MAYOR JEUDY BELIEVES DELIVERANCE IS NEAR FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAITI
(Defend Haiti) - By Municpal Palace of Delmas
PORT-AU-PRINCE - A week of evangelistic crusades, to pray for deliverance for Haiti, was held at the Municipal Palace of Delmas, from April 29 to May 6, 2012. People of different churches in the capital responded to this spiritual manifestation held under the theme: "nan sa nou ye la, sel ou ki ka di yon mo pou nou" (for the circumstances that we are in, only you [God] can deliver us).
Several political figures of the country, including the President of the Republic, Joseph Michel Martelly, the First Lady, Sophia Martelly, the Minister for Women, Marie Yannick Mezile, the Mayor of Delmas and evangelical leaders of the community came together to the ceremonies to seek the face of God and pray for Haiti, and it's path of progress and change.
The President of the Republic, on the last day of this spiritual event, in his remarks for the occasion, welcomed the initiative of Mayor Jeudy and presented his congratulations for the country that was to be given to the Lord. This noble action, said the Head of State, reflects the desire of the first citizen of the town to see the country take the path of change and progress. He also advised that the trend of the way things are going, it is more than important to give the country back to the Lord, so that finally the Haitian people can breathe air again.
"That's why I chose to join you to implore the goodness of the Creator," insisted President Martelly.
For his part, the mayor of the town, Wilson Jeudy, believes this week of praise met a great need for the Haitian people. He used the occasion to explain to the Christian faithful who made the trip that the battle for change in Haiti, and improving living conditions for all Haitians had begun.
Mayor Jeudy invited them to follow the example of an ancient king of Israel. When his country was facing problems of all kinds, he said, Jehoshaphat sought first the presence of the Lord.
"We too will find an answer to our problems. Because only those who seek the face of the Lord will be victorious," the mayor declared.
The week of worship and praise was reborn in the heart of all Christians hoping for a better Haiti. The various pastors who carried the word of the Lord comforted with assistance. Mayor Wilson Jeudy believes that the issuance of the Haitian people will not be long. Pending the achievement of the divine promise; the Councillor admits to being committed to working to continue to ask the right actions to improve the living conditions of citizens of the municipality.
Showing posts with label Articles - Religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Articles - Religion. Show all posts
Sunday, June 10, 2012
ARTICLE - ZOMBIE HISTORY :)
A HISTORY OF 'REAL' ZOMBIES
(Discovery News) - By Benjamin Radford
Zombies are all the rage these days -- on television, in movies, books and now in the news. Of course zombies aren’t new -- they were co-opted decades ago by pop culture, especially in George Romero’s 1968 classic zombie film Night of the Living Dead.
Or were they? Actually, notes Blake Smith, zombie aficionado and co-host of the monster-themed MonsterTalk podcast, “Though many people think of Night of the Living Dead as being all about zombies, Romero never called them zombies; he wanted them to be ghouls. The public called them zombies, so the name stuck.”
Though many people treat the current “zombie apocalypse” as a fun pop culture meme, it’s important to realize that some people believe zombies are very real. Haitian culture -- like many African cultures -- is heavily steeped in belief in magic and witchcraft. Belief in zombies is related to the Voodoo religion, and has been widespread throughout Haiti for decades. The existence of zombies is not questioned, though believers would not recognize the sensational, Hollywood brain-eating version that most Americans are familiar with.
Unlike today's malevolent movie zombies, the original Haitian zombies were not villains but victims. They are corpses who have been re-animated and controlled by magical means for some specific purpose (usually labor). Historically, fear of zombies was used as a method of political and social control in Haiti. Those people believed to have the magical power to zombify a person -- mainly witch doctors called bokors -- were widely feared and respected. Bokors were also believed to be in service of the Tonton Macoute, the brutal and much-feared secret police used by the oppressive Duvalier political regimes (1957-1984). Those who defied authorities were threatened with becoming the living dead—a concern not taken lightly.
In popular fiction there are several ways to destroy zombies (decapitations or gunshots to the head are popular), though according to Haitian folklore the goal is to release the person from his or her zombie state, not to outright kill the person. There are several ways to free a zombie; one is to feed the zombie salt; others say that if a zombie sees the ocean its mind will return and it will become self-aware and angry, trying to return to its grave.
So are zombies real? Many believe so, but evidence is scarce. There are a few supposed cases of real zombies, including a mentally ill man named Clairvius Narcisse, who in 1980 claimed that he had “died” in 1962, then become a zombie and forced to work as a slave on one of Haiti’s sugarcane plantations. He offered no evidence of his claims, and could not show investigators where he had supposedly worked for almost twenty years.
Scientific Evidence for Zombies?
Outside of Haiti (and a few other places where belief in Voodoo exists), zombies were widely assumed to be nothing more than a legendary boogeyman, not unlike werewolves and vampires. However this changed in the 1980s when Wade Davis, a Harvard ethnobotanist, claimed to have discovered a secret “zombie powder” while doing field work in Haiti. The main active ingredient was said to be a neurotoxin which could be used to poison victims into a zombie-like state.
Voodoo magic was an unlikely source of zombies—but could science and medicine explain them? Davis wrote several books on the topic, including The Serpent and the Rainbow, later made into a horror film by director Wes Craven. Though the book was a public success, many scientists were skeptical of Davis’s claims, suggesting that they were exaggerated and that the amounts of neurotoxin in the powder samples he found were inconsistent and not high enough to induce the zombifying effects. While in theory the zombie power might work under certain ideal conditions, in the real world it would be very difficult to create a zombie with it; too little of the toxin would have only temporary effects, and too much could easily kill its victim.
Pharmacological doubts aside, there are other reasons to doubt the claim that people had for decades been turned into zombie slave labor. For one thing, the very process that would turn people into zombies (assuming it didn’t kill them) would leave them brain-damaged, uncoordinated, and slow -- in other words, hardly ideal farm workers.
Furthermore, the economics of zombie-making don’t make sense: Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with no shortage of very cheap labor to work farms and plantations. In a country where the average annual income is less than $2,000 there are plenty of able-bodied, non-zombified people willing to work for almost nothing. Unpaid zombie workers would still need to be clothed, housed, and fed, negating most of the potential profit from using them. And, of course, the sugar plantations allegedly filled with fields of zombies have never been found.
With the main reason for creating zombies pretty well debunked, the question remains -- even if Davis’s zombie powder is all he claims it is -- why anyone would bother to make a zombie in the first place. It would be a lot of time and effort to abduct someone, fake their death, get the toxins just right, revive them, and put them to work.
There are easier ways to give someone brain damage, and even if it worked there’s no guarantee that the person would be docile or compliant; it’s just as likely that they would be left in a vegetative state. While zombies are infesting television and film (and, some cases, news headlines), true zombies remain an unproven myth.
(Discovery News) - By Benjamin Radford
Zombies are all the rage these days -- on television, in movies, books and now in the news. Of course zombies aren’t new -- they were co-opted decades ago by pop culture, especially in George Romero’s 1968 classic zombie film Night of the Living Dead.
Or were they? Actually, notes Blake Smith, zombie aficionado and co-host of the monster-themed MonsterTalk podcast, “Though many people think of Night of the Living Dead as being all about zombies, Romero never called them zombies; he wanted them to be ghouls. The public called them zombies, so the name stuck.”
Though many people treat the current “zombie apocalypse” as a fun pop culture meme, it’s important to realize that some people believe zombies are very real. Haitian culture -- like many African cultures -- is heavily steeped in belief in magic and witchcraft. Belief in zombies is related to the Voodoo religion, and has been widespread throughout Haiti for decades. The existence of zombies is not questioned, though believers would not recognize the sensational, Hollywood brain-eating version that most Americans are familiar with.
Unlike today's malevolent movie zombies, the original Haitian zombies were not villains but victims. They are corpses who have been re-animated and controlled by magical means for some specific purpose (usually labor). Historically, fear of zombies was used as a method of political and social control in Haiti. Those people believed to have the magical power to zombify a person -- mainly witch doctors called bokors -- were widely feared and respected. Bokors were also believed to be in service of the Tonton Macoute, the brutal and much-feared secret police used by the oppressive Duvalier political regimes (1957-1984). Those who defied authorities were threatened with becoming the living dead—a concern not taken lightly.
In popular fiction there are several ways to destroy zombies (decapitations or gunshots to the head are popular), though according to Haitian folklore the goal is to release the person from his or her zombie state, not to outright kill the person. There are several ways to free a zombie; one is to feed the zombie salt; others say that if a zombie sees the ocean its mind will return and it will become self-aware and angry, trying to return to its grave.
So are zombies real? Many believe so, but evidence is scarce. There are a few supposed cases of real zombies, including a mentally ill man named Clairvius Narcisse, who in 1980 claimed that he had “died” in 1962, then become a zombie and forced to work as a slave on one of Haiti’s sugarcane plantations. He offered no evidence of his claims, and could not show investigators where he had supposedly worked for almost twenty years.
Scientific Evidence for Zombies?
Outside of Haiti (and a few other places where belief in Voodoo exists), zombies were widely assumed to be nothing more than a legendary boogeyman, not unlike werewolves and vampires. However this changed in the 1980s when Wade Davis, a Harvard ethnobotanist, claimed to have discovered a secret “zombie powder” while doing field work in Haiti. The main active ingredient was said to be a neurotoxin which could be used to poison victims into a zombie-like state.
Voodoo magic was an unlikely source of zombies—but could science and medicine explain them? Davis wrote several books on the topic, including The Serpent and the Rainbow, later made into a horror film by director Wes Craven. Though the book was a public success, many scientists were skeptical of Davis’s claims, suggesting that they were exaggerated and that the amounts of neurotoxin in the powder samples he found were inconsistent and not high enough to induce the zombifying effects. While in theory the zombie power might work under certain ideal conditions, in the real world it would be very difficult to create a zombie with it; too little of the toxin would have only temporary effects, and too much could easily kill its victim.
Pharmacological doubts aside, there are other reasons to doubt the claim that people had for decades been turned into zombie slave labor. For one thing, the very process that would turn people into zombies (assuming it didn’t kill them) would leave them brain-damaged, uncoordinated, and slow -- in other words, hardly ideal farm workers.
Furthermore, the economics of zombie-making don’t make sense: Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, with no shortage of very cheap labor to work farms and plantations. In a country where the average annual income is less than $2,000 there are plenty of able-bodied, non-zombified people willing to work for almost nothing. Unpaid zombie workers would still need to be clothed, housed, and fed, negating most of the potential profit from using them. And, of course, the sugar plantations allegedly filled with fields of zombies have never been found.
With the main reason for creating zombies pretty well debunked, the question remains -- even if Davis’s zombie powder is all he claims it is -- why anyone would bother to make a zombie in the first place. It would be a lot of time and effort to abduct someone, fake their death, get the toxins just right, revive them, and put them to work.
There are easier ways to give someone brain damage, and even if it worked there’s no guarantee that the person would be docile or compliant; it’s just as likely that they would be left in a vegetative state. While zombies are infesting television and film (and, some cases, news headlines), true zombies remain an unproven myth.
Monday, May 7, 2012
ARTICLE - ORPHANS - ADOPTION - GOD
ORPHANS, HAITI, ADOPTION AND GOD
(Maple Ridge News) - By Brad Warner
A few days ago, I was in the mountains overlooking Port-au-Prince with about a dozen people from our church.
We were close to the village of Fermathe.
Our church recently sent two teams to help a local ministry – God's Littlest Angels (www.glahaiti.org ) – in Haiti.
Twenty-three people went in total, including my oldest son, Caleb It was great to serve together.
The team had a dual role: ministering to more than 90 orphans (babies and toddlers); and helping build a permanent location for their orphanage.
They are, at present, renting three large homes for the ministry. But they have a great piece of land and they are building for the future.
However, the reality is that it will take years to finish their permanent home. And the greater reality is that there is a never-ending stream of Haitian orphans that need a permanent family.
Our connection to the ministry is that one of the families from our church adopted a daughter from this same orphanage a number of years ago. And that family traveled with the team.
Adoption is a great thing for a whole host of reasons. The Bible teaches that "God is a Father to the Fatherless." He is a Father to the orphan.
All of us have a dad. But for some, this is painful to even think about because we may have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by our father. Perhaps we are even an orphan.
Yet of all the words that could have been chosen to reveal God, "Father" is the one that Jesus chose more often than any other. In fact, Jesus even teaches his followers to pray: "Our Father in heaven."
Now let's suppose there was a child who was abandoned, abused, and neglected. Perhaps that child was an orphan. Perhaps he or she was like one of the orphans in Haiti, where I was a few days ago. And one day, a loving father comes to that child, and with a big smile says, "I've chosen to adopt you. I love you. You will inherit all that I have. We have a family that can't wait to meet you. They love you too. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will never abandon you. I will love you with a never-ending love."
I think that child would eventually be changed by that father's love. And that's what happens to everyone that's adopted into God's family. Brad Warner is associate pastor at Burnett Fellowship.
(Maple Ridge News) - By Brad Warner
A few days ago, I was in the mountains overlooking Port-au-Prince with about a dozen people from our church.
We were close to the village of Fermathe.
Our church recently sent two teams to help a local ministry – God's Littlest Angels (www.glahaiti.org ) – in Haiti.
Twenty-three people went in total, including my oldest son, Caleb It was great to serve together.
The team had a dual role: ministering to more than 90 orphans (babies and toddlers); and helping build a permanent location for their orphanage.
They are, at present, renting three large homes for the ministry. But they have a great piece of land and they are building for the future.
However, the reality is that it will take years to finish their permanent home. And the greater reality is that there is a never-ending stream of Haitian orphans that need a permanent family.
Our connection to the ministry is that one of the families from our church adopted a daughter from this same orphanage a number of years ago. And that family traveled with the team.
Adoption is a great thing for a whole host of reasons. The Bible teaches that "God is a Father to the Fatherless." He is a Father to the orphan.
All of us have a dad. But for some, this is painful to even think about because we may have been abandoned, abused, or neglected by our father. Perhaps we are even an orphan.
Yet of all the words that could have been chosen to reveal God, "Father" is the one that Jesus chose more often than any other. In fact, Jesus even teaches his followers to pray: "Our Father in heaven."
Now let's suppose there was a child who was abandoned, abused, and neglected. Perhaps that child was an orphan. Perhaps he or she was like one of the orphans in Haiti, where I was a few days ago. And one day, a loving father comes to that child, and with a big smile says, "I've chosen to adopt you. I love you. You will inherit all that I have. We have a family that can't wait to meet you. They love you too. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. I will never abandon you. I will love you with a never-ending love."
I think that child would eventually be changed by that father's love. And that's what happens to everyone that's adopted into God's family. Brad Warner is associate pastor at Burnett Fellowship.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
ARTICLE - NOTRE-DAME CHURCH REOPENS
REOPENING OF THE NOTRE-DAME CHURCH OF PETIT-GOAVE
(Haiti Libre) -
Sent specially for the occasion by the Archbishop Mgr. Guyre Poulard, Mgr. Marie Eric Glandas Toussaint, former pastor of the Parish of Petit-Goâve has, during a penitential ceremony and of reconciliation held, Friday, March 23 around noon, reopened the Catholic church of Notre-Dame de Petit-Goâve where religious activities were suspended, following an act of desecration perpetrated on March 10 by a young man with mental disorders.
After blessing the altar of the church and the assembly, Mgr. Glandas Toussaint, the principal celebrant, declared in his message in the presence of Mgr. Julio Nau, Father Boniface, Father Philogène and before a substantial number of faithful; "We stand in solidarity with the city of Petit-Goâve, and we share your pain following the act of desecration. [...] The church aims at the human person; it must enable him to change... You have to respect what is sacred [...] We do not curse the defiler of the church of Petit-Goâve, because God is a God of forgiveness, mercy and grace [...] The justice of God saves, it does not punish. We ask God to change the course of this defiler, to erase his sin. Psalm 50 exhorts us to compassion and the forgiveness of sins. It is in this mind, that we are asking God not to punish the guilty, but to forgive him and and fill him with blessings..."
Father Boniface, parish priest, thanked at the end of the ceremony Mgr. Guyre Poulard, the other ecclesiastical authorities, the faithful of the parish, the police, the press, the Minustah, the League of Pastors of the city, the priests of every parish of Haiti, and Protestant Christians... While forgiving the defiler, he wishes that a doctor can determine the nature of his illness until the judges' decision.
Following this ceremony, the activities of the Church of Notre-Dame of Petit-Goâve will resume normally.
(Haiti Libre) -
Sent specially for the occasion by the Archbishop Mgr. Guyre Poulard, Mgr. Marie Eric Glandas Toussaint, former pastor of the Parish of Petit-Goâve has, during a penitential ceremony and of reconciliation held, Friday, March 23 around noon, reopened the Catholic church of Notre-Dame de Petit-Goâve where religious activities were suspended, following an act of desecration perpetrated on March 10 by a young man with mental disorders.
After blessing the altar of the church and the assembly, Mgr. Glandas Toussaint, the principal celebrant, declared in his message in the presence of Mgr. Julio Nau, Father Boniface, Father Philogène and before a substantial number of faithful; "We stand in solidarity with the city of Petit-Goâve, and we share your pain following the act of desecration. [...] The church aims at the human person; it must enable him to change... You have to respect what is sacred [...] We do not curse the defiler of the church of Petit-Goâve, because God is a God of forgiveness, mercy and grace [...] The justice of God saves, it does not punish. We ask God to change the course of this defiler, to erase his sin. Psalm 50 exhorts us to compassion and the forgiveness of sins. It is in this mind, that we are asking God not to punish the guilty, but to forgive him and and fill him with blessings..."
Father Boniface, parish priest, thanked at the end of the ceremony Mgr. Guyre Poulard, the other ecclesiastical authorities, the faithful of the parish, the police, the press, the Minustah, the League of Pastors of the city, the priests of every parish of Haiti, and Protestant Christians... While forgiving the defiler, he wishes that a doctor can determine the nature of his illness until the judges' decision.
Following this ceremony, the activities of the Church of Notre-Dame of Petit-Goâve will resume normally.
Friday, January 7, 2011
500 CHURCHES UNITE FOR FESTIVAL OF HOPE
500 HAITIAN CHURCHES UNITE FOR FESTIVAL OF HOPE
(PitchEngine) - Source - Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
Marking One Year Since the Devastating Earthquake, Evangelist and Relief Worker Franklin Graham Leads January 9 Event
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Through his aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham has spearheaded $30 million in relief efforts for Haiti - and now Graham has been invited by churches in the battered nation to lead a Festival of Hope on January 9.
“It’s very important right now, the message of hope. The people of Haiti need hope,” said local pastor Vladimir, who Iost his wife and daughter in the earthquake. “That’s the reason why it’s important to have the festival. Not only a festival but a festival of hope.”
More than 500 local Haitian churches have come together for one common purpose: to remind their neighbors, friends and families that hope is not lost. They have asked Graham to deliver the Gospel message of God’s unconditional love for the people of Haiti.
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2:30 p.m. (doors open at 1 p.m.)
WHERE: National Soccer StadiumWHO: Franklin Graham and music by Michael W. Smith, LeCrae, the Tommy Coomes Band and Dennis Agajanian
The event will stream live Sunday, Jan. 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET on
www.billygraham.org/HaitiLive.
In addition to covering all the costs of the event, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is using businesses in Haiti for all logistical and production needs to support the local economy.
Both the BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse have been working on the ground since the initial disaster providing both spiritual and physical relief.
The BGEA has responded to the crisis in Haiti by sending chaplains to help victims deal with their emotional and spiritual stress. Trained chaplains have comforted and prayed with more than 17,000 people that have lost friends and loved ones or been injured by the earthquake. The organization has also held five training sessions to equip local churches for outreach.
Samaritan’s Purse has responded by providing: transitional housing for 10,030 homeless families, 36 community water filters each providing 10,000 gallons of clean water a day, 8,882 metric tons of food, 850 latrines, 14 shiploads of relief cargo, and 35 chartered relief flights. In recent weeks with the outbreak of cholera, Samaritan’s Purse medical teams have treated more than 6,500 patients.
Franklin Graham has visited Haiti several times in the past year, including a trip in December to hand-deliver shoe box gifts to needy children. A project of Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child is giving 250,000 shoe box gifts to poor and neglected children in Haiti.
(PitchEngine) - Source - Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
Marking One Year Since the Devastating Earthquake, Evangelist and Relief Worker Franklin Graham Leads January 9 Event
PORT-AU-PRINCE - Through his aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham has spearheaded $30 million in relief efforts for Haiti - and now Graham has been invited by churches in the battered nation to lead a Festival of Hope on January 9.
“It’s very important right now, the message of hope. The people of Haiti need hope,” said local pastor Vladimir, who Iost his wife and daughter in the earthquake. “That’s the reason why it’s important to have the festival. Not only a festival but a festival of hope.”
More than 500 local Haitian churches have come together for one common purpose: to remind their neighbors, friends and families that hope is not lost. They have asked Graham to deliver the Gospel message of God’s unconditional love for the people of Haiti.
WHEN: Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2:30 p.m. (doors open at 1 p.m.)
WHERE: National Soccer StadiumWHO: Franklin Graham and music by Michael W. Smith, LeCrae, the Tommy Coomes Band and Dennis Agajanian
The event will stream live Sunday, Jan. 9 at 1:30 p.m. ET on
www.billygraham.org/HaitiLive.
In addition to covering all the costs of the event, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) is using businesses in Haiti for all logistical and production needs to support the local economy.
Both the BGEA and Samaritan’s Purse have been working on the ground since the initial disaster providing both spiritual and physical relief.
The BGEA has responded to the crisis in Haiti by sending chaplains to help victims deal with their emotional and spiritual stress. Trained chaplains have comforted and prayed with more than 17,000 people that have lost friends and loved ones or been injured by the earthquake. The organization has also held five training sessions to equip local churches for outreach.
Samaritan’s Purse has responded by providing: transitional housing for 10,030 homeless families, 36 community water filters each providing 10,000 gallons of clean water a day, 8,882 metric tons of food, 850 latrines, 14 shiploads of relief cargo, and 35 chartered relief flights. In recent weeks with the outbreak of cholera, Samaritan’s Purse medical teams have treated more than 6,500 patients.
Franklin Graham has visited Haiti several times in the past year, including a trip in December to hand-deliver shoe box gifts to needy children. A project of Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child is giving 250,000 shoe box gifts to poor and neglected children in Haiti.
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