Many Kevin Smiths around
Church leaders say prosperity gospel leading people astray; cops to keep closer watch on religious groups
Published:Sunday | October 31, 2021 | 12:12 AMMark Titus - Sunday Gleaner Writer
While the eyes of the nation have been focused on the bizarre and deadly religious practices at the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in St James for over two weeks, noted theologian, the Reverend Dr Ronald Hamilton, is among some church leaders who believe that similar occurrences are taking place in mainstream churches across Jamaica.
“I do not call Kevin Smith’s location a church, because all the things I have heard are anti-biblical,” Hamilton said. “But even while we bash Kevin Smith, there are many mainline churches where the same control of people’s mind is exhibited
“I am not saying that congregants must not acknowledge their leaders, but the way some of our leaders in mainline churches behave, it is not far from what Kevin Smith demanded from his congregants.”
Hamilton, a lecturer at the College of Theology and Interdisciplinary Studies, is in support of a regulatory body to police the church community, but Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey, in charge of crime and security, who is also a minister of religion, is warning that any move to regulate churches must be approached with caution.
“There is no empirical data to suggest that there is an increase in such practices,” said the senior crime-fighter and bishop of the Bible Truth Church of God in Border, St Andrew.
“From my vantage point, what I see springing up in this country is this concept of prosperity gospel, and the prosperity gospel message can lead people to become so caught up in materialism that they neglect other aspects of their spiritual development.”
He continued, “So you find that these prosperity preachers will target the poorer people and they capitalise on the gullibility and vulnerability of these individuals.”
Smith, a self-proclaimed prophet, and 41 members of his flock were taken into custody following the slaughter of two of his followers – 39-year-old Taneka Gardner and 38-year-old Michael Scott Brown – during an alleged human sacrifice ritual on October 17. Members were summoned to the Albion Road church, as it was “time to board the ark”.
A third congregant, 18-year-old Kevon Plummer, was killed when he reportedly attacked the police as they stormed the building.
Thirty-nine of the congregants have since pleaded guilty to breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act and fined a total of just over $1 million or 20 days imprisonment each in the St James Parish Court.
However, Smith, who was facing murder and firearm charges, was killed in a motor vehicle collision while being escorted to Kingston last Monday, where he was to be formally charged.
Andre Ruddock, one of Smith’s personal bodyguards, is now before the courts, charged with murder and wounding with intent.
OTHER BIZARRE CHURCH HAPPENINGS
Smith was not the first to re-enact the biblical account of Noah and the ark in Jamaica, as back in June 1998 Pentecostal preacher Bishop Wesley Knott, pastor of Angels of God Sabbath Church at 20A Mountain View Avenue in St Andrew, instructed the members of his small congregation to move into the church, or perish. But after months of waiting and little or no rainfall to cause the so-called great flood that would have wiped out mankind except for those in the ark, the nearly 40 occupants, including children, went their separate ways and Knott was not seen again. The property was eventually sold.
Smith’s Pathways International compound is located on Paradise Crescent, a mere two kilometres from MoBay’s town centre, in the constituency of North West St James, which has been represented by Minister of National Security and Deputy Prime Minister Dr Horace Chang since 2002.
It is also a stone’s throw away from the Qahal Yahweh Group, which was in the media spotlight in 2019, after the security forces, along with several state entities, raided the compound to remove the children after receiving reports of human trafficking, child marriages, unusual dietary practices, wife-swapping, and floggings as a form of religious punishment.
The three children of the leader, Omar Thompson, were removed and are now in the care of a grandparent.
Thompson, who calls himself Mosheh (Hebrew for Moses), denied the allegations that his group was a cult. Since then, he has declined media requests for interviews and calls to his personal phone have gone unanswered.
Prior to that incident, years earlier, there were reports of another religious group on the same corridor, where the female pastor sought to separate married couples. Some females were reportedly told that their partners were transferring demons to them during intimacy.
Back then, members of the community in which the church is located described the group as “overly aggressive”, claiming that they heard accusations being made against people by name in their open prayers, but things have apparently changed as residents now say the group has been serving the community well.
The Police High Command has now mandated its 19 divisional commanders to conduct a survey of the churches within their areas to ensure that their religious activities are in keeping with the laws of the land.
“It is something that has been discussed at the highest level of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and will be conducted islandwide,” head of Area Four, Assistant Commissioner of Police Donovan Graham, told The Sunday Gleaner.
“We will be paying closer attention, and when anything happens that is cause for concern or heading in that direction, we will move towards it and take the appropriate action.”
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Jamaica has the most churches per square mile of any country in the world.