So God raised an umbrella at a time when the deadly storm of murder, corruption, witchcraft, greed, and deception was unrelentingly battering the hills, valleys, nooks, and crannies of Jamaica. Nothing and no one was safe.
This umbrella was intended to be a righteous apparatus, fit for purpose, appointed, and anointed with nearly the full force of the faithful. It was intended to be a powerful platform for prayer, a voice to declare the truth of God, and to boldly call the nation out of the gridlock of sin and certain destruction into the enduring shadow of the Almighty.
Representing the majority of those who claim to be Christians across the island, the Jamaica Umbrella Group of Churches was initially formed out of six of the nation’s most prominent church associations, including the Jamaica Council of Churches, the Jamaica Association of Evangelicals, Jamaica Full Gospel churches, the Jamaica Pentecostal Union Apostolic, the West Indies Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and the Church of God in Jamaica. The Independent Churches of Jamaica was added later to increase the size of the umbrella.
It was raised above the public square with much fanfare and great promise. This new umbrella twirled around with impressive healing and renewal services, visiting schools across the island and declaring righteousness among teachers, parents, and students alike. It was boldly raised in meetings with business, music, and political groups. With divine authority, the umbrella was on a mighty mission to rescue the island from impending judgment resulting from Jamaica’s persistent plod along the path to moral decline.
Few sectors of society remained untouched by this beautifully inspiring umbrella as church leaders and congregations prayed together, organised, and invested their energies and resources into an impressive programme to facilitate the ‘Rebirth of Jamaica.’
No one would have imagined that today, nearly fifteen years later, what was once an impressive and promising phenomenon would eventually wilt in stature and appear to be shuttered, whispering press releases on crucial national issues at a time when firm and righteous action is so desperately required.
Twice over the past month, two separate Christian leaders from countries overseas have visited our shores to deliver the same message: The Church in Jamaica needs to arise.
Properly packaged, signed, and sealed, the message was duly delivered and hopefully received. While congregations are scattered islandwide, present in every single community, village, and enclave, the population has not been evangelised. In other words, the gospel is not being taught, properly preached, or practised.
The umbrella, which still represents the majority, appears to be off, both mission and message. It seems to have lost its flare and function, and the reprobates, with their unrighteous agenda, have made significant inroads in families, communities, across towns, in our classrooms, and even within the pews.
The once fearless umbrella is coming across as frail and feckless. The church, under its watch, appears to have fallen asleep.
With all the prayer breakfasts and meetings with governments and opposition, business leaders, and gatherings in Half Way Tree and elsewhere, Jamaica seems faithless to foreigners and residents alike.
High media profiles and banner headlines cannot replace the real grassroots work that is required. Personal popularity and shaking hands on front pages with the corrupt will always alter perspectives. Such focus will silence the truth and make way for the enemy to advance. This grand scheme, designed in the pit of hell, played out before all and sundry during the pandemic.
Under the raised umbrella, apostate fellowships unabashedly stated their support for the unrighteous agendas of the reprobates. Some openly promote Hinduism through yoga and transcendental meditation classes and Buddhism by hosting martial arts expositions as if they do not understand that these activities engage the worship of other gods.
These spirits and their various offshoots add to the myriads of demonic forces within African retentions, such as ancestral worship and revivalism celebrated in some sanctuaries. These are no different from the growing embrace of the occult and worship of Leviathan and other demonic forces in the world.
Truth be told, we have embraced the multi-god arena of the ancient Egyptians and are liable to the judgment of that primeval state. We have arrived at the very place that God earnestly warned Israel about. It is the place that triggers the curses detailed in Deuteronomy 28.
God cannot be mocked. He is a jealous God. He will not be present in the midst of or on the periphery of other gods. It is a terrible thing to dare God’s wrath.
The church cannot claim to be serving the One and True God while being a safe harbour for other gods and agents of wickedness who continue to flout their connections with the faithful.
Drought, skyrocketing food prices, wanton murders, families in tatters, people losing their minds and bodies to debilitating diseases, sudden deaths among the youth, and a plethora of unexplained occurrences are signs that we are beyond where we were when the umbrella was first raised.
It is clear that God has coughed up and spewed out some congregations. Righteous relationships have been severed. Prayers go unanswered, hedges have been removed, sheep have scattered and have become lambs to the slaughterer, and miracles and real testimonies are few and far between.
We may look at neighbouring Haiti and, for a brief moment, believe that we are their betters since they brave treacherous seas in dinghies to arrive on our shores. The truth is, we are not too far off from the most desperate of them. The church in Haiti is quite cognisant of the unrighteous choices that have led their nation to this cruel outcome. Unfortunately, many congregations in Jamaica have taken a similar path, even in the high-profile presence of the celebrated umbrella.
The church must return to its mission of providing impenetrable and righteous coverage for congregations and taking territories in the name and authority of Christ. It must retreat from hobnobbing with the corrupt and their associates and return to preaching the undiluted gospel in and out of season, making disciples of men regardless of their status, positions, or pronouncements, baptising them in the Name of the Father, the Name of His Son, and His Holy Spirit.
It must not compromise God’s truth to seek secular applause. The church cannot claim to represent the Living God but dally around with His Word, which He honours above His very name. The church cannot keep company with other gods in inter-faith services and still expects to be on good terms with the Sovereign Lord.
The church in Jamaica must break free from its coddle with government corruption, stand up on the Word of God, and boldly call the entire nation to three consecutive days of repentance, prayer, fasting, and mourning, and turn away from wickedness.
Anything less will be like a mass movement by the people, fully decked out in our Jamaica colours, huddled under the wilting shade of the rejected umbrella, on a jolly junket to Haiti.
