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.
geez…i’ve heard and told the Phil Keaggy story more times than I can count…
and now to find an ol stryper shirt…
Maybe someone should ask the devil about the whole affair…
I think there are more pacts with the devil by those who seek to keep the poor in bondage and use it as an excuse to not address the issues of inequality and the rape of a nation’s resources by another nation. When will those nations with power actually start to trade fairly with the countries that are poor, when will the powerful organisations stop binding other nations poor to their factories with pitiful wages, and when will certain people stop blaming the poor for their poverty? Those are the pacts with the devil
Don’t forget this one from the 80s:
Little Mikey of Life Cereal television commercial fame was said to have died from eating Pop Rocks candy while drinking a can of Coke–resulting in his stomach exploding.
I never bought the Pop Rocks story, but figured Life Cereal was the death of him.
While we’re on the topic of stupid rumors (LIES) that people believe, here are two more that I spread:
America never almost had German as their national language. There was never a vote on the national language, let alone one that had a single vote majority.
No one believed the earth was flat when Columbus sailed the ocean blue. In fact, no scientist/scholar has thought the earth was flat for the past thousands of years!
I am such a stooge for proliferating these same rumors… all except my disdain for Pat Robertson’s words of delusion.
yeah, believed a lot of ’em too……. just as long as the cross doesn’t wind up a hoax…… i’m cool with the small infractions of “folk lore”……………
xok8
i think time will tell the truth, which i am looking forward to see if this is true or not true. the article you cite Jean Gerlin, states he is a doctor in plants. (nothing wrong with that) but i had the impression this was from his research paper/ doctorate thesis. or something like. I think rather than just having his opinion that he can’t find historical grounds, there should be documentation included on what process did he use. he could have just interviewed just one person. or maybe he did a bunch. (i don’t know)
interesting….while in the article he claims there is not historical grounds for this rumour of the devil pact. he states his opinion that it came from a missionary….(wait a minute, where is the proof, there is no historical grounds for that occurring either. (irony)
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the second article that is posted says while there is no evidence of a 200 year old pact. there was a voodoo priest who was part of the leadership to overthrow the french. (a voodoo priest is there to do what? moral support, i don’t think so)
also its not the first time i have seen the argument that if there is a 200 year curse, it should have been lifted already. I would say, does when the devil keeps his promise, he is the father of lies.
all this to say. this would be a great episode for the history channel.
Better to be duped than to be the dupee. 🙂