A Grenadian religious leader in the Black Community in the United States has raised serious concerns with those members of the condemned Maurice Bishop Killers who have now turned to preaching the word of God.
Pastor Terrence Griffith singled out for special mention former army officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Liam “Owusu’ James, and Major Leon “Bogo” Cornwall who are reportedly involved in preaching at two Evangelical churches in the St. George area.
James is said to be associated with a church run by one Pastor John Crowe in the St. George North-east constituency and Cornwall, a former Methodist minister, is now involved with St George’s Baptist church in Springs run by Pastor Stanford Simon.
Another convicted Bishop Killer is ex-army Major Dave “Tan” Bartholomew who is reportedly a lay preacher in a church in rural St. Patrick.
James, Cornwall and Bartholomew were members of the Central Committee of the then ruling New Jewel Movement (NJM) who were convicted along with ex-deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, General Hudson Austin, and former Mobilisation Minister Selwyn Strachan along with several other government and army officers for the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop on October 19, 1983 in a bloody palace coup.
The killing of Bishop came following a bitter power struggle with Coard over Joint Leadership for the NJM which came to power on March 13, 1979 by force of arms against the elected Eric Gairy regime.
Speaking to THE NEW TODAY, Pastor Griffith who is based in Philadelphia recalled that these so-called preachers who played prominent roles in the Grenada Revolution need to confess their sins and ask for repentance and forgiveness before starting to preach the word of God.
He also recalled that these are the same “guys who wanted to destroy the church” when they maintained an iron-fist rule over Grenadians in their Marxist period of government.
“They had spies in the church – people like (name withheld) and them were going to the Seventh Day Adventist church spying on the church and reporting back to the NJM and now these very same guys are preaching,” he said.
“Nothing wrong with that but did they admit that we did wrong? Did they say to the nation we are sorry for what we did that we orchestrated this, we planned this? That is what genuine repentance is all about,” he added.
According to Pastor Griffith, who was associated with the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Grenada before migrating to the United States, he knows that Major Cornwall is very aware that in Christian teaching repentance is not just about turning around but is also admitting what was done wrong.
“There is no repentance without admitting what you did and admitting what you did is not vague – you got to say exactly what you did. You got to admit what you did. You can’t say forgive us when nobody knows what you did”.
“If you say look, am transformed, I am born again, I have turned over a new leaf there are certain responsibilities that come with that and that is saying to people, I renounce the past, this is what happened, I have turned away from this – this is what it is, I thank God that I didn’t get the Death Penalty but this is what we did and we are eternally sorry”.
“ If I have to do it again I wouldn’t do that. That is what repentance is all about. Bogo knows that, he teaches the bible”.
Pastor Griffith charged that these convicted Bishop Killers have some church followers questioning whether they are now trying to hide their checkered past and just using religion and the church.
The religious figure said he decided to speak out on the issue involving the Bishop Killers and religion regardless of the consequences.
“If they hate me for that then it means they are really not converted and born again. If I say something like that and they are up in arms against it then it means they are using the church as a smokescreen – they are using the church to hide.
“These guys need to beg God pardon for the wrongs that they did while in power in Grenada. They got caught – all they need to be saying is that we did it, things got out of control and we got caught up in the moment and we are sorry that we plunged the nation into this chaotic situation and we are asking Grenada to forgive us”.
“They are preaching now but tell them preaching comes with repentance and repentance means making a “U” turn but acknowledging what you did. There is no repentance if you did not acknowledge what you did. That is the bottom-line”.
The Bishop Killers who spent approximately 25 years in prison for the mass murders on Fort Rupert now back to its original name of Fort George, have often admitted moral responsibility but not criminal responsibility for the bloody events 38 years ago.