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The world has been shocked to see the devastation of an entire nation as a massive earthquake seems to have had its epicenter in the very densely populated downtown area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital city.  Already one of the poorest nations on Earth, this most recent horror has greatly compounded the agonies facing this island nation.

Calamities prompt us to ask, “Why?”  There are no pat answers.  A complete answer will come in heaven when all our questions will be fully resolved by our Father who loves us.  Until then we may not be able to understand fully why such tragedies occur, but it’s important that we anchor our attitudes in Scripture.  Here are several heart attitudes we should maintain.    

1. Show compassion. Christians need to be the first responders in any crisis.  God’s heart is for people.  Every human being should feel a natural humanitarian impulse to help.  But compassion is compounded in us as believers because “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Ro. 5:5). The Bible calls us to identify with those who suffer.  We are to “weep with those who weep” (Ro. 12:15).  

Christians should lead the world in responding to human need – and we do.  It is a dazzling testimony when Christians rush to meet the needs of all who suffer, no matter what their faith.  At the same time other religions are often sluggish in aiding their own adherents, if they respond at all.  Our love speaks volumes.  Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).

 2. Be slow to judge.  In the wake of the earthquake in Haiti I heard some people say this was judgment on the nation.  That is not for us to determine.  It is true that two places in the Western Hemisphere that have been hit hardest by natural disasters – New Orleans and Haiti – are also the two areas where the occultic practice of voodoo has been most prevalent in the Western Hemisphere.  And it is true that in 1791 a group of Haitian slaves plotting revolt against the French officially dedicated the nation to Satan.  But it is also true that in 1997 many Haitian Christians gathered to renounce this act with repentance, prayer, and fasting.  Today, statistics indicate that at least 22 percent of Haiti’s people are evangelical Christians, and the number is rising.  We need to remember that many Christians as well lost their lives in this disaster.  I know of one Bible school in Port-au-Prince that lost 30 students.   

We seem to need a place to pin the blame for tragedies we cannot understand.  This was the case when the disciples saw a blind man and immediately assumed his condition was because of someone’s sin.  “Who sinned,” they asked Jesus, “this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  Jesus replied that the man’s blindness was not because of the man’s sin or his parents’ (Jn. 9:1-3).  It is humanity’s great thief, the devil, who comes “to steal, kill and destroy” (Jn. 10:10).

3. Be quick to repent.  Too often we cast aspersions on others without examining our own hearts.  It was a common belief in Jesus’ day that the men who suffered sudden death when a tower fell on them were worse sinners than others.  Jesus rejected such twisted reasoning.  “Do you think they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Lu. 13:5).  These are tough words from our Lord.  But they call us to examine our own hearts before we judge the spiritual condition of others.

4. Remember that the earth is under the curse of sin.  Not only did man fall with Adam’s sin but the earth itself was affected.  The Bible says that the world “groans and labors in birth pangs” (Ro. 8:22).  The result is the actual shifting of the earth that produces natural disasters.  The fact is our planet is not yet restored.  We look toward Christ’s coming rule when there will be “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Pe. 3:13).  

5. See natural disasters as a “wake-up call”.  Jesus promised there would be an increase in natural convulsions just prior to His return.  These phenomena would include “earthquakes in many parts of the world” (Mt. 24:7 NLT).  These tragic events call us to “prepare to meet your God.”

 How should we respond to large-scale human disasters? 

 • Pray for those who suffer.  Just as this earthquake caused shockwaves throughout Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic, your prayers can reverberate to the ends of the earth.  There is no distance in prayer.  The Bible says to “open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die” (Prov. 31:8).  Your prayers can truly make a world of difference.

 • Give generously.  An important way to show heart-felt compassion is by giving to help alleviate suffering.  When disasters strike, we honor the Lord by giving financially to Christian relief organizations that provide humanitarian aid to the victims.   Compassion is measured in tangible ways such as giving and volunteering to help meet the needs of the victims of calamities.  “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Gal. 6:10).  

• Pray that God will use this tragedy to bring people to Him.   Many survivors are groping for answers.  Those without Christ not only have been stripped of life’s basic necessities, they also have no hope.  In tragedy’s aftermath many hearts are open to Jesus.  He is the great “shelter in the time of storm” (Psa. 61:2-3.)

  • Recommit to the urgency of evangelism.  Suddenly lives can be snatched into eternity.  This should press us to do all we can, while we can, to reach people for Christ.  There is always a holy imperative in evangelism and missions.  “Night is coming when no one can work” (Jn. 9:4). 
 
“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled . . . Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (Psa. 46:1-2, 10).

* * *

This article is based on a previous article written in January 2005 in the wake of the tsunami that hit twelve Asian nations.  Global Advance is monitoring the situation in Haiti through two trusted missions organizations, one based in Haiti and the other in the Dominican Republic.  As a missions organization ourselves, we are sending funds to be utilized for relief through these two on-site ministries.  We will seek ways to encourage and equip Haitian pastors and Christian businesspersons in the days and months ahead.

God’s love is at work now in all your tomorrows.

We enter this New Year with all its possibilities, perplexities, and uncertainties.  Life will see to it that you will walk through a myriad of experiences in 2010.  As I’ve prepared my heart for the coming year, I’ve been struck with fresh wonder at the incalculable love of God for us.  

What’s in store for us in the next twelve months?  Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, mockery – even martyrdom?  These trials are surely in store for multitudes of our brothers and sisters worldwide.  According to the apostle Paul (who tasted all of these), none of these assaults can separate us from the love of Christ.  “Despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us” (Ro. 8:37, NLT).

Neither death nor life can sever us from His love.  Not angels, not demons, not hostile authorities, not the pressures of the present, not the concerns about the future (my paraphrase of Ro. 8:38).

God’s love overarches the pinnacles of our victories, overshadows the depths of our defeats, and overcomes every created thing in between (my paraphrase of Ro. 8:39a). “Absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us” (Romans 8:39b, The Message).  It is the strongest bond in the universe; an indissoluble union.

Throughout 2010 the love of God for you – expressed in Jesus our Lord – will be the capstone for every joy and the cure for every pain.  No matter what life hurls at you this year, tether to the love of God.

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. . . . We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:9, 19).

It’s pretty gloomy out there.

Usually there seems to be a general optimism toward the New Year.  But, frankly, I don’t sense that this year.  Most prognostications do not indicate that the coming days will be merry and bright.  With so many families fractured, jobs lost, and hopes destroyed, some pensive Christians wonder if it’s appropriate in our tortured world to be celebrating – even at Christmas.  

But we have every reason to rejoice.  Jesus invaded a world much like ours.  The world was blanketed in repression, despair, and darkness.  But then – “the people who sat in darkness [saw] a great light” (Isa. 9:1).

Everything surrounding the Incarnation bubbles over with joy.  When the angel Gabriel brought his annunciation to Mary, he said, “Rejoice, highly favored one” (Lu. 1:28).  When Mary extolled the Lord in her Magnificat she said, “My spirit has rejoiced in God, my Savior” (Lu. 1:47).  When the pre-natal John the Baptist encountered the pre-natal Christ, his mother said, “The babe leaped in my womb for joy” (Lu. 1:44).  When the wise men saw Jesus, “they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy” (Matt. 2:10).  The angels said to the shepherds, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Lu. 2:10).  

Why all this joy?  “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Lu. 2:11).  We were doomed – but God has come to save us!

No religion in the world comes even close to the Christian faith when it comes to music.  No religion has reason to rejoice as we do.  We know God is with us.  We know our sins are paid for.  We know our Redeemer lives.  The only rational response to this Good News is to rejoice, praise God, and worship.

Do you know what a “carol” is?  It is a song or dance of joy and praise.  Listen to those old Christmas carol lyrics again (all the verses).  You have something to sing about!

Isaac Watts was the Matt Redman of his time.  He called on all creation to rejoice – because God has come to us in Jesus Christ.  God is with us!  God is for us!
Let all humanity rejoice in the Incarnation!  
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heaven and nature sing.

Let the creation rejoice in Jesus, our Savior and Lord!  
Joy to the world, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

Rejoice that sin’s curse is broken by our almighty Christ!
No more let sin and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessing known
Far as the curse is found.

Rejoice that Jesus reigns supreme!
He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love.

It’s time to sing!  It’s time to dance!  Rejoice – the Lord has come!

They bowed down and worshiped Him.  And opening their treasures, they presented gifts to Him. (Matt. 2:11).

When wise scholars from the east perceived that the King of the Jews had been born, their first instinct was to worship Him with their best.  Ever since that glorious first Advent, wise men and women have found their way to Jesus and they continue to worship Him with all their hearts, laying their best before Him.  

The Apostle Paul said the offering he wanted to bring Jesus was to lay redeemed nations at His feet.  He wrote, “I am a special messenger to you Gentiles.  I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit” (Ro. 15:16, NLT).  Paul wanted to bring the highest tribute possible to Christ – entire nations made righteous by His sacrifice.

As I think of the lavish gifts of the wise men, and Paul’s missionary gift of entire nations to Christ, I also remember the prophetic words of hymn-writer, Isaac Watts.  Foreseeing  the coming global reign of Jesus Christ, he wrote:

Behold the islands with their kings,
And Europe her best tribute brings;
From north to south the princes meet,
To pay their homage at His feet.

There Persia, glorious to behold,
There India shines in eastern gold;
And barb’rous nations at His word
Submit and bow and own their Lord.

’Twas the night of the big Christmas play at the church.

All the boys and girls had rehearsed their lines over and over.  Now each child knew his part by heart.  The dress rehearsal had gone without a hitch.  Each memorized line was recited flawlessly.

  The actual performance, however, did not go quite as planned. 

For Joey, who played Joseph in the church Christmas play, the night of his big debut had finally arrived.  Realizing his parents and grandparents were in the audience, eight-year-old “Joseph” was in rare form on stage.  He pounded frantically on the innkeeper’s door.  When the boy-innkeeper peered from behind the cracked door, Joseph kept laying it on thick.  “Please, sir,” he pleaded, “my wife is about to have a baby!  Don’t you have any room for us in the inn?”

Jimmy, the second-grade innkeeper, knew his lines perfectly.  Countless times he had practiced his stern speech of refusal:  “I’m sorry.  There is no room in the inn.”  But the night of the play Jimmy himself was overcome by the desperate tone in “Joseph’s” cry for help.  He just had to do the right thing.  So, Jimmy the Innkeeper blurted out, “I know what they want me to say but – come on in anyway!”

There’s no room in today’s secular “inn” for Jesus either.  Our culture has schooled us repeatedly to bar Him from any entrance into our lives.  It’s society’s autocratic way of ordering us to fall into line:  “Learn your lines: ‘There is no room for Him.’”  Just note the frantic, bizarre attempts to morph “Merry Christmas” into “Happy Holidays.”  Today, as then, there’s no place for Him.  They’re scared spitless of His name, much less His presence.

We’ve been well coached in our day to deny Him any access.  Secularists have pronounced the verdict:  “No room for Jesus.”  But still He stands at the door and knocks.  But be forewarned: When Jesus comes in He will turn the status quo upside down.  So this Christmas defy the culture umpires who try to define for you what’s “in” and what (or who) is “out.”  Just let Him in . . .

      into your home . . .
            into your activities . . .
                  into your conversations . . .
                         into your family gatherings . . .
                                and most of all . . . into your heart.

No matter how much it might mess up everyone’s little play, along with Jimmy let’s do the right thing.  Jesus, I know what they want me to say — but come on in anyway! 

“God gave Christ the highest place and honored His name above all others. So at the name of Jesus everyone will bow down, those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And to the glory of God the Father everyone will openly agree, ‘Jesus Christ is Lord!’” (Philippians 2:9-11, CEV).

Last week we honored our country’s soldiers in the annual remembrance of Veterans Day.  This particular Veterans Day was made more somber and poignant against the backdrop of the horrific murders and attempted murders a few days earlier at Fort Hood.  I want to give special honor both to our veterans and to those presently serving our country in all branches of the military. 

The events at Fort Hood remind us of how dangerous their job is – and what a debt of gratitude we owe them.  And the evil actions of that turncoat terrorist should remind us of something else – your theology will affect your actions. 

I also want to honor another group of soldiers – soldiers of the Cross.  Some years back, several denominations yanked every song referring to war, conflict, and conquering out of their hymnbooks.  “Too militaristic,” they said.  The result has been an emaciated church with its head in the sand and the white flag of surrender waving from its steeple.

Here are a few lines from great hymns no longer welcome in our culture or in many of our churches.  The wording may be antiquated but the glory, truth, and strength of their message are not.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the Cross;
Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss:
From vict’ry unto vict’ry His army shall He lead,
’Til every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.

Are there no foes for me to face?  Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace, to help me on to God?
No! I must fight if I would win; increase my courage, Lord!
I’ll bear the cross, endure the pain, supported by Thy Word.

In recent weeks one of our workers in India was severely beaten by religious radicals.  One of our ministry teams was so acutely threatened they required police protection.  Pastors have been beaten on the way home from our conferences.  Our key man in Congo was martyred.  Don’t tell me we’re not at war.

The reality of our spiritual fight against Satan, sin, and a world system that defies Jesus Christ is laced throughout the New Testament.  Paul told Timothy to “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ” (2 Tim. 2:3).  Three times in his letters to Timothy, Paul counsels Timothy about fighting the good fight (see1 Tim 1:18; 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7).

This is a real war.  There are obvious battles.  There are real casualties.  And there are verifiable victories.  In this good fight, we need to remember:

Our fight is not against people.  People are not the enemy – they are victims of the enemy and he has taken them hostage.  Our battles are not against flesh and blood (see Eph. 6:12).  Our enemy is the devil, his demonic hoards, and his diabolical schemes to dethrone Jesus Christ from His rightful rule.  In dramatic contrast from Jihadists, our weapons are not swords or guns. Ours are not worldly weapons – but they have divine power to destroy strongholds (see 2 Cor. 10:4).  Our greatest weapon is the love of God.  You can counter bombs with bombs.  You can counter angry rhetoric with more angry rhetoric.  But unconditional love – how do you counter that?

We are called to courage and conquest.  Paul urged the Philippian church to stand firm, “not frightened in anything by your opponents.  This is a clear sign to them of their destruction” (Phil. 1:27-28, ESV).  At this crucial juncture of church history we cannot – we must not – be cowered into silence.  Truth has power!  The Gospel has power!  The name of Jesus has power! 

What else could explain the phobic attempts to silence even the mention of Jesus from public discourse?  Tragically, it seems that many opponents of the church intrinsically perceive the power of the name of Jesus far more than Christians.  We must unleash the power-packed projectiles of truth, the Gospel and the Name above all names into our deluded culture.

We are to fight until the end.  Facing impending martyrdom, Paul said he had “fought the good fight” (2 Tim. 4:7).  And as we fight this good fight, we must remember our vantage point.  We do not fight for victory as much as we fight from victory.  Christ’s triumph on the Cross ensures His victory – and ours.  This fight is fixed!  Jesus shall reign.

At age eighty-two and almost blind, William Booth, founder of The Salvation Army, gave these last public words before ten thousand people assembled at Royal Albert Hall in London:

“While women weep, as they do now, I’ll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now, I’ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, I’ll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl on the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I’ll fight – I’ll fight to the very end.”

When I first began preaching as a teenager, an old veteran preacher grabbed my shoulders, looked me in the eyes, and said, “May God put the fight in you.”

The battle is fierce.  More soldiers are needed.  This is a volunteer army.  May God put the fight in you. 

In the mid 1980s when our younger son, Joel, was in public school in the second grade, one day around Thanksgiving he brought home a paper he copied from what the teacher wrote on the board.  Here is what that second grade teacher wrote to be copied by her impressionable class:  

“The Pilgrims held the first Thanksgiving to thank the Indians for all their help.” 

Did you catch that?  Here’s an elementary school teacher instructing seven-year-olds about the meaning of this special day – and she says it’s to commemorate English Separatists thanking Native Americans for their help! 

Now, I don’t know how intentional this little act of revisionism was.  Maybe this teacher felt intimidated to tell those kids the truth.  But historical revisionism is never right and it must never be condoned, whether it’s from an Iranian president who says the Holocaust is fiction or a sweet young schoolteacher who reduces Thanksgiving to Indian Appreciation Day.  Facts are facts.  Truth is truth.  And intentional untruths are lies.
 
Let’s get it straight – and tell it straight.  Thanksgiving isn’t first about turkeys or football or even Pilgrims or Native Americans.  It’s a day to pause as a nation and thank Almighty God for His mercy and goodness to us.  Here’s a brief look at the origins of this uniquely American holiday. 

God brought Squanto, a Native American who understood the Pilgrims’ language, to help them survive the harsh conditions of the New World.  Of particular importance, Squanto taught the newcomers how to plant the winter staple crop of corn.  The Pilgrims shared the Gospel with their new friend.  Before his death in 1621, Squanto asked them to pray for him that he would be with God in heaven.  

In gratitude to God for saving the threatened harvest that year, Pilgrims invited other Native Americans to share in a feast of thanksgiving to Almighty God.  The record is clear that on that first observance of Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and Native Americans together gave thanks to God for the long, gentle rain that broke a severe drought and saved the harvest – and their lives.

Shortly after our nation’s independence had been won, Congress approved the Bill of Rights in 1789, attaching a “recommended day of public thanksgiving and prayer.”  President George Washington responded with the first presidential proclamation in the United States, declaring November 26, 1789, as the first national day of prayer and thanksgiving. 

In his proclamation, Washington declared, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor . . . I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be . . . And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions . . .”

Seventy-five years later as the bitter years of the Civil War came to a close, President Abraham Lincoln established the last Thursday in November as a day to acknowledge “the gracious gifts of the Most High God.”  Every succeeding president did the same until 1941 when Congress officially made Thanksgiving a national holiday.

What I have shared with you is an indisputable part of our national record and history.  Let me encourage you to share this with your children and grandchildren this Thanksgiving.

Six times in the Bible these same words of admonition are given.  It’s as if the divine Author of Scripture wanted to be sure we wouldn’t forget: “O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever.”