By Ighomuaye Lucky. O
The general overseer and founder of God’s Greater Grace General Assembly Intl Incorporated, Benin Rev. Sunny Akenbor has warned spinsters/bachelors not to trivialize red light while courting.
He gave the warnings while speaking on the topic: “Power of choice” during the church service, tagged “Valentine Special” in Benin.
Rev. Akenbor, reading from the book of Deut. 30:19, said that God Himself has given us the ability to make choices, therefore we should choose life and live.
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live”, Deut. 30:19.
Akenbor said that every decision taken, has the ability to either lives us sorrowful all through our lifetime or happy, therefore, when choosing a life partner, one has to be very careful, look before leaping.
The founder of the church said marriage has stages, vis-a-vis dating, courtship, engagement before marriage, adding that, all the aforementioned stages must be judiciously followed to the letter.
The clergyman added that, during these stages, both persons planning to settle down, must watch out for those behaviours that have the potentials to cause harm in the relationship now and afterwards, those that could be managed, easily rectified and those that can’t be amended.
He said during a courtship and the man is seeing to be highly irritable so much so that he beats up his would-be wife at every slightest provocation, such person can possibly turns his wife into a punching bag after marriage.
He noted that such behaviour is a red light that if both couple eventually settle down, the marriage is going to be endured by the woman instead of being enjoyed, saying that, such contradicts the purpose of marriage because it is meant to be enjoyed.
He noted that while parents should not superimpose any man or woman on their children who are of marriageable age, they can always advice and pray for them so that when the chips are down, they the parents would not be blamed for their misfortunes.
He noted that the period of courtship is never the time to engage in pre-marital sex but a period for both persons to know each other’s family better.
He however enjoined young believers who want to get married to always seek the face of God for directions and not to be blindfolded by the outward beauty adding that, by so doing, they can avoid the pitfalls of King Solomon in the bible.
“King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites.
“They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites,“You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.”
“Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.
“As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
“He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molek the detestable
god of the Ammonites”,1 Kings 11:1-5.
