Too many safe havens for blood-sucking vampires – Pastor says disconnect from God contributing to crime – Jamaica Gleaner

Western Bureau:

A St Elizabeth pastor has declared that the recent spate of sexual assaults and murders of women across Jamaica and the persistence of lottery scamming, as well as other crimes, are happening because the citizens have turned their backs on God.

Pastor Jacob Powell, of the Sharon Baptist Church in Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth, made the declaration during a special church service on February 12, which was held to mark the RJRGLEANER Communications Group's annual Cross-Country church service series.

"In our land of Jamaica, people are becoming less conscious of God, so immorality increases, and inappropriate conducts and lifestyles are preferred above decency and acceptable ways of living. Scamming takes precedence over the dignity of work, and thievery is given a higher place than honesty," Powell said in the service's keynote sermon.

"The streets of our land have become jungles of death, and our communities have become safe havens for gangsters, blood-sucking vampires, paedophiles, and psychopaths. God is not pleased," Powell added. "The unjust will have to face the God of justice, who expects us to deal justly with one another. You, who turn others away from God; you, who rape our women and murder God's people without thinking of the consequences, remember that the wages of sin of death, but the gift of God is eternal life."

The pastor also noted the irony of Jamaica's current crime wave when compared to the frequent observation that Jamaica has more churches than any other nation.

"We boast that we are a godly nation; we boast that we have more places of worship than other nations. We are known for our rich cultural diversity, yet because of the impact of cultural diversity and our embrace of religious pluralism, our disregard for the sanctity of human life, and our drift towards the postmodern way of thinking in which truth becomes relative, there is a growing disconnect between us and God," said Powell.

"It has become for us, as a people, so politically correct to claim religious acquaintance, yet so incorrect to pursue righteousness. There can be no real happiness in any nation where God is relegated to places of less importance."

The rest is here:
Too many safe havens for blood-sucking vampires - Pastor says disconnect from God contributing to crime - Jamaica Gleaner

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero