‘You can’t muzzle me’

In an unrepentant sermon on Sunday, defrocked pastor Jeffrey Shuttleworth lashed out at what appeared to be the Jamaica Baptist Union (JBU), accusing its leadership of spiritual corruption and asserting that only God could revoke his divine calling.

“They have always been trying to muzzle me, but no one can muzzle me,” Shuttleworth said from the pulpit of the Tarrant Baptist Church in St Andrew, days after the JBU stripped him of his ministerial credentials.

The JBU’s Special Assembly voted on June 11 to revoke Shuttleworth’s status as an accredited minister, effectively barring him from leading any JBU-affiliated church. The decision followed unspecified complaints and comes amid a legal dispute over ownership of the Tarrant Baptist Church property, where Shuttleworth has preached for more than 17 years.

But the embattled preacher remained unbowed.

“I’m not going to crawl up in some little corner and hide ... and shed tears and say, ‘Oh, my God! What am I going to do?’” he declared. “The devil is a liar! What you have actually done is to pour fertiliser at my foot … . What you have really done is to stir me up!”

Shuttleworth’s hour-long message, delivered to a visibly charged congregation, appeared part protest, part prophecy, yet personal. Though he did not name the JBU directly, Shuttleworth’s words were an unmistakable rejection of the union’s authority and an assertion of his spiritual independence.

“You didn’t call me, in the first place. You did not empower me, in the first place. You did not commission me, in the first place,” he said. “I have one boss and that boss is God in Christ. So only He can hire and fire.”

His sermon painted the JBU as a compromised body infiltrated by “principalities and powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places”. He repeatedly claimed that the leadership of many churches had turned against righteousness and were now fighting “against the truth”.

“If you’re not under God, you cannot instruct me,” he said. “You can instruct me outside of the church, yes; in the secular, yes, but in the house of God? You cannot instruct me – never – because you’re talking and I don’t hear you.”

The June 11 vote to revoke his credentials was nearly unanimous, with 136 JBU representatives approving a recommendation from the Accreditation Status Review Committee. The decision was outlined in a June 13 letter to members by General Secretary Reverend Merlyn Hyde Riley, citing complaints about Shuttleworth’s conduct.

Hyde Riley declined a Gleaner request for a response to Shuttleworth’s sermon.

Though Shuttleworth had argued in court that he had already withdrawn from the JBU, former JBU President Reverend Dr Glenroy Lalor said there was no record of his resignation, adding that the vote was necessary after years of failed dialogue.

“There are three ways that you remove yourself from the JBU. One is through death. The second is by resignation. And the third is by a vote. To the best of my knowledge, Reverend Shuttleworth never resigned,” Lalor said.

While the JBU has signalled an openness to reconciliation, Shuttleworth showed no interest. Instead, he positioned himself as divinely appointed and persecuted for righteousness’ sake.

“The vessel of God does not need man’s validation,” he said. “Once that man or woman of God has God’s validation, it is well.”

Shuttleworth also alleged that Freemasonry and LGBTQ acceptance had infiltrated theological spaces. He recounted an incident where he walked out of a ministerial training session led by a known Freemason who, he claimed, referred to the Bible as “a myth”.

“That’s when I decided, never again would I go to a school of ministry,” he said. “So if that makes me controversial, I am happily so, happily so,” he said.

The feud with the JBU has spilled into court, with a legal battle over ownership of the church property valued at more than $50 million. The JBU maintains that the land is held in trust under the 1969 Jamaica Baptist Union (Incorporation and Vesting) Act. Shuttleworth, however, asserts that he controls the property on behalf of his congregation. A court-ordered injunction in January blocked his attempt to register the land in his name.

Dancehall artiste Spice, whose school tour was abruptly halted earlier this year after outcry from religious leaders, including Shuttleworth, weighed in Monday on news of Shuttleworth’s defrocking.

“While you were so busy chastising, criticising and trying to publicly humiliate me, calling me promiscuous, you were falling short in your own ministry,” she wrote in a social media post, adding, “This post is simply to remind you how God works in mysterious ways.”

On Sunday, Shuttleworth closed his sermon with a rallying call to spiritual warfare, invoking Ephesians 6 to urge his followers to put on the “whole armour” of God. “This is how I fight my battle,” he said. “If you want to beat me, you have to beat me in prayer. I don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, so I don’t get in arguments. I don’t get in debates. I simply go on my knees.”

The preacher, who once led the Tarrant-Balmagie Circuit of Churches, made clear he has no plans to step away from the pulpit.

“This ministry was placed in my hand by God,” he said. “Try they will. Fail they must. For the battle is the Lord’s.”

Shuttleworth insisted he needs neither buildings nor promotion to carry out his divine assignment.

“If I’m under a bridge right now … I don’t have to put up a shingle and say come,” he declared. “No, because the Bible tells me that no man cometh to the Father except He draws them.”

Shuttleworth, known for his fiery, ultra-conservative preaching, has cultivated a loyal and independent following through his group Freedom Come Ministries – reportedly numbering over 10,000 members. The group is based at the church property, which is also home to the 27-year-old TBC Radio, where Shuttleworth is a prominent voice.

jovan.johnson@gleanerjm.com