Government instructs all bars to close on day of prayer

All bars and public places of entertainment will be closed on October 18, the national day of repentance, prayer and fasting.

And the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ) has called on all well-meaning Zambians to help promote reconciliation in the country by taking part in the event
Secretary to the Cabinet Roland Msiska said in a statement issued yesterday that: “All forms of entertainment nature shall be suspended during the time of fasting and prayer from 06:00 hours to 18:00 hours.”
President Lungu has declared October 18, 2015 as a day of national repentance, prayer and fasting.
Dr Msiska, in issuing guidelines in response to numerous requests from citizens and the clergy, appealed to Christians to spend time in prayer and fasting at their places of worship or churches.
“We are appealing to the clergy to lead their congregations in prayer for the nation,” he said.
Dr Msiska said President Lungu desires that people unite through prayer and fasting.

“We must unite in humbling ourselves before the most high God, in confessing our individual and national sins,” he said.
Dr Msiska said Zambians must pray to God to remove from their hearts that pride of opinion which would compel them to continue in the wrong.
“We must seek him to restore the friendship and goodwill which prevailed in former days among the people of all our provinces and tribes and save us the horrors of tribalism and disunity.
“Let our fervent prayers rise to His (God’s) throne that He would remember us in this hour, as he did our fathers in time past and preserve our peace, freedom and unity, and bless the works of our hands for generations to come,” Dr Msiska said.
President Lungu appealed to all the people of Zambia to dedicate October 18, 2015 as a solemn fast in response to the social and economic challenges.
The President has stated that as a Christian nation, the country is reminded of what God has promised in His word that: “When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
And the CCZ says all Zambians should use this day to also promote peace and unity in the country.
This is according to a pastoral letter signed by CCZ president Alfred Kalembo and CCZ general-secretary Suzanne Matale and distributed to the Council’s affiliate member organisations.
“This day will encourage us as a nation which has declared itself Christian, not to take the social and economic crisis in which we find ourselves, as a sign that God has abandoned us.
“We can still continue to thank God in all things. Even if we are badly hurt by the disrespect, poverty, a weak Kwacha, load shedding and general distress in our midst, even if we hope and pray that this Day of Repentance, Fasting, and Prayer will be part of a turnaround, of God lifting us up again, even then, we still can and should thank God, since our whole life should be a life of thanksgiving,” the letter reads in part.

ZAMBIADAILYMAIL