“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.”

Galatians 4:8-11 NIV

All week my soul has been haunted by this wonderful song. Even in the midst of the “ pure excitement, and raining Gold in #ConquestinBudapest”, Be thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart. A hymn whose origins ( A Celtic song) we were taught at my church by a former Pastor, the late Bishop Robert Thompson ; one of his lasting legacies to the church. The video above features only three of the five verses. Leaving out :

Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the fight;

be thou my whole armour, be thou my true might;

be thou my soul’s shelter, be thou my strong tower ( Psalm 61);

O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of my power.

Riches I need not, nor man’s empty praise;

be thou mine inheritance now and always;

be thou and thou only the first in my heart;

O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.

But even with the omission, this version, and I listened to two others, touched my soul. Almost brought tears of joy, close, to my soul!

What’s the connection of the song to the very challenging ( for a chid of God) verse above. Obedience! For as I thought about the email which I sent to my church yesterday, which is the essence of the message in this week’s blog, the verse came to mind. Uninvited by me. So only God! Why? Because a whole generation of Jamaicans has grown up who neither know nor fear God, and are the main reason for #GregoryPark and #CentralKingston and #DanielRowe and #JamillaCole. Which is one side of the story. The other and even more important issue is that a whole generation of Christians, born of former slaves who knew and depended only on God for their wisdom and might and deliverance, and vision, “ hear my cry O Lord, attend unto my prayer; from the ends of the world will I cry out to you; and when my heart is overcame, lead me to the rock that is higher than I”, have now defaulted and are now “ walking by the flesh and not by the spirit”. And so as in the time of Hosea:

“Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.”

Hosea 4:1-2 NIV

For where there is no vision the people will “ bruk out”. Because too many Christians who are called to be “ salt and light “ in a broken world, behave just like the others and become “prey to the miserable and weak forces of this age”, and find their joy and peace and excitement in them. And not in the only “ strong tower “of this World. The God of Jacob!

THE MESSAGE YESTERDAY

Conquest in Budapest : Gregory Park and Central Kingston at Home. May the God of Jacob have mercy on us

I pray God that the fourth verse of the song “ Be thou my vision”, will become an anthem for all children of the Living God and disciples of the Crucified and Risen Christ.

Riches I need not, nor man’s empty praise;

be thou mine inheritance now and always;

be thou and thou only the first in my heart;

O Sovereign of heaven, my treasure thou art.

What does all that is coming at us in the news this week, I try and stick to mainstream media for solid credible information, mean in these “ troubled times”? As we say in Jamaica “ what a gwaan inna John shop”? Or in ‘ the hood” in the USA, “ what’s going down”? A devastating fire in Hawaii – with over 100 reported dead, and many more missing! A gang leader in Haiti threatens to fight “ fire with fire”, if any foreign troops are sent there to restore order! Excitement builds as the World games start in Budapest today: will Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce #MommyRocket even make it to podium, will she medal, according to some analysts on a radio program last night, in the what is being billed as the “ race to watch “ at the Word Games?

Who was written to by the Integrity Committee in Jamaica, which parliamentarians are being investigated by this anti-corruption agency? Who is, potentially or allegedly, the “ weakest link” in the parliament? Who “ done it”, which set of criminals were behind the now infamous attack on a community in #GregoryPark? What is the motive for this dastardly act, during which many homes were fire-bombed, “ forty left homeless”, and one man was killed, during a reign of terror which descended on a community like a “ thief in the night”?

What was going through his mind; what overcame the highly placed fire-fighter, now accused of allegedly sexually molesting a 14 year old intern working in his office ? What madness is this!

How many times must Donald Trump, the former President of the USA, be indicted for allegedly committing all kinds illegal actives, for the American, more specifically, the Republic Party, to lose faith in him? How many?

How many more people will have to die, be brutally murdered, be shot in the head at close range, for us as a people, to accept that we cannot manage this fight against evil in our own? That we need “ divine intervention” . That we need to temper our desires for entertainment, whether “ chillin” somewhere with friends and drinking and dancing, whether “ binging on Netflix watching the latest series; whether “ rally round the West Indies, or the Reggae Girlz or Sunshine Girls, or the Reggae Boyz, or Shericka for the “ double” in #Budapest, and respond prayerfully to what the Lord led me to read just now:

THE WORD OF GOD

““Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David.”

Isaiah 55:1-3 NIV

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Isaiah 55:6-11 NIV

The challenge or this nation is captured in a well known “ warning from our forebears”: fire dey a muss muss tail, and ‘im tink a cool breeze!

And fully explained by a verse from a song, which has “ haunted my soul” since I sent it out in a message to my church yesterday:

Out of the hearts of men and women come all kinds of evil #GregoryPark #JamiliaCole #DanielleRowe. O for grace to love Jesus more. The only one who can change the hearts of sinful mankind

O for grace to love you more – featured in the song in the video above:

THE SONG

Hark, my soul, it is the Lord;

’tis thy Saviour, hear his word;

Jesus speaks, and speaks to thee,

‘Say, poor sinner, lov’st thou me?

2 ‘I delivered thee when bound,

and, when wounded, healed thy wound;

sought thee wandering, set thee right,

turned thy darkness into light.

3 ‘Can a woman’s tender care

cease towards the child she bare?

Yes, she may forgetful be,

yet will I remember thee.

4 ‘Mine is an unchanging love,

higher than the heights above,

deeper than the depths beneath,

free and faithful, strong as death.

5 ‘Thou shalt see my glory soon,

when the work of grace is done;

partner of my throne shalt be:

say, poor sinner, lov’st thou me?’

6 Lord, it is my chief complaint

that my love is weak and faint;

yet I love thee, and adore;

O for grace to love thee more!

I pray God that, even one person, and pray God more, who reads this blog this week, may “ hear the Good News”, and repent “ for the good of this nation”. So that this message inspired by the Living God may not return to Him “ void”, but achieve the purpose for which, He “ whose ways are not our ways”’ caused it to be sent. This as God has not forgotten Jamaica. As while” though those other guys will put you down, you’ll wear my crown “ #URoy “ I’m gonna wear you to the ball tonight, Put on your best dress”, and while a mother may forget her child, “ For God so loved the world, for God so loved Jamaica, for God so loved the USA, that he sent his Son Jesus to die for the many many sins of all mankind”, is his promise for us.

All we are required to do is to love Jesus. And believe in the Atonement for Sin on Calvary. And then, “ even the vilest offender”, whether on account of #GregoryPark of #DaniellaRowe “ once he or she repents, will receive forgiveness from God.

These are not ordinary times. Jesus has come to redeem the times and all of us who “ have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. Every single one of us! Whether Pope or Bishop or Priest or Prime Minister or LOP. Whether Shericka or Shelly! Whether Ding Dong or Taylor Swift.

O for grace that we may accept the invitation to “ buy without money”, the Salvation Jesus offers. O for grace to “ seek the Lord while he may be found”. For the next time Jesus comes, fire in Hawaii will seem like paradise, for the unbaptized and unrepentant and the disobedient. In obedience.

LWJ

The father of 15-year-old Jamila Cole, Shirley Cole is claiming that his daughter’s death was due to a domestic dispute.

Jamila was beaten and raped during a home invasion in Albert Town, Trelawny, on Sunday. She died while being treated in hospital – Nationwideradiojm.com

DSP Minto added that evidence suggests family members were not involved in the incident, noting that focus should remain on finding the suspects.

“We would also like to dispel some of the rumours that have been going around on social media as it relates to family members being involved in this bizarre incident. I must point out categorically that so far there is nothing in our investigation that implicates any member of the family in this very very heinous crime. So, we ask persons to desist from doing so because in doing so you may put innocent persons lives at risk and we are not into that,” he added…Jamaicaobserver.com

How should a nation respond to this kind of savagery, this kind of brutality, this kind of assault on our claim to be a civilized society? Especially when it happens in the midst of celebrating our Political Independence from our former Colonial masters! What resources, individual or collective, personal or institutional, are available to help us process this kind of repeated attacks on our girl children? Is it sufficient to declare that all resources will be used to find the killer, or killers. That no stone will be left unturned!

Yesterday popular talk show host on Radio-Jamaica.com, Emily Shields not totally overcome, but definitely reeling emotionally from the death of a friend, a prominent Ophthalmologist who died suddenly from natural causes, reached for a gospel song:

Radio Jamaica 94FM

You can scroll down to hear the introduction and the her now “ accustomed banter “ with her producer “give me a song DT”. Or you can just listen in on YouTube :

This, an appeal to the Eternal Father of our very popular National Anthem- a yasso de eternal Father bless, according to the lyrics of the Jamaica Festival Song 2023, to “ Guard us with thy mighty hand”.

However the language of the Word of God, that points us to the Eternal Father, in very absolute terms reminds us that “ we really have no other help but Him” in our struggles against evil.

“Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.””

2 Chronicles 20:12 NIV

The kind of evil, this “ vast army”, that has taken root in our nation and caused so many women to “ hold them belly bottom and bawl”. Bawl for their children like :

““A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.””

Matthew 2:18 NIV

So what should we do about the death of #JamiliaCole and the thousands of people murdered in our country, Jamaica land we love, in recent times?

I wrote a “ letter” to my church about repentance this week. I share it with you, as in the economy of the Eternal Father, the Living God and our Creator, “ fada God” according to our people, entrance into his presence and mercy and grace, begins with repentance. Jamaica needs to pivot! We are not resilient! We just can’t manage on our own against the gunmen. We need help. America needs help to deal with their #masskillings. The whole world needs help to “ cool down “ the earth. #hotlikefire Chariots and horses, which in Biblical parlance is what police and soldiers and “ flesh and blood” represent, can’t counter evil in and by themselves.

A 16 year old girl is raped and murdered. And her momma cries! Salvation is offered to a nation. And Jesus weeps: Jerusalem Jerusalem, Jamaica, Jamaica…how long…but you did not repent

I pray God that more and more of us will accept that “ this ting “ bigger than us. Above our pay grade! That counseling, big up #SimoneCooper and #SusanSimes on TVJ, and policing and new policy measures, better parenting, and even a change of government, all useful options in o democracy, will not change fundamentally the hearts of evil men and women. Only God can! And so we appeal to the Eternal Father for help. But first with a broken and contrite heart, he will not refuse. Time come my people. Time come. Hope you read the “ letter to the church”, carefully and join the repentance train. Believers and “sinners”! As the lines between them has become quite blurred

Peace.

Happy Independence to all of my fellow Jamaicans, as tomorrow we celebrate #Jamaica61 in our hearts, and then on Monday comes the official holiday. Thank God that we have maintained the new tradition of separating Emancipation day from Independence Day. This as the former carries within it an important spiritual lesson whilst the latter, as important as Political Independence is for a nation, it is mostly of secular significance. To better appreciate this distinction, I present to you evidence from one of God’s special freedom fighter’s, two spiritual account of freedom, which is the essence of what happened at Emancipation, and which is part of a message sent to my church sometime ago:

MARTIN LUTHER KING JNR

HE WHO TURNS BLACKNESS INTO DAWN

Verse: Amos. 5:8

Midnight is a very confusing hour when it is very difficult to be faithful. The most inspiring word which the church may speak,is that no midnight long remains……..

Our eternal message of hope is that the dawn will come ( all things work together for the good of those who love God….could be inserted here).

(Our slave forbears) when they thought of the agonizing darkness of midnight, ……and encompassed by a staggering midnight but believing that morning would come, they sang:

I’m so glad trouble don’t last always.

Oh my Lord, O my Lord, what shall I do……..

Faith in the dawn arises from the faith that God is good and just. When one believes this, he knows that the contradictions of life are neither final nor ultimate. He can walk through the dark night with the radiant conviction that all things work together for good for those that love God ( Amazing isn’t it…did not know it was there…and nestled in the words of Amos in my Classics Devotional Bible, far removed from Romans, but the Lord organized it all….praise God). For even the most starless night may herald he dawn of dome great fulfillment.

Peace and in obedience as we contemplate the future of our country, the witness of our church and even our pressing personal issues. That on account of our life in the Crucified Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storms of life and help others to come to know Christ the King. And be about His business in this troubled SOE’s nation.

LWJ

So despite the celebrations of the exploits of the #ReggaeGirlz in Australia and the #SunshineGirls in South Africa and the expected victories in Budapest soon by our world famous athletes. #Shelly and #Shericka Jamaica land we love, is deep in a very confusing midnight hour as we celebrate #Independence61.

Why! One word! Murder. And murder most foul very often. We could start at the most recent one which gripped the nation #DanielleRowe. But there are thousands more, as we can all painfully recall. And not only murder most foul, but a whole catalogue of sins which this nation has collectively committed. Extortion, corruption, masculine toxicity and misogynistic ideas percolating through our culture.

The other reflection from MLK Jnr is even more sobering:

THE DEATH OF EVIL – AN EXTRACT

“ Pharaoh stubbornly refused to respond to the cry of Moses, even when plague after plague threatened his domain. This tells us something about evil that we must never forget, namely that evil is recalcitrant and determined , and never voluntarily relinquishes its hold short of a persistent, almost fanatical resistance. But there is a checkpoint in the universe: evil cannot permanently organize itself. So after a long trying struggle, the Israelites, through the providence of God, crossed the Red Sea. But like the old guard that never surrenders, the Egyptians, in a desperate attempt to prevent the Israelites from escaping, had their armies go in the Red Sea behind them. As soon as the Egyptians got into the dried up sea the parted waters swept back upon them and drowned all.

(Well if I could I surely would

Stand on the rock where Moses stood

Pharaoh’s army got drowned

O Mary don’t you weep

O Mary don’t you weep, don’t mourn

O Mary don’t you weep, don’t mourn

Pharaoh’s army got drowned

O Mary don’t you weep….came to mind, aided and abetted by Google )

The meaning of the story is not found in the drowning of Egyptian soldiers, for no one should rejoice at the death or defeat of a human being. Rather, this story symbolizes the death of evil and of inhuman oppression and unjust exploitation.”

Jamaica has emerged from the clutches of evil, which our colonial masters the British, represented. Only by the grace of God! The same Holy One of Israel who directed Moses to declare “ Let my people go”. And with supernatural power, which alone is the “ checkpoint in all of history” against recalcitrant and determined evil, rescued the children of Israel. And the same supernatural power in Christ Jesus which has rescued all mankind from Sin and Evil and the fear of death on Calvary, as announced by the Resurrection of Christ. The question arose then, after the Gospel of Freedom in Christ was announced, and now that we as a people have been set free from slavery, what next? Surely after such a mighty Salvation, it can’t be enslavement to the love of money and power, and immorality and entertainment and pride provided by our sporting icons. Surely it can’t be to “ enjoy Netflix in binges! Nor to look forward to Christmas and dream parties in Negril – if you can afford it. No! There has to be “ more and better particulars”, as the lawyers among us are won’t to say>

This week I wrote to my church about the what next, after Salvation. I commend it to you:

I love you with a sense of purpose – Third World: Love God with a sense of purpose – The Bible

It’s all about: “Loving God with a sense of purpose! And if we are ever going to achieve that desire, and based on the evidence presented by MLK jnr, there is no better desire for people who have been enslaved by Sin and by Colonial masters. It is in this context that we need to sing with and believe what Carlene Davis sang. This island needs Jesus. This as we are saved to serve. God and neighbor. And not just ourselves!

#BetterthananyIndependenceSongs