When the storm passes, will our hearts still be hardened?
The serpentine-manipulated Hurricane Melissa lacerated through Jamaica like a living prophecy unfolding before our very eyes—a wall of water, a Euroclydon wind (the type that wrecked the ship carrying the Apostle Paul in the Book of Acts), and wailing that rent hearts globally.
The island’s heartlands now lie in ruins, stretching from Black River in St. Elizabeth to Westmoreland, Hanover, St. James, Trelawny, Manchester, and Clarendon. Homes are defunct, farmlands are inundated, and families have vanished or been displaced. The proud breadbasket parish is now a graveyard of mangled zinc, cadavers, and broken dreams.
Prophetically, beyond the fallen trees and pulverised roofs, the upheaval has only just begun. What follows the Euroclydon wind may be far deadlier.
A FOMENTING PUBLIC-HEALTH DISASTER
In Melissa’s aftermath, carrion remains ensnared beneath floodwater and debris. Fears of cholera, leptospirosis, and dengue outbreaks rise as decomposed carcasses or carrion contaminate water sources such as rivers and wells. The National Water Commission warns to take caution with all water supplies after a hurricane. With such an annihilating storm, disease could soon permeate areas, claiming lives if urgent sanitation and clean-water efforts fail.
KINGSTON AND PORTMORE UNDER PRESSURE
The devastation of southern and western parishes means thousands will migrate to Kingston, Portmore, and St. Catherine seeking food, jobs, and safety. The capital is already stretched beyond capacity. Overpopulation is expected to threaten sanitation, school populations, housing, employment rates, causing depressed wages and peace as informal settlements expand. Survival instincts will collide with limited resources—and the struggle for daily bread may grow desperate, a matter of demand and supply.
THE STORM AFTER THE STORM: A SURGE OF HUNGER AND CRIME
When humanity becomes impoverished—losing homes, crops, and hope—hunger and anger follow. Local and international news report a rise in looting and robbery as wretchedness turns into aggression. One civilian shared his despair with a Fox News reporter: “I am here to take what I need. It is survival.” If reconstruction delays and relief distributions are unjust, crime could ignite like wildfire, and a perfect reflection of Haiti could be our new image.
The government’s moral test is clear.
A guiding scale of compassion or corruption: the true measure of governmental leadership is not in press conferences or pretended candid images of premeditated hugs and services; but in how the hungry are fed and the broken are heard even in moments of speechlessness.
A SPIRITUAL AND MORAL VACUUM
Even as civilians grieve, plans of legalizing Obeah and augmenting “spiritual liberation” continue to fill the air. Church leaders such as the president of the Jamaica Evangelical Alliance and project director for the Jamaica Umbrella Groups of Churches, Bishop Dr. Alvin Bailey, shared in a Jamaica Observer article published September 25, 2025, that it would be the worst and most disastrous decision that this country would ever come to if the decision is made to legalise Obeah.
Another renowned leader, Apostle Jeffery Shuttleworth of the Tarrant Baptist Church, has been unapologetically prophesying for years God’s judgement upon this nation, Jamaica, if we do not repent. “Water Judgement” was his strident cry in church the Sunday before Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Tuesday, October 28, 2025.
Jamaica may be seeking power without repentance—trading faith for fascination. Coupled with digital ID systems and “smart city” dreams, the nation risks rebuilding technology without truth and progress without purpose, as the Prime Minister, Dr. Andrew Holness, shared his plans at the grand opening of KFC Black River on Saturday, July 26, 2025.
He stated, “A shift is coming to the country’s urban growth model through a strategically planned city unlike any before in modern Jamaica.”
He further informed, “St. Elizabeth has been identified as the most viable location to host this new urban center.”
In rebuilding our physical houses, we must not lose our spiritual foundation.
THE ECONOMICS OF DISASTER: THE CATASTROPHE BOND (CAT STOCK)
Who profits from pain?
Behind every relief headline lies a financial undercurrent. The world of catastrophe bonds and reinsurance turns tragedy into a marketplace. Actuarial science measures our pain in percentages; investors call it “Cat Stock”.
But who owns Jamaica’s future when global financiers profit from national loss?
This question should tickle our minds, as our Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness declared at a press conference on Friday, October 24, that the country would shortly be declared a disaster zone (jis.gov.jm/jamaica-to-be-declared-disaster-area-shortly/20251024/Judana Murphy).
Those who play chess, with knowledge of economics, will understand why this declaration was a requirement.
Transparency and sovereignty must always guide recovery—through the prophetic lens, our birthright was sold for quick rebuilding funds.
LESSONS FROM HAITI: WARNINGS FOR JAMAICA
Do you remember Haiti’s 2010 earthquake? Transnational powers controlled the reconstruction, and debt deepened as the devastation was far greater than the insurance. Now, Jamaica faces its test of independence. Not only is Hurricane Melissa meteorological; it is also moral and structural. It is exposing weak governance, fragile infrastructure, and spiritual drift.
Remember, in the Book of Jeremiah, Judah was encouraged to observe and learn from Israel’s sufferings. If we do not learn from our Caribbean neighbour’s suffering, we may repeat it—under new names and newer debts.
THE BOOK OF MALACHI: A MIRROR TO OUR GENERATION
Within the recent dreams and visions received, the Lord ushered me to the books of Malachi and Joel. The prophet Malachi warned a rebellious nation that had grown cold toward God. He condemned leaders who dishonoured the altar, priests or pastors who offered blemished sacrifices, and people who robbed God through covetousness and acquisitiveness.
Yet, even in judgement, God’s mercy spoke.
Do you see God’s mercy even in the tempestuous Melissa? “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you.” Thus saith the Lord in Malachi 3:7.
Jamaica now stands in that same mirror. We have normalised corruption, elevated violence, and trivialised holiness. The manipulated and serpentine Hurricane Melissa has exposed not just our landscape but also our heartscape. But if we return to righteousness and justice, Yahweh promises to “open the windows of heaven” once again.
THE TRUMPET OF JOEL: RESTORATION AFTER RUIN
The prophet Joel saw locusts devour a nation’s fields—a symbol of devastation and repentance. He cried out.
A meditated and repeated verse, which oftentimes is sharply instructed by Apostle Jeffery Shuttleworth, is the message received of the LORD: “Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly.” Joel 2:15 (KJV)
When the people turned back, God promised to “restore the years that the locust has eaten” and to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.
Melissa is Jamaica’s trumpet. This is not the time for fear but for fasting; not for politics but for prayer. If we humble ourselves, God can turn storm into strength and ruin into revival.
WHERE DO WE STAND?
If we fail to act swiftly—in sanitation, justice, and spiritual renewal—the months ahead could bring disease, hunger, increased suicide, increased mental illnesses, increased criminal acts such as murder and rape, even cannibalism, and despair deeper than the hurricane itself. But within the rubble lies a divine opportunity to return to Yahweh.
We must rebuild on truth, not deception; on compassion, not corruption. Our strength has never been in bauxite, copper, oil, or cat bonds—it is in the faith of our people in God and in the mercy of our God, Yahweh.Melissa’s winds have passed, but the message of the LORD remains: “Return unto Me, says the Lord, and I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.” Joel 2:25.
