‘Too much evil’
Declaring that too much skullduggery was taking place in Jamaica, an evangelical preacher yesterday lambasted the country’s leaders and exhorted Jamaicans to engage in a sustained assault on evil and corruption.
“Wherever we see evil and corruption we must expose it – in the workplace, in the church, in government, in the security forces, in the judiciary,” Reverend Dr Roy Notice told the mostly upper- and middle-class guests attending the 28th annual National Leadership Prayer Breakfast inside the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.
“We too tief… pastor man a tief, politician a tief, policeman a tief and we expect to prosper,” added Notice, who heads the Mandeville New Testament Church of God.
The prayer breakfast, first held in 1981 – following the violent 1980 general elections with the aim of fostering greater unity in the nation, especially among leaders – has, over the past few years, served as a platform for fiery and passionate sermons from pastors.
Yesterday was no different, as Rev Notice spoke without fear or favour to the guests, among them Governor-General Sir Kenneth Hall; Prime Minister Bruce Golding; the Opposition spokesman on transport and works, Robert Pickersgill who was representing Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller; Police Commissioner Hardley Lewin, Chief Justice Zaila McCalla; the chief of staff of the Jamaica Defence Force, Major General Stewart Saunders, among other leaders.
The sermon was punctuated with applause from the majority of the guests, who gave Notice a standing ovation at the end. However, there were some who displayed discomfort, while others hissed their teeth when he scolded Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett for the minister’s stance on casino gambling.
Rev Notice said that theft had become rampant in the country and urged political, business and church leaders to become ‘whistle blowers’, not for mileage, but for the good of the country.
He said persons who see evil and excuse themselves because they are not involved are only fooling themselves.
“If my colleague pastor, politician, customs broker or policeman are involved in evil, I have a responsibility to expose them,” he said.
Silence, he said, makes one complicit with evil, and the wickedness and the blood of others will be on the shoulders of those who say nothing.
Using a letter published in the Observer written by 10-year-old Mini Miss Jamaica contestant Tashay Myers in which she asked the prime minister and opposition leader to do something to stop crime in Jamaica, Rev Notice said the little girl’s plea was a call to the nation which demanded a renewed commitment to loving and Godly actions.
In her letter, written on behalf of the other 11 contestants, none of whom are older than 10 years old, Tashay Myers also asked both leaders to “Please find a way to let the gunmen know that they are loved and can find better ways of living than to kill and hurt people.”
The letter, which the Observer used as its lead story on December 24 last year, ended with a prayer for both Golding and Simpson Miller.
Yesterday, Rev Notice said that love for God must be expressed with love for neighbour.
“Loving neighbour demands of us as leaders that we engage all our neighbours on the platform of respect,” he said.
Jamaica, he added, has departed from a loving commitment to God and questioned whether it was because the leaders have become ashamed of God, who is now relegated to Sunday and Sabbath schools.
“Are we reluctant to place God at the centre because in doing so we can no longer be gods?” he questioned.
Notice also called on the leaders to renew their commitment to family life and urged Jamaicans to support the prime minister’s pledge to work alongside the church and other agencies to form a national partnership focussing on the family.
He said the Jamaican people have been treated with much contempt by the leaders and advised, “We must hear them before they block the roads, before they strike, before the cries for ‘we want justice’ become entertaining drama on our media”.
He warned that the leaders must not only listen when the tourism product is threatened but also when the Jamaican neighbourhood is in danger.
“Let us love Jamaicans, not just when it is voting time, or evangelistic crusade or simply because we affect your profit margin,” he added.
Yesterday’s National Leadership Prayer Breakfast also received greetings from the governor-general and his wife Lady Rhema Hall, while Golding and Pickersgill read scripture.
Organisers said an offering collected at the breakfast will go towards equipping the Police Convalescent Home in St Elizabeth for cops injured in the line of duty.