PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Haiti’s government has raised the death toll for the Jan. 12 earthquake to 230,000 from 212,000 and says more bodies remain uncounted.
Haitians resort to eating dirt.
Read more here.
This makes Haiti one of the modern world’s worst natural disaster.
And the world has moved on to snow in Washington, Honda recalls, Michelle’s obesity campaign, Facebook vs. Google, Sarah Palin’s political ambitions, and the Superbowl.
Several months ago, Joey Shaw was attacked by a gang of young men. His face was sliced with a straight-razor, and he had to travel home from Southeast Asia.
Yesterday, he told the story of the attack, set it in a Biblical context, and challenged those who heard him to pour themselves out for the cause of Christ.
Counseling sessions would be fast. Really fast. Because he only has two minutes, and you better tell him what’s going on or he’s going to mash your knee with his oversized Bible.
He would scream the word “now” a lot. As in, “Tell me why you were impatient with your wife. NOW!”
Every counseling session would end with a confession, because Pastor Jack can pull a confession out of anybody. Even if you didn’t do it.
In every elders meeting Jack would inform the elders that “he did what he had to”.
He would answer every theological question the same way: “It’s complicated…”
He would probably fake his death several times as sermon illustrations.
Scripture references in sermons would be called “backup”.
The church would meet in an abandoned warehouse. The ushers would also be snipers and would establish a perimeter around the building.
At least three times a week Jack would be misunderstood by his congregation and have to go “dark” until he could clear his name.
He’d go undercover in rival churches to find out how deep the heresy goes.
Before any ’special offering’ etc the congregation would be coerced into contributing with the simple statement ‘…or thousands of innocent people will DIE.’
Every 15 minutes through the message, you’d hear some beeps and wonder where 5 minutes of your life went.
No one would have hymn books. Everyone would have PDAs. And Chloe would pipe the song words through to your screen.
To reinforce a point in a message he would yell “you’re just going to have to trust me!”
Before reading the Bible passage, he’d say ‘The following message takes place between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 2:1 on the day of the baby dedications.
Every alter call would end with, “You’re running out of time.”
Thanks to Stephen Altrogge
Have you noticed that anytime a missionary or pastor challenges people to cross-cultural missions, there is pushback?
“The need is great here, too.”
“America is a mission field.”
“Not everyone is called to go overseas.”
All true. But those responses miss the point.
Jim Elliot, shortly before martyred in service to the gospel, wrote:
You wonder why people choose fields away from the States when young people at home are drifting because no one wants to take time to listen to their problems. I’ll tell you why I left. Because those Stateside young people have every opportunity to study, hear, and understand the Word of God in their own language, and these Indians have no opportunity whatsoever. I have had to make a cross of two logs, and lie down on it, to show the Indians what it means to crucify a man. When there is that much ignorance over here and so much knowledge and opportunity over there, I have no question in my mind why God sent me here. Those whimpering Stateside young people will wake up on the Day of Judgment condemned to worst fates than these demon-fearing Indians, because having a Bible, they were bored with it–while these never heard of such a thing as writing. (Shadow of the Almighty, p. 237)
Ruthe and I got in Monday from the Dominican Republic. I was privileged to be invited to speak to the Dominican Baptist Convention – 4 times.
Yes, we did experience aftershocks.
While we did not make it to Haiti, we were able to met with about a dozen Haitian pastors. I was also given the opportunity to be interviewed on Dominican television (secular), and was able to share the gospel.
It does something to you when you stand beside a Haitian pastor, who has just told you that he doesn’t know if his family is alive or dead. He stands beside you in a worship service, and with tears streaming down his cheeks, he sings his heart out.
The song we were singing was “Dios siempre es bueno.” “God is always good.”
This guy is separated from his home, his loved ones are missing or dead, and he is singing, “Dios siempre es bueno.”
Yes, He is – and He is worthy of tear-stained, faith-clinging, upturned-face worship
About a year ago, Ray Ortlund met me at Starbucks in Nashville. We are similar – in age, in enjoyment of Starbucks, and in our experience in church. He recently wrote an article about how to destroy your church. As you read this, you realize it is easy – diabolically easy.
Week One: Walk into church today and think about how long you’ve been a member, how much you’ve sacrificed, how under-appreciated you are. Take note of every way you’re dissatisfied with your church now. Take note of every person who displeases you.
Meet for coffee this week with another member and “share your heart.” Discuss how your church is changing, how you are being left out. Ask your friend who else in the church has “concerns.” Agree together that you must “pray about it.”
Week Two: Send an email to a few other “concerned” members. Inform them that a groundswell of grievance is surfacing in your church. Problems have gone unaddressed for too long. Ask them to keep the matter to themselves “for the sake of the body.”
As complaints come in, form them into a petition to demand an accounting from the leaders of the church. Circulate the petition quietly. Gathering support will be easy. Even happy members can be used if you appeal to their sense of fairness – that your side deserves a hearing. Be sure to proceed in a way that conforms to your church constitution, so that your petition is procedurally correct.
Week Three: When the growing moral fervor, ill-defined but powerful, reaches critical mass, confront the elders with your demands. Inform them of all the woundedness in the church, which leaves you with no choice but to put your petition forward. Inform them that, for the sake of reconciliation, the concerns of the body must be satisfied.
Whatever happens from this point on, you have won. You have changed the subject in your church from gospel advance to your own grievances. To some degree, you will get your way. Your church will need three or four years for recovery. But at any future time, you can do it all again. It only takes three weeks.
Just one question. Even if you are being wronged, “Why not rather suffer wrong?” (1 Corinthians 6:7)
A friend, Ben Morris, pointed out to me this morning that in Oct. 17, 1989, a major earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 struck the Bay Area in Northern California. Sixty-three people were killed. This week, a major earthquake, also measuring a magnitude of 7.0, struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The Red Cross estimates that between 45,000 and 50,000 people have died.
His statement was the tragedy of Haiti is not a natural disaster but poverty.
David Brooks agrees. He writes in the New York Times…
This is not a natural disaster story. This is a poverty story. It’s a story about poorly constructed buildings, bad infrastructure and terrible public services. On Thursday, President Obama told the people of Haiti: “You will not be forsaken; you will not be forgotten.” If he is going to remain faithful to that vow then he is going to have to use this tragedy as an occasion to rethink our approach to global poverty. He’s going to have to acknowledge a few difficult truths.
Read the rest of this insightful article here.
Al Mohler writes one of the sanest Christian responses I’ve read. I’ve reproduced it in its entirety. It can also be found here.
The images streaming in from Haiti look like scenes from Dante’s Inferno. The scale of the calamity is unprecedented. In many ways, Haiti has almost ceased to exist.
The earthquake that will forever change that nation came as subterranean plates shifted about six miles under the surface of the earth, along a fault line that had threatened trouble for centuries. But no one saw a quake of this magnitude coming. The 7.0 quake came like a nightmare, with the city of Port-au-Prince crumbling, entire villages collapsing, bodies flying in the air and crushed under mountains of debris. Orphanages, churches, markets, homes, and government buildings all collapsed. Civil government has virtually ceased to function. Without power, communication has been cut off and rescue efforts are seriously hampered. Bodies are piling up, hope is running out, and help, though on the way, will not arrive in time for many victims.
Even as boots are finally hitting the ground and relief efforts are reaching the island, estimates of the death toll range as high as 500,000. Given the mountainous terrain and densely populated villages that had been hanging along the fault line, entire villages may have disappeared. The Western Hemisphere’s most impoverished nation has experienced a catastrophe that appears almost apocalyptic.
In truth, it is hard not to describe the earthquake as a disaster of biblical proportions. It certainly looks as if the wrath of God has fallen upon the Caribbean nation. Add to this the fact that Haiti is well known for its history of religious syncretism — mixing elements of various faiths, including occult practices. The nation is known for voodoo, sorcery, and a Catholic tradition that has been greatly influenced by the occult.
Haiti’s history is a catalog of political disasters, one after the other. In one account of the nation’s fight for independence from the French in the late 18th century, representatives of the nation are said to have made a pact with the Devil to throw off the French. According to this account, the Haitians considered the French as Catholics and wanted to side with whomever would oppose the French. Thus, some would use that tradition to explain all that has marked the tragedy of Haitian history — including now the earthquake of January 12, 2010.
Does God hate Haiti? That is the conclusion reached by many, who point to the earthquake as a sign of God’s direct and observable judgment.
God does judge the nations — all of them — and God will judge the nations. His judgment is perfect and his justice is sure. He rules over all the nations and his sovereign will is demonstrated in the rising and falling of nations and empires and peoples. Every molecule of matter obeys his command, and the earthquakes reveal his reign — as do the tides of relief and assistance flowing into Haiti right now.
A faithful Christian cannot accept the claim that God is a bystander in world events. The Bible clearly claims the sovereign rule of God over all his creation, all of the time. We have no right to claim that God was surprised by the earthquake in Haiti, or to allow that God could not have prevented it from happening.
God’s rule over creation involves both direct and indirect acts, but his rule is constant. The universe, even after the consequences of the Fall, still demonstrates the character of God in all its dimensions, objects, and occurrences. And yet, we have no right to claim that we know why a disaster like the earthquake in Haiti happened at just that place and at just that moment.
The arrogance of human presumption is a real and present danger. We can trace the effects of a drunk driver to a car accident, but we cannot trace the effects of voodoo to an earthquake — at least not so directly. Will God judge Haiti for its spiritual darkness? Of course. Is the judgment of God something we can claim to understand in this sense — in the present? No, we are not given that knowledge. Jesus himself warned his disciples against this kind of presumption.
Why did no earthquake shake Nazi Germany? Why did no tsunami swallow up the killing fields of Cambodia? Why did Hurricane Katrina destroy far more evangelical churches than casinos? Why do so many murderous dictators live to old age while many missionaries die young?
Does God hate Haiti? God hates sin, and will punish both individual sinners and nations. But that means that every individual and every nation will be found guilty when measured by the standard of God’s perfect righteousness. God does hate sin, but if God merely hated Haiti, there would be no missionaries there; there would be no aid streaming to the nation; there would be no rescue efforts — there would be no hope.
The earthquake in Haiti, like every other earthly disaster, reminds us that creation groans under the weight of sin and the judgment of God. This is true for every cell in our bodies, even as it is for the crust of the earth at every point on the globe. The entire cosmos awaits the revelation of the glory of the coming Lord. Creation cries out for the hope of the New Creation.
In other words, the earthquake reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only real message of hope. The cross of Christ declares that Jesus loves Haiti — and the Haitian people are the objects of his love. Christ would have us show the Haitian nation his love, and share his Gospel. In the midst of this unspeakable tragedy, Christ would have us rush to aid the suffering people of Haiti, and rush to tell the Haitian people of his love, his cross, and salvation in his name alone.
Everything about the tragedy in Haiti points to our need for redemption. This tragedy may lead to a new openness to the Gospel among the Haitian people. That will be to the glory of God. In the meantime, Christ’s people must do everything we can to alleviate the suffering, bind up the wounded, and comfort the grieving. If Christ’s people are called to do this, how can we say that God hates Haiti?
If you have any doubts about this, take your Bible and turn to John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That is God’s message to Haiti.
Heart-breaking stories and pictures
Ruthe and I will be traveling to the Dominican Republic, to speak at the Dominican Baptist Convention next week. We hope to get first-hand information about the crisis in Haiti and our possible response.
One missionary wrote:
Pray, Pray, Pray for the people of Haiti, and when you have prayed, Pray more. Literally get on your knees and pray!
I would add:
Give to an organization that will not siphon off part of your donation for “administrative costs.” Give to someone who will ensure that every penny goes to the needy.
Give to an agency or organization that has people on the ground and the means to get the supplies and food to the people.
Give to an organization that will help in the explicit name of the only One who can give hope and a future.
Someone mentioned Christianity on television recently and liberals reacted with their usual howls of rage and blinking incomprehension.
On a Fox News panel discussing Tiger Woods, Brit Hume said, perfectly accurately:
“The extent to which he can recover, it seems to me, depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. So, my message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.”
Hume’s words, being 100 percent factually correct, sent liberals into a tizzy of sputtering rage, once again illustrating liberals’ copious ignorance of Christianity. (Also illustrating the words of the Bible: “How is it you do not understand me when I speak? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my words.” John 8:43.)
In The Washington Post, Tom Shales demanded that Hume apologize, saying he had “dissed about half a billion Buddhists on the planet.”
Is Buddhism about forgiveness? Because, if so, Buddhists had better start demanding corrections from every book, magazine article and blog posting ever written on the subject, which claims Buddhists don’t believe in God, but try to become their own gods.
I can’t imagine that anyone thinks Tiger’s problem was that he didn’t sufficiently think of himself as a god, especially after that final putt in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last year.
In light of Shales’ warning Hume about “what people are saying” about him, I hope Hume’s a Christian, but that’s not apparent from his inarguable description of Christianity. Of course, given the reaction to his remarks, apparently one has to be a regular New Testament scholar to have so much as a passing familiarity with the basic concept of Christianity.
On MSNBC, David Shuster invoked the “separation of church and television” (a phrase that also doesn’t appear in the Constitution), bitterly complaining that Hume had brought up Christianity “out-of-the-blue” on “a political talk show.”
Why on earth would Hume mention religion while discussing a public figure who had fallen from grace and was in need of redemption and forgiveness? Boy, talk about coming out of left field!
What religion — what topic — induces this sort of babbling idiocy? (If liberals really want to keep people from hearing about God, they should give Him his own show on MSNBC.)
Most perplexing was columnist Dan Savage’s indignant accusation that Hume was claiming that Christianity “offers the best deal — it gives you the get-out-of-adultery-free card that other religions just can’t.”
In fact, that’s exactly what Christianity does. It’s the best deal in the universe. (I know it seems strange that a self-described atheist and “radical sex advice columnist faggot” like Savage would miss the central point of Christianity, but there it is.)
God sent his only son to get the crap beaten out of him, die for our sins and rise from the dead. If you believe that, you’re in. Your sins are washed away from you — sins even worse than adultery! — because of the cross.
“He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.” Colossians 2:14.
Surely you remember the cross, liberals — the symbol banned by ACLU lawsuits from public property throughout the land?
Christianity is simultaneously the easiest religion in the world and the hardest religion in the world.
In the no-frills, economy-class version, you don’t need a church, a teacher, candles, incense, special food or clothing; you don’t need to pass a test or prove yourself in any way. All you’ll need is a Bible (in order to grasp the amazing deal you’re getting) and probably a water baptism, though even that’s disputed.
You can be washing the dishes or walking your dog or just sitting there minding your business hating Susan Sarandon and accept that God sent his only son to die for your sins and rise from the dead … and you’re in!
“Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Romans 10:9.
If you do that, every rotten, sinful thing you’ve ever done is gone from you. You’re every bit as much a Christian as the pope or Billy Graham.
No fine print, no “your mileage may vary,” no blackout dates. God ought to do a TV spot: “I’m God Almighty, and if you can find a better deal than the one I’m offering, take it.”
The Gospel makes this point approximately 1,000 times. Here are a few examples at random:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8.
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23.
In a boiling rage, liberals constantly accuse Christians of being “judgmental.” No, we’re relieved.
Christianity is also the hardest religion in the world because, if you believe Christ died for your sins and rose from the dead, you have no choice but to give your life entirely over to Him. No more sexual promiscuity, no lying, no cheating, no stealing, no killing inconvenient old people or unborn babies — no doing what all the other kids do.
And no more caring what the world thinks of you — because, as Jesus warned in a prophecy constantly fulfilled by liberals: The world will hate you.
With Christianity, your sins are forgiven, the slate is wiped clean and your eternal life is guaranteed through nothing you did yourself, even though you don’t deserve it. It’s the best deal in the universe.
Ann Coulter, Jan 6, 2010
Few stories have impacted me like the story of the martyrdom of five young men who were seeking to take the gospel to the Auca Indians in Ecuador. These five – Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian – were in their twenties and early thirties – and left behind wives and children.
One year after their death, their wives released a powerful prayer that was published in Christianity Today, (January 7, 1957).
Their prayer began…
Our hearts are filled with gratitude for the privilege He gave us in beings the wives of men who were chosen to be slain for His sake. None of us is worthy. It is all of His grace, but we know that the Lamb is worthy, a thousand times, the lives of our husbands and of us. He chose to glorify Himself in their death—may He now glorify Himself in our lives.
Obviously, their thoughts and concerns dealt with their children…
Not only do we ask that Christ be glorified in the Aucas and in us, but also in our children. Most of them will have no recollection of their fine fathers. But our Lord gave His word, ‘All they children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of they children.’ We ask for His wisdom in training them, for His Spirit in us, that they may be as obedient as their fathers.
The stunning part of their prayer dealt, not only with the salvation of their children, but the future hope of the men who killed their husbands…
How wonderful it would be if He should prepare one or more of them to go to the Aucas! We would give them to Him for his use, asking that they come to know Him as Savior and Lord at an early age. Far be it from us to withhold from the Lord the lives of these little ones, children of the men who did not withhold their own lives. May they sing from true hearts,
Faith of our Fathers, Holy faith
We would be true to Thee till death.
To read more about this, click here.
Interestingly, that prayer was answered. Elisabeth Ellliot returned to live among the Aucas, along with her little daughter, Valerie. Nate Saint’s sister, Rachel, also went to live among the Aucas. Nate Saint’s son, Steve, returned the Aucas and helped them transition and survive.
The story is brilliantly told by Steven Curtis Chapman in his DVD, Steven Curtis Chapman Live.
The Aucas are now known as the Wuaorani (“The People”)
One of my children made this statement over the Christmas Holidays: “It is not difficult to write. It is difficult to write well.”
How true. Since I’m working on several books, I found the following 26 rules helpful for writing well.
1.Don’t abbrev.
2.Check to see if you any words out.
3.Be carefully to use adjectives and adverbs correct.
4.About sentence fragments.
5.When dangling, don’t use participles.
6.Don’t use no double negatives.
7.Each pronoun agrees with their antecedent.
8.Just between you and I, case is important.
9.Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.
10.Don’t use commas, that aren’t necessary.
11.Its important to use apostrophe’s right.
12.It’s better not to unnecessarily split an infinitive.
13.Never leave a transitive verb just lay there without an object.
14.Only Proper Nouns should be capitalized. also a sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop
15.Use hyphens in compound-words, not just in any two-word phrase.
16.In letters compositions reports and things like that we use commas to keep a string of items apart.
17.Watch out for irregular verbs that have creeped into our language.
18.Verbs has to agree with their subjects.
19.Avoid unnecessary redundancy.
20.A writer mustn’t shift your point of view.
21.Don’t write a run-on sentence you’ve got to punctuate it.
22.A preposition isn’t a good thing to end a sentence with.
23.Avoid cliches like the plague.
24.1 final thing is to never start a sentence with a number.
25.Always check your work for accuracy and completeness.
Thomas Jefferson, in his first Inaugural Address in 1801, gave what he believed to be the core principle of good government:
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.
This is very, very simple – and very, very clear!
click here for the original source.
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