So, Haiti. Where to begin? A little under two years ago I was invited to be a part of a team that would be going to Haiti for about two weeks. It was originally a trip set on providing medical assistance to those in need. As a pre-med student, I jumped at the opportunity! What pre-med student wouldn't want to go do medicine in a place that doesn't care if you have a degree or not? Nobody would care if I had graduated, or what I got on my last biochem exam. All the people would care about was the fact that I went, and that I was there to help. Well, shortly after I got all excited about this trip, about 3 million people were affected by a 7.0 earthquake that killed 316,000. Needless to say, the trip got postponed. Not because the need wasn't great, but because we couldn't fly in!
Well, in February of this year, I was approached by the same team. They were trying to go back in May which was very do-able for me. Everything neatly fell into place and I ended out boarding a plane to Port Au Prince on May 20th. A lot happened over those two and a half weeks. Flooded streets, dead people, frustrations, voodoo, scabies, it was all there. Because of this, it's been very difficult for me to pull out a few big points from the trip that I could offer to those who would ask how the trip went. Nonetheless, here is my humble attempt:
I had the privilege of spending two and a half weeks in a culture where nobody cared about the clothes you wore, how much you worked out, the kind of car you had, the kind of body you had, the money you had, or your socioeconomic status. Materialism, in the poorest country in the western hemisphere was unheard of. Here is a small excerpt from http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA/0,,contentMDK:20207590~menuPK:443285~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367,00.html
"Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the developing world. Its per capital income--$ 250--is considerably less than one-tenth the Latin American average. About 80 percent of the rural Haitian population live in poverty. Moreover, far from improving, the poverty situation in Haiti has been deteriorating over the past decade, concomitant with a rate of decline in per capita GNP of 5.2 percent a year over the 1985-95 period."
Imagine the effect the earthquake had on those numbers. Golf is unheard of. Boats? Maybe if you mean a sheet of tin to stay floating as the streets flood in the harsh rain. The house I stayed in had a total of two mirrors. And they were small. What would the majority of America do without a mirror to assess personal aesthetics before they walked out the door in the morning? I had a conversation with a man I met in a tent village, and I think it perfectly describes what i'm trying to say.
Me: "So, what is the voodoo like in this village? Is it a big deal?"
Godson: "Voodoo? heh. We don't have time for voodoo here. We don't have time for a lot of things in this village. We are trying to survive."
The people of that country don't have time to care about their dress size, or if they look like celebrity x. This egocentric-less lifestyle has changed the entirety of the culture. Because people don't care about how they look, or how others look, and because the majority of the country is in the same situation they're in, the way they relate to each other is different from what we see here in the states or other countries that aren't overcome with poverty. There are no cliques, no social classes to strive for or to look down upon. What would the states look like without this? Without people comparing cars or purses? I think that we as a nation have been very fortunate in that we are by no means poverty stricken. We do have nice houses, cars, clothes, we have professional sports teams and we have multi-million dollar stadiums that house multi-million dollar athletes. I'm not suggesting we wake up and throw it all away (although it might not be a bad idea) but what i'm thinking is, how did we become this? Is this all we have to look forward to? Young women sticking fingers down their throats so they can maintain a body figure that, quite honestly, nobody is going to give a rats tail about in 100 years? Sex doesn't sell there, body image doesn't sell there. Yeah, the argument could be made that not many things do, but places have become what they have become without swimsuit models sudding up a car so a car can be sold. What if we as a people, stopped caring about how we looked, or what we had? Matthew 6:19 resounds in my head now more than ever.
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal." (NIV)
Not only does this lifestyle drastically change their social interactions, but, as expected, it changed their religion.
"It is a matter of well-documented historical fact that the nation of Haiti was dedicated to Satan 200 years ago. On August 14, 1791, a group of houngans (voodoo priests), led by a former slave houngan named Boukman, made a pact with the Devil at a place called Bois-Caiman. All present vowed to exterminate all of the white Frenchmen on the island. They sacrificed a black pig in a voodoo ritual at which hundreds of slaves drank the pig’s blood. In this ritual, Boukman asked Satan for his help in liberating Haiti from the French. In exchange, the voodoo priests offered to give the country to Satan for 200 years and swore to serve him. On January 1, 1804, the nation of Haiti was born and thus began a new demonic tyranny."
Great article on this whole thing:
http://www.americandaily.com/article/95
200 years after, the government officially established voodoo as the religion of the country. For the last year and a half, the country to Haiti has been the charity case of the world. As harsh as that may sound, it's absolutely true. Money, aid, resources, they've all been sent to the country. So, what gives? Scoffers say as you will, but I can't help but think the religious state of the country has a lot to do with it.
Whatever the case of the government, God has been working in that country. I had the privilege of attending a couple of small churches in Haiti. One was in the country village of Dinis, which was awesome. I'm sure a lot of you have heard, as had I before I went, but the people there had a very REAL relationship with God. Their worship was passionate, honest, intimate. The pastor there preached the bible, without fear of who they were offending. And that's how it should be! The bible, and the gospel, should never be watered down in order to appeal to the masses. What are you offering, but a lie, if you're showing people a watered down gospel? Share the gospel, in love and truth. Not just love.
The Church was held up by two tree trunks, and was covered my two big sheets of tin. That was the realest church i've ever been in. God was more real in that hut than any of the churches i've been to. I attended a church in Gwinnett county this past weekend. The church, i'll admit, was massive. I'm not one to say that just because it's big doesn't mean it's a bible believing, bible preaching church. Not all big churches are subject to a Joel Osteen prosperity gospel. Well, upon walking in I was greeted by a Starbucks in the lobby. Again, trying my best to remain objective and unbiased. Well, upon sitting in the stadium seating auditorium, the "service" was opened by a reenactment of Michael Jackson's "Black or White". That was followed by a few praise and worship songs and then a message of a man who spent an hour talking about how he made it from India to the states. At the end of his talk, he was asked to pray, and right then was the first time he had uttered the word "Jesus". People cheered, stood up and gave him a standing ovation amongst their tears.
What?
Haiti might be in trouble, but lets be brutally honest, the states are just as much slaves as the Haitians are. Our masters just look a little different. Our churches here, don't preach the bible. Like I said before, if you're not preaching the bible, if you're offering comfortable seats, a rock concert, or a money driven gospel, you're offering garbage. That is not the gospel found in the bible. That's not a place that worships a very real very powerful yet fulling loving God that sent his Son to die in exchange for your sin. That's not the worship of a God who called those who believe in him to leave everything behind and follow him. Matthew 4:19 is an account of Jesus talking to his first disciples. He says the following. However brief, further examination shows that it costed far more than any of us are willing to pay.
"And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." (ESV)
They were fishermen. That's all they had. That was their livelihood! Yet Jesus walks up to them and says "Leave it all behind, and come with me." That's a huge cost! But it's what the bible teaches, and that's what Jesus expects of us.
All of this leads to what I believe is the best kept secret in the bible. Not many people know about it, or know where it is found, but I promise you, i'd bet my life on it, this secret will save the country of Haiti. This secret will save our self-absorbed culture. This will fix the churches of America. And if you don't think something is wrong with the churches of America, something is wrong. The secret, can actually be pieced together in two verses. The first one:
"11 Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11, NIV)
Coupled with this.
"2 And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Timothy 2:2 NIV)
What would the world look like if those who filled churches sunday morning lived by Acts 17:11 and read the bible for themselves? If they didn't just take what people like Joel Osteen told them and looked up what the bible has to say about it for themselves? My guess is we wouldn't have churches like the one I visited in Gwinnett. If that 80% of america that claims to be Christian would open their bibles, not just on sunday morning, and lived it out, like the bible commands us to, this would look like a very different place. We, as a people, would look like Jesus. The problem there, is that looking like Jesus costs too much.
If we read the bible, if we lived it out, if we looked like Jesus, then we would do what Jesus did, right? Jesus knew his word, lived it out, and the most difficult part, he told those around him about it. He didn't just walk around with a "God hates Fags" sign, or stand somewhere and say "God loves you". He does love you, but the way Jesus lived amongst the people was far more than that! He chose 12 men, lets not consider Judas for the time being, and lived among them! He taught them, equipped them, grew old with them. This is discipleship! They all had personal relationships, not just a surface level encounter where John 3:16 was shared and nothing was heard ever again. It was life on life! And not only did Jesus do those things with the 12, but the 12, again sans Judas, turned around and did the exact same thing with others! That's what a fisher of men does!
I can't help but call it a secret. Why? I look around at a country that is "80% Christian" and I don't see any of this happening. This issue, however intertwining, comes down on the men of the church. Gentlemen, read your bible. Do it for your church, for your wife, for your children, for your girlfriends, for your brothers around you. Read it, live it out. Hope, for this country, for the country of Haiti, for the World, isn't found in political leaders, or the next economic bail out package, or an improved real estate market, or in looking good. Hope is found in the bible, and in discipleship. I beg you, just read it. Not only read it, but teach others to read it. To live it out. And make sure they'll tell others as well. I'll close this lengthy post with the last thing Jesus told his disciples before ascending into heaven. It's a hefty call, and it costs everything, because it's worth everything.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)
Dude. I've been pondering these same things for the past year. Good word. So good.
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