by Pastor Ray Patrick \\ Columnist
BEYOND THE BLADE, BEFORE THE BULLET
We all have a part to play in saving lives!
Knives and guns don’t kill – people do
Theres a teenage boy standing on the corner,
Theres two fallen tears running down his face
Theres a butchers knife held tight between his fingers,
Dripping red with blood, his face red in total disgrace
Hes standing there, in front of him lies an innocent body
On The street in front of him lies somebodies son
Somebodies hopes and dreams stolen, for nothing,
He tried so hard to run, but he didn’t see the knife nor the gun,
The shots were fired, his legs got tired,
1 blow, 2 blow down to the floor he lay
gasping to breathe hes run out of words to say
A Mothers screams, a mothers worse nightmare
cradles her boys tightly in her arms,
she prays for the angels to wait
praying it aint his time to go to the holy gate
His eyes open for the last time,
somebody has to pay for this heartbreaking crime
Put down the knife, put down the gun, don’t let it be another mothers son… Adelle Smiith “Tiime To Change”
During my 20 years of ministry both in the USA and here in the UK, I have buried and ministered to hundreds of persons and families touched by gun and knife crime, working with Jessie Jackson, operation push and Magic Johnson. But these young lives and situations remain close to my heart. In the summer of 2003 while running an evangelistic meeting, a gun man opened fire and shot approximately 5 people, one fatally with bullets narrowly missing me.
On 23 April 2006 I was called to the bedside of 16-year old Wendale Davis, one of my church members, who had been shot while sitting in a parked car. Marcus Marshall who was living in my home was standing at a friend’s house talking, when a car came by and fired shots, one hit Marcus and he died. One Friday while sitting in a car in South London with a friend, a motorcycle drove by and shot one of my prayer partner’s sons in the head, he died that night.
When I arrived back in the UK in 2011 while working with Mayor Boris Johnson, (now the UK’s foreign secretary) and the councillors in Brent, I was interviewed by the Evening Standard (Friday 7 January 2011) as to the solutions to gang violence in the capital.
Now under the new Mayor Khan the problem seems to have gotten worse, with no plans or ideas as to how to deal with this issue. The call has now come for faith leaders to assist in tackling this problem. Why you may ask? There are a few reasons:
1. Over 90% of the youth killed are from, or are affiliated with Christianity, or some faith based organisation.
2. Most, if not all, are buried in a Christian church.
3. Faith and prayer are still a deterrent against evil and negativity.
4. With a high percentage of gun and knife crime victims being black, and the churches being the biggest black owned businesses in the community, we need to get involved in being a part of the solution.
5. Because we see this for what it is – Spiritual warfare. Which means that we don’t deal with it in the natural but in the super natural BY FAITH.
Join me next week for my follow on column on the damage that guns and knives cause and a greater understanding of what’s really at stake.
Please email me your thoughts and anything you want me to cover on: [email protected]
