The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The international community continues to mourn the passing of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8 at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom. I am taken aback that some are expressing shock that a 96-year-old has died. She was four years short of the century mark. Born in April of 1926 to the late King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, Elizabeth II's seven decades as Queen of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of nations is being touted as the longest of all the other British monarchs. To underscore the significance of her lengthy tenure, Queen Elizabeth II began her reign in 1952 --- one year prior to the formation of the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) and 15 years prior to Majority Rule and 21 years before The Bahamas achieved independence from her nation. At the time of her transition, The Bahamas, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, Papau New Guinea, St Lucia, New Zealand, Canada, Belize, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Australia were still members of the Commonwealth.

When former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham read Governor General Sir C A Smith's proclamation of King Charles III being our new monarch in Parliament Square, the response throughout The Bahamas was ho-hum to say the least. Not surprisingly, most Bahamians are grappling with high gasoline and food inflation. In Freeport, there is a group of homeless Bahamians roaming the streets begging, in addition to persistent rumours of scores destitute families living in dilapidated apartments throughout the city. There are also rumours of homeless people living in the International Bazaar. It is that bad in Freeport. Nobody wants to talk about these Bahamians who have fallen on hard times because it is too embarrassing.

Proclaiming a new British monarch means nothing to Bahamians who are debating whether to defer paying this month's rent or buying much needed groceries or trying to find a place to bathe and sleep. Queen Elizabeth II appeared to be a down-to-earth individual who connected well with those in her presence. We can celebrate her many accomplishments without forgetting the fact that during her 15 years as head of the colony between 1952 and 1967, there were no colleges or universities and only a handful of high schools in The Bahamas. Government High is where privileged Bahamians attended. Also, the Out Islands were undeveloped. It had to take a Black PLP government to right this wrong -- a pressing matter that could've been easily addressed by Buckingham Palace with a simple stroke of a pen. But I digress.

My main purpose in writing this missive is to debunk the narrative floating around on social media by doomsday prophets that the passing of Queen Elizabeth II is prophetically significant. While the queen was a prominent individual known around the globe, her death was no more significant than the deaths of the other estimated 78,000 people who died on September 8. Jesus Christ loves those homeless Grand Bahamians whom the powers-that-be are pretending do not exist just as much as He loved Queen Elizabeth II. In God's kingdom, the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

According to Bioethics Research Library, 78,000 people die each day, which works out to about 7,425 per hour or 120 per minute or 65 million per year. If there is any prophetic significance to the queen's passing, it is one more fulfilment of Hebrews 9:27, which says that it is appointed unto man once to die and after that the judgment.

All things being considered, Queen Elizabeth II has stepped into eternity. Over on the other side of death she is just, to use the words of C S Lewis in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, a daughter of Eve who will have to give an account of her life and reign to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. She will be treated no differently than the vagrants who loiter on Bay Street. As the titular head of the Anglican Church, I sincerely hope that she made the right decision in obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ before her transition, considering that she was afforded a privileged existence that the overwhelming majority of humanity can only dream of having. May her soul rest in peace.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama.

September 13, 2022.