Editor: At times we may hear someone condemning Haiti, saying: “The people in Haiti are too evil! They believe in iniquity! So God punishing them for their sins…” It is true that God does not like spiritistic practices like obeah/voodoo, for such practices are connected with the demons and Satan, God’s enemies. So we rightly condemn those practices, which are harmful. {{more}}However, is it fair to condemn Haitians in general? Is there no decent Haitian at all? Come on. I personally know that there are godly, decent living Haitians who do not get involved in demonic activities. Yet, some of these suffer from natural disasters. Is God punishing them? Job was an outstandingly righteous man. Job 1:1. Yet Job suffered a lot at the hands of the Devil. Job 1:12, 14 – 19; Job 2:7. Stephen was stoned to death. Acts 7:58 – 60. The apostle Paul faced many hardships too. 2 Corinthians 11:23 – 27. Other servants of God faced difficulties too, as shown at Hebrews 11:35 – 37. Are we to imagine that these godly persons were punished by God? What about godly ones in Haiti who suffer; are they punished by God? Job 34:10 and James 1:13 prove that God does not do what is wicked; he does not bring trials or temptations on people. God allows people, including his servants, to go through trials, but he does not cause them. Further, Ecclesiastes 9:11 says that “time and chance happeneth to them all.” So people, being at a certain location at a certain time, may suffer due to some disaster striking in that location. So it is with Haiti. Its location makes it prone to disasters. If another country was located where Haiti is, and Haiti was located south of St Vincent, for example, then that country in Haiti’s current location would have been having the hurricanes, earthquakes etc and experiencing suffering. Then Haiti would have avoided those disasters. Feel sorry for the poor of Haiti, the children eating mud cakes etc. They have been made to suffer for years, due to exploitations of the past and present, bad governments and so on. Condemn the practice of obeah/voodoo, but NOT the Haitians. Sympathize with, and pray to the Most High for them to cope, while we ourselves try to live God’s way, avoiding a self-righteous, judgmental attitude toward Haitians. Psalm 65:2; Psalm 83:18; Ecclesiastes 7:20, 22; Matthew 7:1; Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14.

Simeon James