'Place more value on life, less on material things'
Published:Thursday | June 4, 2015 | 4:43 PMOrantes Moore
PORT MARIA, St Mary:
ASTOR ROLAND Vassell of the North East Jamaica Conference of Seventh-day Adventists is originally from Manchester but has lived and ministered in St Mary for the past 18 years, including a lengthy period where he worked as chaplain and Bible teacher at Port Maria High School.
Vassell is a popular pastor with extensive knowledge of the parish who was happy to discuss a wide range of topics when our news team met him at his church in Stewart Mountain, near Gayle, on a cool Tuesday afternoon.
While there are many issues affecting his congregation, Vassell believes the biggest problems are unemployment and lawlessness. He told Family & Religion: "Unemployment is an issue because in the churches, not many people are working.
"We have graduates from the teachers' colleges who can't find work. These things put a damper on the Church's financial growth, so we are unable to do some of the things we would like in terms of upgrading and beautifying our church buildings.
"However, the president of our conference, Pastor Arlington Woodburn, has instituted a wonderful programme called Saving Our School through Industries and Commitment (SOSTIC), which is all about agriculture and greenhouse farming.
"It teaches members to go back to agriculture, get into large-scale farming, and develop partnerships with other members of the church so that instead of farming a little square of callaloo, they can work in bigger units so their yields will be better."
get-rich-quick mentality
However, in spite of the support provided by Woodburn's programme, Vassell is concerned that people are generally becoming more lazy and selfish. He explained: "I think the members of the Church need to make more sacrifices because nowadays, I find people have a get-rich-quick mentality. They want to get rich overnight but don't want to work hard."
Vassell urges people to reverse this trend, turn away from materialism, and place more emphasis on God and Bible. He says: "I want to encourage people to wake up because something is about to happen, but many are sleeping.
"Lawlessness has taken over and people are more lovers of pleasure than lovers of God. If you notice, right now, a dancehall event will get more attention than a church crusade.
"In some communities, dances take place every night, but if you invite some of the people to church, they are not coming. Things like nine nights, grave diggings, and birthday parties capture more interest than serving God.
"I really encourage people to read the Bible, study God's word, be faithful, and come back to the knowledge and awareness that there is a God. Psalm 100, verse three, says 'Know ye that the Lord, He is God. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves,' but people are acting as if it wasn't God who made them."
He added: "People need to place more value on life and less on material things because those things will eventually perish. I encourage children, youth, adults and the elderly to draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to them.
"Remember, the Lord is coming back, whether we are ready or not. We know that many are called and few are chosen, but we still have time, so let us be faithful and ready for His coming."