The Elijah Message and Election 2009

Church leaders need to call sin by its rightful name

1Kings 16:29-30 ; In the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel; and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. 30 Now Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.

1Kings 21:20; And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O mine enemy? And he answered, I have found thee: because thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the LORD.

The recent election held in Dominica on December 18th 2009 was indeed an education. Years and months leading up to the elections we heard former supporters of the ruling Dominica Labour Party (DLP) severing ties with the DLP administration for numerous reasons ranging from corruption to government incompetence. We even witness government minister Ambrose George fired twice by deceased PM Pierre Charles and once by current PM Roosevelt Skerrit. We heard from leading DLP activists Saverin McKenzie, Athie Martin, Gabriel Christian, and Samuel Christian and in recent times Floyd Capitolen. All of these gentlemen were singing the same song; The DLP administration led by Roosevelt Skerrit was corrupt to the core and it was clear to them that they were in office to enrich themselves. We even witness how difficult it was to get the DLP administration to implement the IPO legislation which they themselves passed in parliament in 2005 and was accented to by the President soon after. It took the DLP administration over three years and endless public pressure to finally implement the law which they were very careful not to make retroactive, since in so doing a lot of the PM illegal and corrupt acts would have placed PM Skerrit in hot oil.

Isa 1:23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards.

Pro 15:27 He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

In the mean time, Dominicans witnessed a PM who came into political office first as a minister just about ten years ago without even owning a motor vehicle, become one of the richest persons in Dominica overnight. We heard from Ivor Nassif how much money that Chavez would give to the PM, and the free gifts of lands etc. recently we even heard from DLP ambassador to China David Huis that he personally even gave the PM gifts of sexual entertainment in Macau. It is also a well known fact that the PM defrauded that state of taxes due in his many land purchase transactions, some of which has been repaid since the story was revealed to the public. There was the bin bobol as well as the fertilizer bobol, all schemes concocted by the PM and his cohorts to steal money from the treasury of Dominica. Not surprising to those of us who have come to know the PM’s modus operandi, during the heat of the elections, PM Skerrit placed on the public record one of the biggest lies told in recent times; He claimed that the Dominican economy was doing so well that just about August 2009 Dominica was able to give to Antigua 24 million dollars and 12 million to Anguilla. Officials from the both countries were quick to respond condemning the lie of PM Skerrit and asking for a retraction of the statement. There was no retraction by PM Skerrit.

By this time it was clear to all Dominicans that the PM is not only corrupt but also a consummate and pathological liar. I say by this time, because we even heard voice clips from Minister Ian Douglas complaining about the backstabbing ways of the young PM, and we read the plan by the PM and Tony Astaphan in particular, to ensure that there be no electoral reform which according to Tony would have spoilt the PM legacy of re-election. We witnessed the case in the BVI where Mr. Felix Chen had to take the government of Dominica to court in order for the government to be able to claim its 51% of the Layou River Hotel project. We heard the PM talk about his 400 thousand dollar house which was his only property, which we subsequently found out to be a blatant lie, according to documents from Supriya Singh who worked as the consultant for the PM not only on his Veille Case mansion which according to Supriya is in the region of 1.2 million and not 400 thousand as deliberately stated by the PM, but also on the 16 villas at Picard which belongs to the PM as well, costing in excess of 16 million. All this is happening at a time when the world economy is in recession, public servants are denied an increase, and Dominicans are catching hell while PM Skerrit and his henchmen are doing well.

Isa 33:15-16; He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, He who despises the gain of oppressions, Who gestures with his hands, refusing bribes, Who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, And shuts his eyes from seeing evil: 16 He will dwell on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure.

We come to the election campaign where with the help of Chavez and Red China the PM was able to bring in mercenary voters by the thousands to determine the outcome of the election in his favor, so we have a situation in Dominica where the majority of Dominicans living in Dominica did not vote for the DLP, and the majority of those who voted for the DLP were bribed and paid to so do.

2 Chronicles 19:7 Now therefore, let the fear of the Lord be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes.”

I need to take time to commend the elder statesmen of Dominica namely; former chief minister Frank Baron, first Prime Minister Patrick John and second Prime Minister Oliver Seraphin, who eloquently spoke out against the corrupt and sinful practices of the DLP administration led by the young Prime Minister Skerrit. We heard First Premiere E.O Leblanc been called a fool by DLP supporters because he didn’t use his political office to enrich himself, and sadly this posthumous castigating of Dominica’s most distinguish statesman was supported by the likes of Charles Saverin, Charles Maynard, N.A.N Ducreay and others captivated by the evil spell of Roosevelt Skerrit. Even President Liverpool’s acquiescing silence on that matter was most profound. Former Prime Minister Patrick John was forced to ask,”Is so we come”?

Much more can be said to outline the sad state of affairs in Dominica, In essence, the examples which are being set for our children are frightening. According to the new code of ethics created by Skerrit and his cohorts, it is alright to cheat, steal and tell lies.

Mathew 17:11-13 11 Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 12 But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

My biggest disappointment however is with our local Christian Community especially the Adventist. I expect those who do not regard themselves as Christians to do anything, but we who call ourselves Christians must live by a higher standard based on the law of the Most High God. Commandment number eight tells us that we must not steal and commandment number nine tells us that we must not lie. Not only must we not steal and lie but we must in no way encourage others to do so especially if we are called Christians. The Dominican Christian community is quite aware of the multitude of lies told by Skerrit and his cohorts, they are also very much aware of the amount of times that Skerrit has cheated and rob the state, yet a significant number of them turned a blind eye supporting the continuation of evil in our land which is supposed to be a nation after God. The group which amazed me the most was the commandment keeping Seventh Day Adventists especially those of the St. Joseph, Bense and Newtown communities. These are people who heard Laborites ascribe to Skerrit titles only given to the Most High God yet in their madness they ensured that evil continues to reign in Dominica. Ahab was an evil king who like PM Skerrit caused the nation to live in sin and sewo, Ahab led Israel to deep apostasy. God raised the prophet Elijah to speak out against the apostasy of Ahab, and Elijah preached the word of truth with clarity and without fear even at the threat of death. In the days of our Savior Jesus, John the Baptist preached the message of Elijah with clarity and without fear losing his head (Mark 6:20-27) in the process. He reproved kings and government officials in the name of the Lord. John the Baptist had the guts to tell King Herod to his face that he was committing sin. He called sin by its rightful name without compromise. In Dominica today the commandment keeping Adventists have become participants of iniquity in high places, thus disqualifying themselves to be true witnesses for God. Indeed we are living in the last days, when members of the Remnant Church can be so boldly involved with government corruption and sin. Is anyone heeding the call to come out of Babylon and be not partakers of her sins?

Sometime early in 2008 the Adventist Church in St. Joseph had a very special visitor. He was a brethren from the Roseau SDA Church doing a special presentation island-wide, on the secret and evil society of the World which included the Free Masons, Odd Fellows and Illuminati Lodges. He carefully explained their common agenda which had to do with controlling of the World’s political and economic powers to further the agenda of Satan in the last days. During the end on his presentation he revealed to the congregation some astonishing news. He mentioned that in Dominica our President as well as our PM Roosevelt Skerrit, are both members of the Free Mason Lodge and are current practitioners of the lodge which is located in a building next to the Roseau Public Cemetery. He even gave dates and times when these two leaders can be seen attending their services. Well, there was an uproar in the congregation, many of the brethren were mad at the young man for revealing such truths, and I suspect if they had their way they would have even stoned him for revealing unpleasant truth about their King Roosevelt Skerrit. In the St. Joseph Church I have personally witnessed Sabbath School Lesson Study tossed aside on the Sabbath Day to accommodate political speeches of Vince Henderson. On Sabbath the 11th of December 2009, I personally witnessed Kelvar Darroux being unceremoniously extracted from worship by Mervin Paul (a former Sabbath keeper) to go to accommodate his DLP motorcade. I ask the St. Joseph congregation if election activities must take precedence over God’s Sabbath. Our children learn by the examples of our leaders’ whether they be good or bad.

Malachi 4:5; Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:

The Adventist claim to have the Elijah message and they are also taught from scripture that John the Baptist was a type of Elijah (Matt 17:11-13) and in the last days the Adventist will be responsible for proclaiming the message of Elijah. The message of Elijah includes a call to repentance, it includes announcing the arrival of the soon coming King and it involves the reproving of evil kings and government leaders. How can it be good for Elijah to reprove Ahab (King of Israel) and for John the Baptist to reprove Herod (King of Israel) and those in Dominica with the responsibility to bear the Elijah message not reprove Skerrit (Prime Minister of Dominica)? I am therefore calling on the Dominican Adventists leaders to make a clear statement that Skerrit is perfect and can do no wrong and have done no wrong or to begin doing what they claim is their responsibility. They need to call sin by its rightful name irrespective of who is involved especially when it has to do with the governance of our country. God has absolutely no desire that our leaders practice sin and teach us to do likewise. It is time for Adventist and those who call themselves Christians to live up to their name and standards they profess.

The Elijah message is never a popular one, but it is the message of the hour, it is a message of truth, it is in effect the Three Angels Message found in the book of Revelation Chapter 14: 6-10. May God help us, and bless our Nation.

I conclude this message with a quote from the book of Galatians 4:16; Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?

Brian Linton