Joy and I pray that all of you are taking steps to ensure the health and safety of yourselves and your families during this time of national difficulty surrounding the coronavirus. I think that it is fair to say that these levels of fear and uncertainty are unprecedented in my lifetime as I believe that this even surpasses the similar national environment that surrounded 9/11. I thought that it would be appropriate to inform all of you how Haiti and the ministry are being effected by this virus, and also provide a Biblical consideration to all of this in terms of how we, as Christians, should be thinking, acting, and living throughout this most troublesome time.
Throughout February and early March things in Haiti were actually very calm and our day to day activities had not been disrupted in any way. The first week of March we hosted a large medical team that blessed over 1000 sick Haitian adults and children who otherwise would have never been able to see a doctor, afford the medications that they so desperately needed, or receive the procedures they required. This team served the community surrounding our church plant in Jacmel, and the very impoverished mountain communities of La Roca, Nan Zimye, and Kafou Penguin with dental, medical, pediatric, and surgical care.
Following the departure of the medical team we continued in our evangelism efforts throughout our region, and saw many repent and surrender their lives to Christ. It is really unbelievable how greatly God is pouring His Spirit out upon Haiti. There are so many salvations that it is difficult to keep up with! We currently have 48 people awaiting baptism and I’m sure by the time you are reading this there will be even more.
We also have been greatly blessed by Jameson and Jordan who, despite their youth and young marriage, obeyed God’s voice telling them to leave their lives in America to come to Haiti and join us full-time on the field. Jameson has greatly helped me with the teaching, preaching, and evangelism assignments God has given us, and Jordan has been an answer to prayer in the area of our medical ministry as she has taken on the role of managing our nursing team and overall medical outreach efforts allowing me to focus more on evangelism.
The expansion of his kingdom
Generally speaking, things have been blessed as God’s hand remains powerfully upon this ministry and this is not surprising when we consider that we are simply performing His will in Haiti. God’s ideal plan, as put forth in Scripture, is for His Kingdom to be expanded on earth through the salvation of souls. He saves souls through the empowering of His servants who do His will obediently. This empowerment is not mystical or magical, it doesn’t require some supernatural gift like tongues or miracles, and it doesn’t demand esoteric knowledge purposed only for the enlightened few. Any, or all of these things would lead to the glorification of us, and we know that God does not share His glory with men, “I am the Lord; that is My Name; My glory I give to no other…” (Isaiah 42:8a).
Rather, God chooses to empower His spoken gospel message with the power to call, regenerate, and save His elect. Paul knew this as he wrote to the church at Corinth saying, “And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:3-5). We continue to live in amazement that God would choose us for this important Kingdom building ministry, and all of you are just as much a part of this as we are, and as always we want to thank you all for your continued support both prayerfully and financially!
“And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
– 1 Corinthians 2:3-5
Business as usual
As everything was ‘business as usual’ in Haiti, we watched as the United States began to socially unravel secondary to the virus and the fears surrounding it. Nothing greatly surprised me in terms of the steps America was taking to protect its citizens until I saw our President close the borders to 28 European countries. Surprisingly, some of the wealthiest countries in the world were being banned entry in the United States including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
This raised a red flag in my mind, and Joy and I began to discuss a course of action for what appeared to be an inevitable domino effect of countries being banned entry to America which would surely include Haiti in the coming days. The only consideration that was favorable for Haiti at this time was that there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country. This fact caused the Haitian President to follow President Trump’s actions as he banned entry into Haiti for every country in the world except the United States (and that surely had to do with the considerable amounts of money that people and organizations bring into Haiti).
When Joy, Jameson, Jordan, and I observed all of these things happening we began to discuss the reality of the United States banning Haitians from entering its borders as we knew that it was just a matter of time before Haiti had its first cases of coronavirus. After inquiring of God through much prayer and consulting my most trusted friends and pastors in the United States we felt that returning home would be the wisest course of action.
Not by fear
This decision was not fueled by fear but rather the reality of what the ministry would look like if coronavirus entered Haiti. The country would surely be closed down and this would prevent our ability, in terms of efficacy, to perform ministry. Sitting at home in Haiti, unable to work would be futile, especially considering that we could be at home in America seeking support for the Haitians that were about to face catastrophic realities both physically and economically secondary to the virus.
God placed a day of departure on our hearts and so we called the airline and changed our tickets. My family, along with Jameson and Jordan, flew home on that day, and almost immediately upon landing in Chicago God showed us that we had made the right decision. We landed in Chicago at 11 P.M. and an hour later, at midnight, the President of Haiti announced the first two cases of coronavirus in Haiti and closed Haiti’s borders to all countries including the United States.
The Haitian President also closed every school in the country, all of the ports, all churches, and set an 8 P.M. curfew that was to be enforced by police. This would have paralyzed our ministry efforts, had we’d stayed in Haiti. As Joy and I watched this all unravel while we were standing waiting for our bags at O’hare, we both felt so protected and cared for by our Lord. What an awesome God we serve who guides and instructs us down to the exact hour!
While we revel in thanksgiving secondary to God caring for us in such a supernatural way, a very different emotion is felt when thinking about the Haitians and the storm of suffering that is certainly coming their way. This virus could potentially kill millions in Haiti as preventative measures like social distancing, hand washing, facemasks, gloves, and drinking higher than normal volumes of clean water are all completely out of reach for the Haitian people.
Additionally, when one considers the demographics of those most likely to die from this virus, nearly all of Haiti falls into these demographic categories of old, young, compromised immune systems, hypertension, etc. We MUST pray for Haiti as it brings tears to our eyes to consider what is about to happen to our beloved Haitian brothers and sisters. Thank you for joining us in our commitment to pray for the church in Haiti to be supernaturally protected by God as I am personally praying that God makes a distinction between His church in Haiti and those who seek help from demons through vodou. This would surely draw people to Christ and just maybe this is the Divine thought behind the allowance of this terrible situation that is plaguing the earth with no partiality.
What is the Coronavirus and How should we respond?
So what is this virus, and how should we, as Christians, be considering and responding to all of this? This virus is being referred to as COVID-19 (CO: corona; VI: virus; D: disease; and the 19 comes from the original name for this virus when it was discovered in 2019 and was termed the 2019 novel coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV).
As a doctor, I can tell you that there are many human coronaviruses that usually cause very mild upper respiratory tract sickness and are usually experienced as a common cold or flu-like illness by those afflicted with it. This COVID-19 is different though as it is more virulent then its ‘cousins’ especially in its attack against human lungs.
COVID-19 kills via its effects on the lungs which result in respiratory failure necessitating ventilator support in an intensive care setting to assist patients with their breathing which they can no longer effectively do on their own. Death ensues when the lungs totally fail and sufficient oxygen fails to be carried to the brain, and other organs, which results in organ failure and brain death.
How can God allow this?
When we see such horrible things strike mankind, we tend to ask a timeless question: how can God sit back and allow such terrible things to happen? When we ask such a question we commit an error in our understanding of God. Asking how God can just watch this happen infers that God had nothing to do with it. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Satan does not have autonomy and never has. The coronavirus did not take God by surprise because He allowed it to happen. Before we discuss this it must be understood that allowance is not approval. We live in a sin-filled, fallen world that Satan currently rules over (see John 14:30 where Jesus refers to Satan as the “ruler of this world”). This is because we gave Satan power over the world when our human father, Adam, decided to disobey God and obey Satan.
When that occurred God gave the world over to Satan and also gave our human nature over to the sin that we chose. Due to this, we no longer have free-will in the same way that Adam did, and this is seen in the fact that we are ALL born sinful with no choice not to be. This was not God’s ideal plan, but rather it was His response to our disobedience. Free-will always risks disobedience, and it didn’t take long for Adam’s free-will to rise up in rebellion against God as he chose to obey God’s great adversary—Satan.
So while God remains Sovereign and in control, He allows Satan to rule our world secondary to our choosing of him. Despite the fact that Satan rules this world we must remember that he rules it with a leash around his neck that God holds, and no matter how long this leash is allowed to extend it is nonetheless in God’s Sovereign Hand (see Job chapters 1 and 2).
Why would God allow bad things to occur?
The prophet Amos, one of the Bible’s minor prophets, wrote a very clear truth that all Christians should memorize and hold onto when times like this occur on the earth, “If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?” (Amos 3:6b). This reveals that God’s allowance and Sovereignty is behind ALL that occurs on earth, both good and bad.
“If a calamity occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?”
– Amos 3:6b
But why would God allow the bad to occur, especially to Christians? James answers this question in the first chapter of his epistle, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4). God has purpose in His allowance of suffering. As James so clearly states, “trials” of suffering present as “various kinds” which would include sickness, death of a loved one, disease (such as coronavirus), etc. Endurance through these trials produces sanctification in which we become more like Christ, living as more perfect and complete human beings on this fallen earth in order to better represent Christ amongst fallen people. Our suffering, according to Scripture, is actually predetermined and thus inescapable.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”
– James 1:2-4
Paul instructs us in 1 Thessalonians 3:3, “..that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this.”; and Peter speaks with similar sentiment in 1 Peter 4:19, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” Thus we see that ALL suffering on earth is allowed by God, but rather than the mindless sadism that the world so commonly accuses God of, we, as believers, know that this suffering always has Divine purpose surrounding it, fueling its existence.
In fact, suffering is so sure to occur in the lives of believers that it should exist as an expectation in our minds rather than an unwelcome and unexpected surprise that we aren’t prepared to face. Suffering, in light of James words above, should be viewed as a blessing rather than a curse because it wields the ability to quicken growth in our faith and augment our relationship with Christ with an efficacy that is unmatched by other life experiences. Therefore, rather than doing everything in our power to avoid suffering, including setting up lives that are consciously purposed to absolutely avoid suffering at all costs, maybe it’s time to start living as Biblical Christians who embrace suffering, viewing it as an opportunity to show the world what it looks like to put full trust in Christ!