Engage in spiritual warfare
Published:Friday | May 28, 2010 | 12:00 AM
The Editor, Sir:
The war against rampant and out-of-control criminality in Jamaica can only be successfully annihilated through the collective and persistent efforts of an effective partnership between a praying church and a resolute security force.
There is a peculiar God-ordained relationship between both - that is, the Church of the living God and the forces of law and order. It is at a great cost that both Church and Government fail to understand and/or simply ignore this God-given strategy to bring about what St Paul referred to as the "peace and tranquillity of the nation". (I Timothy 2:2)
To be successful, the fight against crime must be waged on two fronts: (1) the Church engaging in 'spiritual warfare' while, (2) the security forces engage the enemy in 'hand-to-hand' combat. It would be simplistic not to recognise that the crime problem in Jamaica is more than a physical phenomenon. It is, I contend, essentially spiritual and demonic; and it is the praying Church that has the God-given ability to deal with things in that dimension. A reading of Romans 13, 1-5, clearly identifies the role of the security force as "a minister of God … that bears not the sword in vain. He revenges to execute wrath upon them that do evil." (Romans 13:4).
Winning alliance
The 'policeman in the trenches' and the 'Church at the throne' is a winning alliance against the forces of evil. The cynics, I submit, might pour scorn in the idea, but until they come up with a plan that works I would ask them to think again.
And I say to the Church in Jamaica, we bear equal or more responsibility for solving crime than any other institution in this country. We have power, and that is not a joke. The answer is not in the peace initiatives or marches by the Church. It is not in more giving or more sophisticated, more scientific methodologies. The Church must lead the charge.
I, therefore, call upon leaders of the umbrella groups of the churches in the country - the Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair, Bishop Delford Davies, the Rev Dr Al Miller - and the hosts of trusted and influential spiritual leaders across the land to mobilise the praying Christian community to target and engage in spiritual warfare "against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness, against spiritual wickedness in high places".
I am, etc.,
LLOYD SPENCER (Rev)