Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
Rev. Dr. Phillip Phinn, senior pastor of the Word of Life Ministries International, which meets in Hagley Park Plaza in Kingston. - JUNIOR DOWIE/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
PASTOR PHILLIP Phinn's phone has been ringing off the hook in recent days. That's because people remember that he predicted in a Gleaner article published in April 2005 that the next Jamaican head of government would be Portia Simpson Miller, the Minister of Social Security, Welfare and Sport. The media, politicians and ordinary Christians have been calling to congratulate him on the fulfilment of his prophecy. The callers have also been asking for more predictions.
The Rev. Dr. Phillip Phinn, senior pastor at the Word of Life Ministries International, which meets at 20 Hagley Park Plaza in St. Andrew, in an interview published in Mind&Spirit on April 30, 2005, declared that he and others had received divine revelation that Portia Simpson Miller would be the next Prime Minister of Jamaica. (See http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20050430/news/news6.html)
The Rev. Dr. Phinn, who is one of the leaders of the local Charismatic/Renewal movement, and chaplain to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the Office of the Prime Minister, has hosted annually since 1987 a prophetic conference where Christians can learn more about the office of the prophet as recorded in the Bible. He disclosed that Minister Simpson Miller had been attending these conferences for the past six years where she was told by himself and other prophets that she would become the next Prime Minister.
PREDICTED PORTIA'S VICTORY
Pastor Phinn began to declare publicly from as early as 2000 that Minister Simpson Miller would be the next Prime Minister of Jamaica. He told The Gleaner that this revelation came to him first in 1995 while attending a United Nations Summit on Social Development in Denmark. "That is where I knew. It came to me in a church. When I met up with her in the summit, my host was a white pastor from Denmark. I had arranged to attend the world summit and in the nights and on weekends to do some ministry in churches. My host was also accredited as a delegate at the conference. Portia met him, hugged him and thanked him for looking after me. Just with that hug, from Portia, he said, nobody has ever hugged him like that, especially a black government official. And so he went into the church the night and told the senior pastor, and the whole church started to intercede profusely for Portia Simpson Miller. And somewhere, I think between halfway and the end of the prayer session, the Lord spoke to me "She is going to be the next Prime Minister'."
Dr. Phinn said he is looking forward to hosting Minister Simpson Miller at his prophetic conference April 14-17 at the Hilton Kingston hotel, where she will be attending her seventh such event and will be addressing the gathering as the nation's seventh Prime Minister.
CLEAR VISIONS
On the Friday evening of February 24, the day before Mrs. Simpson Miller was elected to succeed Prime Minister P.J. Patterson as president of the PNP, she and about 50 of her delegates/campaign team personnel were in his church where prayers were offered for her. She was told in no uncertain way by the prophets in the congregation that she would be the next Prime Minister.
Dr. Phinn, who was not in church that evening, said that one of the clear visions shared by the prophetic community was one in which they saw the Lord Jesus Christ appearing to Minister Simpson Miller and placing in her hand a sceptre with the charge, "Woman go rule the nation". Among those present that evening were Ambassador Anthony Hylton (who supported the Simpson Miller campaign for the presidency of the PNP) who also received a prophecy that he would be holding a mega-ministry in the Simpson Miller Cabinet.
Pastor Phinn told The Gleaner: "I know at the next general election, she (Portia Simpson Miller) is going to win. I am declaring that. In fact, I had already done so. She is clear for the next general election."
For the next general election, he said he will be able to tell the news media long before election day, what the results will be. He and other prophets, he said, will be teaming up and will be praying in each constituency, and God is going to reveal to them, who the winner of each
parliamentary seat will be.
IMPOVERISHED CHURCHES
A former central banker, Dr. Phinn is the holder of a Master of Business Administration and a master's degree in Christian counselling.
His involvement in prophetic ministry dates back 36 years ago when as a 12-year-old student of the Gordon Town All-Age School, he saw in a vision from God his name on the school's honour roll with the words 'STATHS' behind it. Not long after, he received a government scholarship to St. Andrew Technical High School (STATHS).
He believes that churches that have not embraced prophetic ministry are impoverishing themselves and the nation. "I can say that Christians have come to us ... confessing that they have gone to obeah people to seek help because they were in serious situations ... We have seen the losses, the confusion and the devastation the Body of Christ has suffered, because they have rejected this gift (prophecy) and members under their noses, including the clergy, are battling the occult to seek help and guidance because of the absence of this ministry ...
OBEAH
"Oftentimes we go on the pulpit and we condemn politicians, and then the businesspeople and when they come to the church, we have nothing to tell them. Or we tell them that this gift (prophecy) is not for today. We have lied to the people. The absence of the prophetic ministry has helped to promote the rise of witchcraft, the rise in the occult, the new age movement and so on ... If Christians had exercised this ministry, a lot of the flourishing obeah men, new agers there would be no need for them. But I don't think it is too late." To help Christians understand and move in the prophetic, his church convenes on Tuesdays and Fridays at 7:00 p.m. teaching on this area.
Dr. Phinn plans to make more public pronouncements hereafter. To this end, he said he would be assembling a cadre of local prophets to form a prophetic council which will function as watchmen over the society. The group he said will also offer problem-solving solutions to many of the nation's ills.
Pastor Phinn is upbeat about Minister Simpson Miller's stewardship as Prime Minister. He said she is going to listen to the people, tap the intelligence and skills of talented Jamaicans regardless of party affiliation. "She will facilitate unity in the political realm and the church realm as well. She has a vision that is not a PNP vision but a vision for Jamaica."
(More next week)
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