Founder, Divine Faith Evangelical Mission International, Prophet Joseph Igbodo, has urged widows to ensure education and moral upbringing of their children.
Igbodo gave the advice during the mission’s monthly outreach programme at Believers Gospel Church, Ile Quarters, Umunede in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State.
He said bringing the children up in the fear of God and giving them good education were the best legacies that they could give their children.
The cleric, who is also the Proprietor of Job’s Orphanage and Saint Stephen’s Trust Widows’ Home, Agbor, condemned the maltreatment meted out on widows by some families of their late husbands.
Saying that the practice was dehumanising, thus making them vulnerable in the society, Igbodo, however, said God loved widows and orphans in a special way.
He encouraged the women not to be weighed down by the death of their bread winners, saying that God would protect and provide for them.
The cleric also advised the widows to abhor sinful acts and idolatry, which could attract the wrath of God.
He urged them to distance themselves from false prophets and fake pastors, who would want to take advantage of them owing to their vulnerability.
Igbodo, who did not exonerate some of the widows from being responsible for the death of their husbands, said men should abstain from extra-marital affairs, which could engender several consequences, leading to untimely death.
He said that they should also check their health status regularly, while pursuing things of life.
The clergyman prayed for forgiveness for those who had hand in the death of their husbands and urged them to repent of their evil ways and be reconciled with God.He appealed to the families of the women’s late husbands to show them love and care rather than denying them access to their husbands’ property.
Igbodo also urged grown-up children, who had lost their fathers, to take care of their mothers who took pains to bring them up.
He said that the advice had become necessary, as many were known to have abandoned their mothers.
Meanwhile, the over 300 widows invited to the monthly outreach programme smiled home the items, such as rice, noodles, salt, biscuits, fruit juice packs and toiletries distributed to them by the clergyman.
Igbodo urged public-spirited individuals and organisations, who would want to identify with his ministry’s Home, to reach out to him, assuring that any donation made would be for the advancement of the work of God and humanity.