From the "Shameless Exploitation of an Impending Disaster" file...

Pat Robertson isn't the only person who uses natural disasters to spread fear and terror to further his own aims:



(emphasis mine)

Repent now!



Pastor, Christians deliver 'messages' from God



AS Hurricane Ivan kept Jamaica in its sight yesterday, a Kingston pastor and several christians urged Jamaicans to repent, saying they had each received messages from God warning of terrible judgement on the land, including increased violence, wars and natural disasters.



"Jamaicans have failed to respond in humility to the evidences of God's mercy on us as a nation or to respond to the calls for repentance for the blatant acts of idolatry, violence, murder and corruption. Hence, the judgement of God is upon the nation for the continued shedding of innocent blood and other acts of sin," Reverend Al Miller, pastor of the non-denominational Fellowship Tabernacle church on Half-Way-Tree Road, Kingston, said Tuesday.



Millicent Battick, manager of the Cross Roads branch of the RBTT bank on Tuesday delivered a typewritten message to the Observer which she said she had received from God.



"God loves us and loves Jamaica, but if we don't repent then God says that he will bring disaster upon us," said Battick, who told the Observer that she has been a christian for more than twenty-one years.

Who knew God had an IBM Selectric? But does it have proportional fonts? And if this is true, then I guess God hates stolen Florida elections, too.



Seriously, though...I was just in Jamaica last week for our 14th trip there. This is a country that can ill afford what's about to happen, with Hurricane Ivan being a Category 5 storm. Gilbert, which devastated the island nation in 1989, was a Category 3 storm when it hit. All we can hope for at this point is that people there stay safe and that the world opens its wallets and hearts for rebuilding when it's over.