Churches urged to do more

By MARJORIE FINKEO
CHURCHES in the country have been urged to do more to stop sorcery in communities because too many lives have been lost.
General secretary of the PNG Council of Churches Roger Joseph said the practice was sinful, anti-social and illicit. And many lives have been lost because of cult beliefs and practices.
Joseph said the council also called on the Government to allocate funds to churches to implement the Sorcery Accusation-Related Violence Strategic Plan drawn up in 2018 in Enga.
He said the practice affected the unity of families, faith of the people, and hindered development and growth socially, economically, spiritually and politically.
“Sorcery refers to all occult rituals or processes designed to influence or control the cause of nature and to dominate men to the use of supernatural powers,” he said.
The Bible opposes all forms of wizardry and sorcery (Exodus 22:18, Leviticus 19:26; 20:27 and Deuteronomy 18:10-11).
He said the Mosaic law in the Old Testament strictly forbade any contact with magic and its practitioners, not only to avoid and to destroy the abominations of the heathen, but also because it was a denial of the true function of prophecy and therefore of the way of faith.