Issue 2 | Gawdess Regime

Murder, she wrote.

Minister Clifford Anderson

It is expedient that I write this issue for two reasons. The first being the illumination of truth that serves to set someone, anyone free; and the second reason is premised on the first. In order for justice to be served truth must first be revealed. I write this because I want the truth out there and I want justice served for the victim and his loved ones. I write this because the victim himself wants the truth out there. I use this issue to state what I know to be true with the assistance of the Holy Spirit who leads me into all truth (John 16:13). It is true that I had my suspicions when I first heard that this man, Minister Clifford Anderson, that I met at a local church was stricken with an unknown illness that caused him to be hospitalized. Doctors were stumped as to what was causing the incessant vomiting and diarrhea. What started as a “stomach ache” quickly turned into a diagnosis that I honestly don’t remember what I was told by a secondary source. I was prohibited from visiting him in the hospital due to the severe nature of his illness. Whatever the ailment was caused a prolific growth of a protein that should not be and is not regularly produced at such a rapid pace. It wasn’t deemed to be cancer. Or if it were it was definitely a rare form of cancer. The prognosis was unclear and those of faith who loved him were hopeful that he would make a speedy recovery. Many prayers and well-wishes were sent with this heartfelt sentiment. We did not think that it was a terminal illness.

Unfortunately, it was fatal. He never made it home. He was gone in less than sixty days. That’s when my suspicions grew, but I did not pry or probe because I refused to believe that my premonitions could be true. I did not want them to be true. It was easier to digest that he passed from the natural human affliction of sickness and disease like most people do. As sad as it was to see him go out like that it was more palatable and digestible than to conceive and believe that it could be murder. I went to the wake. I did not attend the funeral, however. If I recall correctly his funeral was the day before my 34th birthday. I think attending the wake and seeing him in the casket moved me in a way that I did not imagine would result in what was to come. Seeing his wife suffer with grief and his children looking dismayed, sorrowful, and uncertain broke my heart. I had to distance myself from it all. I knew that the church community would never be the same. He played a vital role. He was a vibrant man. His love for God was resonant and inspiring.

The intuitive hunch I had was dismissed and eventually subsided as I no longer attended the church or communicated with anyone who would bring him up in conversation. But that changed in the summer of 2022. Minister Clifford Anderson (Min. Cliff) came back to mind without external triggers. This man of God, Min. Cliff, was the Lord’s delight. The Father himself loves this man (John 16:27). For the most part he was an easy-going, jovial man with a beautiful smile. He was unequivocally a man of good character, of good report, and of unwavering service. He served his country, his family, and his church. He was a sincere servant of God, first and foremost. He was humble before the Lord and dutiful when it came to his appointed ministry in the local church and the community at large. He was faithful and disciplined. A man who was loyal to the cause and mission of Christ. A true Man of God.

Motive - Cain & Abel

Who would want to kill this faithful servant of God, and why? Using my gift of discernment I detect the spirit of Cain at play. We know why Cain killed Abel: envy and jealousy —to eliminate the competition. He killed him because he could. He had the opportunity and he is an opportunist. He killed his brother because he felt entitled to receive the recognition that Abel was getting from the most High. Abel was perceived to be the stumbling block in the way of that. I suppose that in Cain’s mind he was taking care of the problem and not necessarily committing an offence per se to God. Audaciously, Cain presumably felt like God offended him by wanting, receiving, accepting, and honouring another person’s offering in the first place. Cain is jealously selfish. Cain wants all the attention, adulation, and of course, all the offerings to himself.

Original story found in Genesis 4:1-16

Hebrews 11:4__¨By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaks.¨

1 John 3:12__¨Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore he slew him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother, righteous.

Circumstantial Evidence

Here is where and why I had my suspicions. I testify of this particular event not to falsely accuse anyone, but to share what I know and experienced firsthand. I don’t remember the exact day, but it was around springtime in 2017 because I remember wanting to have an easter egg hunt for the children of the same church that Min. Cliff and I attended. At the time I was running a small candy and sweet treats business and would sell my products after service on Sundays. I didn’t think or know it was a problem to sell candy in the church because no one explicitly informed me that there was an issue, and no one asked me to cease from operating in this manner. There were other people selling things too. I wouldn’t consider it a marketplace. There was one or two other vendors who had been doing their thing long before my entrepreneurial spirit revealed itself. I hypothesize that the issue was that I just started selling without the permission of the pastor, and didn’t break him off any of the profit. Of course I wasn’t making much money. It was just candy. Adults seldom eat candy and the children who was the targeted demographic would need money from the adults to buy. No one was spending more than $2 to $5. If I made $50 that was a lucrative day. I did not ascertain that the pastor had a gripe or an axe to grind, but I did sense contempt and didn’t know where it was stemming from or what triggered it in the first place. The pastor was very passive-aggressive to say the least. One day I had an impromptu meeting with him in his office to discuss the easter egg hunt that I was organizing. I honestly do not remember all the details of the entire conversation because it has been years. But like Maya Angelou said, ¨we oftentimes don’t remember what people say or do, but we remember how they make us feel”.That could not be more true in this case. I still can’t shake the ominous feeling that came over me in the office that day so I will try my best to convey what was felt in that moment into words, and also share the words that I do remember the pastor expressing. Those are words that now haunt me. The pastor made a statement that sounded like a dare— more like a threat. Those words, I purport, were the building blocks to the premeditated murder.

The pastor basically told me that the easter egg hunt was not going to happen and that I need to stop selling in his church. He proceeded with what I can only assume was a Freudian slip. He said something in patois to the effect: “…hmm and the one Cliff, he’s a next one. Selling tickets to an outside event in my church, taking my money. All that too has to stop. There can only be one leader, one head. Anything more is a two-headed monster…” That was the last time I met with that man. The meeting was brief, awkward, and off-putting. I sent written correspondence to the congregation calling attention to the unscrupulous actions of the pastor without mentioning the uncomfortable encounter in his office. I pointed out that it is not the will of God to take from the poor and needy as I witnessed the pastor doing. The communication was not received well. I was asked to not return to the church after that. The next time I saw the pastor was at the wake for Min. Cliff and another time I believe in 2020 when I popped up to show that I am still alive and well considering the death spells that he had casted. I introduced my business the “Gawdess Regime” by bringing samples of my products to share and proudly wearing a t-shirt with my business logo. It was a subliminal message that no one picked up on including myself. I would not have guessed in a million years that I would be called on and used to bring light to this unfortunate situation. My Lord is wise and all-knowing. Leaving dots for us to make the right connections later —to make the right corrections, and to take the right course of action before divine intervention. It is called grace and mercy.

Judgment

God is merciful, full of compassion, and long-suffering. And my Lord proved this to me in this case. I was engaged to a young man. We lived together for about 18 months around 2007 and 2008. We both attended the same church as Min. Cliff, and as the alleged suspect during that time. Things were copasetic at the time. One night, however, my fiancé had a troublesome dream. He shared it with me as soon as he woke up as if it felt too real to him. He was flustered in appearance and emphatic in his description. He said he saw what looked like military helicopters circling in the sky. He said that when the helicopters landed soldiers jumped out holding big military-type weapons. They were running, according to him, towards something or someone. There was a deep sense of urgency in his voice as he described the details he remembered. He seemed frightened, disturbed, and rattled. But the key thing that stood out the most in the dream is the presence of the pastor of the church we all attended. That was the only familiar face in his dream. The pastor, he said, was dressed as a soldier, too, but was not holding a weapon. He was apprehended and taken into one of the helicopters. He was being detained in the helicopter. This is what I remember him sharing with me. It was not my dream, and I don’t want to misconstrue what was downloaded to him. I share this as an attestation because I encouraged him to tell the pastor the dream he had in good faith. We both concurred that the dream was one of warning. The church was fairly new at the time and we knew that spiritual warfare is a real thing. We wanted to give him a heads up just in case this was a spiritual “attack of the enemy” as the church rhetoric goes. The pastor wasn’t impressed at all. He was not shocked, stunned, or startled as my fiancé was. He actually was nonchalant and a bit smug with his attitude. I could feel the arrogance because I was there when my fiancé at the time shared the dream with him. I postulate that it was as if he wanted to say “how dare you think your dreams about me are prophetic when I am the real and only prophet here?” That was in 2008. Ten years prior to the year that Min. Cliff died. Look at God!

Judgment has already been deliberated in spiritual court. With the exhumation of the body and a thorough forensic examination of the remains it could be found and proven that Minister Clifford Anderson was poisoned either by food or drink sometime between the latter part of July and early August of 2018. This would confirm that his cause of death is no accident but a homicide.

This is an accurate recollection, documentation, and attestation of what I know to be true and have personally experienced as it pertains to this case. May it be taken as empirical and/or circumstantial evidence sufficient to prompt an investigation. May all glory be to the Most High God of Israel in Jesus name. And may the spirit of Minister Clifford Anderson finally find peaceful rest. Amen.