I’ve been accused of being condescending and elitist. I’m openly shameless and self absorbed, but even I had to take a moment from my busy job of loving the wonder that is Shawn Purvis this week and pause for the people of Haiti.
Here is a country whose political landscape has been rife with turmoil and violence. A country so embittered by poverty that it’s citizens are risking life and limb to become the new illegal in the United States. A country that was struck by not one, but two devastating earthquakes this month. That breaks my heart.
That’s akin to adding torrential flooding to the abuse of power in Kenya or avalanche to the atrocities of Tibet. It’s just a really dark lining on an already dark storm cloud.
In these times of grief, it is common to turn from our political leaders and rely on the advice of our religious leaders. Normally, it is our religious leaders who will open their arms, welcome in the suffering and try to explain to people that God or at least the followers of God understand that He rains down his mercies on the just and unjust alike.
That was not true this week. At the bottom of this post is a clip of a rather major religious leader who equates Haiti’s pact with the devil to remove the French as a reason for these unhappy events in Haiti. He goes further to state that a return to God will free them from these terrible afflictions.
Have you ever felt like Ryu or Ken from Street Fighter as they were powering up for a fireball? I am. Right now.
I’ve long ago dismissed a large portion of the religious right as being completely out of their mind. This situation is no exception. In fact, the very teachings of the Bible will show that a closeness with God often equates in poverty and suffering. Jesus lived his time on earth as a poor man, a cast off from society. He associated with the outcasts. Job was considered the most unshakable in his faith, so God gave authority to the Devil to torture him. Peter was crucified. John was beheaded. Being close to God typically means that your day is not going to be a sunny one,
However, through all of this suffering, there is supposed to be an unshakable spirit within emboldened by the experience to show the believer that riches and easy living are not as valuable as inner riches and spiritual steadfastness. Leaders in this belief should be REINFORCING this concept not equating economical success and avoidance of natural disaster with distance from God.
How do I know this? My mother is one of the most steadfast Christians I know. So much so that we often have serious disconnects on how things should work in the world of ours. My mother is not wealthy and she in not in great health, but if you ask her how she is doing, her spirit is unshaken. “I’m holding on to Jesus,” she says without flinching or missing a beat.
Is it possible that my mother is a better leader of faith than the popular Pat Robertson? Is it possible that a woman who has survived the Jimmy Swaggerts and Jim Bakers of this movement has more character than all of them put together?
I would say yes.
Let’s not be quick to judge an entire nation by their distance from God. America is one of the most successful nations in the world and yet depending on the day, America is either ‘blessed’ or ‘cursed’ by God. When Katrina hit, was Louisiana suffering from their prevalence of Voodoo or debauchery? By his own admission, Pat cites the Dominican Republic as being a typed of blessed. Where was that blessing six years ago when mudslides killed people in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic? Where was the favor deserved from closeness with God then?
Perhaps it is just as is promised. Rain falls on the dry fields the same time is floods the fields. Winds cool down the hot day at the same time they fell trees. “Acts of God” happen to everyone and contrary to some vision of Babylon falling, it is not our closeness to God that avoids these disasters, but rather it is the resolve of our spirit regardless of these disasters that show our closeness to God.
Shame on you, Pat Robertson. You took a moment that could have inspired millions to be petty and defeatist. I have the floor on my opinion and I refuse to yield.
Reach out to someone today and show them the true nature of your spirit.
