Times Of Swaziland: THROUGH SPIRITUAL EYES THROUGH SPIRITUAL EYES ================================================================================ The Editor on 04/12/2019 01:14:00 Sir, Accept that God can give us an intervention that will reverse and restore a severely compromised immune system supernaturally or scientifically. “And you will serve the Lord your God and He will bless your bread, and your water, and I will take sickness away from the midst of you” (Exodus 23:25-26, NLT). Believe mutually faithful husbands and wives are God’s prevention against HIV/AIDS, for God says; “Honor marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband.” God draws a firm line against casual and illicit sex. Consider that your body belongs to God and is extremely valuable, because it is created with the same dignity as that of our Master. Sex Sex is a gift from God and must be enjoyed within the bounds of marriage for in the beginning God made them male and female and ‘for this cause a man shall leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife and the two shall become one flesh’. God can give us an intervention against HIV/AIDS as He has done with other communicable diseases such as syphilis, malaria, etc because of who He is. Whereas we seek a cure for HIV/AIDS God has given us the prevention and ‘prevention is better than cure’. Husbands and wives should remain mutually faithful and the youth delay their sexual debut until marriage. Intention Obviously, God’s original intention is sex between husband and wife (man and a woman) in the context of Holy Matrimony. However, HIV can be transmitted by other mediums such as breast-feeding (HIV+ mother) contaminated blood transfusion etc, but these are exceptions, not the rule. Sex remains the primary channel for the transmission of HIV and more specifically the prevalence of multiple concurrent partners (MCRs). Honestly, God’s ways are not easy, but they are simple. Be not ashamed. Know in whom you have believed and be persuaded that He will keep that which you have committed to Him. Remember God’s promise; “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled,” Heb. 13:4. Unfortunately, there are spouses who are HIV positive yet were not unfaithful. There are babies who are HIV positive yet have never had sex. innocent It is for and because of these innocent we implore God on our knees; to give us an intervention against HIV/AIDS. Nonetheless, we thank God for the ARVs that are working if and when taken religiously and for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMCT) and other interventions that are working. Last but not least, we thank government and NGOs for their monumental effort and work they put in the drive fighting against this scourge. We thank His Majesty for his 2022 vision which includes an HIV/AIDS-free country. At the end of it all ‘at the heart of man’s problems is the problem of man’s heart’. However, issues of the heart (repentance) are the mandate of the church. R Marais