Liberia-Killing of innocent people by unscrupulous individuals for different social or political reasons must be stopped, according to a renowned national prelate, as doing so could cause the country so dearly.
Bishop Kortu Brown of the New Water in the Desert Assembly Apostolic Pentecostal Church expressed serious concerns about the continued callous killings of innocent Liberians in what appears to be ritualistic related reasons, warning that the nation could experience dangerous hardships as a wrath of God.
Bishop Brown, a former President of the Liberia Council of Churches (LCC), drew national attention to the consequences of shedding innocent blood as recorded in the Old Testament book of 2ndSamuel 21: 1-7, when famine plagued Israel for three years due to the actions of King Saul, who was in the business of killing innocent people in violation of a covenant made 500 years prior by Joshua.
He reminded the nation how God disapproved of King Saul’s actions because he unjustly took the lives of people whom Joshua had promised to protect, to emphasize the dangerous ground Liberia is treading by the killing of innocent citizens.
According to him, similar situation befell Israel during the reign of David when they endured famine for three successive years, prompting David to beseech God for solution.
“It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death,” he quoted God’s response to David’s inquest.
He said David’s show of concern and willingness to find the root cause of the hardship his people went through might not be found in today’s leaders of the country, because he did apportion blame but sought answers from God.
Taking cue from David’s example of seeking God’s face in order to find solution to his people’s sufferings, Bishop Brown wondered if Liberians are truly seeking answers to the challenges they face, and understand why the killing of innocent people continues in the society without resolution.
Deeply concerned and perturbed by the trend of events in Liberia, the Pentecostal prelate also wondered why Liberia, a country founded on Christian principlesseems to have lost the values of peace, love, joy, kindness and happiness.
“Why do we now believe that morality is no longer necessary for governing the state? Why has it become acceptable for people to act or speak irresponsibly without consequence?” he asked.
He said it was important that in such an accountable and lawful society, citizens endeavor to find and identify the root cause of hardships affecting them.
The last few years saw the nation embroil into the wanton deaths of several innocent citizens, with no one yet to be apprehended in connection to what many Liberians described as barbaric and cowardly act.
Bishop Brown quipped: “Many investigations into these tragic deaths remain inconclusive. When will we know who is responsible for the deaths of people like Rev. William Tolbert III, CharloeMusu, Precious Cooper, and many others who were murdered in their homes without justice? Who is responsible for the hardships we face as a nation?”
Though state securities are still looking into circumstances of these deaths, Rev. Brown has however warned that God’s wrath will definitely befall on those involved in the killing of innocent people, whether through physical violence, witchcraft, envy, hatred, or revenge.
He emphasized that none of them will escape God’s judgment for the innocent blood shed, stressing, “God knows who they are, and they will not go unpunished.”
One of the ways such calamity could be averted, he said, is through the activation and application of the rule of law, calling on the Liberia National Police and the Ministry of Justice to step up efforts to find those responsible for the many gruesome murders that have plagued the country.
