Please watch this video: your brothers and sisters depend upon it

I have to admit that I’m a bit jaded when media-circus disasters show their obnoxious faces.  Perhaps it’s because I don’t understand the full reality of the disasters, perhaps it’s because nobody I personally know has been affected, and perhaps it’s because we seem to have a new disaster every year, but any way you look at it I’m not the kind of guy who holds a candle-light vigil every time a tsunami comes around.  Frankly, these situations feel so far away, the people seem so foreign, and I have my own life to worry about.

Part of the reason I felt this way was due to Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath: I’d donated my hard-earned money to the Red Cross because I felt it was the right thing to do, only to be disgusted later with the media-ignored tales from people who were actually there.  I couldn’t help but feel my stomach turn into knots when listening to witnesses describe the ghettoest of the ghetto inhabitants shooting at their rescuers, trying to loot their boats.  The coast guard eventually had to tell do-gooders not to try and rescue anyone, because the heroes were being attacked.  I heard about murders, I heard about rioting and looting, and I sat back and wondered whether my money had supported a rapist, or a mugger.  I wondered how many people’s homes were broken into and their families tied up while armed burglars rummaged through their possessions.  Suddenly, I felt like what I had done out of kindness had been turned into something vile, and I was determined never to send money into a Black ghetto disaster for the rest of my life.

But that was until this last Sunday, when I saw this video.  For those of you who don’t know, Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church miraculously obtained entry into Haiti (for what I erroneously believed to be a liberal’s endeavor), and made contact with my brothers and sisters in Christ, who are suffering from some of the worst circumstances I’ve ever seen. As you read this, Christ’s followers are surrounded by rabid and lawless mobs, barricaded within the confines of their church grounds. People are losing fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters.

This short film has the feeling of something I can only describe as apocalyptic, something you might feel when watching a zombie movie.  But there’s hope: God Himself showed His care through many miraculous scenarios contained here, and I’m urging you, please, to open your heart, to understand that these people are our brothers and sisters, and that they desperately need our help, and that God has provided a way through Pastor Mark’s organization.  I’m convinced that after watching this graphic and disturbing film, you will not be able to refrain from giving.

And if you do come to the conclusion that you’d like to donate, know that Pastor Mark’s organization (Churches Helping Churches) is providing not only material support, such as medical supplies and water and protection from mobs, but also is responsible for reestablishing missionary outposts in this dangerous and hellish wasteland. What I’m trying to tell you is that your money is going to churches, not randomly distributed to looters.

Please watch this video, but viewer discretion is advised: this is gory, scary, entirely real, and entirely present.

32 Hours: The Church in Haiti

From Matthew 25:

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

This entry was posted on 25. January 2009 at 21:30 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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