Ahhhhh the internet! We seem to be so better informed than we were 20 years ago. Information is like soooo 5 seconds away. Us old farts who were alive and kicking in the 1980's feel like a bunch of stupid idiots. I found out recently that many of the stories i have been telling for 20 years were not actually true. That sucks. Examples:
1. Neither Jimi Hendrix nor Eric Clapton referred to Phil Keaggy as the best guitarist in the world. At least Phil Keaggy denies it and suggests it was just a crazy rumor. Shoot. I have carried that one around for two decades.
2. Stryper never ever ever never ever did a "Heaven and Hell Tour" with Motley Crue. The story sounded true when i heard it in the 80's but my teenage son, wiki-wonder-boy that he is, proved it wrong.
3. "God Gave Rock and Roll To You", performed so brilliantly by Petra was not originally a KISS song. Yes, KISS performed it, but it was actually written by a British band called Argent who recorded it in 1973. Another rumor that I have falsely spread and another bonus point to my son for his meticulous research skills. I feel like a bloody moron! Is nothing true anymore???
And now the big one that our dear friend Pat Robertson has brought to light this week.
4. There is no evidence that Haiti made a dark evil pact with the Debil. I visited Haiti a few times as a social-worker on a mission to Port-au-Prince and also to Cap Haitian where the alleged pact took place. I was in my early 20's and really didn't do much homework on the issue. The web was not around and where would i find a book on the subject?? The older mission folk briefed us on the state of the history of Haiti and gave us the well-told story of the sacrificed pig and voodoo and the deal with the devil etc. It all seemed reasonable and this was back in the 1980's when information was harder to find. So we believed it. And not only that, we have been passing that story on for 2 decades.
Until this week.
Bill Ross, a commenter on my blog post yesterday, pointed me to a well thought out and well researched article by a Christian Haitian man named Jean R. Gelin, Ph.D. His article is called God, Satan and Haiti and I wish he had been the one who oriented us poor green-horned missionaries when we came to Haiti and not some over-eager foreign missionaries who had probably not done their research.
Jean Gelin's conclusion?
"I have yet to find a good evidence of even the idea of Satan’s assistance in the Independence War, let alone a satanic pact." God, Satan and Haiti, 2005.
Right. So I am an egghead.
Anyway, speaking of the 1980's and Haiti. It was waaaaaaaay back in 1988 when i was a student at Multnomah School of the Flippin' Bible and I went to pick up Tony Campolo and his son Bart from PDX airport at Portland, Oregon. What a pair!!! My gosh!!! How embarrassing for me to even be in the same airport when those two get together!!!!!! But Bart and I hit it off and kept some email correspondence going over the next few years but we eventually lost contact. He started getting involved more and more with Haiti and was even there right before the earthquake. Bart Campolo, who has probably forgotten me by now, has set up a special earthquake fund to get money to where it is needed. If you dont know who to trust, Bart and his dad and have been involved with Haiti for a long time and have a proven track record.
Want to read more? Check out my friend James Denison's piece today.