Jamaica is experiencing God’s judgement, and things are likely going to get worse if the country does not call a solemn assembly, fast, and cry out to God, a clergyman has warned.
Referencing the 5.0 earthquake felt by Jamaicans last week, Pastor of the Christian Life Fellowship Church, Harry Walcott, said God’s judgement looms as we consider issues such as the proliferation of gangs, the country’s high homicide rate, the continued rape and murder of our children, as well as fraud and corruption at the highest levels in our society.
“In some quarters, if you talk about some of the things that are happening in Jamaica now as manifestations of God’s judgement, you are going to get a real bad backlash,” he noted.
Citing the book of Joel, where the people experienced fires, drought, and economic distress, he noted that similar things are taking place today, but God is still having mercy on Jamaica, as things could have been worse.
“I have heard of earthquakes that goes up to three minutes. Can you imagine if that lasted even a minute? What would have happened to Jamaica? I heard people crying out for mercy, and I can imagine the cry across the nation when the people felt it,” he told congregants during a service at his church last Sunday, before adding, “The judgement can get worse, and it will get worse if we don’t respond properly.”
Jamaica was rocked by a 5.0-magnitude earthquake at approximately 7:30 p.m. on September 21.
A second tremor, registering 3.6 by the UWI Earthquake Unit, rocked the island again the following night, September 22.
Many persons commented on how scary the experience was as they watched and felt buildings being shaken.
The pastor cited several occasions when Jamaica was the beneficiary of God’s mercy, such as the diverting of Hurricane Mathew which on 1 October 2016, was upgraded to a category 5 hurricane but gradually weekend on its path to Jamaica. At its peak, Hurricane Mathew was more powerful than Hurricane Gilbert, which made landfall in September 1988, and which has been the most destructive storm in Jamaica’s modern history.
“God delights in mercy, but it is not without end; there is a place where God draws a line, and he says that is it,” Walcott warned.
Founder of Restoration World Outreach Ministries Incorporated (RWOMI), Apostle Steve Lyston has also prophesied that the country will be experiencing more shaking.
“One of the things that the Lord said to me is that most times when people see a shake and there is no death, we celebrate and we say things are ok, but God doesn’t operate that way,” he told listeners during a recent episode of the radio programme Coversations, which is broadcast weekdays on TBC 88.5 FM.
“Once God shakes a nation, whether you see casualty or not, there are always going to be major changes,” he assured.
He said now is the time for people to examine themselves and repent.
“This shaking will be the beginning of a shaking that will hit the political, it’s going to hit the church; it’s going to hit businesses; it is going to hit every sector within the nation. It’s going to hit the policies, it is going to hit the secrets among the two political parties, and it is going to hit everybody, until God gets what he wants. It is going to hit the plans that were made with foreigners that the people didn’t know [about]. God is going to remove some altars that have been holding down the people,” he declared.
Apostle Lyston noted that in recent times, the earthquakes hitting countries have been preceded by a rumbling sound. This also happened in Jamaica on September 21.
On February 6 of this year, Turkey was hit by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, which left over 50,000 people dead, and hundreds of thousands homeless. Some 300,000 buildings were damaged. Nearly 3,000 people died following a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that shook Morocco on September 8.
