A Living Faith Church Zonal Cleric, Pastor Kehinde Olukunle, has blamed the increasing rate of divorce among Christians on a faulty foundation.

Olukunle spoke in an interview in Lagos on Saturday.

He advised church leaders to intensify counselling for intending couples and watch out for troubled marriages to give the right advice, to reduce the divorce rate.

“God is the foundation of marriage, He is the one that ordained marriage by himself, so until man understands that every secret of good marriage lies in God, there will continue to be divorce,’’ he said

He explained that several inexperienced marriage counsellors relied on their sense instead of the wisdom of God, adding that, marriage is a spiritual coming together of two people to become one.

The cleric called for constant training and retraining of Christians on good practises to protect the marriage institution and elevate moral values in the home and society.

Speaking on xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, the cleric commended ongoing diplomatic steps of the Federal Government to address the issue.

Olukunle called for value re-orientation from the family to the national level to ensure Nigerians embrace high moral standards both at home and abroad.

“We have several African youths that are angry with unemployment rate and with some government policies that exclude their welfare, but our leaders, both political and religious, should emphasize more on re-orientation of the mind of our youths.

“A mind that is stable will be able to absorb pressure. It is because the minds of youths are not stable anymore that they cannot absorb pressure but bring but reactionary tendencies.

“That is why we have Xenophobia in South Africa and reprisal attacks in Nigeria,’’ he said.

He appealed for sustained parents and government efforts to build the minds of children and youths for positive actions.

The cleric also appealed to the Federal Government to create an enabling environment for businesses and youths to thrive to reduce economic migration to other countries.

Olukunle earlier delivered a sermon at the wedding ceremony of Miss Akachi Aningo and Mr Ogochukwu Gareth, conducted in the Church.

He said marriage was a spiritual contract and urged wives to be submissive, while the husbands should emulate Jesus to love their wives.

The cleric said that couples must both work hard to ensure the success of marriages.

He said that skilful and godly wisdom was needed to build an effective family.

“You need to learn wisdom to build your home. You must constantly read your Bible and other books to build your home.

“Love is like fire and needs constant fueling to keep it burning. Love has a tendency of going down if not nurtured daily.

“Love is like engine lubricant in your car which must be checked and regularly monitored,’’ he said.

The cleric said that effective communication, compliments, and seeking and bringing out of the best in each other were important for the survival of marriages.

The bride’s mother, Mrs Felicia Aningo, advised the couple to always keep the third party out of their affairs to ensure their love withstood all oppositions in life.

Aningo said,

“My advice to my daughter is that she should be submissive, make her husband her father, brother and friend. They should confide in each other’’.

(NAN)