BY- Yves R. Ephraim

I am reminded of the biblical story of Nineveh as described in the book of Jonah and the “wickedness” of that nation that caught the attention of the Almighty God, who was so incensed by their evil that He thought it necessary to send a prophet to them to warn them of impending destruction.

Even though, the story did not outline the specific type of evils being practiced, it is clearly implied that the evil was of every type, rampant and egregious.

This story of Nineveh highlighted two things:

1) The initial failure of the prophet to go to Nineveh and warn the people as he was instructed and;

2) The surprising willingness of the people of Nineveh to accept the warning from God through the prophet and to immediately humble themselves and turn from their evil ways: from the king, the nobles to the lowest ranked citizen.

How may we relate this story to the Antigua and Barbuda context?

First of all, I do not think that anyone can refute that Antigua and Barbuda seems buried in wickedness and evil with the most recent manifestation being the recent crime wave.

Rampant and unrestrained crime and wickedness is the epitome of a country that has lost its way and has lost its sense of the rule of law.

Antigua and Barbuda is overwhelmed by evil expressed in the increasing numbers of sexual assaults on children and violent gun-crimes. Evil is seen in the unrestrained corruption at the highest levels of government.

We see evil in a criminal justice system that acts as a revolving door for criminals who get a tap on the wrist and are then shortly released back into society to commit crime again.

We see evil in the constant spewing of indecent language and disrespect from our public officials.

We see evil in state theft of private property.

We see evil in a “captured” electoral system that turns a blind eye to obvious bribery and questionable distribution of state largesse. Free things must be paid for and most often the payback comes in the form of the invisible tax we call cost-of-living.

We see evil in the lewd displays during carnival that not only get the endorsement of the leadership but they, themselves engage in the same open lewd behaviour. We also see the proliferation of “Gentlemen’s Clubs”. Then we act surprised as to why our young men and women have no respect for themselves.

Our choices have consequences!

There is evil in the over eighty percent out-of-wedlock births, where children are denied the best environment for development and protection. There is a growing epidemic of youths with mental health issues pushing them into drugs, gangs and unruly behaviour.

What do you think is the root cause?

It is easy to look at some evils as gross while seeing others as benign. The fact is that all evil is evil. In the sight of God, all evil is evil and all are worthy of punishment, death and destruction.

This day of prayer was initially set aside for us to appeal to God to save our nation from the ruins of crime and violence.

But are we willing from king to ordinary citizens to give up our evil ways?

If we are serious about saving our nation, then there MUST be a massive turning away from all sorts of evil from the leaders down to the common citizen. All of us!

If we are NOT willing so to do, then this Day of Prayer is useless!

I am hopeful that this nation will take the example of the people of Nineveh.

One of the questions I must also ask, is whether those who claim Christianity are setting the right example and being vocal about the evils in our society and not being disobedient like Jonah.

Are Christians abandoning their God-given mandate of spreading the gospel and standing for righteousness? Like Nineveh, without Jonah declaring the word of God, the nation of Nineveh would have been doomed.

No one is exempted! All of us MUST confess our evil and asked for God’s mercy and turn from our wicked and evil ways from the leaders to the laity.

However God being a merciful God, wishing that none should perish, called on Jonah to visit that nation to “legitimately criticize” that nation’s behaviour.

The nation of Nineveh was the epitome of a nation that was corrupt from the top to the bottom of society.The only way to go “from Repentance to Restoration” is to hear the godly criticism, accept it in humility and turn from our evil ways.

I pray for a national revival.

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: OPINION: Why do we have a Day of Prayer?.