On Monday night Indelible went to a place just outside of Gonaives. It is the spot that, once a year, all of those who practice Voodoo go to for a week of celebrating their fearful worship to gods other than the one true God. It is a walled-in compound that has huts for people to stay in. There are pools that are filled with all the grim and yuck of whatever has been left in them, so that all those who come can dip in as a sign of their worship. They worship certain trees and believe that these the priests can curse them for disobedience and the trees roots will swallow them and punish them. It was very disturbing and a very spiritually dark night. Chills covered me and even a twinge of nausea. Only about twenty stay there throughout the year, but a few made inpressions on me. A very young boy of about two years stared at me wide-eyed as he walked past. I smiled and followed his stare, until he got to a group of his friends where he pointed and smiled back at me. They seemed surprised at my willingness to smile at them. Another person who caught my attention was an older woman who told us a little about the compound. She seemed miserable, but at the same time pleased that we, Americans, were interested in why the compound was there. There was an eerie emptiness about her, yet I could feel that she longed for a hope that could not be found in her present circumstances. The last person that stood out to me was a man who had a tumor on half of his face. I wanted to run to him and tell him that God could heal him, that he no longer had to live life in fearful obedience to something that would separate him from God for all of eternity, but I stood motionless, weeping to myself and praying for God to come and rescue him. After we left the compound we went around the corner to a church and prayed for the area, interceding for these people. To me, it didn’t seem like enough. I talked to the rest of my team and thought about it all night and this is the prayer that I wrote the next day:
God~
Last night we saw the center of corruption and wickedness in Haiti. We saw the walls, huts, pools, and trees dedicated to worshipping evil and the things that you abhor. How can you let it stand? Why do you not act against this evil? Is it a time such as this that you have brought a few humble sons and daughters to lift this request to cleanse the country to you? Or do you wait for more, for something else? We know your power and might. We know your holiness. You can not stand to see the utter denial of you…Are these people ignorant of who you are or do they know who you are and refuse to worship you? How do we pray? Do we ask for a mighty act from you to come in and wipe them out or do we wait and pray for revival and a change of peoples hearts? If their is revival, will the people truly seek you or will they seek another form of who they want you to be? Will they mix their beliefs into your truth? God show me what you want for this country. Send your great light to shine on these people. Squeeze the life out of the wickedness (the trees that are being worshipped). Anything that they worship that is not of you, let it be a rotting disease that infiltrates their life until tey have no where else to turn except to you. Let the church rise up. Give them a passion and zeal to reach their country. Implant hope into their hearts. Let their joy for you overflow. Raise up great leaders to be their examples. Send a message of hope through this nation. Flood the streets with a message of freedom. Rain down your life upon these people. Let the change be dramatic. Irradicate the Voodoo from this country! Strip the fear from their lives that causes them to worship dead idols. Replace it with a fear and awe of You! Let this nation be a nation known for its prayer and its worship of You…Bring healing to this place, restore this place, and touch the world through this place.
