Mamre Church - Columbus Ohio

Haiti Earthquake

Help Us Help Those Who Are In Dire Need !

On Jan. 12, 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, devastating its capital. Thousands of people were feared dead. The recent earthquake, the worst in the region in more than 200 years, brought even more suffering to a nation that was already the hemisphere's poorest and most disaster-prone.

The Haitian Earthquake: Where Was God? Why did God allow this to happen?

Let's do What it takes to stretch our hands to our brothers and sisters in Haiti

God does reveal Himself to mankind in the pages of the Bible. We need to read it and understand that God does have a grand master plan for all humanity. The prophet Isaiah begins to answer these questions for us in Isaiah 59:1: "Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear."

Some mistakenly think that this means that those affected by disaster must be more sinful than others. But Isaiah was describing all of humanity, as Jesus Christ made clear. In reference to the victims of disasters in His day, Jesus asked: "Do you think that 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" (Luke 13:4-5).

The truth is that, starting with the famed episode in the Garden of Eden, people ever since Adam and Eve have chosen to live their own way, apart from God's revealed instruction and involvement in their lives. Romans 8:7 says humanity by nature does not want to live by the laws of God.

Sadly, mankind has chosen to abandon the laws of Almighty God that would bring us blessings, prosperity, happiness and protection from natural disasters. So He allows us to suffer the consequences of living our own way and also allows natural disasters to take their toll in human lives and suffering.

God pleads with mankind to reject going the way that seems right to us and instead open His instruction manual, the Holy Bible, and live by His way of life that will result in His blessings.

Ezekiel records this plea from God: "Say to them: 'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'" (Ezekiel 33:11).

As we see heart-wrenching photos and video of this latest disaster, we are once again left to ponder the age-old questions: "Where was God? How could a loving God let this happen?" These questions seem to have no answer—but do they?

People like to think of themselves as masters of their own fate. They want to feel like they can control their own destiny. Try talking to survivors of a major natural disaster like an earthquake, and you'll get a different perspective. They have experienced absolute helplessness to control anything.

So where is God? If there is an answer to this timeless question, where is it? Why don't we know why God allows such unspeakable suffering to be inflicted upon helpless, innocent victims?

Now the great gulf between America and Haiti, a chasm greater than the 700 miles that separate the western end of the island of Hispaniola from South Florida, has been bridged by a vast outpouring of compassion.

"I worry that when the cameras go away, you know, people will start looking away. Right now it's a dramatic story. It's Haiti on its knees" .

The Haitian disaster was of sufficient magnitude to bring together three U.S. presidents who, at various moments in the recent past, have each been the furious political antagonists of the other two.

As Haitians, Let's work together to rebuild Our Nation