The preacher whose mother was found dead in Byera on Wednesday, two days after she went to attend to her animals says that amidst the recent killings, Vincentians are failing to see that prophecy is being fulfilled.
Freddie Peters, 53, made the point to iWitness News on Thursday as he commented on the death of Evita Dublin, 78, whose decomposing body was found wearing only underwear.
Peters speculated that someone had raped and murdered his mother.
A post mortem on the woman’s body is pending.
Peters is filling in as pastor at their church, the Bethel House of God, where the pastor died some time ago.
iWitness News asked Peters what he thinks is the case with killings recently in SVG, which has recorded 21 homicides for the year.
“I believe that for one, the Lord gave us a prayer that we should pray,” he said and recited the Our Father Prayer.
“I believe that that is no more established in the heart of families. Just few families are carrying out that prayer that the Lord taught us and the Bible says in Luke 17: 30, ‘As it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, so shall it be in the coming of the Lord.’
“That is another scripture that we fail to see has been fulfilled, is being fulfilled. It was a prophecy throughout all the ages but it’s being fulfilled in our age that we are living in and because of that, there is a curse on mankind. We need to stand up against every unclean living.”
He says that the Bible says everyone is born in sin.
“But because we come to the truth of knowledge, everyone must stand up against sin, stand up against unrighteousness, and I believe we will be a better people.”
Among some of the unrighteous acts that SVG needs to stand up against is “a woman preacher”, Peters said.
“Woman [is] supposed to dress modestly, a man is the head of the home, the pastor is the head of the church, no woman is supposed to be the head of the church. I believe that we must stand for righteousness, preach righteousness and the congregation, the spirit of the Lord will be upon the people.”
Asked about things that might be happening outside the church that contribute to crime, Peters said:
“Let me say this: The Bible says that righteousness exalts a nation and sin is a reproach. So then, if the people who try to live Christian lives stand for righteousness, preach against sin, then the spirit of the Lord will influence the sinners and the environment.”
Peters said that his community is angered by his mother’s death and wants to see the culprit brought to justice.
“People are very angry, very, very angry, knowing that the person who she is in the community that she don’t trouble people, she’s friendly. They are very angry,” said Peters, who told iWitness News that he is drawing strength from his Christian faith.
“I [am] coping because the Lord giving me His grace. He says forgive those that trespass against you that your heavenly father will forgive you. So, after that happen, I realise I need to forgive the person, even though I don’t know who the person is, I already forgive the person who did hat.
“That don’t mean that I don’t want him to come to justice but I already forgive him,” he told iWitness News.
Peters is the second preacher whose family has been affected by sudden and, in his case, suspected, violent death.
On Aug. 18, the body of Spiritual Baptist bishop, Ian Enoch, 50, of Brighton, originally of Trinidad, was found with chop wounds in a hut at the Cayo Village in Argyle.
Police have charged 24-year-old security guard Anwar Jack of Georgetown with Enoch’s murder.
The Crown is alleging that Jack murdered Enoch at Argyle sometime between 8 p.m. on Aug. 17 and 10:40 a.m. on Aug. 18, by chopping him about his body with a cutlass.
My condolences to this man for this terrible loss.
But he is simply an exemplar of the low mentality of a people who still believe in obeah, spirits, fate, and other bad things while belittling the role that free will plays in the lives of people who live in open and democratic societies.
If we were all born IN sin — born not as innocent and helpless creatures — but actually born IN sin, this means that we were also born TO sin. If this is so, free will does not exist or is overwhelmed by inborn tendencies, given by God, over which we have no control.
If Sodom and Gomorrah is bound to come again — or is already here — as a fulfillment of prophecy, as this “preacher” claims, then human beings can do nothing to change this, again a repudiation of free will if there ever was one.
If we want an easy explanation of crime, especially murder, that does not simplistically reduce it to poverty, inequality, or unemployment, we can shut down our thinking and reasoning abilities and accept instead mind-numbing nihilistic spiritual beliefs that blame everything on the will of God.
“Natural born killers” is what this man is telling us we are.
If we have the intellectual ability or motivation to reject both of these mono-causal explanations, we need to look at other factors, as I will reveal in the near future in a series of essays analyzing the causes of crime.
Mr Peters my condolences but please have a seat with this caveman mentality.
The notion of women “supposed” to dress modestly is rooted in the believe that a woman is a fault when they are attacked, molested, rape. Mr Peters it’s 2018, not 1820.
As for women shouldn’t be head of the church, well these male church leaders are doing a hell of a job… Molesting little boys and girls… Breeding their female congregation… Throwing rod on their male congregation… Thiefin church money to live lavish lifestyle…. Creflo Dollar?… Smh.
By the way the Bible is the worse piece of propaganda ever written. The Bible is not the word of God but power hungry man. And men like you Mr Peters rely on this propaganda to talk all this nonsense.
Bringing the bible into everything is something that has been going on for hundreds of years. If things were not so bad in SVG as they are now, there would still be people doing this. The truth is: We have a sick society. Obviously much of it does have to do with the government but certainly not everything. It is also obvious that the only entity that can cause things to improve is the government…through legislation and law enforcement. Things will not change on thier own. There are certainly very stupid people that say the government has nothing to do with our problems, when they have more to do with it than any other entity. We all know how poor the SVG Police conduct themselves. Often times the SVG Police are just as bad or worse than the criminals. We also know how unfair the courts are when it comes to things “political” (we all see what happens when a high political person is caught stealing money, or provoking fights and brandishing a gun) These are some of the first things that have to change in SVG.
We did not get to become a poor, corrupt and lawless and lazy nation overnight, it took many years to get this bad and it probably will not improve overnight.
The autopsy was don’t and murder was not the,cause of death. I witness news should add an update to the report to make it current.
I-man have no confidence in the medical system to do a proper, scientific autopsy.
I-man have no confidence in any of the leading institutions in our society: not the churches; not the police; not the legal profession; not the political system; not the courts.
So what this left to have confidence in? Our families, neighbours, friends, communities? No way! All of them are made up of backstabbers, liars, thieves, and hypocrites.
There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to trust or respect in our country.