Dear Pastor,

I greet you in God's name. I write to you with tears in my eyes. My emotions are just welling up inside. I feel like the devil is loose in my family and, sooner or later, death will be the end result.

Pastor, my brother is in his 20s and is like a thorn in our lives. He is very disrespectful and this is solely being because his mind is bad. He steals our things with no regard. When confronted, he tells us lots of expletives.

My grandmother is in her late 80s and has heart problems, and sometimes if you hear the disrespectful words he uses to her, you would break down in tears.

He uses expletives to any member of the house. Sometimes my mother cries but this does not affect him the least. My mother has high blood pressure.

Pastor, let me share an incident with you. He stole something very valuable from my mother and she cried when she could not find it. He sat there with not a care in the world. For some reason, she searched his belongings. When he realised she found it, he told her nothing but expletives. Pastor, this is his mother.

He despises me

He is 23 and yet very rebellious. He despises me and his other sibling. Sometimes, it seems as if he has a burden carrying that we don't know. He has never seen his father. He was teased a lot when he was a child. I strongly believe he is sick in his head. He needs counselling but we cannot afford it and he does not accept that he needs help. No matter what he does wrong, he does not see nor accept his wrongs. He makes life miserable for all of us so much that sometimes I pray for him to die (God forgive me).

My mother has done everything to support and school him by herself. Sometimes when we look at his face, we have to wonder what's next.

Pastor, please pray for my family. We need divine intervention because I know this is the work of the devil.

A.M.

Dear A.M.,

Your mother and other members of the family need the help of the police. He should not be allowed to steal and antagonise the family unabated.

If this man needs psychiatric help, the police should take him to see one. Please try to protect the family by reporting the matter to the police.

Pastor