“When the earth experiences Your judgments the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness” (Is. 26:9)

In the book of Revelation, the Bible describes a time when God will judge the sins of earth with natural catastrophes and supernatural signs including earthquakes. The result of these catastrophes is stated in Revelation 16:9, “They cursed the name of God who sent all these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory” (New Living Translation).

It seems strange that people wouldn’t confess their sins when faced with the power of nature’s God. But is the response to the recent Haiti quake instructive of the secular mind-set that Revelation tells us will be prevalent one day?

The politically correct (secular) view of the Haiti quake was that God was not involved in the calamity–only (maybe) in the relief efforts. How do they know? Why was there such a strong aversion to even considering that God could be a part of this natural disaster?

Here’s the obvious reason: Secularists want to convince the world that there is no God–that they are the ultimate authorities and their forms of human government, including humanitarian relief, are the main things that should be trusted and appreciated. The atheistic interpretation of reality instructs people that there is no God, no such thing as sin and thus no sins to be repented of.

From that vantage point a future Revelation 16:9 taking place in an atheist dominated world makes total sense. No God–no repentance–even when it’s a smart thing to consider.

Now you know why the secular press and blogs went so spitefully after Pat Robertson’s interpretation of the Haiti earthquake.  The The Huffington Post was quick to criticize his perspective on January 14, 2010 saying that “Pat Robertson said Wednesday that earthquake-ravaged Haiti has been “cursed” by a “pact to the devil.” Others said the remarks were insensitive, out-of touch, and had no place in the post-earthquake debate.

Here’s what Pat Robertson actually said. “Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III, or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, we will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French. True story. And so, the devil said, okay it’s a deal.”

“Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. That island of Hispaniola is one island. It is cut down the middle; on the one side is Haiti on the other is the Dominican Republic. Dominican Republic is prosperous, healthy, full of resorts, etc. Haiti is in desperate poverty. Same island. They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God and out of this tragedy I’m optimistic something good may come. But right now we are helping the suffering people and the suffering is unimaginable.”

One cartoonist condemning Robertson’s words drew a map of a fault line running through Haiti and another one traversing the lips of the CBN founder. It was a cheap shot.

Pat Robertson was not saying as fact that the earthquake was God’s judgment. He was just trying to understand the disproportionate aspects of suffering that have visited the Haiti portion of the island of Hispaniola. Could there be some spiritual reasons? Fair question if you believe in God, Satan, blessings and curses.

I worked with Pat Robertson during the 1980’s and spoke to his staff at the Christian Broadcasting Network on a number of occasions. He is a wise and compassionate Christian leader and entrepreneur. He’s not an  uncaring hell and brimstone preacher–but a high profile prophetic individual with a traditional Christian worldview. For this reason he’s regularly quoted out of context, just like Jerry Falwell was for years. He’s one of the favorites of the Christian-bashing crowd.

Pat Robertson and CBN and its Operation Blessing arm are one of the world’s most effective private charities. They don’t wish curses or difficulties on anybody, but rather for over thirty years have served numerous catastrophes and relief efforts on a global scale. They are one of the key organizations now working to help rebuild the lives of the Haitian people.

Pat Robertson simply mentioned the checkered past of Haiti’s history. I’ve read that same history and have also deeply pondered why Haiti has experienced such unusual poverty and suffering over the past three hundred years. I’ve never been to Haiti–but I travel to Puerto Rico every November to train young people. I have a number of friends who work in Haiti, and our organization–Youth With A Mission–lost one staff member in the horrible quake. We are currently using our YWAM properties in St. Marc as emergency housing for refugees.

Haiti has marvelous resources–the same as the Dominican Republic and shares the same beautiful island–but it is the poorest, most corrupt nation in the Western hemisphere. 80% of the Haitian people believe in witchcraft (Voodoo), and the average Haitian makes $1400 per year compared to seven times that amount on the other half of the island.

Is Haiti under some kind of supernatural curse? Or, at the very least, have some very bad human decisions brought darkness, unbelief, poverty, and physical judgements to a people who could be as faith-filled and prosperous as many nearby neighbors (e.g. forty percent of Puerto Ricans attend church)?

Let’s be even more basic. What are some of the possible realities behind natural disasters and environmental catastrophes that we experience on earth, including Haiti? I can think of four possibilities or combinations or them:

GOD

The Bible is clear that the God of the Universe uses weather and physical events on earth to reveal truth and draw people to change their lives. In the 8th century B.C., God brought a vision through the prophet Amos “two years before the earthquake” (Amos 1:1)  during the reign of King Uzziah that spoke of the land being shaken by God (8:8), houses being smashed (6:11), altars being cracked (3:14) and even the Temple at Bethel being struck and collapsing (9:1). As Stephen Austin writes, “The prophet’s repeated contemporary references to the earthquake is why it bears his name. ‘Amos’ Earthquake’ impacted Hebrew literature immensely. After the gigantic earthquake, no Hebrew prophet could predict a divine visitation in judgment without alluding to an earthquake. Zechariah says “Yes, you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah” (Zechariah 14:5). The panic caused by Amos’ earthquake must have been the topic of legend in Jerusalem because Zechariah asked his readers to recall that terrifying event 230 years later.”

The prophets said for centuries that God used famines, earthquakes, invading armies, and pestilence to bring people to repentance. This is why even insurance companies categorize natural disasters as “acts of God.” This is a valid, historical view. As C.S. Lewis famously stated: “Judgment is a severe form of mercy.” When we don’t listen to God in our hearts, he uses environmental means to get our attention. The goal is always repentance i.e. a changed life and hope for the future.

SATAN

The Bible also records that the devil, Lucifer or Satan, has some delegated powers to bring physical calamities upon people. This was the case of the trials of Job whom God allowed Satan to sift to prove and strengthen his faith (Job 1:12-19). In this particular story, fire, invading tribes, and violent winds were used by the enemy to test and impoverish Job. In the end, God used Satan’s physical testings to bring Job to repentance and actually expand his prosperity (42:5-10).

NATURE

We also know that we live in a fallen world where accidents, both of man and nature happen to people in every culture. The world is no longer a Paradise, but one where “the whole creation groans and travails in childbirth” until it is set free from its fallenness (Romans 8:18-30). Thus many of the physical disasters and calamities we face might not be the direct hand of God or Satan, but simply the fruits of a fallen and imperfect world that are allowed by the Creator.

HUMAN SIN

A final possibility for human suffering is the curse of human sin. Notice the graphic word picture in Isaiah 24:1-6: “Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. See how he is scattering the people over the face of the earth. Priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, bankers and debtors–none will be spared…The earth dries up, the crops wither, the sky refuses to rain. The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted the instructions of God, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth and its people. And those who live in it are guilty.”

This possiblity involves God but stresses man’s part in the curse of creation. None of this scenario is God’s fault. It’s the direct result of man’s sin.

So why was there a devastating earthquake in Haiti on January 13, 2010? We don’t know for sure, but it clearly could have been an act of God, or influenced by Satan, or simply involved fallen creation, and/or was a direct result of a curse because of people’s sins.

We have to be very careful in our assessments and words–but let’s not deny that God and supernatural forces could have been involved.  

From our ponderings and prayers, we might be wise to give the same answer that Jesus gave when he was asked why a tower fell killing eighteen people. He replied, “Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you unless you repent you will also perish” ((Luke 13:4-5).

It would be helpful for us, and the people of Haiti who were devastated by the earthquake, to seek the face of God for the reasons for their misfortune. In response to their repentance and faith, God just might use this terrible tragedy to break an awful and unusual curse on a nation and for the first time, establish it  in righteousness, increased safety (better buildings), godliness and prosperity.

A repentant attitude, along with compassionate acts of mercy, can bring true hope to the people of Haiti.

The Washington Post reported this week that abstinence programs work in helping young people set themselves apart from our sex-craved culture. The study, that was conducted in four different schools in a Northeastern city, among 662 African Americans found that about 33% of the students who went through the abstinence program started having sex, compared with about 52% who were taught only safe sex. The findings were published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

This is good news for True Love Waits advocates, for our kids–and in my estimation–indicates that God is doing a good work in this generation for a very special purpose.  Maybe the youth of today are being prepared for an assignment much bigger than the purity of their sexual lives.

Young people receive many messages about life. They are told to “be themselves,” “have fun,” “care about the planet,” and look and act like the rich and famous.  In our youth groups we also send them messages such as “know Christ,” “come to the latest concert, pizza party, or summer bash”—or “be a good person.” But do we really connect today’s kids with the reason they are here?

Today’s students were born for a purpose. Rick Warren is right when he says that it’s not about them. It’s about living for God’s glory and accomplishing his mission. That mission is Christ’s Great Commission which remains uncompleted. He said, “Go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). Today’s young generation was born to complete that task.  This has been the goal in every generation, but this generation is uniquely poised to do it because 1) Others have set the stage, 2) Technology has made the world reachable, 3) The final global strongholds are falling, and, 4) Just possibly they were born for “such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

Others have set the stage. Let’s look at how Jesus is winning the global war for peoples’ hearts. For the past two thousand years the Church has been progressively expanding. According to the US Center for World Missions, in AD100, the ratio of non-believers to professing Christians was 360:1. Even after the fall of the Roman Empire and the chaos of the Middle Ages, by AD1000 the ratio of non-Christians to believers had fallen to 220:1. By the Reformation (and great moves of God in Europe), the ratio had dropped to 69:1. After the era of exploration and missionary expansion, by 1900, the ratio was at 27:1.

By 1950 the ratio was down to 21:1. Powerful evangelism and missions thrusts brought the 1980 ratio to 11:1. By 1990 the ratio was down to 4:1. And today, after the fall of the Iron Curtain and amazing movements of God’s Spirit worldwide, the ratio today of non-Christians to professing Christians stands at 2:1. What does that mean?  Jesus is winning the war for people’s hearts.

To summarize the playing field in 2010: Over two billion people around the world call themselves Christians, two billion have heard of Jesus, and another two billion have never heard. God wants to reach them all—and it’s happening. In the China, the greatest ingathering of souls in the history of a nation took place in the past fifty years when the Church grew from three million to 100 million. The largest Muslim nation in the world—Indonesia– is approaching 20% Christian. In 1980, there were no known believers in the nation of Mongolia. Today there are 30,000 in 150 churches. Korea, which was devastated after WWII, is poised to become the first Protestant Christian nation in Asia.
 
The advance of the Great Commission is no less dramatic elsewhere. In Latin America there were 50,000 Protestants in 1900. Today there are sixty million. One hundred years ago, Christians were only 4% of Africa. Today, they number a staggering 300 million (despite great poverty and human need). Some African nations, such as Uganda, have openly Christian political leaders who are calling their nations to Christ to deal with social problems. More evangelicals are serving Jesus today in Brazil than in all of Europe. It is an amazing time to be alive as the Good News sweeps across the global arena. Others paved the way. Now it’s their turn.

Technology has made the world reachable. I stepped onto an airplane a few months ago and flew from central Asia into Korea, through Japan, landed in San Francisco and then hopped up to Seattle. It all took less than a day. It’s difficult to grasp that people have been flying commercially for only fifty years! This ability to move easily around the globe is a blip in history that most human beings never imagined. Add to that advantage the ease of telephone communication, e-mail, video-conferencing, radio and television, and the vast opportunities of the Internet, and you have a unique time in history where the earth has become truly reachable for Christ.

If Roman roads and the Greek language were a blessing to missionaries of the early centuries, imagine what a technically savvy generation can do in this era to communicate God’s love. They can jet to every nation on earth in a matter of hours or days. They can take short-term missions trips (now exploding worldwide), do two-to five year assignments, or live in a foreign nation for a lifetime. It doesn’t take a year to sail around the Horn, and there are vaccinations to prevent disease. Languages can be translated more quickly with advanced software, and the Gospel can be preached by cassette or video to oral-based tribes. Even without travel, they can beam the Gospel by radio and television into 237 nations, or set up web-sites where they can chat with their counterparts in most countries (often in English). There has never been a better time or generation to communicate the love of God.
 
Satan’s strongholds are falling down. The WWII generation brought the defeat of Fascism. The Boomers saw the fall of Communism and worldwide global outreach. The final Satanic “Alamo” is the Islamic world—and the dominoes seem to be falling into place for a massive turning of Muslims to Christ. Of the fifty-five Muslim nations, two are now free—Afghanistan and Iraq—and the Church is growing in those nations. Iran is now the only remaining model of Islamic radicalism, and according to some reports,   90% of its people desire freedom. Is the crumbling of the Islamic Veil the final major hurdle in the evangelization of the world? Is the War on Terror simply Satan’s last desperate attempt to hang onto power in a world that is moving toward Jesus?

The largest missions movement of all time was the Student Volunteer Movement which sent 100,000 young missionaries into many nations from the 1880’s to the 1930’s. Their cry was “the evangelization of the world in this generation.” They overcame the ravages of the Civil War and WWI to make a huge contribution to world evangelism. Today’s Christian youth are a generation that has been delivered from the clutches of abortion (40 million of their peers were killed in the US since 1972). They have been rescued from the agony of divorce and the hedonism of modern culture.

In past history, God’s major deliverances were preceded by Satan attacks on youth. Prior to Moses’ leading the nation of Israel out of Egypt, Pharoah tried to kill off the Exodus generation. Before Jesus came to save the world, Herod moved to kill the children in Bethlehem (including Jesus and others who might lead the Early Church). Satan has tried to kill off this generation through abortion and attrition because another Great Event is coming—the Return of Christ. If Satan can’t kill this generation, he’ll lure them into an SUV-lifestyle that stops them from launching the greatest student volunteer movement the world has ever seen.

For such a time as this. Yet, many of us believe this generation has been rescued by God to complete the Great Commission. Thousands went before. Millions are being called to go today—from every nation to every nation. It will not be easy—but today’s kids have been prepared for it. Let’s help them take their eyes off self, money, pleasure and other trivial pursuits.

Let’s call them to their reason for being—to complete the task! It’s their destiny.

Many years ago I became fascinated with the life and message of the prophet Jeremiah. He was called as a young person to speak to the sins and failures of his nation. He was faithful to that message for forty years–and not once in the book called by his name is it recorded that the people listened to his concerns.

Jeremiah lived during a tumultuous time.  Prior to his generation, the people of Israel had ridden a roller-coaster of greatness and decline, renewal and debauchery for nearly a millennium. In his lifetime, that was all to change.

Jeremiah lived to see the end of freedom in his nation. His time was not a run-of-the-mill season of economic decline and military weakness.

He lived during the generation of terminal judgement.

Israel lost its freedom in Jeremiah’s lifetime. When he was born they were free. When he died (in Egypt) they were no longer a nation.

I’ve often wondered whether we were born into a similar time period. America has seen seasons of great revival–at least four times in our history–and also times of spiritual, moral, and economic decline. Are we simply in one of those cycles today, or is this one different? Could it be the beginning of the end of freedom for the the United States of America?

Through studying the book of Jeremiah many years ago, I came to the conclusion that there were four primary sins of a nation that is about to lose its liberty. That’s the message Jeremiah declared faithfully for four decades. We don’t need to guess at his concerns. They are recorded in detail in the book of Jeremiah found in the Old Testament.  In its fifty-two chapters there are hundreds of verses that mention the problems that were precipitating the loss of liberty in Israel. I studied them years ago and categorized Jeremiah’s message into four major areas.

I call them the sins of a falling nation. They are:

1. Idolatry – putting other things in the place of God (67 verses – some examples are Jeremiah 2:20, 21, 26-28, and 7:8-10).

2. Perverted Religion – faith had become dead, dry, institutionalized and even corrupt (49 verses – eg. Jeremiah 14:13-15, and 23:11, 12, 28, 29).

3. Dull consciences – the people were greatly confused about right and wrong because they’d stopped “listening” to the voice of God in their hearts (24 verses – examples are Jeremiah 3:13, 25 and 5:20-24).

4. Human injustice – Murder, theft, lewdness and exploitation were wide-spread (13 verses – look at Jeremiah 22:3 and 7:5-7).

Because these problems had reached a crescendo in the nation of Israel, God decided that the only just thing to do was to snuff out the lamp of liberty.

Thus Israel died as a nation for over two thousand years.

Benjamin Franklin,  during the American Constitutional Convention of 1787, was asked the following question by a woman observer: “What have you given us” the curious onlooker asked. “We have given you a republic, madam” was his reply. “If you can keep it.”

“If you can keep it.”

Franklin and the early founders of our nation knew that freedom was a precious gift rarely seen in human societies. Thomas Jefferson added this warning: “The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.” 

Liberty is not an easy condition to maintain. It takes the opposite characteristics of the sins of a falling nation seen in Jeremiah’s day. True freedom in a society demands:

1. Trust in God (not idols).

2. Robust Faith (not shallow counterfeits).

3. Moral clarity and lifestyles (emanating from strong families).

4. Justice for all (especially life, liberty, and respect for property).

I don’t know if we live in a day like Jeremiah’s. I hope not. But something inside of me warns that we must learn to cherish and maintain the precious freedom God has given us before it’s taken away.

Many people have been spiritually concerned about American freedom for years. This week a major think tank published some economic indicators that reveal a major change in our liberties.

The following study by the Heritage Foundation is a warning about the freedoms of America that just might be in jeopardy.  For the first time in our history, under the Obama administration, America has dropped out of the “free” category of nations. This report only surveys the economic dimension of things. But freedom in economics comes from what you believe and live–the four categories of faith in God, true religion, morality clarity, and human justice.

When a nation gives up its freedom and descends into idolatry, religious perversion, moral confusion, and human cruelty its economy eventually implodes.

Take the following statistics seriously and study the “2010 Index of Economic Freedom.”

Then read the book of Jeremiah, take up his vision, and live the truth in 21st century America–or your own nation–before its too late.

Freedom can be lost. What will America do?

The Heritage Foundation – 2010 Index of Economic Freedom

The United States’ direction today is a dangerous one, even when compared to the country’s state of affairs just one year ago.  Of the world’s 20 largest economies, the U.S. has suffered the largest drop in economic freedom.

For the first time ever, the U.S. has dropped out of the “free” category and fallen to “mostly free” in the 2010 Index of Economic Freedom. Of the world’s 20 largest economies, the U.S. has suffered the largest drop in economic freedom. It’s clear why our economy is failing to generate jobs.

The 2010 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual joint project of The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, was released last week.  The Index analyzes just how economically “free” a country is, and this year America saw a steep and significant decline, enough to make it drop altogether from the “free” category, the first time this has happened in the 16 years that the Index has been published.

“Economic Freedom” in this study is defined as the fundamental right of every human to control his or her own labor and property. In an economically free society, individuals are free to work, produce, consume, and invest in any way they please, with that freedom both protected by the state and unconstrained by the state. In economically free societies, governments allow labor, capital and goods to move freely, and refrain from coercion or constraint of liberty beyond the extent necessary to protect and maintain liberty itself.

Ten components of economic freedom were measured, and grades assigned in each using a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 represents the maximum freedom. The ten component scores were then averaged to give an overall economic freedom score for each country.

Click here to read the full report.