The pastor of Born Again Deliverance Church on East West Highway said he believes the daring robbery at his church on Wednesday night was born out of Satanism and money worship.
In an interview with The Guardian Friday, Apostle Kelson Miller said the incident is a sad reflection of the state of the country where there is increasingly no respect for human life or reverence for the House of God.
Police reported that three armed, unmasked men held up four people in the church including pastor Aaron Nixon who was said to be delivering a sermon. The men reportedly smashed a western glass door, entered the church and held all members at bay, robbing them of cash, cell phones and other personal items.
The bandits also used a microphone cord to tie up the pastor before fleeing on foot. Members were even more shocked when they found the body of the church’s security officer, 38 year-old Michael Knowles in bushes just east of the building.
Apostle Miller said to his recollection, this kind of crime has never occurred in The Bahamas as churches have either been damaged or robbed of musical instruments, but members have never been robbed and a pastor tied up during a service.
He said be believes Satanism is alive and well in The Bahamas, as this and a number of other heinous crimes are on the rise. Apostle Miller’s views on the dark arts here echo that of Avant Ministries in Canada, which said last October that Bahamians were very religious and less “Christian” and that Satanism was widespread in the country.
However, Archbishop Drexel Gomez quickly shot down Avant’s statement, saying Satanism was not widespread in The Bahamas.
In response, Apostle Miller asked, “Have you ever been deep-sea diving? Well I have been deep-sea diving and there are things in the water that I have seen that some people have not seen so I speak from experience, and I know what exists here.
“When we promote evil, when we promote hatred and division in churches and society at large, it spills over to these things. So me killing you will not be a problem.”
He added that because the men were unmasked, it seemed to him that they also intended to kill someone in the church. “I don’t think that they were attacking the people because of anything personal. It was a robbery and they were after money and they were willing to do anything to get it.”
He explained that he was not out for revenge against the men, saying we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s grace. “They were only interested in money because no credit cards or passports were taken. They were interested in money.”
A church member, who called The Guardian in shock yesterday, said she was praying for the ‘lost souls’ who carried out the ‘atrocious’ act. “You know you really must have come to a point of spiritual desolation and corruption, and as the Bible says, turned over to a reprobate mind, to go into the House of the Lord and tie up a pastor,” she said.
“This could be a satanic gang going through some form of initiation where you do the most heinous thing to get ranking.”
By: MINDELL SMALL, The Nassau Guardian
