Pat Robertson Blames Haiti Quake on 'Pact with the Devil'
Is that what Pat really said? Below is the article that went with the above headline on "Popeater" by Sam Brand Posted Jan 14th 2010 12:38PM.
Pat Robertson Haiti – The outspoken 79-year-old televangelist is no stranger to controversy. He predicted doomsday in 1976. He claimed he can stop a hurricane through prayer. And he called for the assassination of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez last year. On Wednesday Robertson dropped one of his most controversial quotes yet. "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Robertson said on his Christian Broadcast Network. "They were under the heel of the French ... 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' ... Ever since they've been cursed by one thing or the other." See the video below.
My Response:
From what I have been able to gather on a quick search of the statements made by Pat Robertson about Haiti it appears to be historically accurate. There indeed was some kind of a voodoo ceremony and pact made at Bois Caiman on August 14, 1791. And even if the history is a bit nebulous we can, at least, know that Jean-Bertrand Aristide believed it and not only reinstated the so called voodoo “pact with the Devil” he also declared on April 8, 2003, that voodoo would be the official religion of Haiti.
So it would appear that Robertson’s statements, however politically incorrect they might have been, were true. So why is everyone so upset? It would seem that in our “modern” world there is no place for blessings and curses even though the Bible is a book full of both. When God sent His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah it was because He could no longer tolerate their sin and rebellion against Him. But that was then and this is now. We have relegated the God of the universe to a malevolent cosmic Santa Clause. If something good happens, like finding four Americans alive in a pancaked house in Haiti, it’s a miracle…a blessing. However, if we find twenty thousand Voodoo worshipping Satanists crushed it’s simply a tragedy. Why would the opposite not be true? Because we just can’t bring ourselves to believe that a righteous and holy God would at some point bring fierce judgment on sin. After all, He’s a God of love. As Franklyn Graham clearly stated in response to Robertson’s comments “God loves the Haitian people”. And He does! Everyone knows John 3:16, “For God so loved the world…” right? Right! We just don’t like the parts about his righteous anger against sin and his coming judgment on the world.
But who would be so arrogant as to say God has judged Haiti? No one can know the mind of God. We can only know His character by reading His Word. It seems to me that Pat Robertson was making a broad statement concerning God’s character when it comes to Haiti and the world in general and that is, God judges sin and evil and we as Christians need to understand the ramifications of that truth. If God has judged Haiti for her sins…and that is a possibility…how long will it take Him to get around to us? To other nations that have thumbed their respective noses at God? How long will God be patient before He brings the cataclysmic judgments detailed in Revelation, the last book of the Bible? Is Haiti just the beginning or just a part of a continuing and ever evident lifting of God’s hand of mercy from this world? Ask yourself this…If God, in the person of the Holy Spirit, is the restrainer mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, what will it look like when he stops restraining? Will it look like Haiti, New Orleans, Sumatra or Samoa? Remember once it starts it will be like birth pains…more and more…closer and closer and more and more horrific!
Sadly, just like Pharaoh of old, the more God pours out His judgments to bring the world to repentance the more the world will deny His very presence! God clearly warns, in Deuteronomy 18:10 and 2 Chronicles 33:6, that witchcraft, sorcery, divination, consulting of mediums all of which are part and parcel to voodoo, will bring judgment!
I can’t say whether or not the earthquake in Haiti was God’s judgment for her sin and perversions. It could have just been bad luck, a coincidence, bad mo-jo or karma…if you happen to believe in such things. But let’s not rule out the possibility that God may have had enough. And if that’s the case…who’s next?
Pray for the people of Haiti! Pray first that they know the truth of God through His son Jesus Christ! All the money and aid in the world, which we and other nations will give, will do them no lasting good if there is no change in their hearts!
