Pastor Needs Permit to Hold PRIVATE Bible Study?

More article commentary in a similar line as the previous one…

“A San Diego pastor is fighting a citation from the San Diego County that requires him to obtain a permit to host weekly Bible studies at his home.

Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been hosting a Bible Study fellowship at their home every Tuesday for the past five years. The meeting, averaging 15 people each week, is usually comprised of dinner, fellowship and Bible study.

The meetings have gone without government interference until recently. Jones told KGTV, an ABC News affiliate in San Diego, that the visitor to a neighbor’s house alerted the County after a Bible study member hit the visitor’s car while leaving.”

I don’t think I need to say much about that one… but I will.  You would think that the citation would be about the visitor’s car, but the group itself is under attack.  Strange… Be careful brothers, Big Brother is watching you… now more than ever.  And if you’re reading this and you don’t really give a squat about the Jones’s Bible Study, then watch out because your book club is next… or your knitting circle… or your regular Sunday Sports gathering or even next year’s Super Bowl Party.  And if you say that obtaining a permit is no big deal, then you must not be a part of a group that invisible hands have been trying to control for the last couple of decades.

I’ve heard of another country that does this… It’s one that is known for overt violations of human rights.  Its a country where you can’t gather privately without attracting suspicion and where you can only believe what the state wants you to believe.  It’s a place where you can only attend “state-sanctioned” churches (or might I say state-sanctioned Bible Study groups?) that don’t threaten this oppressive state’s agenda by truly empowering people with a message and turning their loyalty to someone/something higher than the state.  If you don’t know, I’m talking about the Communist Republic of China… and everybody knows how much Americans hate Communists.  How about comparing some recent U.S. policies to theirs.  Maybe you should check to see if your congressmen has “red” hands.

If you have ever read the U.S. Constitution (even if you got bored and stopped after the first page), you would know that there is something very wrong about this law and this citation.  Something strange is going on and it has been coming on for a long time… yet this is only the beginning.  Listen closely… and let your voice be heard.

Can I Join PETA Too?

I’ve been reading the news a lot, and since I haven’t posted in a long time, I have been holding back a lot of commentary on some articles.  It has been weeks since I have wanted to say something about this one and I didn’t want to let it pass…

“Under an anti-discrimination directive passed by the European Union Parliament in April, Christian churches, schools, and social services in Europe cannot limit their membership to those who share their beliefs. The directive, which the parliament passed by a 360-277 vote, must be passed unanimously by member states for it to become law…”

I read this and cringed at the thought of how blatent attacks on Christianity have become.  When you have an organization or an institution, it only makes sense for the man or woman at your front desk to represent the image that you want to portray.  That goes for any company.  The guy at Abercrombie pops his collar.  The girl at Hot Topic can’t count her piercings.  But it may not be long before a church may be forced to put an atheist at their front desk.  I don’t think I should have to ask you if that makes any sense.  It’s the dumbest, and one of the most blatent attacks on all that is sacred so far.

But I guess if this law passes, I may have the chance to move to Europe and work for P.E.T.A.  I would make sure that the pictures on my desk include me and my family at our most recent family barbecue.  And of course I would eat meet during lunch breaks… with my co-workers.  Just can’t live without it.  I know that my co-workers would be preaching up a storm against it, but it would be good for them to expand their horizons… right?  After that I’m gonna join the KKK.  They need a little bit of color in their organization.

By now, I’m sure you know that I’m kidding.  Anyone who’s ever eaten with me knows how much I love the taste of animals.  That’s why I have no interest in working for PETA.  (A friend of mine from Felicity used to joke about being an advocate for the “People for the Eating of Tasty Animals”–PETA.  I’m right there with him).  And of course I have no interest in joining the KKK, unless I could somehow cause it to collapse from the inside.  Kinda makes you wonder about the people who want to force themselves into religious institutions…

You’ve got to admit it (although stating it may sound “dangerous”)…  sometimes discrimination (not racism or subgroup persecution) can be a good thing…  Sometimes discrimination is necessary in order to hold on to integrity.  Universities choose the best and the brightest in order to be the most prestigious, militaries choose the fittest in order to be the most effective, and organizations with a cause choose those who agree with them and are passionate about their agenda in order to propagate their message through the union of voices.  Anything else would be institutional suicide.  I don’t think that anyone can disagree with that…

What Election?

Thanks again for your prayers.  It turned out to be a terrible election, but not because people were killed, but because the voice of the people was not heard.  Yesterday morning, it seemed like we had more people in our church for first service than there were on the streets of Port-au-Prince all day.  People were either too scared or generally uninterested in this election to go out and vote.  A pre-election survey conducted recently revealed that less than 5% of the voting population was prepared to go vote, and my guess is that less than 5% actually followed through.  I guess, if people actually went out to vote things might have gotten bad… unless these were just empty threats in the first place, aimed at silencing the REAL voice of the Haitian people.

Another thing that I did not fully understand was that all public transportation was stopped yesterday.  I was told that, in the past, criminals would use taxis and tap-taps in election day crimes.  I can understand the need to get greater control over the streets on this day, but how is the common person supposed to go vote without a car?  If civilian operated public transportation had to be stopped, why weren’t state-sponsored voting buses provided to transport Joe Schmo to the polls?  If the state wanted a real election, they should have taken this as their duty.

But maybe they don’t really want Joe Schmo to go to the polls…  I don’t know about Joe, but If I found out that I would be walking more than 15 minutes just to go vote, I would be a little adverse to the idea, especially when I hear that there may be men on the streets with machetes ready to take my lid off and mail my body to the address written on my foot.  So, Joe stayed home yesterday, and I don’t blame him.  While he sat at home listening to the radio with his family, a select few, perhaps the ones who were in charge of the negative propaganda, hopped into their heavily tinted cars and went out to choose “our” leaders.

I would propose a simple solution: a quorum in which no election can be counted if less than 50% (at least) of the voting population is represented, but of course the problem there could be that we may never again have a valid election…  Someone out there clearly knows how to keep people at home.  If things aren’t going their way prior to the election, there are people who would rather stop the election altogether by using the same threats that were used in this election.

There were two notable incidents yesterday, one of which led to the cancellation of the elections in Plateau Central, and another that made me laugh.  In a certain district in the Department of Artibonite, a Christian candidate was favored to win.  In an attempt to turn the tide, representatives of two other candidates went out to try to shut people in in their churches.  Before they got very far, the people of one church revolted saying “Today we’re not gathered to discuss church business.  Today is election day and you’re not gonna stop us.”  A fight broke out which ended after fire was set to cars of these men cars, sending them home on foot, defeated. The people got their victory and went out and let their voices be heard.  I don’t usually promote violence, but in this case, the rules had changed.  They made the right choice to do all that they could to stop these criminals from choosing for them.  If they didn’t stand, no one would have stood for them.

Stay posted in the coming days…  Results day can sometimes be just as bad as election day.

Haiti In the News Again

Hey Friends.  It has been awhile since you have heard from me through here.  I thank you all for your encouraging emails and messages during that short hiatus.  I especially love meeting “random” people that happen to stumble upon my blog.  I would equally love to hear your stories and what God is doing in your lives, so feel free to share.

I received about a half-a-million emails and facebook messages about Haiti in the last week.  Although it was about the tragedy of the school collapse, when I received all of the messages I began to praise and thank God.  Haiti is in the news again.  Why do I say that?  I believe that one reason why Haiti has received relatively little aid to relieve the chaos wreaked by four hurricanes in one month is because it wasn’t “important news” at the time.  It was the peak of an election year…  No news is important in an election year.  But now that this is over, and regular news has resumed, I thank God to hear that you are all still paying attention when you see Haiti flash across the screen.  I encourage you to take a look back at what has been going on in Haiti since August.  See what you missed, and see what you can do about it (check out these videos).

I thank God for you.  Even those of you whom I do not know.  I have many other deep thoughts that I need to share…  Soon and very soon.  Stay posted.

Hurricanes! Where’s the helping hand?

I’m sure that you have heard by now that Haiti was recently hit hard by four hurricanes in the span of a month wreaking major havoc (I mistakenly said three hurricanes in my last blog, but I forgot about Fay).  On August 16, while I was still in Haiti, Fay came by to pay a visit to central Haiti (Port-au-prince). She splashed around quite a bit of water, but there were no major problems there…  Then she called her friends.  Nine days later, Gustav snuck in our back window, cutting through southern Haiti, indirectly killing more than 50 in Jacmel through traffic accidents (not included in death tolls).  Less than a week later, Hannah was passing far north of Haiti when she apparently heard Gustav bragging.  She completely changed her course, heading south just to make a stop in Cap Haitien to get in on the action.  Then she returned directly north and continued along her original course (check out the map, she creeps me out).  Then we realized why she left so quickly.  Big Ike was on his way to finish the job only a few days later.

It was more than we could take.  When it rains and floods in Haiti, it takes ages for the water and mud to recede.  This is blamed in part, on our lack of trees (less than 2% of the nation is forested,—99% less trees than a century ago.  A single tree can suck down hundreds of gallons of water in a day day). NGOs that have been working in Haiti for decades have said that this is the worst that Haiti has ever been.  Entire cities and villages are completely submerged in mud.  Hundreds of thousands were directly affected, many of which are homeless.  The combined death toll is much lower than the that of Hurricane Jeanne (2004), but lets remember that these tolls only tally directly related deaths.  With food prices on the rise, government infrastructure in shambles, transportation systems shot, and roads inaccessible, and crops submerged in mud all over the country, it is hard to imagine the real impact of these Hurricanes.  Haiti needs help.

Many have responded present to help Haiti get out of this mess (I’ve been corresponding with several “heros” locally), but it seems that the response is surprisingly low for such a devastating disaster (perhaps the world is growing weary of disaster relief after numerous earthquakes, tsunamis, etc. or maybe its an economic issue).  One thing that I am proud of is the reports coming back from my church of the many youth that are volunteering for the relief effort.  Last time that I talked to my dad, we just sent out a large group to do clean up in the north (20 or so), and we had about 50 young people ready for a trip down in the south.  The Minister of Environmental affairs is also partnering with our church very soon to send out hundreds of people to plant hundreds of thousands of much needed trees.  We have also bought and packaged food and supplies for families  of our congregation that live in disaster areas.

There is so much going on, and my favorite part of it all is that all it has been done without a cent of foreign aid.  It is not my favorite because I simply want to be  proud of my church and my people, but because I think I am beginning to see something new that God is wanting to do in Haiti.  There seems to be an unspoken thought in Haiti that nothing will never change unless someone else comes to fix it for us.  This is especially seen in the Haitian church.  “Nou kwè nan blan plis ke Bondye” (“We believe in whites faces more than we believe in God”).  The “craziest” thing that my father ever did was leave the financial security of a denomination connected to the United States and start an independent church in a place where only two families resided.  Eighteen Churches, thousands of members, and many, many miracles later… it all makes sense.

It’s the story of my dad’s ministry.  No one would have ever thought to see an independent church as large and beautiful as the one that we are building. Many churches Haiti will never think of fixing or buying anything in the building if no one flies in and makes the budget and furnishes the funds.  The Tabernacle de Gloire has been built thus far, penny by penny, 100% by Haitian funds, and when it is finished, it will stand as a testimony of what God can do with our “little” people.  Dad just opened up a school in the south and God told him to take in all 50 new students (all pre-schoolers) 100% free… How?  People in the church volunteer to give beyond their means to see it done.  Next year they will do the same for 50 more incoming pre-schoolers.  We need the help of Compassion International, but how much greater is it when similar aid comes from your cheerful, dirt-broke neighbor?  Before you answer, just remember how impressed God was with the “widow’s mite.”

It’s a new day.  Haiti is changing, growing, and we will make it out of this poverty and despair in the coming days.  And I believe that we are going to see more and greater cases of our people pulling together to help one another.  However, this does not mean that we do not need help from the outside.  Our church has done so much on its own, but imagine how much more we could do with a little bit of help.  If you want to help, by all means, contact me (Click to go to my contact’s page.  Note: I am currently in the U.S.).  We need food, money,  clothing, tools, cement, building supplies, trees(?), volunteers, and probably at least a quarter million $$$ to finish and furnish our church (we’ll settle for a roof for now, if you are interersted).

There are many ways you can help, but my dad would say it this way: “Ke ‘w vle, ke ‘w pa vle, w’ap wè li kanmenm.”  This means “whether you like it or not (or whether you put your hand in it or not), it’s gonna happen anyway.”  We aren’t waiting for your hand to move us into action.  God’s hand already gave us momentum.  But you are more than welcome to come and work by our side.  God is doing a great work in Haiti.  I really don’t think that you want to miss out on it.

In The News: Peacekeepers Stone Haitian Police

Yeah… u read that right. Two Haitian police officers are in the Hospital in critical condition after being severely beaten by the notorious Peacekeeper Gang. According to the allegations these officers were beaten with large stones. I don’t know the rest of the story, but isn’t this enough to send some more people home? Really… how can you promote order in a place where you yourself fail to respect the local authority? It isn’t clear whether the police officers did anything to provoke the fight, but to me it doesn’t matter if the Police did anything provocative. They could have been the most corrupt officials on the streets for all I care. There is no excuse for this kind of treatment for anyone, especially an officer of the state.

Mr. Ban Ki-Moon… get your boys out before they cause more damage to our fragile state.

In the News: New Prime Minister, Occupation, & the Presidential Kidnapping Force

From time to time I like to share with you a few bits of Haitian news that often do not make it through American Newsfilters. Enjoy!

New Prime Minister
After a long political standoff, Michelle Pierre-Louis has been ratified as Haiti’s second female prime minister. With one final vote (on her cabinet and some sort of plan), she will officially replace Jacques Edouard Alexis who was ousted in April. What you you may not know is that this stand-off was based upon the personal morality of Mme. Pierre-Louis. Although there is absolutely zero evidence of it in our government, elected and appointed officials are subject to an assessment of qualification and personal morality (according to the constitution). So why all the ruckus now with all of the corruption that already exists in our government? Well, several years ago, Mme. Pierre-Louis allegedly had an affair, cheating on her husband with a woman. When confronted by her husband, she allegedly left him, choosing to break her marriage vow to continue her relationship with this woman. This treads on cultural and moral taboos that, in Haiti, go beyond the church.

I don’t believe that Haiti has ever seen such a fight for the personal morality of an official, but I believe that this battle opened the door wide for people to start really considering it. It will become a big issue in the next election, provoking the people to discuss all kinds of political and moral corruption. This is a very positive outcome of this long fight: morally conscious voting. (Those of you who say morality and government should never mix… try me in a friendly debate. I am very confident in my position and reasoning over this subject).  In reality, there were more among the public who were against her approval than those who were for her, but many senators and representatives chose to vote her in anyways (or to abstain) for various reasons. First, because the post had been empty for too long, and few actually doubt her qualification with morality set aside. Secondly, because many suspected that President Preval had it in his mind to provide unapprovable candidates to give him an excuse to dismantle the parliament like he did during his first presidency. (I believe that this was the 5th nomination since April). Dismantling parliament would be very easy considering the fact that we have many empty senatorial posts due to delayed elections that Pres. Preval has neglected to ordain. Hmm… I wonder if that was an accident…

On a similar note, I wonder how Alexis feels seeing that his post was empty for so long, but the country strangely didn’t feel a void. Everything continued just as before… terribly. What a great way to test which politicians are expendable. Why don’t we send a few more on vacation just to see if they should also be revoked?

Occupied… by Haitian Soldiers?
Last Tuesday, more than 450 (at which they stopped counting) former Haitian soldiers “occupied” their former barracks in Cap-Haitian holding the government “hostage” for 14-years back pay and the reinstatement of the Haitian Army. The “occupation” lasted 24-hours and they now continue through peaceful negotiation. What the papers don’t tell you is that when people saw the army marching, they took to the streets to welcome them with cheering and singing. Like with most political moves in Haiti one fully understands why the Army was dissolved. It was never actually officially disbanded, only “temporarily” suspended. That is what gives them a legal right to back pay. From what I know and have witnessed, most people want it back. I’d say that it would make a lot more sense than sending in soldiers from the mighty army of Uraguay and Sri Lanka through the United Nations that only raise our standard of living and take advantage of our beautiful young women because of their poverty. With our “aid” money, we pay them between 8 and 64 times as much as our own police officers, allowing them to live like kings in our poor nation. But enough of that, because I have no time to talk about how much I would love to see those powder blue helmets out of our country. What a useless and rather destructive force.

Presidential Kidnapper Bust
Last Wednesday, the Port-au-Prince police force captured a band of kidnappers, with their illegal weapons, driving a car listed under the service of the presidential palace. The Commissioner of the Port-au-Prince Police force wanted to do a full search of the men and the vehicle, but the Commissioner of the government police (or something to that effect), who holds authority over legal investigations and arrests within the government, forbade the search. Hmmm…. I wonder… Mr. Preval, are you trying to hind something? Why are there kidnappers joyriding in your car? Rene… you’ve got some ’splaining to do.