from: Archbishop Melford Pompey
Spiritual Baptist Archdiocese of St Vincent and the Grenadines

Matthew 2:1-2 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews?

For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him”.

It is interesting to note here that although Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea, the wise men found themselves in Herod’s palace in Jerusalem asking, “Where is he that is born King of the Jews?” As a result, Herod feared that his throne was threatened; for the Prophet Micah had written about Bethlehem, “Out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel”. And so, Herod was desperate to locate the child Jesus to kill him. When the wise men did not return to Herod (for the angel of the Lord had instructed them in a dream not to do so), Herod ordered that all male children the age of two years be killed. Again, the Angel also instructed Mary and Joseph in a dream to flee with the child to Egypt, for refuge.

God still communicates in dreams and visions to guide events. What are you doing in Herod’s house instead of Bethlehem? You would notice that the star disappeared when they went to Herod’s house, an indication that they had no right to go there. Stay on the right pathway, do not divert and your star will continue to shine. What is the Herod in your life this season? Is it malice, hatred, envy, immorality, crime, or violence? The Herod in your lives could be anything that keeps you away from God; start worshipping the creator rather than the creatures.

Pause for a moment and see what is happening in our blessed land, 52 murders (at the time of writing) is 52 murders too many. Are we listening to Herod or the Angel? When are we going to stop playing the blame game? Let us be resolute in our approach that the home, church, community, Government, and Opposition put down the weapon that is to our detriment and work together to save our blessed Hairouna in the name of the greatest gift of all.

Jesus was God’s living gift to humanity. A God-man, divinity clothed in humanity – Jesus’ entire glory, wrapped up in God’s love and yet not yet fully exposed. A gift that we’re still unwrapping even after some 2,500 years later and will continue to unwrap for eternity.

God presented this revelatory gift to us and in turn, the wise men gave him a king’s gift of Gold (symbol of royalty), frankincense (represents Jesus being worshipped as God) and myrrh (represents Jesus’ humanity and death), even though he was yet an infant.

We recalled Jesus’ anointing before his death and the anointing of the “little shepherd boy” David to be the King of Israel. God is in the business of anointing and of early preparation of his servants. Our future was unlocked through, our sacrificial giver- Jesus Christ. So as we bare ourselves before God today, let us be wise, sensible, and humble enough to offer up ourselves as gifts to Him by giving ourselves to His Son, that is all he asked of us. He will never ask for something that he knows you cannot give.

To all Spiritual Baptists, let’s continue to forge ahead to greater things for 2024, we look forward to our 2nd graduation exercise of our Religious Academy on January 21 st 2024, congratulations to all students, and thumbs-up to our team of esteemed tutors.

Let me take this opportunity on behalf of my wife Chermar, the Archdiocesan Council, and personally to wish all Spiritual Baptists, here and abroad, and the world at large a joyous, peaceful Christmas and a spirit-filled 2024.

May God Bless us all.