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BY STEVEN JACKSON Observer staff reporter [email protected]

Friday, April 15, 2011

 

WHITE reggae artistes are many times more serious about their craft than their Jamaican counterparts which results in lost earnings for the country’s music industry, stated Dr Omar Davies, opposition spokesperson of finance.

Unruly local artistes become a threat to overseas governments and promoters who choose foreigners to fill festivals, stated Davies.

 

GENTLEMAN… has been charting on iTunes for some time while home-grownacts are noticeably missing.

GENTLEMAN… has been charting on iTunes for some time while home-grownacts are noticeably missing. 1/2

“A lot of white musicians are taking the music seriously. Listen to Gentleman and the Matisyahu they are taking the music seriously and we need to do the same,” stated Davies who responded to a question about the earning potential of the creative economy while addressing a recent People’s National Party Youth Organisation meeting at University of West Indies.

The Creative Economy Report 2010 published by the United Nations stated the Jamaican government needs to focus on reggae, film and other creative services to grow the ailing economy. It added that structured policy would provide jobs and allow the island to earn a larger global share of revenues related to music forms it birthed.

Davies reasoned that too many local “rebel” artistes promote hype and hurt which lacks international appeal and ‘saleability’.

“The earning potential for music is great, but you have to segment the artistes yearning to be big down here versus big where it matters most. In Europe conscious reggae is big. Too much attention of our young artistes is focused on anti-gay lyrics and so forth,” Davies explained.

The two most popular local based deejays Mavado and Vybz Kartel are absent from the international charts including iTunes. Comparatively Gentleman has been charting in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg, the UK and Sweden whilst Matisyahu charts in the US on iTunes (reggae album charts) described as the largest Internet music store by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) which represents the music industry.

“A lot of the industry is built up on rebels. There is nothing wrong with singing about rebellion but it’s a business, and you are expected to abide by the rules. But the culture has (lauded) rebels,” he stated.

Currently no top tier deejay has a US visa which translates into lost earnings in the largest music market. In April 2010 top dancehall deejays Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Mavado, Aidonia, along with veteran selector, Ricky Trooper, had their visas revoked by the US Embassy. Airlines were advised accordingly of the revocation. The artistes themselves claim they had no knowledge that such a move was afoot and the US embassy offered no comment following the incident. Previously, Busy Signal and Sizzla had their visa’s revoked. Additionally, deejay Buju Banton is currently awaiting sentencing for drug conventions.

“The local music industry is anti-establishment by definition which affects its ability to become formalised, he stated.

“But there is need for structure. For instance, when you are booked for a show. You must show. If you are given an advance you are to come,” he said.

 

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Omar-Davies-chides-local-entertainment-industry_8671457#ixzz1JcLIatcc

Vengeance Belongs to the Lord
Since we have opened up this website almost 6 years ago, we have received some very intense and gut-wrenching testimonies from people who have been struck by nothing but pure evil.
We obviously cannot release any names or actual details due to the very personal nature of these types of testimonies, but we have received numerous testimonies of women being raped, along with the other side where some men are serving serious jail time for rapes they had never committed. We have also received gut-wrenching testimonies of murders, suicides, robberies, muggings and incest, along with women being physically abused in their marriages or in their dating relationships with other men.
All you have to do is watch the local daily news and it is just one horror story after another with all of the evil crimes being committed against good, God-fearing people by evil criminals. How any parent can handle the extreme pain and trauma of their daughter or son being abducted, raped and killed by many of the sexual predators who are still roaming free on our streets today is beyond me. This has to be an extremely, excruciating pain that is beyond anything most of us could ever imagine in this life – to lose one of your own flesh-and-blood children to nothing but pure evil.
When you begin to see pure evil like this occur every single day across this world, you can begin to understand why God would allow such a place like hell to exist. The mental and emotional damage and scarring that is done to many who have been the victims of evil crimes can be extremely severe, and for some, they will never fully recover or come all of the way out it due the extreme pain, grief and sorrow they now find themselves in.
In the Psychological Issues Section of our site, we have an article titled, “How to Handle Negative Feelings When Wronged by Someone Else.” If there are any of you out there who have been the victim of some kind of evil crime, or some kind of bad, abusive act by another, we would highly recommend that you go to this article and read the commentary and verses we have on this topic.
God the Father, through the power of the Holy Spirit, can help heal you on the inside so you can get on with your life, along with helping you to heal from some of the extreme mental and emotional pain you may be experiencing. The Holy Spirit is the Master Surgeon, and He can get down deep to where that pain is actually located at and help heal you so that pain does not drag you any further down into major depression and despair.
However, what I want to do with this article is to delve a little deeper into one part that will be a part of your healing process with the Lord if you have been the victim of a bad crime or any type of heavier wrong from another person. And this one issue is on the feeling you will have right at the outset if you have been the victim of a vicious wrong – and that one feeling will be the extreme desire you will have to want to get even with the person who has hurt you.
When you are first struck by pure evil from another individual, your first natural response may be to want to try and get even – to try and pay back the other person with the same thing they have just done to you. If someone has just abducted and killed one of your children, you will have the initial desire to want to kill them dead just like they have done to your child. You will want an eye-for-an-eye and a tooth-for-a-tooth type judgment to hit them very quickly.
However, if you are a true, born-again Christian, you will know that justice, vengeance, and payback in this life belongs to the Lord, not to us. You thus will have to work within the criminal justice system if an actual crime has been committed against either you or a close loved one. You will not be able to take the law into your own hands and try to kill or hurt this other person, even though your flesh will be screaming out for you to try and do it.
Over the years I have talked with several men on this topic, and many of them have told me that if anyone would ever seriously hurt or kill one of their own family members, they would have no problems in taking the law into their own hands and attempt to kill that other person. They told me they did not care if they ever got caught and then had to spend the rest of their lives in prison. They said the anger they would have would be so severe, they would not be able to let the matter go into God’s hands or the criminal justice system.
I then tried to explain to some of them that they could not do this with the verses I will give you in this article, but many of them would still not listen or be persuaded by what the Bible has to say about us taking any type of revenge on another person for a wrong they have committed against us. They felt they would be operating under a blind rage and would not be able to control it. And we have seen this happen many times over the years, with parents or close friends taking the law into their own hands and killing the other person who had committed the crime against either them or one of their close loved ones.
For all of the people who have been the victims of past crimes, and for all of those who may be the victims of any kind of a crime in the future, study the Scripture verses we have listed in this article very, very carefully. All of these very powerful verses will show you that all vengeance and payback in this life belongs to the Lord, not to us. And this will also include any of your close friends or family members who may want to try and get even for you if you have been the victim of an evil crime.
The first thing you must do if you have been the victim of a heavy, evil wrong is that you must first step back and look at the big picture. The big picture will tell you two very important things:
One, there is a God in heaven who will eventually be judging every single person who is walking on this earth for every single thing they have ever done or said in this life, which will also include any vicious, evil wrong they may have committed against you.

And two, every single person will eventually be dying and leaving this earth. And when they do, they will all be facing God Almighty Himself for the above judgment – with absolutely no exceptions!
So the first thing you must do if you have been seriously wronged by another person is to really grab a hold of this reality and believe it because our Bible tells us so. You cannot attempt to take the law into your own hands and try to seek your own brand of justice.
If God is going to be the final judge on all matters, then this means He will be executing full and final justice for everyone who has been seriously hurt and wronged in this life by another person if that person has not had this sin confessed out and forgiven by Him before they die and cross over to meet Him face to face. God Himself will be evening out all of the scores when everything is all said and done.
If you try and seek your own brand of justice on another person for an evil wrong they have committed against you, then you yourself will eventually be judged by God for the evil act you will commit against this person as a matter of personal revenge. And this is NOT a place you want to be in with the Lord.
If you are a true, born-again, fully surrendered Christian, then you have to be willing to do things God’s way in this life, not your way. And seeking your own personal vengeance on someone for what they have done to either you or a close loved one is not one of God’s ways for your life as will be shown to you in the following verses.
THE SCRIPTURE VERSES

Study the verses I will now give you very, very carefully if you ever find yourself being tempted to want to take personal vengeance on someone for what they have personally done to you. You do not want to push the envelope with the Lord on this issue and take your chances that He will not render any kind of personal judgment against you.
These types of verses are very, very serious and they all should be interpreted very literally. God is meaning exactly what He is saying in each one of these powerful verses.
I believe if you really think about and meditate on these very powerful verses, they will help you get a real grip on what you are dealing with, along with helping to keep you from wanting to take any kind of personal revenge on the person who has wronged either you or any one of your close loved ones.
It is very easy to forget what these kinds of verses are telling us to do once we have been thrown into a real fire-storm. But these verses will show us how the big picture is all set up with the Lord, along with being a constant reminder as we journey through the storms of this life, that God still has everything under His full control, and sooner or later the person who has wronged you will have to face God Almighty Himself for their own personal judgment.
1. Righteousness and Justice Are the Foundation of God’s Throne

So you know that God is not going to let the matter go if you have been the victim of an evil crime, these first set of verses are going to tell you that righteousness and justice are the actual foundations of God’s throne.
And when God gives us revelation from His Word that His throne has righteousness and justice as part of His actual foundations, then you know He is giving all of us a major, key piece of revelation that we can rely on and bank on if someone has seriously wronged us in this life.
Here are 5 extremely powerful verses giving us this key piece of revelation from the Lord. Burn these verses into your memory banks if you are ever forced to deal with any kind of a heavy, evil wrong in this life.
“You have a mighty arm; strong is Your hand, and high is Your right hand. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne …” (Psalm 89:13)

“The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.” (Psalm 103:6)

“Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. A fire goes before Him, and burns up His enemies round about. His lightnings light the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord … For You, Lord, are most high above all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods.” (Psalm 97: 2,9)

“The Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works.” (Psalm 145:17)

“For I proclaim the name of the Lord: ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock, His work is perfect: for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He.” (Deuteronomy 32:3)
Notice the second verse is telling us that God the Father will actually execute righteousness and justice for everyone who gets oppressed in this life. And if you have been the victim of an evil crime or some kind of bad, abusive act from another, then you have been oppressed, and sooner or later God will execute some type of judgment on the person who has hurt you.
This is why you can let the matter of any type of personal revenge fully go into the hands of God – because God will now fully handle this bad person who has hurt you. God will now be your personal Judge and Jury, along with being the actual Executioner if this person ends up getting thrown into hell for all of eternity for what evil they have done to you and others in their lives.
2. The Eyes of the Lord Are in Every Place

The next key piece of revelation you will need from the Lord is that His eyes are literally in every single place, watching every single person on this earth, along with watching every single thing they are doing minute by minute. Absolutely nothing will escape God’s eye and attention, which will include any evil act they may commit against you.
Here are three more powerful verses to add to the ones just listed above.
“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and good.” (Proverbs 15:3)

“For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes.” (Jeremiah 16:17)

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:13)
Notice the second verse is telling you that all of a person’s iniquities will not be hidden from the Lord. The last verse then puts the icing on this cake when it tells us that absolutely no creature will be hidden from God’s sight, and everything that a person has done in this life will be naked and fully open to the eyes of the Lord.
Evil criminals may think they are getting away with cold-blooded murder in this life, but sooner or later they will all face God Almighty Himself for all of their evil acts – and that is where true, full and final justice will be rendered on what evil they have done to others in this life.
Again, if you have been the victim of a heavy, evil wrong in this life, just realize and believe that God will sooner or later have their hide, and that a full, final and just verdict will be rendered against them by the Lord for all of the evil acts they have committed against others in this life.
3. God Shows Personal Favoritism to No Man

Three more good verses to add into all of this are the ones that will show us that God the Father will show no personal favoritism to any man and any woman. This means that every single person will end up receiving a fair, final and just judgment from the Lord for any evil acts they have committed against another person.
Here are three very powerful verses that will show us that God the Father will judge all people without any type of partiality.
“… God shows personal favoritism to no man …” (Galatians 2:6)

“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work …” (1 Peter 1:17)

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.” (Deuteronomy 10:17)
The last verse tells us that not only will God judge all people without any type of partiality, but He also will not be able to be bribed by anyone.
How many times have we seen an evil criminal get off scot-free or with a light jail sentence, all because a jury had been tampered with, or a judge bought out by his friends in high places? We have seen this occur many times in trials involving organized crime. But again, if they end up getting off down here as a result of a bribe, they will not be able to do this with the Lord once they meet Him face-to-face for their own personal judgment.
So if by chance an evil criminal who has hurt you gets off scot-free due to some problems and technicalities within the criminal justice system, realize that God will eventually get to them on the other side. And this time, there will be no mixups, problems, technicalities, or bribes that will be able to get them off with the Lord.
Again, this is why you can fully let go of any evil inflicted upon you by another person, as they will eventually be facing the Lord for their own personal judgment once they die, cross over and meet Him face-to-face.
4. God Will Not Strive With a Man Forever

Two other verses you will need to have on this topic are the verses where the Lord will not strive with a man forever. What this means is that God will strive after someone for a certain length of time. But if after that certain length of time, the person is still refusing to listen to what the Lord is trying to show them, then God will quit striving after them and from there, He could then move to render some type of personal judgment against them.
If someone has hurt you or is continuing to hurt you, and at the same time, God is striving after them trying to show them the errors of their ways, then sooner or later God will quit striving after them if they refuse to listen to the convictions of the Holy Spirit. And once God quits striving after them, then some type of personal judgment could be waiting for them right around the corner – either in this life or the next life to come.
If any unbeliever has hurt you in some way in this life, you will need to forgive them and pray for their salvation so they do not end up going to hell when they die and cross over. If another Christian is the one who is hurting you, again, you will need to forgive them, and then ask God to make a move on them so He can try and get them straightened out with what they are doing to either you or some of the other people in their lives.
But if they refuse to straighten out and change their bad behavior and evil ways, then rest assured that God will eventually have the appropriate judgment rendered against them once they die, cross over and meet Him face-to-face.
Here are two very bone-chilling verses that will show us that God will not strive with a man forever.
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever.” (Psalm 103:8)

And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh …” (Genesis 6:3)
These two verses are showing us why we should all pray for our enemies and for those who have hurt us in the past. If a person has hurt you in your past, then chances are they are hurting other people in their present with the same kind of behavior.
To know that God will not strive after a man forever means that some of these people could end up in the most horrible place imaginable after they die and cross over.
5. Vengeance Belongs to the Lord – Not to Us

These last set of verses are now the ones that will be showing us that any type of personal vengeance in this life belongs to the Lord, not to us.
If you have been the victim of any type of evil crime in this life, really study and meditate on these next set of verses. These verses should all be interpreted very literally, as God is meaning exactly what He is saying in these verses. Again, these are extremely, bone-chilling verses for anyone who is committing any type of evil acts in this life.
These verses in particular will show you why you can fully trust God to avenge you in this life for any evil committed against you by another person.
Also notice in the very first verse that it starts out with the wording “repay no one evil for evil.” This is a direct Word from God in that He does not want any of us trying to repay someone who has hurt us with another evil act on our part. In other words, God does not want any of us to try and get revenge on someone for what they may have done to us, as He says in this verse that vengeance and payback belongs to Him, and Him alone.
Here are 7 extremely, powerful verses that will put the icing on this entire cake showing us that all justice, vengeance, and payback in this life belongs to the Lord, not to us.
“Repay no one evil for evil … live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves … for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore if your enemy hungers, feed him; if he thirsts, give him a drink … Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21)

“God is jealous, and the Lord avenges; the Lord avenges and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries, and reserves wrath for His enemies; the Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.” (Nahum 1:2-3)

“The Lord is known by the judgment He executes, the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands” (Psalm 9:16)

“… And He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.” (Deuteronomy 7:9)

“Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him.” (Nahum 1:6)

“The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up.” (1 Samuel 2:6-7)

“You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.” (Psalm 5:6)
These verses need no interpretation. God is speaking as plainly as He can. As such, there should be no God-fearing Christian who should attempt to take the law into their own hands and try to get even with another person who has severely wronged them in this life.
Notice the following key phrases in the above verses:
Repay no one evil for evil
Do not avenge yourselves
“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord
The Lord avenges
The Lord will take vengeance on His adversaries
The Lord is known by the judgment He executes
He repays those who hate Him to their face
Overcome evil with good
If you have been the victim of an evil crime, let God work within the criminal justice system if that is how He will want to work things out. But if by chance the criminal escapes the criminal justice system, then have full faith and belief in God that He will eventually be judging them on the other side once they die, cross over and meet Him face-to-face.
All of the above powerful verses will show you that God Himself will be personally avenging you for any wrongs done to you in this life by another person if those sins are not confessed out and forgiven by Him before they die and cross over.
CONCLUSION

As we have explained in our article, “Trials and Tribulations – The Testing of your Faith,” until Jesus comes back down to rule our entire earth from the city of Jerusalem, we are all going to be stuck with demons and bad and evil people trying to inflict harm on as many people as they can. And some of these people are going to be Christians.
Again, if any of you have been the victim of any kind of an evil crime or a heavier type of wrong, be guided by the Lord as to exactly how to handle the situation. We have plenty of good articles in our Spiritual Warfare section that will show you that God the Father has a war side to His personality and that He will not hesitate to go into battle for you.
But what we wanted to point out to you in this article is that all vengeance, payback and justice in this life belongs to the Lord – it does not belong to us. As such, God does not want any of us trying to seek our own brand of justice on someone for what evil they may have done to us. However, this does not mean you cannot properly defend yourself and work with the Lord’s guidance on exactly how to handle a bad situation. But what He does not want any of us doing is trying to repay evil with another evil act on our part.
If your husband is physically abusing you, God will not want you to try and kill him like we have seen so many times with some women snapping and blowing their husband’s brains out. God will give you a different type of strategy to deal with your husband if he is abusing you, and you will need to follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit on how to end this type of evil once and for all.
If someone has just raped your daughter, then you will need to work with God and the criminal justice system to get this man properly prosecuted. You will not be authorized by God to take this man’s life, even though your emotions will want to try and do it.
Remember – God, as a Man of War, will know exactly how to handle each one of these types of evil situations and your job will be to do exactly what He leads you to do – no more and no less.
Try to do it your way, especially in the area of wanting to inflict some type of bodily harm on the person who has hurt you, and you could get yourself not only in major trouble with the law, but with God Himself, as He has told us in the above verses in no uncertain terms that He does not want any of us to try and avenge ourselves in this life.
Once again, God has given us some major insight and revelation from His Word on how to handle some of the evil that will strike many of us in this life.
With all of the evil crimes still being committed against so many people in this day and age, we really need to be guided by the Lord on exactly how to handle some of these types of extreme situations so we do not end up getting ourselves into major trouble with both Him and the laws of our society.

The man in this photo below has been begging from passing motorists at the top of Waterloo & Shortwood Roads intersection in recent weeks.
He spat on a staff member who was waiting for the lights to change. The window being only slightly open did not prevent him finding his target.
The attack was entirely unprovoked, and was preceded by, and followed by, vulgar verbal abuse

From: @DougiePlatinum
Sent: Apr 15, 2011 6:54a

Something must be wrong with me! I’m playing with my Nipples for no reason at all!

sent via ÜberSocial
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/DougiePlatinum/status/58845764595613698

DEM SEH YUH BUS PIECE PAN QQ N HIM A DUS 16…PAMPY COME YAH DEHHHHHH