
So I have been really disturbed by Pat Robertson’s recent talk about why Haiti had the earthquake. He seemed to be telling the world that because Haiti is the voodoo capital of the world that they brought this upon themselves, and this is God’s Judgement.
You see it here
I have a few things to say about God and Punishment, and why I don’t in any way shape or form believe Pat Robertson in this.
But first lets see if Pat Robertson’s facts hold up…. There in fact was a voodoo ceremony in 1791 and they did in fact call upon the voodoo spirits and slaughtered a pig. I do believe that vodoo is a Satanic religion and Ill discuss that later, but I do believe that they made a pact with the devil.
However does this mean that curses will be upon them? What scripture do we have that backs this up? Why would a natural disaster come upon them even if the whole island were devil worshippers. (which they are not, I have been there)
To understand what I believe Pat Robertson is trying to get at we have to look at the Old Testament.
Yes, Israel did have curses of natural causes when they disobeyed the commandments of God, they went into exile, there were draughts, and all of that. However, there is a distinct difference. Israel was God’s Kingdom on Earth!! He made a covenant with them, they knew their punishment if they turned their back on him. It never came as a surprise. Furthermore, there were prophets that before every disaster would call out to the nation REPENT!! We are going the wrong way REPENT or this is going to happen!
It was known what was going to happen to Israel if they did not obey.
However, Haiti is not Israel, God never made a covenant with Haiti.
Plus this is no longer a New Testament doctrine. God’s Kingdom is in our hearts, in the Church not a country. And Jesus addresses this issue in Luke 13:1-5. (Funny I’m citing scripture and Robertson had none)
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.”
So there were these two things that happened, the people Pilate killed and the tower that fell, and Jesus says right here, “Were they worse sinners?” No they weren’t just because something horrible happened does not mean they were worse sinners. Just because an earthquake happened in Haiti does not mean that they are worse sinners.
Even if it was God, where is the Prophet warning the people? What kind of God would kill 200,000 people without giving them a warning? I do not believe that the earthquake was because God cursed Haiti.
See, if we play this little idea of Pat Robertson’s out then there are some countries that are not getting their share of Natural disasters, and some that have a strong Christian presence that are getting too much.
However before I conclude, I would like to add something that is important to know. About 2 days after the Haitian earthquake a 6.3 earthquake hit The Northern California Coast, there was little damage. Haiti I believe is in an incredible state of poverty partially because of the extreme evil that is in that place. They have been plaqued with malicious leaders that have raped the land and impoverished the people. They live in fear of militias and kidnappings, I do believe that this stems from the great amount of voodoo there. Voodoo is evil and when people follow that their hearts are evil. However the evil and the oppression is caused by the people and where their hearts are, not by God.
For example, Hurricanes are extremely dangerous to Haiti, more than most Caribbean islands, but why? Well, one of the Haitian presidents wanted to make a lot of money so he completely deforested the entire country. Now when they have a lot of rain there are mudslides and massive flooding, not caused by the hurricans entirly, but the peoples’ actions.
The 7.0 earthquake is devastating, but in part,s because the building were build without the knowledge or the skill to make them earthquake resistant. This stems form the poverty and the oppression of the people by evil presidents and leaders, once again not by God.
Like the end of the scripture cited we shouldn’t worry about if they were worse sinners than us, but give our lives to Christ and be changed or we all will perish.
All in all we need to pray and support Haiti. We need to share Jesus in this time.
Please Pray for Haiti.
In Him,
JC Elliott

Last week during service we had the students ask any and all questions they had about God, church, life, love, Bible…anything.
I am reading a book by Dietrich Bonhoeffer called Cost of Discipleship. This book starts out talking about Cheap Grace and I have always though what he said but I had to share it with you.