Who Caused Haiti Quake? God? US Military? Other?

Many — myself included — were horrified to hear Pat Robertson’s callous words about Haiti, which he used to assert the power of his imaginary friend over that of Haitian voodoo practitioners. One Christian blogger asserts that Robertson is Biblically correct, whether there was a “pact with the devil” or not.

Discussions of the “cause” behind the Haitian quake abound on the Internet. For example, some folks suggest the US, interested in Haiti’s purported vast oil reserves (supposedly, comparing Haiti’s oil reserves to Venezuela’s is like comparing an Olympic-sized swimming pool to a glass of water), decided to put its HAARP experimentation to use to cause a (fake?) earthquake.

Conspiracy theorist Jerry E. Smith, author of Weather Warfare: The Military’s Plan to Draft Mother Nature, (updated 2006) touches on the idea of “earthquakes on demand” in his own Amazon review:

Starting with Nicola Tesla’s earthquake machine of the 1890s I trace the possibility of “earthquakes on demand” from the development of a “tsunami bomb” during World War II (as revealed by documents recently declassified by the New Zealand government), through Project Faultless which caused a massive earthquake in the Nevada desert after a high yield atom bomb was intentionally detonated on a fault line, to evidences of human initiation of several major quakes and the 2004 Christmas tsunami with “scalar” or other electromagnetic waves.

Also included is an update on recent developments at HAARP….. The US Air Force insists that it has no interest in “controlling the weather” yet HAARP represents the expenditure of hundreds of millions of dollars and a decade of research and construction in a program whose avowed purpose is to modify the atmosphere. What, if any, is the difference between “modifying the atmosphere” and “controlling the weather”?

This bizarre blend of HAARP and huge oil reserves is hardly the most popular theory, even if Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez thinks it’s for real:

No, worldwide, otherwise-rational people laugh at ridiculous “earthquake machines” and “death rays”. They find it far more likely that their imaginary friend reached down from the sky to smite the Haitians because some of them worship their own imaginary friends. This is what happens when you adopt a Biblical worldview, and color your understanding of events through a 2000-4000 year-old book written primarily by semi-literate Semitic nomads.

The Hidden Manna is a little-known Christian blog written by a gentleman known as “ashepherd”. He does an admirable job presenting and Scripturally-supporting the Biblical worldview for us . . . so we don’t have to do it. Isn’t that nice?

In contrast with most discussions found places like Free Republic and Stormfront, ashepherd’s blog is coherent and Biblically correct. Let’s review the article, which is presently being promoted by www.christianheadlines.com.

I’ve been bothered by some of the news headlines, editorials and other reactions to Pat Roberson’s recent comment that Haiti’s tragic earthquake calamity is connected with their long history of demonic worship. There seems to be a disagreement about whether Robertson has his facts right about a pact with the devil, but there is no denying the demon worship that inundates this tiny nation.

. . . some people seem to use a small slice of Biblical truth to build a theology not only of “natural” disasters but of the way Christians are supposed to react. Then when they view comments like Roberston’s through the lens of their distorted theology, sometimes putting words in people’s mouths, they react in ways that may muzzle the actual truth, propagate defamation and foment unnecessary division.

For all you non-BBCs (Bible-Believing Christians), “demon worship” = “not praying to the One True Three-Faced God”.

Mr. Shepherd lists for us several “Biblical facts”:

1. God is ultimately in charge of nature, all its actions and consequences as well as every human death, and takes no pleasure in anyone’s death.

I’ll give this statement a 90% score for Biblical accuracy. Speaking from the Biblical worldview, since God is all-powerful and all-knowing, He must therefore know everything that is to happen and be able to decide whether it will or will not happen. He may not choose to cause an event, but He ultimately does decide whether or not it happens. Remember, deciding not to act is itself a decision.

As for God taking no pleasure in anyone’s death . . . There is a whole lot of vengeance-taking by God in the Bible, usually for heinous crimes like not worshiping Him but someone else, or not worshiping Him in the right way. He could easily take the option of showing Himself to be real, but chooses not to so humans believe through faith instead of knowledge. Therefore, I posit that He must take pleasure in His righteous wrathing, as it is something He could easily avoid through many avenues.

2. The world is a spiritual battle-field.

A real spiritual being, called Satan, plays on human self-centeredness to enlist people to worship him, to serve his purposes, to deny God’s existence, truth, authority and love, and to attempt to defy God’s teaching and purposes on this planet. As a result of God’s temporarily allowing these activities, there is a tremendous spiritual battle raging on the Earth that will only end when Christ returns.

“And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.” (Revelation 12:9 NASB95)

“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ” (John 8:44 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

Can’t argue with that; Shepherd provides additional Scriptural support for this, as well. If you are a true Bible-believing Christian, you have to believe this.

True Bible-believing Christians — or at least those who profess to be — include President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, along with former President George W. Bush.

3. Nations are accountable to God.

“Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.” Jeremiah 18:5-10 (NASB95)

In this Scriptural citation we see that the Biblical God is not only willing to judge an entire nation, but also to break His promises to those who don’t do what He wants them to do.

That’s right, God only has to keep His promises if you do what He wants you to do. The Bible says so.

4. Sometimes God and Satan use nature as a weapon.

■ God used a flood to destroy life on Earth because of pervasive and unrelenting evil human behavior(Gen 6:5,17)

■ God used a major volcanic eruption to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for their pervasive an unrelenting evil behavior (Gen 19:24)

■ Satan used nature to attack Job (Job 1:16)

■ God used disease in the O.T. to afflict people who rebelled against His authorized leaders

■ God used an earthquake in the N.T. (Acts 16:26)

Great examples, no argument here. Let’s not forget that God used an earthquake to swallow up Korah’s entire clan (men, women, babies, cattle, and all) because Korah thought that they, instead of Aaron’s sons, should be able to conduct sacrifices and swing the incense for God (Numbers 16).

5. Despite the previous facts, Christians are not to assume that every illness, accidental injury or death is the result of sin on the part of those who are affected.

The primary point of Jesus’ mentioning (Luke 13:4) the collapse of a tower that killed 18 people, was to drive home the fact that everyone deserves death for their sin, not just the people who die in calamities. So the inverse is that their death should not automatically be considered a direct consequence of their own sin.

Jesus did not say that a cause and effect relationship between sin and disaster was totally invalid. To do so He would have to set aside a lot of the rest of Scripture. He did make the point that we should not immediately assume that connection with a judgmental attitude that some people deserve God’s punishment more than others (in particular, us). On the contrary a natural calamity like being born blind could be for another purpose.

” As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “ Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:1-3 ESV NT Rev. Int.)

Being God has its perks. While it’s quite acceptable for God to inflict misery upon people who don’t even believe He exists, it’s also possible for Him to smite people for no perceivable reason at all . . . “that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

That’s right, God might paralyze someone not because the victim did anything wrong, but in order to teach someone completely different and uninvolved a lesson. See our link to video commentary on “The Christmas Shoes” for a prime example of how God gave a mother terminal cancer to teach a man who never met her a lesson about being kind to young children at Christmastime. GLORY!

It’s a convenient excuse, letting God off the hook when it seems someone has been unjustly smitten. However, Mr. Shepherd fails to recall that in the Scriptural citation above, Jesus then “shows God’s work” in the blind man through a miracle of healing. Are all children born with cleft palates and congenital heart defects just faith-healees-in-waiting, so “God’s work may be shown in them”?

6. The Church has a commission from God to explain His actions and purposes.

We are to 1) warn people, in a loving, yet forthright manner, that they will experience consequences of their sin, both in this life and in the next and 2) to announce that reconciliation with God is available through faith in Christ’s death.

Shepherd more than adequately supports this with Scriptural references. No argument here. If you follow a Biblical worldview, he’s absolutely right.

However, Bible-believers will also tell you it’s not possible for a human to know God’s mind. So, how can they go about explaining what He means by smiting someone or other?

A lot of people reject some, or all of these Biblical facts.

Non-Christians certainly do. So the White House’s announcement that Pat Roberston’s statement is “utterly stupid”, is to be expected, and ignored.

Indeed. If you follow a Biblical worldview, it is your role to ignore any voice of reason in favor of your imaginary friend, Jesus. You should only listen to other Christians, and ignore nonbelievers or even those who do not follow the Biblical worldview.

(This is standard practice for cults, requiring members to ignore any opposing viewpoint.)

In light of these facts, when we see persistent rejection of God, moral and spiritual perversion with attending physical destruction, it is not unreasonable to suspect and perhaps conclude that God is bringing judgment as well as a warning to persons, localities and nations.

Here, Shepherd does make one error. He begins with the assumption that his God is real, is interested in the activities of humans on one of billions of planets, and is actively deciding how and when tectonic plates on this one small planet will move.

But, within a purely Biblical worldview, Shepherd is correct.

So, what do you think? What’s the more reasonable “cause” for the Haiti quake? God’s Will? Motion of so-called “tectonic plates”? An attack by the US government to enable a takeover for Haiti’s vast oil reserves?

Look! A poll!

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5. American Family Association Supports Pat Robertson's Haiti "Satan Pact" with Lies