Only divine intervention can save west, says SDA leader
DR TED Wilson, the world leader of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, said that the cycle of violence plaguing the western region can be confronted, but this can only be achieved through divine intervention.
“I recognise that there is a cycle of violence, but you are not unique. This is prevalent throughout the globe,” Wilson said, “... and one of the reasons for this is that people seem to have lost the guiding star, the focus, the understanding that righteousness exalts a nation.”
Wilson was speaking at a special luncheon he hosted for business and other sector leaders at the SDA’s West Jamaica Conference in Montego Bay on Wednesday.
“It is the premise and understanding that whether you are in business, law enforcement, or the legal profession, certain criteria must be held close to your heart, so what you do is ethical, so what you do is right,” Wilson said.
He also thanked the business operators for employing individuals of the Adventist faith and for the sacrifice made in allowing time off to observe the Sabbath.
In his remarks, Winston Lawson, president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the Second City must engender a good value system and high moral standards to experience the long-term benefits of the just-concluded state of public emergency.
“We must be cognisant or recognise that a growing city as ours, a buoyant, commercially attractive tourism capital like ours, will self-destruct without improving and living our lives with high standards and a strong, clean value system,” said the chamber boss.
“A strong, clean value system places no great concern about one’s colour, race, or religion, … the pedigree of one’s family, place of birth, the coincidence of his citizenship, his social status or his bank account, but promotes justice and believes in the dignity of man,” Lawson said.
“The simple fact, however, is that we just no longer hold high standards on how we value human life. We value money and wealth more than we do the lives of our fellow citizens,” the career banker added. “That is why persons are prepared to scam others out of their hard-working life savings ... . That is why lawbreakers will not only shoot and kill men and women, but are more than prepared to shoot and kill even little children.”
Assistant Commissioner of Police Donovan Graham, the commanding officer for Area One, lauded the support of the Adventists throughout the four divisions under his command, especially during the just-concluded SOE.
The yearlong anti-crime exercise has been credited with the reduction of murders in St James last year, which fell to 102, coming from 341 in 2017.
Mark Titus/Gleaner Writer