Déjà vu - Doomsday prophecy stirs Bedward memories
Published:Friday | May 20, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
SAVE FOR a grave being dug to accommodate the remains of a departed Bedwardite, no major preparations have been taking place in August Town, St Andrew, for the afterlife.
Doomsday preachers have predicted that tomorrow will be Judgement Day as God makes His grand appearance and takes His chosen few back to heaven with Him.
Over 90 years ago, Alexander Bedward, of August Town fame, was reportedly preparing for the rapture when he was arrested and taken to a mental institution. He prophesied that he would ascend into heaven on December 31, 1920.
Bedward proclaimed that he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ and that, like Elijah, he would ascend into heaven in a flaming chariot. He then expected to rain down fire on those who did not follow him, thereby destroying the whole world.
Bedward legend
When The Gleaner visited August Town on Wednesday, some residents grinned as they pointed to a tall cotton tree in Bedward's churchyard. Legend has it that a Bedwardite attempted to fly from its high branches and failed. The tree's green life defied the heat from the sun which has left other plants parched.
The massive concrete structure which is said to have been Bedward's church stood bare in the mid-morning August Town sun.
Also in its vibrancy is a guinep tree which now provides shade for Bedward's unpainted grave in a cemetery named after him.
In much the same way Bedward had been ridiculed for his rapturous philosophy, United States radio talk-show host Harold Camping, along with his followers who have predicted May 21 as the day for God's Second Coming, is being scorned by some community members.
"I am not looking forward to that because my God tells me when He is coming. He is going to come like a thief in the night," Deloris Allen told The Gleaner.
rubbish
Jamaican Michael Lewis, appearing on Television Jamaica's 'Religious HardTalk' on Tuesday night, sought to press home Camping's predictions.
"Him (Lewis) worse than Bedward; Bedward was preaching but him talking rubbish. When I hear him last night, I locked off my TV because mi seh yuh don't know when God a come 'cause God neva call yuh and tell yuh dat," Allen said.
"Mi know my God neva give him dat phone call," she added.
"The Bible seh no one knows the minute nor the hour, not even Jesus himself," said Carolyn Daley, a Christian of 36 years.
"And if Jesus nuh know when God a guh come, how mi and yuh a go know when God a go come? We are very close to the coming of the Lord but it's not Saturday," she said.
Carl Givans, 75, who claims to have been raised by Bedwardites in August Town, is in no way receptive to the argument that the Second Coming of God will take place this weekend.
"Dat is a wrong suggestion," Givans said. "Not even the angels in heaven know when Massa God a come."
He added "You must not follow idiots. A fight dem fight against Father Bedward. A di Catholics dem weh fight against Christ and dem fight against Father Bedward. He was set up, he was misunderstood".
Whether Camping, Lewis and their band suffer the same fate as Bedward remains to be seen. Today, they say is the last day before the judgement, the last hurrah for mankind on Earth.