PRESIDENT Edgar Lungu has dispelled perceptions that the Seventh Day Adventist Church belongs to the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND).
The Head of State who today congregated at SDA Church in Kitwe, Buchi township said he was happy that the Church themselves had made mention that he has worked with them from his inception and before.
The head of state who expressed disappointment that some Church Mother Bodies seemingly now had a political mission were fanning fights instead of mitigating them.
President Lungu re-echoed his call for unity across tribe and church denomination coining the Zambian motto ‘One Zambia, One Nation.’
He added that we are all one as we belong to the Church of Jesus Christ.
“We are one Zambia, One Nation, One Church, the Church of Jesus Christ. So whether you are Catholic, Adventist, Pentecostal or whatever denomination we are one,” the head of state said as he embraced a coat of spiritual father.
“So the idea of going into Lusaka and try to align people away from the masses will not help us. I am saying this because you are bold enough to talk about the said Church Mother Bodies who think they have a political mission to tell us what to do as government…At best they can only recommend to us but they can not order us, but you seated here can.”
He added, “We are spending too much time fighting and the church is busy encouraging us to fight.”
President Lungu said this was being done at the perception that one political grouping belongs to the Adventist, another to Pentecostal and another group to the Catholic, a situation he said should not be present.
He announced his unreserved support to the SDA as he pledged 1000 bags of cement to the Buchi congregation.
President Lungu said he had wanted to deliver this message at a time that no elections were present in the area to eliminate notions of vote buying.
“Someone had the audacity or courage to ask me, why don’t you ever congregate with the Adventist Church? I am glad you have cleared the air that we have been with you from inception,” he said.
“There is a perception that the Seventh Day Adventist belongs to the opposition UPND and I am saying this and making it very clear that this is not true! I am also aware that they say the Catholic support PF this is not true!”
He said government will support any Church as long as the Church is sincere and does not take any political sides.
“We have a Ministry responsible for Religious Affairs and National Guidance, so please feel free to approach that ministry and work with us through the ministry and tell us where we are going wrong. We are human, to error is human to accept mistakes is divine.”
This should be the last of his worries.
Thanks
BB2014,2016
At least he has mentioned the name Jesus Christ. some presidential candidates don’t
The fact is that it’s not only SDA now, even Catholic Church.
Now PF look strangers in any church.
Well said ba president. But to me these divisions can not carry weight if you as government was creating jobs, promoting business opportunities among common people, not business for politically connected & just concentrating on over pricing road contracts. A government leader needs to try ideas, needs to be innovative, not afraid to try things. Now emwe ni zee, you just sit kwati nifumu. Your lack of innovation is your biggest threat to your stay in that ka office. Even people that have never held government position or been elected to anything are a threat now. How? Why? The finger should point to you. No ideas. No clue. Just ndwiii.
The SDA Church is perhaps the least political Christian denomination in Zambia. Their clergy don’t comment on matters political and they invite no politicians to attend prayer services. The church “blesses” no politicians. Where’s this coming from? Wht does ECL want? Is he worried about his lack of influence in the SDA Church because its clergy is not asking for help from his office? Many of my relatives are Adventists so I know wht I’m talking about. Who has the perception that the SDA Church supports the UPND?
What’s wrong is with this man? This is too cheap and petit.
ECL talks well as no church is a preserve of any particular region or tribe. Zambians find themselves where they are in affiliation with different church denominations resulting from what groups of missionaries arrived at these locations/regions to pioneer the Christian religion. Let’s not forget that it holds true for all the other religious denominations. Islam has its strongest influence in eastern parts of Zambia. However the president should have denounced the “Christians for Lungu” grouping for being the genesis of dilution in what the churches stand for.
Bwana Lungu in the same spirit the ministry of religious affairs doesn’t belong in GRZ either.
He is in Kitwe he knows there are ward elections …he has no shame this man
Bwana president, the problem is that you have been on leave, now reality is catching up with you. If you are honest you would have started with the following;
What does it mean to be a christian for Lungu? In the Holy Bible there was never Christians for anybody. In the entire holy bible there are no Christians for Peter, not for Paul, note for any apostle or indeed any prophet.
All Christians in the entire world today or ever there have just been Christians. This means they are Christ-like, they follow in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their behaviour and their being is associated with that of Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore “Christians for Lungu” is a fraudulent term and should be substituted for something else Mr. Lungu’s advisors must coin.
It is ridiculous to have…
Continued
It is ridiculous to have Christians for any other person under the sun other than Christ Himself. The people who surround Lungu are a misleading lot and are here again pushing an agenda close to blasphemy.
This is sad and should not be encouraged by all who mean well for Mr. Edgar Chagwa Lungu.
Christians for lungu, while prayers in themselves are good, the premise on which they are held can make them toxic. From our survey, the prayer day has just become a Mr Edgar Chagwa Lungu’s praise worship service and not for all nationals.
PF Cadres overwhelm the masses and continue to be drunk and unruly on this day. This is one of the most degraded and politicized form of prayer ever seen.
1 zed 1 nation but why tribally inclined appointments from his side? When was the last time someone from West of the line of rail was appointed by him? Talk is cheap bwana!
Shocking!!I do not know why churches continue inviting him to speak during their services.He is encouraging divisions among christian churches by condemning some denominations,especially Catholic Bishops, during worship.The same way he has divided Zambians.He thrives on dividing people and popular institutions.The man is so insecure that he does not have a single Tonga in his Cabinet and he can talk about One Zambia One Nation!What hypocrisy!Anyway church leaders have also become very corrupt and they enjoy having him because of the so-called donations they get from his corruption.
Here is another reason why this declaration of a Christian nation is laughable…there they are Lazy Lungu and Chitotela who has pending corruption cases, he is preaching…Lazy Lungu has run away from Lusaka to come waste taxpayers money campaigning with his dull advisers!!
AMEN PRESIDO TOMORROW SUNDAY GO TO JEHOVAH WITNESS
@ mitimiti
Since 2015 tongas have directly refused to work with PF government.They hate ECL deep down their DNA.This fact is real even the attitude of UPND MPs who usually and deliberately profane their political law in August house . This clearly send a message how difficult it is for ECL to work with them. Some times write truth.Bitterness is taking you no where but leaving you in frustration.
The big question is, ‘What has ECL done for Southern province at especially at district level apart from slaughtering their cattle?’
Mr P: Are Tongas synonymous with the SDA Church? Since when? If you like reading, reach for Peter Snelson’s book EDUCATION IN NORTHERN RHODESIA UP TO 1954 and see wht this former inspector of schools in the colonial govt writes about Tongas. He writes that Tongas are the most proselytized tribe in Zambia since their province was the entry point of many missionary group. Catholics, SDAs, Anglicans, Salvation Army, Methodists, Brethren in Christ . All these opened missions, built schools and won converts among Tongas. No wonder Tongas are so well represented in the professions in Zambia. This where it comes from. Get it those of you not curious about the history of the country you govern.
Although I’m no history major, I find this subject a great help in understanding many things about Zambia and the world. I’m hard @ work reading about so many things about Zambia’s history. In fact I hv just received from the UK 2nd hand book market Guy Scott’s mother’s book THE FADING COLOUR BAR published in 1967. It has given me an insight into early influences on our former vice-president and care-taker president from the views of his mother.
@Mr.P It is the duty and responsibility of any President of this country to reconcile and unite Zambians and achieve the necessary socio-political harmony for a peaceful developing nation.That is partly why he has the constitutional provision to nominate up to eight MPs. When Mwanawasa nominated Magande to Parliament and appointed him Finance Minister, his ruling party MMD had no MPs in Southern Province.You can not tell me that ECL can not find a single qualified Tonga in the whole of Zambia to appoint to his Cabinet.What about other institutions of State:Judiciary,Parliament,Police etc.No my friend.The President is openly discriminating against a whole region for political reasons and this is not good for Zambia..By the way I am not from Southern Province but from Northern.
Is this a church building or a cow shed? What is he insinuating? He should blame the missionaries who brought these religious denominations. Most churches in Zambia are regional. CMML church is attended by Luvales and Lundas, Kaondes have Evangelical Church, many Lozis attend New Apostolical Church and United Church is attended by Bembas. It is historical and the distribution is true in every town and city in Zambia. Lungu does not understand facts but dwells of falsehood.
13th Discipline: You hv put it quite well but don’t blame the missionaries. They were facing daunting challenges in their quest to spread the faith. There were no roads to talk of in those days and travel was mostly on foot and ox-carts so they tended to be strong in some regions depending on which African coast they travelled into Northern Rhodesia from. The Salvation Army fri example, settled @ Chikankata, built a church and a hospital and converted the local people there before independence. To this day the Salvation Army is a predominantly “Tonga” church because it spread to other parts of Zambia from Chikankata. ECL has not bothered to know the country he governs.
Lusaka only became big in religious terms after the colonial govt made it the capital city in 1935. Before that Lusaka had little settlemant from other parts of the colony as it had no mining jobs, which was the main employer of African labour in those days. It was in fact part of Monze Diocese of the Catholic Church until 1965 if my recollection of the date from history is right.
Looks like the coach is now arm twisting the SDA church. And churches should not accept donations from politicians, first of all the source of those funds is questionable probably some entities seeking favours for their business. Ans second if the funds are from government, they are certainly not budgeted, more like a slush fund similar to FJT’s.
And this obsession with 2021 by the coach is a danger to good governance, economic development and debt management, and national unity.
But of course anything to do with Trib.al Hacks would be much worse. Last elections in 2016, when they were overconfident of winning: “if you can’t speak our language how are you going to work with us?” That gives you a glimpse of a Trib.al Hacks administration, which fortunately will never happen in his…
upnd cadre: one of the reasons I hv looked to reading history is in the argument you make in your posting. Where do the Tongas say they want everyone to speak their language? In fact the Tonga language should hv been the language of early-education instruction in Lusaka if the UNIP govt was fair in this issue because it was chosen to replace the Lenje language in 1967. The govt printed new local language books for early education after independence. Before the policy change many local languages were used in early education by the colonial govt, with Lenje being one of them. The govt grouped languages in closely-related groups in order to save money otherwise the education budget would hv been too big. But UNIP took Tonga only to Lenje villages and excluded it from towns in “Lenjeland”.
very true sir,
Nemwine ( alias mweene) it’s the usual thinking that is causing political hegemonies in the country especially in southern part of the nation.
If southern province was the entrance of all missionaries and colonial masters ,so what…..?
So because of that you think Zambians owes southern province presidencies…?
It’s strange that many southern UPND followers have the same belief and history indicates that Nkumbula too never well respected KK’s regime because of the same political ideology.
It’s strange too that @ nemwine you blame ECL that he didn’t nominate anyone from southern in his cabinet but majority of YOU HATE HIM beyond any measure.
Mr P: Re-read my posting. I never made the point that ECL should hv nominated a Tonga to parliament. I don’t mind being challenged, in fact I enjoy it. Southern Province was an entry point of many missionary groups not because of Tongas. It was because Northern Rhodesia was colonised by the British who had first colonised South Africa. The oldest port of getting into central Africa was Cape Town and from there they travelled inland. Even David Livingstone took this route. Nkumbula- Kaunda relationship is your fiction because Kaunda doesn’t record it in his book ” Zambia Shall be Free”. Zambia owes NO province the presidency. Don’t imagine my name is Mweene, a common Tonga name. You hv exhibited your ignorance of Zambian languages which in fact share many words, a pointer to tgeir…
Comment:That’s good pledge,1000 pockets. of cement
Mr P: U’ve exhibited a lack of knowledge of Zambian languages which in fact share many words. This is a pointer to common origin. But I know you hate to be told that many Zambian languages share many words because it pains you to know that in fact you share some words with the people you hate. This is because you think you are a cut above the rest.
President Edgar Lungu has a point for serious reflection. Conversely, the UPND President has a right to belong to any church and to meaningfuly participate in the governance of our great country of Zambia. HH must not be seen as an enemy, but a citizen who has a passion to play a role in the development of Zambia. The biggest problem is with us Christians. If we lived with all dedication and sincerity on Mathew 22:36-39, there wouldn’t be most of the challenges we are seeing today. We are lacking true love for God and others. Christianity should never be about money or vain prestige, but about serving God’s people with true love for them. We need serious repentance. God have mercy on us.
To see a well known tribalist preaching unity is the most humiliating experience for our country. Many pray for the he will confess his failures and set our country free from the shackles of self Inflicted poverty
In 2016, he used the tribal card! Looks like in 2021, he’ll be using both the tribal and church card! Has he not caused enough divisions in our country?
Church politics are more dangerous than tribal politics!
Leave the church out of dirty politics! You go to church to build and not to destroy and scatter! Moreover, Chagwa needs to understand that there is a God who rules over the affairs of men to whom he is subject! Churches should also stop giving politicians the palpit! The palpit is only for the ordained ministers! Is Chagwa ordained?
Moto: A cabinet can be balanced and still be unacceptable. You mean if ECL balances his cabinet then Zambians should forget about PF’s mismanagement? Come on think a deeper than that.
Balance your cabinet before mentioning that one Zambia one nation rubbish.
Moto: Your standard should be very low indeed. A cabinet can be balanced regionally and still be corrupt and therefore no good for Zambia. Late Chiluba had a regionally-balanced cabinet but when Zambians said no, it was no.