THE EDITOR, Sir:
A LOT has been said about the recent visit by George Otis Jr. to Jamaica. I wonder just how many of those who have commented were actually there to have heard the man speak? So it's OK for us to voice negative declarations about our nation via our popular call-in radio programmes but when someone else speaks the truth we get offended. Is it that we have been offended by the truth or is it that we are just plain hypocrites?
I feel certain that George Otis Jr. never meant in any way to offend, insult, denigrate, belittle or harm Jamaica and its inhabitants (as many are accusing him of doing).The truth is that indeed the only way in which God will turn this nation around is if we invite Him to do so through prayer, repentance and fasting (not necessarily in that order). The Bible states that "if we draw nigh to God then He will draw nigh to us." We are far from God as a nation.
The challenge issued by George Otis Jr. hits too close to the core of our unfaithfulness as a nation to the things of God. That message is not so different from other international speakers that we have admitted to our shores without reservation and at a greater financial cost to the masses who wish to hear - Jamaica must change! Jamaica needs to change! That change must occur in its inhabitants, that change can only occur through a turning back "full hundred" to the Lord God Almighty.
Our enemy is not George Otis Jr. The eternal enemy is the enemy of our souls, the devil.
I am etc.,
METZ PETERKIN
metzmp@yahoo.com
18 Linstone Crescent
Kingston 10
Via Go-Jamaica
