Dear Pastor,

Greetings in the mighty name of our soon coming king. I would like your advice about a problem that I am having with my husband. My husband and I do not have any children, but we have raised children and some of them are adults and living abroad. And they always send things for us. One of them is a nurse and she is the kindest individual. She always makes sure we are alright and have food. My husband is a farmer and I still do a little buying and selling, so things are not so bad with us.

My husband and I have been going on for 40 years. He went and got baptised in a revivalist church. And it seems as if the mother of the church loves him. One night he told me that the mother says that I am keeping a man with him. I don't know how I did not get a stroke because I was so angry. I barked at him, and he said I must cool down because he is just telling me what she said. I told him that if he didn't believe, he wouldn't say that to me.

I told him that I do not want him to go back to 'mother' church but he is still going. He said he wants to go on fasting, because he wants to move up in the church. I went to see the mother and asked her to tell me what is the name of the man I am with, and my husband is very upset with me.

Pastor, please tell me if I am wrong.

C.I., St. Thomas

Dear C.I.,

Please do not allow what this mother is saying about you to upset you. Accept what she is saying as a big joke. You know what she told your husband is nonsense. I can understand why you believe that she loves him. If she didn't love him and didn't want to take him away from you, she probably would not have made up such story. I repeat, you should accept what she said as a joke but it is a serious accusation. She is sowing discord between your husband and yourself.

Your husband means well. He wants to go deeper in religious matters. That is why he wants to fast and is still attending that church. Don't try to prevent him from going. But don't have anything to do with the mother of that church. You know that she is a liar, and the time may come when your husband will come to realise that she cannot be trusted and will not have anything to do with her.

Pastor