We are not part of cult church, say other Yahweh followers
Published:Sunday | November 10, 2019 | 12:00 AMJanet Silvera - Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Under verbal attack and threats since news broke of alleged human trafficking, child abuse, sexual assaults and abduction by leaders of the Qahal Yahweh church, other worshippers of the Hebrew faith are distancing themselves.
One group said they went as far as to place an advertisement in the local community newspaper last year, stating they were not one and the same.
“We are appealing to persons not to attack our members, because we believe in peace. I have been worshipping as a member of Yahweh for 23 years and I have never seen anything like this in Jamaica and I hope I don’t ever see it again,” Pastor Chaisson Beckford told The Sunday Gleaner last Friday.
The pastor, who was a member of Qahal Yahweh up to 2015, when its deceased leader Neville Wollery was in charge, now heads Ha Ivriy Min Yahweh in western Jamaica, a denomination he said is not affiliated with Chief Apostle Omar Thompson’s organisation.
“Qahal Yahweh is not affiliated with any other branch of Yahweh in the country. In fact, they stand by themselves and believe that all other branches must come through Qahal Yahweh to be saved,” Beckford revealed, explaining that the Assembly of Yahweh, Congregation of Yahweh, House of Yahweh, Ha Ivriy Min Yahweh, all believe in Yahshua Ha Mashiach (The Anointed One).
Disturbed by what he saw on video when the security forces tried to remove a number of children from the Qahal Yahweh compound on Norwood Avenue, Paradise, Montego Bay, last Tuesday, Pastor Beckford said he remains in disbelief.
OBEYING THE LAWS OF THE LAND
“These things were not happening when Apostle Neville Wollery was alive. There is obviously a misunderstanding of their concept of the Hebrew faith. We are a peaceful nation and we obey the laws of the land, unless it contravenes the law of the scripture,” said the pastor, who is also a licensed marriage officer.
He said he and his congregants are of the belief that every human has the right to worship, but in a lawful manner that does not infringe on their human rights. “We do not support anything that violates the laws of any country. Romans chapter 13 clearly indicates that there are authorities set up over us. The police, the soldiers, the government are set up as authority for principle and order in every society.”
He cautioned that righteous people should not rise up against authority, and to do otherwise was a bad representation of the Hebrew faith.
“Not all of us are the same. And it is wrong that we may be branded by this behaviour,” he stated, adding that there are Christians who are radical and Muslims who are radical, but they are not placed in one barrel and rolled.
CHILDREN MUST BE PROTECTED
Beckford opined that the country’s children must be protected at all cost. Noting there was nothing wrong with private schools, he said they must be regularised and authorised by the Ministry of Education.
The Ha Ivriy Min Yahweh leader, who has inherited many of the persons who left Qahal Yahweh out of disagreement with Thompson’s treatment of his flock, said his members are hurting.
Beckford said he believes he was allowed to leave the church four years ago because Yahweh knew his people would be in need. He, too, was told he would have died if he left the faith.
Today, Beckford says those who come to him are told to turn the other cheek, even if they are victims, and are encouraged to greet Qahal members whenever they see them on the road.
Marriages at age 16, he said, are not endorsed by his church, because “we do not believe one so young should be forced into something that is a lifelong choice”.
In the meantime, he is asking persons to stop attacking his members who are innocent of any crime.