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More About: Religion: BelieversWas Pat Robertson Right? - Did Haiti Make a Pact With the Devil?
During an interview on CBN's "700 Club" Wednesday January 13, Pat Robertson alleged that Haiti's liberation from France was the result of a deal with the devil.
"They were under the heel of the French...and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French,'" he said.
Robertson continued: "True story. And so the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' They kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got themselves free. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other."
At least one prominent Christian leader joined the White House -- and a slew of left-leaning and liberal pundits -- in denouncing Robertson's comments.
"God loves the people of Haiti. He hasn't turned his back on Haiti," the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of the Rev. Billy Graham, said on "Good Morning America," condemning the remarks and adding he believed Robertson "misspoke."
The younger Graham's ministry is currently in Haiti doing relief work.
Legend or Fact?
(Source: FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, February 20, 2004 By Lowell Ponte)
“Columbus in 1492 was the first European to land on the island its native cannibalistic Arawak Indians called “Hayti” (“mountainous land”). He would rename it “Hispaniola” (“Little Spain”).
In 1697 Spain ceded the western portion of the island, the part called Haiti, to France. Spain kept the eastern half, Saint-Domingue, today the Dominican Republic. After the Arawak were exterminated, both Spaniards and French imported African slaves accustomed to tropical heat and sunshine.
By 1780 the French colony of Haiti with its rich crops of cocoa, sugar cane, cotton and coffee, had become one of the wealthiest places on Earth.
This wealth derived from the labor of 500,000 slaves exploited and held down by only 26,000 white French plantation settlers and 30,000 affranchis of mixed ancestry. This disparity of power and numbers would soon end in a bloodbath.
Some of these slaves escaped to the mountains and created their own community. One was a legendary figure named Boukman, almost certainly an African, certainly a houngan (“witch doctor”) of enormous size, strength and charisma.
In Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince today, you can see an iron pig statue. It commemorates the ritual of the African religion Americans today call Voodoo conducted by Boukman on August 14, 1791.
A pig on that day was ritually killed. The escaped slaves joined in drinking its still-warm blood as part of a pact. Boukman led his followers in vowing that they and their children would serve the pagan gods of the island, including the devil, for exactly 200 years in exchange for freedom from the French.
Seven days later the slaves of Haiti rose in rebellion, soaking Haiti in the blood of the French overseers and plantation owners who had enslaved them. On January 1, 1804 a beaten France acknowledged the independence of Haiti.”
Hatian President John-Bertrand Aristide was removed by a military coup in 1991 but President Bill Clinton in 1994 sent 20,000 U.S. troops to Haiti to restore this former Roman Catholic Priest and liberation theology advocate to power. And then on Feb. 5, 2004 President George W. Bush sent in troops to keep him from being deposed by another military coup which would have resulted in a blood bath. At that point he was removed from power by U.N. forces and went into exile. Missionary David Fox and many others believe that Aristide had planned to renew the pact with the devil and the coup kept it from happening. They also believe that it was the prayers of the Christian people of Haiti and many others around the world that in reality intervened in the affairs of Haiti in ridding them of this very evil dictator.
Of The Devil By The Devil For The Devil
However, many believe that the story of Haiti’s Satanic pact to be true. In an article by Tom Barrett titled Government Of the Devil, By The Devil, And For The Devil (03/11/04) he relates first hand information by the Reverend Doug Anderson, who grew up in Haiti with missionary parents, and also served there along with his wife Dawn as missionaries until 1990. Following is that report.
"Haiti is the only country in the entire world that has dedicated its government to Satan. Demonic spirits have been consulted for political decisions, and have shaped the country's history. The leaders of Haiti make no attempt to hide their allegiance to Satan. Haiti’s government is a government of the devil, by the devil, and for the devil.
Voodoo is a practice based on a mixture of African spiritism and witchcraft. Depending on the source of one’s research, between 75 and 90 percent of Haitians practice voodoo. This seems to fly in the face of the fact that the country is predominantly Catholic. But, like their African ancestors, voodoo practitioners have no problem embracing multiple religions. In fact, most who practice voodoo believe they must be Catholic first.
Until recently, voodoo was practiced in secret. Practitioners would go to the Catholic Church on Sunday, and attend voodoo ceremonies deep in the woods at other times. Voodoo was forbidden during the colonial times, and the 32 Haitian governments that followed independence also suppressed the practice because of world condemnation. But on April 8, 2003, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide approved Voodoo as an officially recognized religion in Haiti. Voodoo priests since then can perform marriages and other ceremonies previously reserved for Christian religions. "An ancestral religion, Voodoo is an essential part of national identity," Aristide said in the decree recognizing Voodoo.
Not only did Aristide make Voodoo an official religion, he used every device available to him to promote it. On the day that his government officially recognized Voodoo, he paid all the radio stations to play nothing but Voodoo music all day. He flew in 400 Voodoo priests from West Africa, the birthplace of the evil religion, to promote it.
A missionary couple who run an orphanage and a school for 400 children in Haiti sent a report to their supporters last summer that reads in part, ‘Last week a baby was stolen from the hospital in St. Marc. The reason is because the child is to be sacrificed to appease the Voodoo gods for the so-called special day of celebration. Can there be any question of the horribly evil nature of this religion that former priest Aristide promotes?’”
David Fox, who is currently a missionary to Haiti, and many others, believe that Aristide had planned to renew the pact with the devil had he not been removed from office in February of 2004. Anderson and others believe that it was the Revival of genuine Christianity that broke out in Haiti beginning in 1991, the resistance to state tyranny that had resulted in the arrest of evangelical preachers, and the specific prayers of God’s people in Haiti and around the world that thwarted this effort on the part of Aristide and the Voodoo Priests to renew this Satanic Pact.
Was there ever a curse on Haiti? Is Robertson right? We know that the Dominican Republic, one foot away and divided by a legal border and language, is a paradise in comparison to the hell of poverty and blight that you find in Haiti, reportedly the poorest per capita country in the world and filled with decades of corruption, disease and hopelessness.
Whether Haiti is cursed or not, is not the point, it isn’t very smart for nations, families or individuals, to make agreements with Hell. God said concerning Israel long ago, “And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.” [Isaiah 28:18]
But if in fact they did make a deal with the Devil, they may now know and for a very long time, as King Nebechudnezzer found out many centuries ago, when that 7.0 earthquake hit the capitol of Port au Prince at 5 p.m. Tuesday evening January 12 that in fact, “This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,…” [Daniel 4:17]
But we must always remember the words of the Lord Jesus when it comes to earthquakes, “…and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.” [Mark 13:8] The next earthquake may be in our own back yard.
We also need to remember His words of warning at Luke Chapter 13:1 - when He said, “There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
However. according to the scriptures, not only Haiti, but the entire earth is cursed, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” [Rom 8:22] Thank God for that day when, “…there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:” [Rev 22:3]
Let us all pray diligently for those in Haiti who are going through this terrible ordeal and those brave souls who are there to help them. Also let’s support every legitimate relief effort on their behalf.
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1 Comments in Response to Was Pat Robertson Right? - Did Haiti Make a Pact With the Devil?
"Boukman led his followers in vowing that they and their children would serve the pagan gods of the island, including the devil, for exactly 200 years in exchange for freedom from the French. Seven days later the slaves of Haiti rose in rebellion, soaking Haiti in the blood of the French overseers and plantation owners who had enslaved them. On January 1, 1804 a beaten France acknowledged the independence of Haiti.”
exactly 200 years
1804, 1904, 2004..... and your saying what???