Christians retake Spanish Town for Jesus - Hundreds march against crime, violence in the Old Capital
Published:Saturday | March 31, 2018 | 12:00 AMErica Virtue
Religious leaders marching on Jamaica's old, murderous, and criminal capital, Spanish Town, preaching, praying and calling for Jesus' blood to wash the town clean has been done before.
But the bloodletting has continued. So have the robberies, kidnappings, and extortion of businesses and public transportation operators in the bus park, by the violent and murderous Clansman Gang, and the splintered and leaderless One Order Gang, according to the police.
But this did not stop Tarrant Baptist Church Resident Pastor Jeffrey Shuttleworth from organising and leading hundreds of Christians to the town and volatile communities around the capital yesterday, in what they called the 'Take Back Spanish Town March'.
"Spanish Town belongs to Jesus. Spanish Town belongs to Jesus," they chanted over and over as they marched from the Jubilee Worship Centre on Valdez Road. The route to the bus park took them by Old Harbour Road roundabout to Tawes Pen, Oxford Road, Melbourne Lane, Morrison Street, and Condron Lane.
GOD IS IN CONTROL
"God is the head of my life, and my family. There is so much we can do as a police force, but so much more can be done from a higher force, because we are calling on the name of Jesus," said Assistant Superintendent Fitz-Albert Linton, who addressed the group at the Valdez Road location.
"We believe that this is an initiative that we must support. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."
Groups were dispatched to some of the most volatile communities in the parish to evangelise and conduct counselling.
The day's activities, which went on into the night, also included a rally.
"Spanish Town belongs to God," Shuttleworth told The Sunday Gleaner.
Parliament last week extended the state of public emergency in the St Catherine North Police Division, which was imposed in March. It will now be under lockdown by the security forces until July 3.
In justifying the extension, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told the House that there have been no murders or other serious crimes committed in the division since it was imposed.
Prior to the state of emergency, at least 48 murders were committed in the division between January 1 and 17, the most for any police division in the country.