PASTOR of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester Greg Baldeo said recent murders such as that of a man gun downed at the altar in a church, in the presence of children, shows that Jamaica is in desperate need of divine intervention.
Referencing the controversial comments made by National Security Minister Peter Bunting, earlier this year, about the need for divine intervention to fight crime, Baldeo said the minister spoke through divine inspiration.The minister came in for strong criticism and calls for his resignation after he told an audience at the Northern Caribbean University in April, that he was convinced that the best efforts of the security forces alone will not solve the crime problem in Jamaica, but rather it is going to take divine intervention, touching the hearts of a wide cross-section of the society.“In essence, what he was actually doing is calling on all of God’s people who are called by God’s name to humble themselves, and call a fast and pray for God’s divine intervention,” Baldeo told the congregation at the church’s day of prayer for the nation’s independence service on Saturday.However, the pastor argued that interest groups rejected the notion that power is found in prayer.“But as soon as the statement was made, the enemy pulled in the Trojan horse (Trojan horse comes as a disguise to blind your eyes from the actually imminent warfare) and took the country away from the essence of the statement — God is able to help,” Baldeo said.The emphasis, he said, was then placed on the man who uttered the statement.“The media highlighted those calling for the resignation of one who declared that God needs to be the source of all we do and us Christians, who should have gathered together and call on our God, allowed our minds to be politicised and polarised,” he opined.Baldeo stayed clear of siding with any political party, noting that the only vote he has ever cast is for Jesus.“Let me state this categorically, that the only time I have ever voted in my life is in the 80s when I entered the baptismal pool with my mother and voted to follow Jesus all the way,” he said.“Any political party that needs my approval must get the approval from God, and so I am not defending the statement in light of the party the minister represents; I am defending it in light of the God I represent,” he insisted.Baldeo cautioned against the desire to pull in Trojan horses.“When a group of strong, tough men can rape little girls, we need divine intervention; when someone can cut off the head of another human being and continue to walk among us, we need divine intervention; when a stepmother can chop up a four-year-old, put the carcass in a bag, throw it over her back and walk with it like some pig meat, we need divine intervention; when two sisters, who for years grew together and loved each other, and one day they have an argument and one stabs the other and kill her on the spot, we need divine intervention,” he insisted.The pastor, in acknowledging that the Christian battle is not carnal but spiritual, called the members to three days of prayer and fasting, starting yesterday through to Independence Day, tomorrow.This, he explained, is to take back the communities and the country for God.Earlier in the service, the national security minister, who was among the congregants, reiterated the need for divine intervention to address the country’s crime problem and said he had no apology for making that statement in April.Pastor of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester Greg Baldeo prays with Minister of National Security Peter Bunting during a prayer for the nation at the Independence Service held at the Mandeville Church on Saturday.Pastor Greg Baldeo delivering the message.View the original article here
Pastor says divine intervention needed to address crime
