BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – LUSTY singing of gospel songs and promises of repentance and redemption reverberated off the walls of Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) on Tuesday afternoon (Apr. 24), as inmates joined with Jamaican Evangelist Lester Lewis and his visiting ministry team to give thanks and praise to God.
Lewis’ visit to the prison was organised through the collaborative effort of Pastor Analdo Bailey and his wife, Pansy, Commissioner of Police Celvin ‘CG’ Walwyn, Deputy Commissioner of Police Stafford Liburd and Superintendent of Prisons Franklyn Dorset.
The attending inmates, together with the visitors, had assembled in the Prison Hall where Pastor Bailey rendered the opening prayer which was followed by a rendition by his wife before the introduction of Lewis.
What may have seemed amazing or unbelievable to many people, is that most, if not all, of the inmates knew the song (Lord you are most precious than silver) that Mrs. Bailey sang as they joined her in her rendition.
Taking centre stage, Lewis introduced his wife, Roseann, and son, Lesterado, to the inmates and informed that he was in the ministry for 31 years; the same amount of years that he has been married and “divorce is no way in sight”.
Briefly recounting his experience before becoming a messenger of Jesus, Lewis said he was a man without direction, his father was an alcoholic and he grew up seeing him drying and selling marijuana.
“I got into use smoking weed by my auntie. She gave me papaw tea and after drinking it I felt a spinning in my head. After then I was hooked on weed. That wasn’t a good idea because weed became my best friend. And one day I decided that I’m going to go to church where my grandmother introduced me and I am going to follow Jesus…and who vex, vex and who pleased, pleased. But I am going to go on this road and there will be no turning back.
“That was 35 years ago and I could have barely read and write. I was hooked on the weed, hardly could read, just looking for woman and going from dead-end road to dead-end road. But when I met Jesus He set me on a highway.”
The man of the cloth explained to the inmates that since Jesus came into his life he stopped smoking marijuana and learned how to read, adding that “although the Jamaican government said weed is not good for the smoking people, I will say that people were not created to smoke; for there is no capacity in life to absorb that”.
He explained that smoking marijuana is like putting orange juice into the fuel tank of a car to get it to travel from one point to another.
“A car was not created to drive on orange juice; it was created to drive on gas. So, the same young man who couldn’t read and write and who had no direction, got some sense and began to get wisdom from Jesus.”
Lewis said the reason why he chose Jesus is because He is the ultimate teacher and he hoped that “today will be your day to make a choice…I urge you to choose Jesus”.
This plea to the inmates was followed by one of his compositions entitled ‘Renounce’, which he said was dedicated to all the gangsters within the walls of HMP.
One of the verses says, “I am renouncing this whole gangster life, renouncing bloodshed…I am renouncing corruption and going to live in wisdom city”, to which he encouraged and had the inmates lustily singing along with him.
He told the inmates that the penal institution was not built for law-abiding citizens and that parents have the ultimate role of training up their children in the right way as he did with his son.
In an effort to demonstrate what lessons and examples ought to be taught and set by parents for their children, the Evangelist called on his son to share six principles that would enhance the lives of both children and their parents.
The young Lewis said, “The six instructions are - Speak the Truth, Despise Exploitation, Refuse Bribes, Reject Violence, Live Right, and Avoid Evil Amusement and Evil Entertainment. If you follow these six instructions you will never end up in a place like this.”
These principles were explained by Lewis who expounded upon the last of them, noting that the inmates must guard their minds from garbage music that “some rude boys sing to blow out man’s brains and to killing one another…guard your minds from them thrash”.
In a simple but yet dynamic style, Lewis, with the aid of his wife and son, spread his multiple message that included an unconditional love for God and his creations, repentance and redemption, accompanied by soul-searching gospel reggae songs.
Obviously motivated by Lewis’ dynamism and with encouragement from his fellow inmates, Java Lawrence, who is serving a life sentence, belted out a song in which he said, “You don’t have to be a gangster to show the world that you are a man.”
Musical accompaniment was provided by Lewis on guitar and his son on keyboard.
Shortly before the Evangelist concluded his message, Deputy Commissioner Liburd thanked the visitors for spreading the Word of God to the inmates and explained how the visit became a reality.
Liburd stated that during a Sunday conversation among Lewis, Bailey and himself, he dared the Evangelist to prove that his gospel reggae songs are sending better messages than Bob Marley’s ‘One Love’ to the listening public.
The Deputy Commissioner called on Lewis to explain to the inmates what answer he had given to him.
The Evangelist said, “People talk about Bob Marley’s song ‘One Love’, but where is the love? When they singing ‘One Love’ they still pushing knives in one another and shooting one another in the dance! In Jamaica they are butchering one another, cutting off woman head, killing babies and burning down people’s houses…and them talking about one love?
“They don’t know anything about love because love is patient and love is kind. Most people who talk about love don’t know anything about love!”
Following Lewis’ explanation, the Deputy Commissioner, on behalf of Commissioner Walwyn, thanked the visitors for going to the prison, Superintendent Dorset for accepting them and the inmates for attending the more than 90-minute session in which they attentively listened to the Word of God.
He noted that Lewis had paid a courtesy call on the Commissioner at the Basseterre Police Station and requested permission to visit the inmates.
“Lester Lewis, his wife and his son, through the assistance of the Bailey’s family I am here today. And gentlemen, whatever are our views in our hearts, life cannot continue the same way all the time. So, therefore gentlemen, I encourage all of you here today to give the five persons whom I just mentioned a round of applause.
“So, I want to say on behalf of the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Walwyn, for facilitating Lester Lewis, I want to say thank you to him even though he is not here. I want to say thank you to Superintendent Dorset for allowing us here. Live cannot continue to be the same, irrespective of what you may think of each other in this room personally. Life cannot be the same because some of you are not aware that your families are outside grieving and mourning,” Liburd said.
Shortly before the closing prayers were rendered by another visitor, Noel Thomas, Lewis sang the song with which he had won the Jamaica Gospel Song Festival – “Every Time I Read My Bible’.
This was followed by another of his popular hits, ‘Winna Man’, and ‘Stop Smoke De Weed’.
In his parting message, the man who once sported bread-locks and had live the Rastafarian lifestyle but now dons African garbs reminiscent of his heritage, charged the inmates that on their release they must not return to the place that he met them and that they must be “fathers to their children”, especially boys.
He urged them to throw away the knives and guns and seek the Kingdom of God.
Lester Lewis, a deft musician, was born in the peaceful community of Mount Prospect, nine miles from a town called Mandeville in Jamaica.
Since becoming a messenger of God, the Evangelist had formed his owned gospel band called Dominion. And in addition to numerous countries in the Caribbean, he had travelled to the US and Africa spreading the Word of God combined with his reggae gospel music, which he said is aimed at countering all forms of negative lyrics.
