Like the proverbial frog in water on a hot stove, Jamaicans are plodding along, focused on making much out of a hard life, while the nation is literally diminishing before their very eyes.
There is nothing normal about declining birth rate, aging population, intensifying dry spells, bizarre road deaths, the ravishing of children and women, sons killing fathers, families turning against families, and the weapons of the state blasting young men to hell without due process. But the society is comfortably partying along and looking towards the next general election.
Jamaica is under judgement, whether or not the Prime Minister or the wider population believes it.
Jamaica has strayed so far away from the path of righteousness that we now celebrate evil as good, honour the dishonourable, and refuse to do what is right before God and man.
At this juncture, government’s interest appears to be placed on earning accolades from its international partners, keeping the masses distracted, while the wealth of the rich, the famous, and the corrupt continues to increase.
As the scoundrels on street corners, in high society, and politics hustle for wealth, scant regard is paid to the fact that temperatures have risen astronomically, significantly shrinking agricultural output and threatening human existence.
Frequently quoted weather experts suggest that heat waves are the result of trapped air that would normally circle the globe in large prevailing winds. They ignore the glaring fact that God, who created the heavens and the earth, still has full control over the winds and rains. If air is trapped, then perhaps the sky has become like brass above our heads.
Heat is a major threat to nations with especially large ageing populations. It poses significant risks to the elderly. Older adults are more susceptible to heat-related illnesses, like heat exhaustion and heatstroke, which can be fatal. Jamaica must pay close attention to its ageing population, which is over-represented in the agricultural belt, and are highly numbered among the abandoned and the working poor.
While the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions’ recent reports indicate a significant decline in the nation’s poverty rate in 2023, there is still a large percentile of the population that is classified as the working poor. Many of these persons are elderly farmers who live in deep rural areas, where unbearable lacks cripple communities.
Despite the unemployment numbers giving a good showing over the past year, more Jamaicans continue to fall heavily beneath the poverty line. Available data indicates that the majority of the Jamaican population, 1.07 million people, are menial workers. Many are employed as domestic workers, gardeners, clerks, packers, craft and related assemblers, itinerant vendors, windscreen wipers, and other elementary occupations. Most of these jobs tend to be part-time or informal, paying very low income that is insufficient to feed the job-holders and their families.
Amid clear evidence that the nation is being divinely judged, Prime Minister Andrew Holness continues his song and dance about achievements. Recently, he was beside himself with excitement because the European Union (EU) removed Jamaica from its list of high-risk countries with deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing (AML/CFT) regimes.
The Prime Minister’s joy could not be contained as he was handed the EU’s decision, which arrived on the heels of Jamaica’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) listing last year.
Quickly, he took to the nearest podium, to beat his chest, pat himself on the back, but stopped just short of putting on his ‘brogad’ cap. He had to wake the town and tell the people that he had acquired the ‘blessings’ of his international lords.
Someone needs to tell the Prime Minister that beast nations cannot bless, only God can do that. Someone needs to tell him that a nation cannot be blessed if it walks in the counsel of the ungodly or seeks the approval of sinners.
A blessed nation does not hanker for borrowed money, shed innocent blood, diminish in population, and barely survive under a crippling debt burden. That designation belongs to a nation under curse. Such a country is trapped in a spiral of wretchedness, perpetual bloodshed, recurrent corruption, and debilitating levels of drought and barbarism. The resources of the land will yield very little, if anything at all, and the people will continually look to other countries for their basic sustenance.
Families will be at war with each other, domestic, tribal, and gang violence will be the order of any given day, and that nation will be a byword and a reproach to every people, including its own. We are that nation, with or without EU approval.
Jamaica, a country with a prayer as its National Anthem, and its National Pledge – a declaration to obedience to God, has found itself among the accursed nations.
This nation has abandoned its rich and blessed heritage that was established by our foreparents, whose blood, sweat, tears, prayers, and fasts watered the deadly fights for their freedom. They built their families on the Word of God, and overcame the most inhumane and brutish circumstances, leaning on His everlasting arms.
When God blesses a nation, there is a pattern of prosperity, solid security, and growth that is guaranteed. Even the natural resources, embedded in the land, show up and take on a different kind of abundance.
The Spirit of the Living God commands an unbreachable protective covering over that country and delivers success, profitability, and wealth to the people, and prospers the works of their hands.
Their children, families, and even their animals are specially blessed, even the poorest and most vulnerable are properly supplied for. Business ventures, projects, and programmes carry the divine stamp of good fortune. Even in the face of challenges, that nation will stand out as the place to grow, work, do business, and raise families.
This level of affluence comes only from God, and it is guaranteed to nations that obey His commands and walk in righteousness.
As the people of God continue to lift up Jamaica in prayer, we live in perpetual hope that the Prime Minister and his government will wake up to the fact that true prosperity can only come from God, and not his international lords. True prosperity comes, when the land is healed and God blesses it, and this process begins with repentance, prayer and deliberately turning away from wickedness.
