Shirley Caesar on US presidents

The Gleaner recently caught up with American Pastor Shirley Caesar and asked to share her thoughts on her country’s sitting president, Donald Trump, who is now in danger of being impeached in the United States Senate. Her response was well gauged.

“My thoughts on number 45? I think God’s got it under control.”

She continued: “The Bible said a liar cannot tarry in His sight. And he [Trump] has told so many untruths and he is involved in so much shady stuff, and yet he is the [president] of our country. So that’s what I think,” she said, concluding with, “I think that he needs to go”.

An impeachment trial is currently under way against the president on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

On the flip side, she was, not surprisingly, complimentary towards President Barack Obama, the first African American to hold that office.

“He was a very, very kind-hearted person, and I believe that overall, he was a good president. He was a president for everybody and loves all people. So that’s how I feel about him. He was my president.”

Shirley Caesar has met the 44th president on more than one occasion. This included at her performance, with the late Aretha Franklin, at the White House.

She also told The Gleaner that she had been to Jamaica several times, including “the big show at the National Arena”.

The 81-year-old said she enjoys coming to Jamaica and has been to Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and Mandeville, to minister through her songs.

Her songs are written by different writers. And her inspiration comes “from experience too, and I preach a lot like that”.

The multi-award-winning gospel singer was visiting Jamaica as the featured gospel minister at Sister’s Praise: Celebrating God’s Faithfulness, a concert put on by the Immaculate Conception High School’s Home and School Association, on Saturday, January 25.

Marcia Rowe