Where there is No Love
A story by Simon Kahoko Mureu, Jan. 21, 2015 “It can’t be true!” Reverend Holy Word, of the Savior EL Himo sect, exclaimed in disbelief.
Only two days before, he had taken his only daughter, Jean, to hospital after she complained of stomach pain. As he replaced the receiver, the words from the hospital‘s matron continued ringing in his mind: “Jean is now a mother of a baby girl.” His daughter was barely 18 and attended a secondary school where three had given birth.
According to the teaching of the Savior EL Himo sect, of which he was the founding member, no follower could keep his daughter after she gave birth out of wedlock. In compliance, Rev. Holy Word ordered his daughter out of the homestead after picking up her and her baby-girl from the hospital.
Jean sat on a high rock only a few feet from the water dam. The blue, clear water was inviting. The sun was on its way toward the mountains for the night’s nap. Jean’s eyes were wet with tears.
On her knees lay her two-day old baby. Jean still suffered from the after-birth pains, not to mention hunger, thirst, and mental torture. Right now, she wanted to die more than anything else since her parent’s love for her seemed to have faded. She felt she had to end her problem once and for all. She could find nowhere else to take refuge. She had no one to turn to.
As she sat on the rock, she saw a movement in a nearby Acacia tree. It was a pigeon with its newborn chick. The chick had fallen from its nest and the mother was trying with all the motherly love it could muster to care for it. It was a struggle for survival.
Jean wondered why her parents failed to do the same when she had fallen.
“Why should the birds of the air take care of their young ones much more than a man who was created in the image of God?” she wondered.
Jean, still holding her baby in her hands, stood up and started walking towards the dam slowly. She just about to plunge herself and the baby into the dam when she heard noises from people who were running towards her. Among them was the grandmother who, despite her age, came running faster, exhorting Jean not to commit the evil act she was about to.
But Jean didn’t stop. She lifted her right leg and was about to jump into the dam. It was an administration policemen who reached her first.
He held the baby in one hand and held Jean’s waist in the other saying, “The law of the land in action!” Trembling all over, Jean placed her tired leg on a small volcanic rock.
Later on, the policeman detained Jean’s parents at the police station and the following morning, they were charged in the law court with negligence.
They were subsequently fined and ordered to take full parental responsibility for their daughter and granddaughter.
“But it’s me who reported the matter to the police station!” confessed Mrs. Loise Holy Word in mitigation. “As a Christian, how could I see my only daughter within seconds of death, in the name of faith?”
“I have seen the likes of you “said the judge.”Next time, the court would not hesitate to put you behind bars.”
Accordingly Jean, through struggles, had to agree to her fate. “I had to forgive my father,” she says, adding, “And I had also to forgive myself, too.”
***
We are often treated to these types of headlines in the worldwide newspapers and TV channels. “Two children burnt.” “A husband kills his wife and children.” “A father dumps his children outside the labour offices.” “A mother poisons her sibling.”
Many reasons may be advanced for these horrifying incidents but whatever they might be, it boils down to failure on the part of parents and the society in general. There is no reason whatever to abuse children in this way. Many parents lack understanding and appreciation of their call of being mindful of their children’s welfare. They have failed the society and their hands are covered with the children’s innocent blood.
A good example is when parents refuse to take children for medical attention because of their religious beliefs. It is true that faith heals, but not always. This is witnessed fact. Parents don’t have the right to force a doctrine’s teachings on their children, but rather, it is a parent’s duty to teach children the way of the Lord so that their future is not captive to harsh doctrines and other false beliefs
Parenthood is ministry. There is a call for parents to teach their children the way of Lord and when they grow they will not forsake it. It’s true if Mrs. Loise Holy Word had not brought people with her along the dam, the media could have come out with a screaming headline: “SINGLE MOTHER PLUNGES HERSELF AND DAUGHTER INTO DAM” or “DOOMED TO DEATH BY THEIR PARENTS’ BELIEF.”
Jean is not alone in this case. Many parents have destroyed the trust bestowed on them by our loving God through their evil deeds. Jean’s mother learned this the hard way, as she tried to recollect her husband to re-build their family. Most of the time, she would sing a biblical poem her mother taught her when she was still young that says:
And it shall come to pass that,
As I have seen them and watched them
To pluck up and to destroy and
To break down and to afflict,
So will I watch over them
To build and to plant.
The young people have the right to live. The society must also share in this failure and it must change its attitude for the sake of the future of our children.
The Bible says, “Do not hinder them for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” Matthew 19:14. As parents, all should dedicate their children to the Lord by teaching them the true gospel; both mothers and fathers should, as Colossians 4:17 says, “Take heed to the ministry which you have received from the Lord that you may fulfill it…” Children must be treated fairly.