TELE-EVANGELIST Bishop Henry Fernandez yesterday urged Jamaicans not to be fearful as Hurricane Dean approaches the island.

Bishop Fernandez, who called the Observer yesterday from Florida in the United States, said he was driving when he was led by the Spirit of God to send the message to Jamaicans that they should not be afraid. He heads the Faith Centre Ministries in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in the United States.

“For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,” Fernandez said, reciting the Bible verse, II Timothy 1 v 7. “The truth is what Jamaica needs to understand is that every country will be tested in some form or the other, whether it is going to be by terrorism, whether it is going to be the threat of a hurricane, whether it is going to be crime or poverty. The word of God encourages us that we should never be fearful of what may be a threat to us.”

The bishop said while he was unable to predict the path of the storm, he wanted Jamaicans to be optimistic, adding that in every bad situation there is always a positive outcome.

“The Bible says all things work together for good,” he said.

He added: “I just want the Jamaican people to know they can’t walk in fear. Whatever life brings to them they are better than that they are stronger,” he said.

“Second Thessalonians Chapter three, verse three says, ‘The Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep you from evil’. So once fear is not there you deal with what life brings to you. Life has a tendency to bring unfortunate circumstances… so with the storm coming they (Jamaicans) just need to hold their heads up knowing that if it does hit…they’ve been through this before and can rebuild again.”

Bishop Fernandez told the Observer that he would be urging his church to pray for the island on Sunday, the day the hurricane is predicted to hit.

“Jamaica just needs to pray. We are praying from the United States, in fact, on Sunday my entire church will be praying for your country,” he said. “We will be praying that God will take them (Jamaicans) out of that situation, that they will escape the storm again. However, they need to brace themselves so if the storm does hit that they just need to put heart together (because) God’s going to help them to weather whatever storm they go through.”