Pastor of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Mandeville, Greg Baldeo is describing as ‘demon possessed’, persons who are responsible for some of the country’s murders in recent time.

Referencing Ephesians 6:12, “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,” Baldeo said that “demons are loose upon the land. There is a cosmic war going on in this world.

“What we are facing is bigger than all of us. It is bigger than the security forces and bigger than the minister of national security.”

Minister of National Security, Peter Bunting, was a part of the congregation along with the Mayor of Mandeville, Councillor Brenda Ramsay.

“The devil is wroth with this earth,” he continued “and demons are all around. When men can look on an innocent child who does not know her mother well enough and kill her, when two lovers can be so upset with each other and the man cuts off his lovers neck, I say they are demon possessed.”

Baldeo was referring to the recent killing of a 17-month-old baby in McIntyre Villa (Dunkirk) on Valentine’s Day, and also the alleged beheading of a mother of six children by the father of four of the children.

He was preaching at the “Reclaiming God’s Agenda” (GA14) evangelistic series on the grounds of the Mandeville Adventist Church recently.

In a deliberate admonition to minister Bunting, Baldeo said: “Mr minister, you don’t give up the fight. This fight is not your’s and whether you are in it or a next man is in it or a next woman is in it, they cannot handle it without the mercy and the power of the living God. I am telling you tonight sir, on the authority of the living God, that the security forces alone cannot do it without God.”

In his address to the congregation, Bunting, who last year April made the controversial statement that divine intervention was needed to tackle Jamaica’s crime problem, lamented the fact that with so many churches, the country should not be faced with such high levels of crime.

In outlining the approach in his recent crime fighting strategy “Unite for Change”, Bunting said: “The Guinness Book of Records has Jamaica as leading the world in the number of churches per square mile and it is a paradox for us to have the greatest density of churches and at the same time to be one of the most violent country in the world.

“So, I believe it is quite legitimate to reach out to the church and request that the church plays a critical role in ‘changing group behaviour’ (one of the steps of the strategy) because instilling morals and values in a sense is a core function of the church. We are asking you not just to do that within the walls of the church, but also to take the church out into the community and impact the community.”

In her brief address, Mayor Ramsay highlighted the importance of the GA14 series and hoped that at the end “we can see peace, harmony, love, brotherliness and God’s hand at work in our lives.”

GA14 is ‘lifestyle-changing’ series which started on March 2 and will end on March 30. So, far 44 people have been baptised.