Clergies leading the public in the National Day of Prayer on Friday spoke out against vices that  they say are eroding the fabric of the society in South Sudan.

Two prominent religious leaders gave sermons that focus on repentance, forgiveness, healing, reconciliation, and restoration of peace in the country.

Bishop Dr. Isaiah Majok Dau of the Pentecostal Church and Archbishop Paulino Lokudu Loro of the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba were both “blunt and plain” with their remarks.

They called on the people of South Sudan to shun tribalism, accept peace and embrace true reconciliation.

Below is an excerpt of remarks by Bishop Dr. Isaiah Majok Dau of the Pentecostal Church:

“I hear people say God has cursed South Sudan. I am afraid, I disagree. We are not cursed. We are blessed, but we are sinners. That is why we hate ourselves, that is why we kill ourselves, that is why we backbite ourselves. So we are the problem. But we have been given opportunity to be forgiven, to be enriched and to be healed.

Our opportunity is if we humble ourselves. We should consider others better than us by not despising other people. That means we do not think other tribes are less human than us because we are from a particular tribe. I don’t care what office you hold, you are a human-being. And we accept that we can be wrong –that is humility. Humility is not keeping quiet, but giving other people space in our heart and in our thinking.

We need to pray by turning our attention to God.  But let me tell you my brother and my sister, money is not God.  All of us need to turn from our bad ways. That is the meaning of repentance.

If you are repenting today, and you use to kill people, don’t kill anyone because you have repented. If you are repenting today, and you use to abuse others, from today, begin to love people. If you were a thief, now that you have repented, you begin to give to people instead of taking from people. That is repentance.

It is meaningless to say we are repenting, and then we go do our normal things that we do every day. We are not cheating God, we are cheating ourselves.

If we are repenting, we should stop saying that that tribe or this tribe, and that person; we begin to say the people of South Sudan are my people.

Let us turn from our wicked ways, people of South Sudan. If we want God to forgive us, let us humble ourselves.

We need true healing in this country. We are sick with hatred, killing, war, poverty, tribalism, we need healing. We need complete healing.

If we seek healing, our economy will be healed, our politics will be healed, our communities, roads, government will be healed.

For those of us who were born in 1955, we were born in the war, grew up, got married and even our grandchildren during war. But if today we are turning away from our sins, then I pray that I will not die in the time of war.

I want to see the blessings of God on South Sudan before I die, I want to see the people of South Sudan united; I want to see them live in peace and harmony. That is my prayer.

And as I hear the National Anthem every day, I have hope in me. The hope is that the best is yet to come for this country. God is going to prosper us; God is going to heal us. But we must repent, we must return to God and we must unite.

The great God of heaven will raise this nation again, and this nation shall be great one day in the community of nations. There will be a time that they will welcome you, and they will not ask you like they ask me at the airports; they say ‘why are you fighting?

I pray for a time they will ask me; how did you get it together? And I will say there is God in heaven, and he has blessed us.”

Bishop Isaiah handed over three Bibles to President Salva Kiir, First Vice President, Taban Deng & Vice President James Wani Igga amidst applauds from the crowd at Dr. John Garang Mausoleum, Juba.

After other proceedings, the Archbishop of the Catholic Diocese of Juba, Paulino Lokudu made the final remarks to end the function.

Here is an excerpt of his remarks:

“We have been invited to this National Prayer for Repentance and Forgiveness by the President. I very much hope, and I believe that the majority of us –so innocent, so good, so sincere in heart have really come to pray.

Your Excellency, the reason why I came here today for this prayer, is because I know the weak; the poor are the ones to come to pray. And that is why I really decided to come to pray, because as we are seeing them now bearing this heat, these sons are the very ones who are touched in their lives by the difficulties and the desperate situation of our country. We have come to pray so that God may open our hearts to accept what is really wrong with us in this country. Since we have been in this heat and in this moment, our repentance and forgiveness will have a meaning.

Your Excellency, we are praying that may God grant us the results of this prayer. This prayer, your Excellency, the way I look at it; this situation that we are seeing with us and among us and in front of us of our situation are a double-edge sword for us all. This prayer today, I think it is a dangerous prayer. It is a difficult prayer for us all. It is especially for somebody and a few of us who might have not prayed well with clear conscience, and who might not have prayed with the right intentions.

This prayer is dangerous today, because if you have come here, I believe this bitterness of our heat, will not go in vain, but God will reply to us. I therefore say, if this prayer is correct and is true, then its about our peace. We are standing for peace and we are praying for peace. Are we going to choose peace or evil?

Your Excellency, I want to question you; why did you call this people to the heat here like this; are they coming to choose evil or to choose peace? Is that what your intention is, to bring us here to suffer like this? I hope nobody will be sick today because of this heat. I believe you have invited us to see this suffering because you want peace.

Our government, which way are going to take and what is the government going to do after this prayer?  Is the government going to choose evil or peace? Mr. President, take-heed after this. We are telling you that after this prayer, your Excellency, go into a room and pray and decide for peace in the country.

We expect peace, Justice, forgiveness, genuine dialogue, good governance, security, rule of law after this prayer. We expect after this prayer an end to; raping, torture, arbitrary arrests, corruption, tribalism. These things will continue if this prayer is misused.

My brothers and sisters, our way forward now is working, doing and choosing peace and not for war.”

Towards the end of his remarks, Archbishop Lokudu called to the podium retired bishops; Paride Taban and Nathaniel Garang Anyieth to bless the nation.

The official function ended at 2:30PM, East African Time.