Following Christ

What does it truely mean to follow Christ? That was the question I asked the women at Kamilulu Baptist Church this past Thurs. To follow Christ means that you will love, serve and obey God no matter what. You will be His servant and you will make Him your Lord. Every day you have a choice whether to obey God and do what He tells you to do or go off your own way and do what you want to do. In Zambia, it is easy for the women to say to follow God you have to love Him, do good, and go to church. However, when I dug a little deeper and talked to them about why people go to the witchdoctor or wear charms they immediately said those people aren't following God. Those people are in our churches though. They have to be taught that to follow Christ means to trust in Him and not the witchdoctor or in those charms. I thought you might be interested in hearing a few of the reasons why women will wear charms or put them on their babies. 1-they will put them on their babies so that when they are in the presence of another nursing mother their baby will not get sick. They believe that if their baby is not protected with a charm they will begin vomiting and having diarhea and then die. 2-they will put charms on their babies until their fontanel area in their head grows together because they believe if they don't that it will never grow together.3-the women will go to the witchdoctor to get medicine to put in their tea to make their bodies warm for their husbands or other men. If they have drunk this tea and shake hands with another man the man will know that they want to be with them by the warmth of their skin. 4- If the women will wear a certain charm around their waist they will not get pregnant. I could go on and on but won't because some may look at this and think I'm being gross or even making up these things. I just want you to know, not so you can think bad of these people but so that you can pray for them. Many don't know any better because they have never been taught. Others have been taught but when put in a difficult situation or have a sick child they turn to what their ancestors have done before them. Please pray for these women and people all over Zambia to be set free from this demonic bondage. Pray that they can trust Christ and follow Him no matter what comes along. We spent a lot of time talking about #4 above. I explained to them that anything they wear on the outside is not going to prevent them from becoming pregnant. They couldn't understand that until I explained to them how a baby came to be. Many, because they have such little education out in the rural areas, just don't know. So I not only taught them from the Bible but also gave a little health lesson too. It was a good day even though those knats were out in full force again!