I listened with shock (but without surprise) to Pat Robertson’s latest proclamation of idiocy (viewed here) regarding the events in Haiti.”How can you be so matter-of-fact in speaking for God and declaring His judgment on the people of Haiti hours after an

earthquake destroyed its capital?” I asked as I watched the clip. (Fortunately there are high profile Christians like Michael Horton who put into perspective this type of prophetic pandering.

(NOTE: for a healthy biblical perspective on God and disasters listen to this NPR interview with John Piper on the heels of the 2005 Tsunami that devastated Indonesia and parts of Thailand).

Is Robertson’s declaration that this is God’s judgment on Haiti for having made a pact with the devil an appropriate response? It’s a question I’ve been wrestling with for the past few days as I’ve watched clips, read stories and followed photo essays coming out of Haiti. My response is no, it is not appropriate and here are a few things I’ve concluded about being a Christian at times like these.

NO ONE has a right to presume to know the mind of God, let alone speak with an air of authority regarding that presumption. I do know that NOTHING happens in this world without God’s approval and He has a purpose – His purpose – for all He allows (Isaiah 46:9-10). Only God sees all of history before Him at once and knows exactly how this quake fits into His eternal plan. To cherry pick a prophesy is to reveal theological shallowness.

I must feel compassion for the suffering of the people. The Christian who is not moved to compassion  – and worse yet allows the thought that this is somehow deserved – is a legalist at best and heartless at worst, and I’d seriously question that person’s claim of salvation.(“…Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”)

My compassion must motivate me to do something. I may not be in a position to give or go, but I can certainly pray. Pray for the people, for workers trying to help, for suffering to be assuaged, for the Gospel to be preached and for God to save thousands.

My actions of compassion must NOT be devoid of the Gospel. There is no way to alleviate all the human suffering of this world and especially in a situation like this. Physical suffering in this world is a visual representation of a spiritual reality: Sin causes suffering; has from the beginning and will until the end. God has placed the earth under a curse (Romans 8:19-23). Nothing man does is going to change that reality but we are called by God to apply ourselves to good works while seeking to share a remedy (the Gospel) for man’s greatest need (forgiveness of sin to be reconciled to God). Failing to do this is not compassionate. In fact it is cruel. To be so close as to extend clean water to someone yet not share the Gospel is to alleviate a temporal need while withholding  hope that quenches his or her eternal need.

Every Christian should watch the news coming out of Haiti with a great deal of soul searching, a healthy amount of compassion and a deep desire to see Jesus become very real in the lives of the suffering masses.

Scan the world’s headlines this week and you’ll find news coming from the International Conference on Climate Change discussing melting ice caps, decaying ozones and rising global temperatures that will evaporate water and leave billions of people starving by 2025. Al Gore tried to warn us of the Inconvenient Truth three years ago, winning Oscars, Grammys and Nobel Prizes along the way. Al and friends have twisted information to convince us of what we should already know: Global warming is my fault. And its your fault.

Al laid the blame for global warming in the right place – on us – but got the cause all wrong. The real Inconvenient Truth is that the Apostle Paul outed us nearly 2,000 years ago. God created global warming because of our sin. Read it: “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it” (Romans 8:20; italics mine). God subjected creation to decay nearly from the beginning when He doled out punishment to Adam and Eve in the garden in Genesis 3. God created global warming right there in verse 17,: “…cursed is the ground because of you.”

Now I don’t fault Al for missing the truth. The irony here is that humanism actually gets it right for a change. Humans are the problem, although one would be hard pressed to get Al and his liberal friends to agree to the reality communicated in Scripture. As easy as it would be I am not going to pontificate too harshly against people whose greatest need is to embrace the truth of the gospel.

Instead, I’ll lay verbal wood to those who ought to know better: Supposed Christians who are on “save the earth” missions. Let me say from the outset the fact that God has subjected the earth to a curse does not excuse us from our need to be better stewards. On the contrary. As Christians we ought to be exemplary stewards of God’s creation (I violated all kinds of cultural protocols last year while in Uganda by lecturing some Ugandan believers for consistently tossing their trash to the sides of roads). That said, the UK is dangerously close to being brought into subjection by environmentalists and they have heavy support from all kinds of churches, not just the Church of England (although I will say I’ve been in three C of E churches and it appears their prominent agenda is colored green).

For example, here are three prayer requests from the C of E church I was in this morning listed, for a special-called prayer meeting exclusively for this week’s conference:

• Pray for a new treaty in Copenhagen that protects God’s creation from climate change
• Give praise for positive changes in the US. Pray for Obama’s team as they try to influence public opinion
• Pray that richer countries will agree to deep cuts in emissions and financial support to developing countries.

What do these three have in common? Answer: They seek human solutions to a spiritual problem. It matters not a single measure of particulate matter how much human institutions change laws designed to protect God’s creation from climate change, or how influential a human leader is in swaying public opinion, or how much money wealthy countries throw at developing countries. Man CANNOT undo the curse.

Increasingly churches in the US are as guilty of misplaced priorities as churches in the UK. “Christians” who ought to know their Bibles better are partnering with the world, seeking to solve the world’s problems with the wisdom of man. Instead, Christians ought to pray for the changed hearts of men from a state of pure rebellion against their Creator (Romans 1:18-32) to one of repentance and humility before God. Upon praying, they should then invest their energy in sharing the Good News that through faith in Christ alone God forgives sin, lifts the curse and adopts us as sons and daughters.

The truth is the world is in rapid decay and its only hope is found in the One who created all things. That hope is not found in the wisdom of man but in the folly of the cross.