Recently, I went into a small convenience supermarket to purchase some groceries. I had shopped at the location on many occasions before. As usual, the place was fully stocked with fresh provisions and a good variety of products, and at reasonable prices to boot. At the cashier, I was given the bill total and proceeded to use the tap feature on my bank card to settle the bill, as I had no reason to hold the operations in suspicion up to that point. But on arriving home, I noticed that the amount on the printed bill and the amount debited from my account were different. I was robbed of a thousand dollars.
It took me a while to shake the spirit of betrayal and anger. I eventually settled on blaming myself for not paying closer attention to the cashier and took the decision that I would never set foot in that wicked place again.
The truth of the matter is that this episode is not unusual in modern Jamaica. The nation is engulfed in a spirit of deviance and deception. Corruption, scamming, and chopping are acceptable and celebrated from the top of the stream to the deepest depths.
There was a time when Jamaica, still rich in resources, culture, and natural beauty, was seen as the pearl of the Caribbean. Its people lived a fairly respectable existence that was the envy of many. Ours was the country that was leading the region in the arts, humanities, and academics, setting admirable trends in politics, workers’ rights, music, and sports. A bevy of political luminaries, dedicated public servants, religious and entrepreneurial statesmen, and women were determined to build and serve the fast-developing nation and not themselves.
Jamaicans, regardless of where they resided in the world or to which social class they belonged, carried a deep and abiding love for their homeland, its culture, and prowess. Yes, there were many challenges, but despite this, every Jamaican seemed committed to a lifelong celebration and promotion of the big, little nation with its righteous underpinnings, as it punched way above its size in the global arena.
Sadly, somewhere in recent decades, the nation lost its way, and today, it remains hell-bound on a rugged path to its ultimate demise. Ignoring every warning sign and the voices of the righteous, it continues to fan and fuel the flames of the divine judgement it has woefully earned. Many do not realise the intensity of the roller coaster in which Jamaica is entrapped, nor do they understand that the very rough ride is set to worsen if individuals, families, communities, and sectors do not relent and repent.
We are in a long, hot season of deception, destruction, and deterioration, which did not come upon us suddenly. Its arrival was gradual but profound. Like a frog in a pot of water on a hot stove, the bubbling boil was never instantaneous but certain.
If one wants the clearest signal that Jamaica is reaping from the wickedness it has sewn, just take a look at the churches. The church is meant to be salt and light, the moral compass of the nation. But the body has not been spared sorrows and the wages of sin. Like parson, God christens his pickney first. As small shops and merchants mercilessly rob the poorest, too many pastors are on the same take. They have gone apostate, worshipping mammon, pursuing every dollar in sight, and leading the flock into idolatry. They preach flowery messages dealing with prosperity, blessings, and self-fulfillment. They refuse to call the people to repentance, as this could threaten their income stream.
God has no part in these pulpits and the pews they commandeer. Their prayers and pronouncements bring more curses and zero blessings.
Divine judgement on Jamaica has also been unleashed through the elements of creation. Heavy rains over recent weeks wreaked havoc on hills and valleys, sending ton loads of good soil down mountainsides, blocking major roadways, and shattering miles of asphalt, cutting off communities at a time.
Ask the people in rural St. Andrew, in the interior parts of St. Elizabeth, in Hanover, in St. Thomas, and parts of Portland about their treacherous daily commute over the past month. Flood waters have wrecked homes and schools alike in parts of Manchester, Westmoreland, and St. Thomas.
Nearly the entire agricultural belt is saturated, and crops have suffocated and rotted beneath the persistent water flows. People need to wake up to the fact that a major food crisis is likely. Billions invested by small and large farmers alike have been washed away by the unrelenting rainfall.
The judgement is also jarring in urban communities where gang and turf warfare has cut down many young men and a few young women in their prime. When people are killing each other in any nation for fickle and unspecified reasons, know that retribution is rife. The nation is in constant mourning as the murder rate barrels towards 1200 reported cases this year alone, as the land becomes more and more defiled and the blood of the innocent cries out to the heavens.
It is no wonder that some 300 earthquakes since January have continued to rock the nation at its core; fires have left some micro-enterprises shuttered as the holidays approach, and many have been rendered homeless because of blazes in diverse places.
Road accidents have claimed nearly 400 lives, including those of children.
Divine judgement has struck even the nation’s birth rate. This has seen a drastic drop as the population turns against the true and living God and embraces wickedness. Know this: within the next few years, enough young people will not be available to pay the taxes necessary to support the already dilapidated public health, education, or security services. The rapacious thieves, deceivers, and reprobates who seem to be in abundant numbers right across society will not experience any kind of personal prosperity or growth, not in their global influence and certainly not in the gross domestic product levels.
The nation continues to reel with the death announcements of so many in high places. A number of young parish counsellors and party faithfuls have perished suddenly. This has also affected our fire services, our schools, and so many other professional groups.
When God judges a nation, He will grant it a leader who reflects the unethical ethos of the surrounding culture and society. The issue of the Prime Minister’s uncertified statutory declarations reflects the level of corruption that has engulfed the country. That the court refused to force the Integrity Commission to certify the uncertifiable is a glimmer of hope that all is not yet lost.
Even so, the entire government is a mirror image of the worst cases of deception, self-aggrandisement, and indecency. The Prime Minister and his government refuse to call the nation to three consecutive days of repentance, mourning, and prayer, but are determined to court other gods and further intensify the wrath of the Almighty on the already weakened nation.
Earnestly fast and pray for Jamaica. We are in a bad way.