Haiti: Jehovah's Judgement Or Not

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.

Every day, we experience many simple and complex blessings, yet we never sees it fit question the undeserving good things that happen to us. When we experience good fortune at the hands of Jehovah, we take God and his blessings for granted. However, when bad things happen, we demands an answer from Jehovah.

We ask why did the ninety year old, homeless man who was stricken with cancer die. Why did the healthy woman die after a mile complication? Why did the family of three died in a car crash as a result of a drunk driver? Every day, these questions are asked by people filled with grief and this is done to find some rational that may help them through the pain they feel. Yet, there is never a conclusive answer to be had, that will give the seekers, an understanding of why bad things happen.

There are some questions that we human, in our spiritual frailty, will never find answers to or for; and in such cases; “I don’t know,” is the only and most appropriate answer that is and will ever be available. There are certain times when our personal belief and our interpretation of the bible can bring us to a conclusion that will help us to deal with certain bad events.

We as believers in Jehovah and student of his words must try to view everything in the context of the bible. It is unwise and dishonest to twist the bible to justify a situation, even when, to do so we can alleviate someone’s pain and suffering and even in a time when the truth, can add to the mental stress of those who are already suffering. It is not one’s responsibility to provide answers to situation and question there are no answers for but when one is confronted with such a situation it is the responsibility of those who are trained, or who find themselves in the position to offer help to people in need, not to provide answers; but to help the suffering person through the situation the best way they can.

I have seen religious leaders, in their effort to bring comfort to victim of the Haiti tragedy and to dispel a school of thought that is being prorogated by some, which claims, the earth quake that struck Haiti was payment for the evil deeds done by Haitians. Such deeds constitutes the high incident of witchcraft, obeah or voodoo (spiritualism/the use of satanic power in human affairs to hurt others) that is practice in Haiti and the brutality that is inflicted on each other lead to devastating earthquake that recently hit this country. Although such behavior and practice exist in Haiti, It is and was very insensitive of such people to make such remark after the fact, especially if they did not go to that country, in an effort to effect some positive change in the life, attitude and behavior of the Haitian people. It is not for me or anyone to say that such was or was not the case and it is not the responsibility of anyone to use unrelated bible text to prove otherwise. Jehovah has the answer to this and other question we will all like answer to.

I sat in church and I listen in shock as a preacher, use the Job story to dispel the school of thought while ignoring certain common facts that made this story the most inappropriate scenario for the purpose.

Let us examine the story of Job, and compare it with the Haitian Situation to see if this is an appropriate scenario to use.

• 
  
  First point, Job was an individual, he had control over his behavior, whether he submit to Jehovah or not. Haiti is a nation with over a million people. No one can ever account or control the behavior and or belief of so vast a people.

• Job was righteous and upright and there were no evidence or record of Job doing evil; however, base on bible principles and common belief Job’s friends assumed he did. In Haiti’s case, there is overwhelming evidence of the brutality the Haitian people commit against each other; as well as, the high incident of Devil inspired deed or Voodoo that is practice in and is an acceptable part of Haiti's culture. In other words the evidence is clear that Job as an individual was perfect in all of his ways and the Haitian community in Haiti is not.

It is dishonest to use the God appointed suffering, of such a valiant servant of Jehovah, to justify the adversities of a group that do not fit into that same spiritual bracket of Jehovah righteous servant Job. There are many righteous people in Haiti, however there are many wicked people that is apart of that community also. It is unwise to use Job Story to cover up or deny known common practice of the people.

There are stories in the bible where Jehovah execute punishment on nations who has turn away from serving him and have indulged in wicked practices. We have seen in Geneses chapter 19: Jehovah execute judgment on Sodom and  Gomorrah for the abominable life style of the people. Sodom and its inhabitants were destroyed by fire; however, Lot, his daughters and his wife was saved from the horrible death the other inhabitants suffered. We also see in Genesis chapter 6 and 7: Jehovah destroyed the antediluvian world with a flood, only Noah and his family survived. Gen. 6: 5 provide information why the antediluvian world was destroyed: “Jehovah saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of his thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and it repented the lord that he had make man upon the earth and it grieved him at his heart.”

In the book of Jonah, Jehovah send the prophet Jonah to Nineveh to cry against that city, for their wickedness is come up against me. As he does with each of us who rebel against him, Jehovah pronounced a conditional Judgment upon Nineveh, they were to repent or be destroy. Here we see once again Jehovah pronouncing judgment of destruction on a nation who practiced evil. Fortunately, for the people of Nineveh, they heed the warning of Jehovah and repented.

When we as individuals or as a nation reject Jehovah as our God, we often reject the rights to be protected by him, thus exposing us to the evil treatment of the devil. Here we see the people of Sodom and the Antediluvian world, which turn away from Jehovah and chose to live wickedly had a judgment pronounced upon them and later had that judgment executed upon those cities, which resulted in the total and complete destruction of the city and its inhabitants. However, the righteous among them were saved. There was also Nineveh who had a judgment pronounced upon that city and its people yet that city was saved, because the people repented from their wicked ways.

Let us take a look at world events and the countries that most suffer from natural disasters. Every year we hear thousand dying in mudslides and flooding from typhoon in Asia, In Africa; a country that is blessed with every conceivable natural resource, that has the most fertile of land on the earth, yet million are affected by famine and die from starvation. Here we see these nations in these parts of the world are populated with people and nation who have turned away from Jehovah; here we have nations who have replaced the worship and homage of and to Jehovah with worship and homage to Idols and strange philosophy.

Like many people, who turn away from Jehovah, we forfeit the right to Jehovah’s protection. This is not to say that Africa, Asia and Haiti experience such fate as a result of the shared practice. But if the bible standards are the measuring stick for judgment then it will not be wrong to conclude such.

It is important to note that Jehovah is a all loving and forgiving God, he is not willing that any should perish but all should have everlasting life.

Are you afraid to die? Why?

Cowards die many times before their deaths, a valiant never taste of death but once, of all the wonders I yet have heard, it seems to be most strange, that men should fear death; a necessary end, will come when it shall come.

It will be true to say death is a mystery and although death has been a part of the human experience since the inception of sin; human has not gain an understanding of what death is, what happened when one dies? The fear of the unknown seems to transfer death; the absence of life, into a terrifying mystery. Many people are afraid of dying; but is such fear justified? What exactly is death? Is there any reason for anyone to be afraid of dying?

I will take the time to answer these questions. The Bible declared in Genesis 1; that God (Jehovah) created the Heavens and the Earth which includes every living creature, and he (God) saw it was good. It is important to note, after creation, everything functioned in unison; there was no flaw in Jehovah’s creation. In other words, the earth and everything in it was perfect.

When man sinned, there were certain consequences that came with defying Jehovah and his laws. Sin affected the whole earthly creation and it manifests it self in the various degrees and type of illnesses we experience, troubles of all kind, growing old, and two type of deaths.

Romans 6:23 says the waged of sin is death, but the gift of Jehovah is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us examine this text carefully, the ultimate punishment of and for sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Could it be that the wages of sin is also eternal death? In many places in the bible Jesus: God in the flesh, refer to death as a sleep. In Matt 9:22 Jesus when speaking of the little maid who was dead, he said to the moaners present, the little maid is not dead she is asleep.

Also in referring to Lazarus John 11:11 after he die and was in the tomb for four days; Jesus declared, our friend Lazarus sleepeth: but I go that I may awake him from his sleep. In John 11: 14 Jesus declared that Lazarus was dead and later when Jesus shouted Lazarus come forth, Lazarus who was dead awoke from the sleep of death and came forth. Like wise Matthew 27:51-52 speaks of the saints who arose from the dead when Jesus die; there grave give them up and their life were restored unto them.

There are other stories that are recorded in the Bible where the dead were brought back to life. Did Lazarus, the little maid, the un-precise number of people who arose from the dead when Jesus Christ die; did they suffer the wages of sin? If so why did they die again? Are they exempted from the Judgment? The answer to these questions are no.

So it may be safe to say, the sleep that we call “death” for a lack of a better name is not the wages of sin; however, this sleep is one of the consequences of sin. We must also understand that the consequence of sin and the wages of sin are different; in other words, although death the sleep is one of the consiquence of sin, the wages of sin refer to the eternal death, which is the ultimate consequenses of sin. Let me put it this way.

A man is hired as a laborer on a construction site; as a part of his duties he is called upon to shovel concrete for several hours a day. After a month on the Job the man developed a fit, muscular body or he hurt his back; is the effects of his labor the wages for or of his labor. No it is not; it is one of the consequences of his job but the wages of his Job will be the salary he agreed upon and received at the end of the pay cycle.

The sleep that we call death is not the wages of sin; it is merely one of the many consequences of sin. However the wages of sin is eternal death. The death that is inflicted in the lake of fire after which, those who so choose to die eternally will be no more, never to be resurrected again. This is the same death the devil will experience.

John 8: 51 declared that Verily, Verily, I say unto you, if any man keep my saying he shall never see death. This statement may confuse many for many of the elect had suffered death. Stalwarts like Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Isaac, Job, John the Baptist, and David a man who Jesus declare was a man after his own heart suffered death. Didn’t they keep the saying of Jehovah, why then did they die. Is this a contradiction? No it is not a contradiction.

Jesus who is the son of Jehovah, who was present in the beginning, who played an integral role in the creation of the universe and who will play an integral role in the final destruction of those who reject him, refers to death as a sleep, for that is what death is: a sleep. However after death is the judgment and after the judgment is the reward be it pardon or execution. We can either be sentence to eternal life of be damn in the lake of fire to an eternal death.

The sleep of death, what is it? Death is just the absence of life, nothing more nothing less. There is nothing to fare in death. However, because of the mystery that surrounds death, we are very apprehensive of facing death. The bible speaks of the sting of death but what is that sting of the first death or the sleep? The sting is the negatives and the fear that is associated with death.

Death is nothing to be afraid of, as a matter of fact, death is not a bad thing; in fact, in many cases Death is a welcome relief from this world’s ills. Let’s see what Jehovah say about death. Ps. 116: 15 Jehovah said precious in the sight of the lord is the death of the saints. When a saint dies, Jehovah sees it as a precious thing; for he knows that individual is seal for his kingdom and there is nothing the devil can do to cause him pain or to cause that person to forsake the God who loves that individual. In Numbers 23:10 Balaam said to the King of Moab: Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his. Here Balaam is expressing pride in dying, but not just any death; Balaam saw the dignity in dying the death of the righteous.

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again; even so, to them also which sleep in Jesus will God (Jehovah) bring to him.

Father if it be thy will take this cup from me, nevertheless, not my will but let thy will be done. When Jesus briefly cried out to his father in prayer and asked his father to allow him not to go through with the horrible death of a criminal that he the innocent was required to voluntary go through. It was not that Jesus was afraid to die, as a matter of fact Jesus was not killed, he chose to stop living; he give up the ghost. Jesus had the assurance that his father was able to raise him from the dead. As a matter of fact Jesus himself gave Elisha the power to restore life unto the dead as is recorded in 2 Kings 4: 32-35. Even many years after Elisha’s death his bones still possessed the power to restore life unto the dead see 2 Kings 13: 20-21. Jesus had no fear of death for he knew what death is, after all he made death and death heeds Jesus instruction.

The human in Jesus were aware of the pain that is associated with the type of death he had to undergo. The objective of death by crucifixion was not meant to kill its victims although death was the final outcome, but rather it was designed to cause those who must die in such a manner the greatest of prolong agony. Like everyone who lived at that period where death by crucifixion were a common practice; they knew the pain and the agony that is associated with such death. The human in Jesus was concern about the physical pain of such a death; but more so he knew the pain of enduring the sins of pass, present and future generation was more than any man could bear. Yet he was called upon to bear such and so he did.

So death is just the absence of life and it has all of the characteristics of a deep sleep. Sleep is an event that is welcomed and enjoyed by all? We are not afraid to go to sleep yet we are afraid of death they are both a state of unconsciousness. The only thing we should be afraid of is to die not accepting Jehovah is the creator and sustainer of this world and Jesus as our savior.

The Life Of Jesus Christ By James Tissot

The Brooklyn Museum has a comprehensive paint collection, that deals with the live of Christ. It encompassed events before Jesus' birth and the events which occurred after his death and his second ascension into heaven. Below is some photos I took of the exhibits that are on display. It is important to note that it was not prohibited to take picture.

The Gossip: Setting Your Character Free

It is no secret, that bad news travels faster and has a longevity that seems to restore itself. Unlike bad news, good news seems to die as soon as the events from which they are spurn are completed. The sensationalism that is attached to bad news seems to give it a life of its own. Another reason that contribute to the long life of bad news is; the fact that the negative that is associated with the story, whether the content of the story is truth or not, seems to let us feel better about ourselves; while, good news brings out the good in others and thus highlights our own deficiencies.

A story is told in the bible, in Genesis 39: 6-19 which dealt with Joseph and the accusation that was brought against him by his master’s wife; who with one wag of her tongue, not only put Joseph’s character in question but landed him in prison. It mattered not that, the allegations were not true. We all know, that there are some people who specialized in bearing and putting the spin on bad news.

These people never once take the timeout to find out if the tale they are bearing or circulating is true, or how it is going to impact the person of whom the negitive story is about yet for our own self gratification we find pleasure in keeping such thing alive. I will conclude that all gossipers are liars.

Let us think of what Joseph went through, when potipher’s wife had a lie of such magnitude registered against his character. You may not understand how sever such would have impacted on Joseph’s psyche, unless we understand who Joseph was. I know you are saying I know who Joseph was. But do you really know who he was?

Lets closely examine who Joseph was. Joseph was a youth, who was greatly loved by his parent and admired by his family and peers. Unfortunately the admiration Joseph’s brother had for him, was quickly transformed into jealousy. It is important for us to understand that most people like us when we are not a threat to their turf, their ideologies, their intelligence and the attention they are getting. An insecure person often thinks that you are intruding on what they perceived to be their sphere of influence; then their behavior, admiration and their treatment to you, changes.

The love Joseph received from his parents, the admiration that was showered upon him by his peer, Joseph’s understanding of who Jehovah is, Jehovah’s will for his life, and his faithfulness to Jehovah; give the lad an overwhelming level of confidence. Joseph’s high confidence was not in his ability, but his confidence was in Jehovah. The young man knew, that as long as he is faithful to Jehovah; Jehovah will supply his every need. He was aware that he did not have to yield his integrity, to anyone, for he did not depend on anyone but Jehovah for his daily sustenance, and so many of his detractors often interpreted Joseph’s high esteem as arrogance.

Jehovah communicated with Joseph through dreams, and as an acknowledgement of Joseph’s faithfulness; Jehovah show Joseph the bright future that awaits him. Because of Joseph’s naively, he proudly shared with his friends and family the grandiose plans Jehovah has in store for him and as a result, he was mockingly called: the dreamer. Joseph was not only confident he was proud, and this was seen in his demeanor, the way he walked, the tone in his voice, the things that he did, the people he associated with and the place that he went.

Joseph knew that he had his parents approval but most of all he had Jehovah’s approval and this give him a boldness that make other uncomfortable. Joseph did not hesitate to bring to his father’s attention the bad deeds of his brothers. I will like to believe that Joseph did not cowardly squeal on his brothers. I could imagine Joseph letting his brothers know before hand, of his intention to inform their father of their bad behaviors, dishonest actions, and inappropriate conduct etc. I also believed Joseph was the objective voice or the voice of reason when he was with his family, friend or any group he was in. not afraid to call wrong, wrong no matter who was offended and he took the time to acknowledge and celebrate that which was right and those who take the time to do such.

In other words, Joseph was a dignified young man and his dignity was on public display for all to see. No one was too poor, too dirty, too pitiful, too uneducated for him to associate with. I believed he measured the worth of a man base on the quality of his character rather than the abundance of his possession. The way he walked, spells dignity, his conversation was dignified and the way he dealt with people had dignity written all over it.

But today he was accused of raping his boss’ wife; this meant that Joseph betray the trust of the man who trusted him over all of his other servants, even servants who were in his employed for many years before Joseph. His master trusted him with all that he had, that was of value to him; even his wife.

What good is pride and dignity amidst such horrible allegations? The evidence was overwhelming but the crime was certainly out of character. I could imagine, some of the potipher’s servants even though they did not believed that Joseph was capable of doing such rejoiced at his downfall.

Although, the allegations that were brought against Joseph, by potipher’s wife were not true, there was no way Joseph could have proven them to the contrary; for the evidence was overwhelming.

When you find yourself in such situation what do you do. We very often try to explain our self out of our predicaments; however, our words only help to get us even more tangled than we were before.

We all know very well how it must have hurt, when some one, tells a lie on you, or when someone misjudge an innocent action, or spoken words, and use such to cast a negative aspiration on you, which you have no plausible explanation for.

It matters not what your adversities are, or what damage were done to your character, if there is one thing I know is; there is no quick method to repairing your character when someone have willfully or unwillingly cause your character to come into disrepute. A good character which was wrongfully blemished will always be vindicated but it takes time; however it takes time and no special effort from you but you must continue to live your life, ensuring you continue to practice integrity in all that you do.

After the allegation, Joseph was immediately cast into prison, his honesty and Jehovah inspired wisdom were quickly recognized by the jailer who like potipher promoted Joseph allowing him to manage the entire prison.

When the King of Egypt needed help and got word of Joseph’s gift, an investigation was conducted; the conclusive report that outlined the findings about Joseph was so overwhelming that the Joseph was elevated to the high post in the land, accountable only to King Pharaoh. Even those who hated Joseph, who were jealous of Joseph, and those who craved his destruction had to give an honest report about him. I can imagine them saying, Joseph is an honest man but he is arrogant, He is kind but he is snobbish, he is loving but he love to have his own way, he is faithful but he don’t worship our Gods; he appear to be a good man but there is something about him, that I just cannot seems to put my hands on it.

We must always remember that our character will take some hits; however an honest man do not need to do anything to vindicate his character but to continue to live his life base on integrity and in the fear of Jehovah and he in the fullness of time he will be vindicated.