CATHOLIC Archdiocese of Ndola Chief shepherd Benjamin Phiri has warned congregants against wearing charms in church which are meant to lure the opposite gender into sinning after church.
In his homily yesterday, Archbishop Phiri stated that those who are in the habit of attracting the opposite gender with their charms while in church should leave their charms at home as a church is a house of God which requires respect.
The Bishop said he gets saddened when congregants fail to concentrate on the word of God in church simply because there are charms tempting them to go and sin with the opposite gender after church.
“You are given an opportunity to be in front, in church, you are just looking at someone to charm so you can go and make them sin after church. Please, don’t wear your charms at church, leave them at home because God cannot be charmed,” preached Archbishop Phiri.
Bishop Phiri told the congregants that it was their duty to follow and rescue those who are living in sin.
“We must be better in the manner that we live our spiritual lives. Christian life does not begin in the church, it begins with the quality of our Christianity at home.”
“Let us rescue those who need to be rescued, don’t laugh at them. It’s our duty to follow them and help them. Let them find strength in us,” he preached.
Meanwhile, the chief shepherd of Ndola also cautioned parents against spoiling their children by allowing them to do whatever they want.
Archbishop Phiri stated that parents who do not reprimand their children will end up attending their own children’s burial before their time.
“We have a duty in the community to give good examples to others even to our children. Some of us think that by allowing our children to do everything they want that means we are loving them more. I don’t want my children to go through what I went through. But you are what you are today because of what you went through. So you want your child to grow up, just a spoiled brat?”
“He will not reach where you are, you will probably be a witness because you will bury your child before you die yourself. We must be able to give instructions to our children,” said the Bishop.
He added that children must also be guided that any adult can reprimand them when they are wrong.
“As a society, as a community we have some of these children nowadays whom when corrected by an adult they will say you are not my mother so you can’t tell me what to do. I can do what I like. That child is in danger. At any small problem, they give up. They grow up without a backbone.”
“A child fails an exam in grade seven they take their life, because ‘I have failed an exam’. what kind of living is that, even animals don’t do that. It’s my body, I can do what I want, really? It’s our responsibility to reprimand our children,” said Archbishop Phiri.
By Catherine Pule
Kalemba, November 18, 2024
