments we bear daily are the censure of his divine hand, which censure, indeed, we constantly arouse and kindle by our sins. We kindle the fire of the celestial wrath and arouse the flames by which we are burned, so that the words of the prophet may rightly be used against us as often as we endure such ills: “Make your way into the flames of the fire that you have kindled.” From this we see that according to the sacred sentence each sinner is preparing for himself the suffering that he endures.  From this we see that according to the sacred sentence each sinner is preparing for himself the suffering that he endures. None of our misfortunes can be imputed to God; we are the authors of our own misery. For God is gracious and merciful and, as the Scripture says, he wishes no one to perish or be injured. So whatever is done against us is done by our own actions; there is nothing more cruel to us than ourselves; we, I say, are torturing ourselves even against God’s will.

2. Since I have already spoken at length of the unchastity of Africa, let me now briefly discuss its blasphemies, for the paganism of the majority has had no interruption. They have indeed confined within their own walls their native crime, by which of course I mean that “Celestial” demon of the Africans, to which I suppose the pagans of old gave so fair-sounding a title in order that having no divinity it should at least have a name, and lacking any virtue derived from actual power should gain honor from its designation. Who among them has not been initiated into the worship of that idol? Who has not been dedicated to it by his very family and birth? I am not speaking now of men who are pagans as much by profession and name as in their way of life, and whose name indicates their heathen error. Paganism is certainly more tolerable and less evil in men avowedly pagan; the more deadly peril lies in the fact that many who have made their vows to Christ continue to give their real devotion to idols. For did not those who were called Christians turn from the worship of Christ to that of the “Celestial deity,” or—which is far worse—worship her even before they paid their devotions to him? Who among them did not cross the Lord’s threshold redolent of the odor of demoniacal sacrifices and go up to the altar of Christ reeking with the foulness of very demons, so that it would be less monstrous not to come at all to the Lord’s temple than to come in such a fashion? For a Christian who does not come to church is guilty of neglect, but one who comes in such a way is guilty of sacrilege. It is less difficult to atone for failure to honor God than for direct insult to him. So we see that any who have acted thus have not given honor to God, but have taken it away from him. They have even in a way given the attention due to the church of God to an idol, because that to which priority is accorded gains in honor from that which is relegated to second place. See then the faith of the Africans, and especially of the noblest among them! See what their religion and their Christianity have been! It was in scorn of Christ that men called them Christians. Though the apostle cries: “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils; ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils,” it was not enough for them to drink the cup of the Lord with the cup of devils, but they must take the latter first. It was not enough for them to match the table of devils with the Lord’s table, unless they came to the temple of God fresh from the worship of infamous superstitions and breathed on the holy altars of Christ the foul miasma of the diabolical spirit itself.

_____________________________

It is blatantly well-defined by now that the Haitian Nation exist in great sin and that a call to repentance should be the clear and plain message, a message delivered with bread in hand, but a message Plain, and Clear, that their repentance is a prerequisite to their healing.

Steve Blackwell

For an interesting article on the history of Haiti and their problems read Government Of The Devil, By The Devil, And For The Devil by Tom Barrett.

For follow-up research see the following sites:

US Department of State Report of Religious Freedom

http://www.cesnur.org/testi/irf/irf_haiti99.html

Haiti – God’s country after a ‘holy invasion’

http://www.jesus.org.uk/dawn/1998/dawn9802.html

Victory Over Voodoo in Haiti

http://www.christian-connection.org/print.php?sid=299

Religious Persecution Intensifies In Haiti

http://www.andyfigueroa.net/haiti.htm

Haiti; Satan’s Stronghold

http://www.raptureme.com/rap16.html

Breaking the Blood Pact

http://www.newdirections.org/index.php/pressroom

Aristide Approves Voodoo as an Official Religion

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/archives/00002966.html

Voodoo  It’s Official in Haiti

http://www.ccgm.org.au/articles/ARTICLE-0070.htm

Aristide Defends Record

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/5060184.htm

ARISTIDE MANSION

http://www.salon.com/news/1999/03/12news.html

Media Research Center http://www.mediaresearch.org/printer/cyberalerts/2004/cyb20040302pf.asp

Pearl of the Antille

http://www.rminet.org/retreat_center.htm

Aristide Must Go The Weekly Standard

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/795ywram.asp

Aristide Claims He Was Kidnapped from Haiti

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040306/wl_nm/haiti_aristide_dc_1

Islamic Influences on Haitian Voodoo

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/voodoo/islam.htm

The Challenges Facing Haiti

http://www.webster.edu/~corbetre/haiti/bookreviews/arisfarmplum.htm

Why shouldn’t the focus be on the sins of the Nation of Haiti? I am no fan of Pat Robertson and consider him a false prophet, but at least he ventured to place the emphasis where it belongs, on sin and judgment. Does this mean that Pat or myself hate these people and glory in their disaster? No!, absolutely  not. They are to be given the Gospel, with food and comfort. Anyone who has seen the clip of Pat on YouTube will have to admit that Pat takes no glory in what he has said.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPyyXQN8cG0

Christians who attack Pat are without understanding of the workings of God in the world, and especially in these perilous end days. God has always judged the world and His children for its sins, so what’s the problem with preaching it?

Now, look at the world you live in. What do you see? You see a world decaying before your very eyes; a world of ugly, decaying, death; a world controlled by an unseen force of evil, occupied by a race of beings with a death sentence on them, humans bewitched into believing they see goodness, value and beauty where none exist, only filth; a world about to disappear. The story of Jesus’ love is a story of how the spell has been broken; of how the blinders have been removed, and of how we say thank you. Even those who have no Hope, those who have bought into the Great Lie can see that the world is rapidly accelerating towards self destruction, this is apparent. What they don’t see is the solution. Some of you see the Solution, as I did, but choose to allow the weeds of your life to come in and choke the tender new growth. It is a choice you make, and unfortunately, others are affected by your choices. Because you are weak you think you have an excuse and that God understands your particular set of circumstances, or that you can continue in your weakness for just a few more days. Your “particular” sin will find you out, and then it will be too late, as the sins of Haiti found them out.

In December 2005 the main topic of discussion was the Tsunami tragedy. Both Christian and non-Christian people were confused, and insurance companies were calling it an act-of-God and just leaving it there. People can’t understand how a “good” God would allow 200,000 “innocent” people to die.  Lk. 13:1-9 says everything that needs to be said for those who want the truth. Luke 13:1-9 “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them — do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” It was generally accepted by the Jews of that time, and some today, that if something bad happens to you it is because of sin in your life, in other words if a building falls on you, you must have been very bad. Jesus’ simple answer was, “no, that isn’t true. But, unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” So, Jesus answer to the Tsunami disaster, and the Haiti disaster, is “no, God did not cause this disaster, but He did allow it, and unless you repent you will likewise perish.” The parable that follows sheds much light on the matter. What some will see here is a mean natured God; others will see a God of Mercy. What you discover is that the wrong question is being asked. They, and we, ask “why did God do this or allow this to happen?” By understanding the parable and what Jesus is trying to teach us we understand that the question should be, “Why does a perfectly “just” God tolerate anyone to live, why doesn’t He destroy all mankind, not just a few?” The answer is “MERCY.” In the parable God is the owner of the tree and Jesus is the gardener, who asks for mercy on the tree for a period of time, to try and make the tree fruitful. God is a merciful God who has waited and waited and waited, but He will not wait forever, and He may choose to allow America to suffer likewise.

All this is happening in the world while Americans play dumb and place their hope in the lottery, worship materialism, idolize Hollywood, praise sports, fill their bellies, cheat their friends and neighbors, hate their boss, and commit unfaithful acts of all kinds. And, we do all this thinking we’re perfectly normal, declaring to the mirror on the wall that we’re, “the fairest of them all.” Pornography, mutilation of the body, 4,000,000 dead babies, 50% divorce rate inside the church, all kinds of selfish addictions, mass mental illness, murder, rape, homosexualism, child molestation, and everything evil is on the rise in the “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.” Americans along with many all over the world are under the curse of believing they can live as they want and fix any problem that comes along while they secretly contemplate suicide. They chase the “illusive butterfly of love” and happiness while walking a tightrope over Hell, without a net. We are a country gone mad. Not only can we not catch the, “butterfly of love” it doesn’t even exist, it’s an illusion. There is no love, happiness, or life apart from Jesus. The “American Dream” has become a nightmare.

Heb 3:6-15 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”   See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
Ps 9:7-10 The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice. The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
Rom 2:5-11 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”   To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.

Rev 6:15-7:1 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
2 Peter 3:3-10 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

Matt 11:20-12:1 Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the Day of Judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure. “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Isa 58:1-12 “Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,’ and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’ “Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the accusing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
I have tried to write you a letter of love and desperation. There are only two groups of people: those who are Christian and those who God is calling to become Christians. The Bible says, “You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” If you are unsaved, glorifying God may not sound too exciting, but the truth is that you were created for that purpose.

What has happened in Haiti is horrible, and they need help, but all the liberals and their social gospel (which is no gospel) of only good deeds will fill their bellies just to send them to Hell. They are sinners who desperately need to be saved. This is not just a warning to Haiti, this is warning to the whole world, including the Christian world.

Repent, or you shall likewise perish.

Steve Blackwell