For the greater part of the past 63 years, Jamaica has remained locked in a nauseating cycle of depreciation, degradation, and destruction.
Year after year, the country swaggers along the highway to complete annihilation, moving away from the righteous path that our foreparents took, as they fought for freedom, nearly two centuries ago.
Our foreparents, for the most part, were devoted to the mission of building families, evangelising communities, and establishing righteous altars in every nook and cranny their feet could reach.
Their footprints shaped the beaten path of a people who had endured great tribulation and overcame severe persecution. Their willingness to stand and fight for right causes, in the name of the Sovereign Lord, is forever etched in the very lay of the land.
The Jamaican story, up to the declaration of Independence, is an intriguing narrative about a people who were ripped from the populous African continent, and transported like herd across wide open oceans to endure the most brutal inhumane circumstances known to man. They not only survived to tell the tale, but also to show the scars and parade the indisputable evidence of their victory.
Many of the enslaved people were so deprived and impoverished that they looked to God alone as their source, shield, song, and Salvation. Under the cruel captivity, He showered them and their offspring with immeasurable grace, mercy, and blessings through many generations.
The jury is still out as to why God judged our foreparents so severely in the first place, uprooting and landing them at the mercy of wicked foreigners. Perhaps the Israel experience in Egypt and Deuteronomy 28 could provide worthwhile points of consideration.
However, largely Roman Catholic nations, that claimed to be Christians, such as Portugal, Spain, Britain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden, were among the main enslavers and colonisers under the Transatlantic slave trade agreement.
These brutish states, up to the 1840s, enjoyed booming business from the illicit trade in human flesh and they buttressed their operations with the Bible. With bayonets in one hand and the Bible in the other, these stern-faced foreigners championed the Scriptures as truth and wisdom, often reciting particular verses to enhance their vicious scheme. The Word of God, for them, was a crutch to justify their wickedness as they demanded the submission of the bewildered Africans.
The colonists were wedded to mammon and baptised thousands of enslaved people while they amassed vast amounts of wealth on their backs, built impressive cities, and established global conglomerates with goods and monies earned in the colonies and expatriated to their homeland.
In their bloody conquests between 1510 and 1838, the colonists failed to grasp the fact that the Sovereign Lord was still God, even as they transacted their blood-fueled business. Their warped minds could not grasp the truth that the Word of God remains steadfast, even when delivered through the mouths of the wicked.
Unbeknown to them, in the New World, God’s Word served as a catalyst for the enslaved people’s fight for freedom and provided a powerful platform on which local clergy launched their battle for the region and many other parts of the western world.
God’s intent leveled mountains of wickedness and was the sustenance for an oppressed people. He showed Himself strong and mighty to local church leaders and the flock learnt how to recognise Him as Daniel’s God, the Deliverer through the Old Testament, their Comforter, Defender, and Waymaker through the Psalms, and their Risen Lord, overcoming death, hell, and the grave from the writings of the Apostles.
The enslaved people learned through the Word that their God, and not their circumstances would dictate their destiny. Enslaved people, who were Christianised, led the charge against the wickedness. Their fight was supported with the release of pestilence across the region, which saw to the demise of many colonists. As the business arrangement faced rapid decline, the inhumane trade had to end.
The Remnant among the enslaved people in Jamaica fought the slave masters like enraged lions and on their knees they perfected their mission to tear down the strongholds of oppression.
The evidence of their victory lies in the aged church structures we see today. These structures were raised as righteous altars on treacherous hillsides and hidden in deep valleys. They were planted as small halls, which doubled and tripled as sanctuaries, secret meeting places, and school rooms from Monday to Thursday so that their children and grandchildren could learn reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. Friday was kept as a workday for all members of families, including children, to help in the fields.
After emancipation, as former enslaved people and former colonists intermingled, the deep connection to God whittled under other worldly aspirations.
As the Remnant aged, many of their descendants turned away from God and embraced mammon, the pursuit of landownership and the credentials of the colonists. But you cannot walk the way of the wicked and do not expect their reward.
Hundreds of deserted sanctuaries litter communities, testifying to the rejection of righteousness by latter generations. The fire at the altars had been extinguished and the lure of mammon silenced way too many worshippers.
But, in all of this, a Remnant remained. There remains a people who will never compromise nor bow to mammon or any other god.
Remnant people know that Jehovah, the God who guided and kept their foreparents during the cruel slavery regime, has not left them, nor will He ever forsake them.
Because their God is the Lord, they are bold, strong, and doing mighty exploits in the face of great persecution, from communities, governments, and even the church.
Remnant people continue to wage war on their knees in the mornings and through the nights. Firmly, they stand against all odds, and fearlessly take the message of Salvation to the streets.
Jamaica still belongs to the Lord, and she is worth the fight.
