From the safety of the Jesus The Light of this World Ministries church yard, evangelist Shirlain Fermin and prophetess Cindy Blanc looked on in horror as the Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ church, at the Heights of Guanapo, Arima was further desecrated on Wednesday. It was vandalised to the point where its dome collapsed and two men were injured. Behaving like vultures, looters descended upon the contentious church. The church had shot into national prominence after it was reported it was owned by Juliana Pena, the spiritual adviser of former prime minister, Patrick Manning. It was reportedly being built at the cost of $30 million.
Based on their Christian beliefs, they said, "Once the Cross came down, nothing but destruction would have followed." They said the congregation felt that no matter what the issues were surrounding the church, it was unforgivable the manner in which the looters had treated the church. Fermin repeated her call for the "invisible project manager to come forward."
Fermin's eye witness account:
She said: "Around 1.30 pm on Wednesday, we saw a lot of Rastamen up there. It seemed as though a whole village was up there. It had already made a belly. They had started pulling the steel from underneath it and it fell down. All the material that was around the church had already been removed. "Then, a guy started cutting down the post with a soldering machine. He had two big gas tanks in the back of the pick up. Some time before T&TEC had cut the light on the building." When she noticed the cross was taken down, Fermin turned to her niece and said, "Somebody will die for what they have done."
Later on, as they continued interfering with the pillars, we heard a sound and saw people throwing themselves from off the top of the building. "They were on the third floor. It is very high. We felt more people had died." "We had been watching them. They were behaving like thieves and robbers in the House of the Lord." "They are not doing the Lord's work. They are doing the work of the enemy."
Fermin said they had treated the Lord's building like a toy. "They just stripped it until it couldn't stand up anymore."
Transport Man repents
On Thursday, one gentleman who described himself as the "Transport Man" said, "I made about $200 to $300 a trip. I got steady work. Some of them using the material for good things. I dropped some by the Bye Pass. Some selling it for scrap like 40 cents and 50 cents. Some of them fixing their house." But on Wednesday when the dome collapsed, he said he was having second thoughts. Coupled with the warning of evangelist Shirlain Fermin and an eyewitness account of the dome's collapse, he said, "I think that is it for me after today. I quit," he said.
