by Curt Waite

These words, shouted at us from the dirt street in front of our home, were our first experience with the cult called Rastafarians. We had just moved to the Caribbean island of Antigua to begin a missionary radio station. Our neighborhood seemed to be filled with glassy-eyed young black men with their hair worn in long matted dreadlocks. When they would shout "burn, burn, fire, Babylon" at our two and four-year-old children, it was very unsettling and somewhat frightening. We would quote to ourselves Hebrews 13:6, "...I will not fear what man shall do unto me." It was difficult to imagine that we would ever see any of these terrifying people come to believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Rastafarians, members of a Caribbean religious cult started by Marcus Garvey and popularized in song by Bob Marley, claim Ethiopia as their spiritual homeland. They claim the Bible as the source of their doctrine. Their God is "Jah" and many of them worship the late Haile Selassie, believing that he was a reincarnation of Jesus Christ. They become "filled with the Holy Spirit" by smoking marijuana. Their long, twisted locks of hair originate in Old Testament Nazarite vows. Others are considered to be devils and part of spiritual Babylon. Rastafarians feel righteous in observing the practices of not cutting their hair, smoking marijuana and living removed from the materialistic world. Many of them are very fierce and aggressive in their demeanor. I would have to say that we did not consider them to be prime candidates for salvation!

Six years later, in 1981, we were to see God's miraculous power in bringing four of these young men to Himself. We are in awe that God allowed our ministry to be instrumental in reaching these young men.

The Caribbean Radio Lighthouse (CRL) began broadcasting in 1975. Over the years many letters have been received from listeners, but few have been as exciting or life-changing as one received one day in 1981. A nineteen-year-old Rastafarian, Jerome Martin, had been hospitalized after surgery and feared he was dying. His false religion was suddenly gone and he began to bargain with God. Jerome promised God that if He would get him out of the hospital he would stop smoking "herb" and seek Him. God mercifully allowed Jerome to recover and to return to his bush shack where he lived, removed from society, with two other Rastamen, Vanier Christian and Augustine Erskine. There they lived off the land, eating mangoes and coconuts and tending their sheep and goats. Their shack was made of palm fronds and had no water or electricity. They had hammocks where they would sleep and sit, smoking marijuana, listening to reggae music on a transistor radio, reading the Bible and discussing their religion. Their fresh crop of marijuana was ready for harvest and Jerome had prayed asking JAH to make this crop grow. But he had also promised God he would not smoke it. He was trying to seek after this God to whom he had made promises.

It occurred to these Rastas that listening to Christian radio stations might reveal more to them about God. They were able to hear several "Christian" stations but as they turned from one to the other they discovered that the music on most of them sounded very similar to the music that had been a part of their lifestyle as Rastafarians. They sensed that God's music should be different. The Lighthouse was different. As they listened to the music it was not what they were used to, and they weren't sure they even liked it, but they sensed the truth would be there. As they listened, they heard how they could have forgiveness of sin and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Radio Lighthouse became the station to show them about God.

Then came the letter, written by Augustine Erskine, telling us of their interest in the Lighthouse and especially in a program produced by a national pastor on our staff. This pastor, St. Clair Archibald, a Bluewater Bible College graduate, visited the village where the family of these young men lived. He left an invitation to Maranatha Baptist Church and a tract showing them from the Bible that all men are guilty of sin before God and that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's son, paid for men's sins and that forgiveness and eternal life can be found by repentance from sin and faith in Christ. They did come to church and on their second visit the three young Rastafarians made the decision to believe God and acknowledge Christ as Lord of their lives. Later, a fourth friend would come to Christ also. Four young men had been turned from Jah to Jesus. "I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me" (Proverbs 18:13).

Augustine Erskine and Jerome Martin both eventually came to work at the Lighthouse as announcers. Augustine is now the Operations Manager at the station and a deacon in Maranatha Baptist Church. Vincent Williams, the fourth friend, faithfully attends Maranatha also. Jerome Martin felt led of the Lord to attend Baptist Bible School in St. Vincent. After graduation he was called as pastor of Maranatha Baptist Church in Antigua where he had come to Christ ten years earlier.

Truly the words of II Timothy 2:21 can be said of these former Rastafarians,

"If a man therefore purge himself from these,
he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,
and meet for the Master's use,
and prepared unto every good work."

It is such a blessing to watch God's plans unfold. Those who we feared are now our brothers in Christ–and our own pastor. We can surely say, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?"

Friday, September 10, 2010

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Richard & Anna Hurst -  USA
David Charles & Johann Hyde -  MEXICO
Robert (Bob) & Rebecca Ingram -  MILITARY - USA - GA