Pastor: Trinidad will be saved from darkness

“Trinidad will be saved!” he said as he advised all present to read the preface to the King James Version of the Holy Bible, saying, “It will change your thinking.”

Nelson recalled Jesus saying that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against His church. “The powers of darkness will be pushed back in Trinidad and Tobago. Trinidad will be saved,” he declared.

He also heaped praise on Woodbrook Pentecostal Church pastor, Apostle Turnel Nelson, saying that Nelson had exerted much influence locally and even beyond Trinidad and Tobago.

The occasion marked 41 years of ministry by Nelson and his wife Rev Joycelyn Turnel.

“Thank you for being a father to me and to all the churches we represent worldwide,” said Munroe, who heads Bahamas Faith Ministries International and whose television programme is broadcast on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) and reaches 110 countries. Munroe said he himself was one such product of Nelson. “I submitted myself to Rev Nelson over 20 years ago. Now I represent millions of people and thousands of leaders.” Among those in the audience was former president Arthur Robinson.

Saying that 1.3 billion people see and hear him every week, Munroe attributed his success to Nelson, saying “Turnel has helped a lot of people become signposts in the world.” Trinidad and Tobago, he said, should be proud of Nelson.

He presented the couple with a cheque for US$1,000 and tickets for a seven-day cruise and suggested that a street be named after him.

In his address, Munroe urged those present not to take their potential to the grave but rather to do all the things they should have done.

People should “empty” themselves by writing all the books they could write, singing all the songs they could compose, and literally pour out all the potential they had inside of them, while they are still alive. Giving his response, Nelson amused all present when he recalled how he had first seen his future wife-to-be in bible school. He said she had initially rebuffed his interest : “I didn’t come to bible school looking for a man but to study the word of God.”

Nelson also saluted the father of former president Arthur NR Robinson. She said he had been a Methodist minister who had once preached to him in their native Tobago.