MONTEGO BAY, St James – IN the face of mounting criticisms that the church remains silent on societal ills, Seventh-day Adventist pastor, Glen Samuels, has made it clear that the religious institution has the “divine command” to hit out against all wrongdoings.

“We feel like ancient prophets and current spokespersons. We have a divine mandate to speak to the issues of our nation, to bring forth the leaders of our nation, and to challenge the people of our nation that it is righteousness that exalts a nation and sin is a reproach to any people,” the clergyman argued.

He was speaking at the Western Jamaica Seventh-day Adventist Leadership Conference in Montego Bay on Sunday under the theme: “Building a Better Nation… Changing Lives, One Life at a Time through Christian leadership.’

However, Minister of National Security Peter Bunting, who spoke immediately after Pastor Samuels, accused western Jamaica-based churches of not coming out forcefully against lottery scamming, which is blamed for 138 murders committed in the Police Area One up to the ending of last month.

Area One comprises the parishes of Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland.

“… Particularly in western Jamaica where we have one of the most corrosive activities, corrosive in terms of the values of the society and that is lottery scamming. Up to August, ACP (Paul) Ferguson can tell you, 138 murders in Area One have been associated with lottery scamming. However, it is not something that the church has taken on frontally,” Bunting argued.

In fact, the security minister revealed that he was informed by a clergyman that his congregation dipped by 50 per cent a week after he preached against the lucrative illegal activity which is widespread in the western region.

Citing another example, he said, speaking at 10,000 Man and their Family March in Montego Bay recently, which was staged by the St James Churches Fraternity, the audience, made up of mostly churchgoers who wildly cheered a representative of the National Integrity Action who asked them to stand against paedophiles and corrupt politicians, went silent when requested to take a similar stance against lottery scamming.

“Let me tell you, you could hear a pin drop. Not a cheer. And I turned to the person sitting beside me and said, ‘boy we in trouble’. We are in trouble because I don’t know why — maybe because of fear, maybe because of associations, family members involved, etcetera — there was a clear reluctance to take a stand that day by the audience,” Bunting explained.

“I feel I had to call out that audience. I tell them that if you are for Jesus take a stand for Jesus, because you can’t be for Jesus and for scammers same time.”

But Pastor Samuels made it clear earlier to doubting ‘Thomases’ who questioned what action the church is taking in the wake of wanton moral decay in the nation.

“The question is raised many times what is the church doing? It is not just that we bless the babies, participate in the weddings, bury the dead, but permit me to say that for every life that the church is instrumental in transforming by the grace of God, is the life that has been made a strong building block in the society,” the clergyman pointed out.

“Those who raise the question what is the church doing sometimes raise the question out of frustration, and therefore fail to look in a holistic manner at the programmes of the church.”

In the meantime, Bunting noted the irony that St James is renowned for such strong leaders as National Hero Sam Sharp and the late Howard Cooke, former governor general, among others, yet presently there seem to be a lack of courage to admonish immoral activities pervasive throughout the society.

“So when we talk of leadership we sometimes like to point to political leadership, or military or police leadership, private sector leadership, various types of leadership, but we oftentimes don’t think of the courage that it takes in a community, at a school, in a family to call out those who are not being an appropriate example, not living the type of life consistent with the teachings of the Church, of the Christian community, and of the Seventh-day Adventist community,” he argued.