ISAAC MACHISA
SAFETY has always been the paramount reason for erecting gates. In ancient times, the gates were an important point of any city. Traditionally, the gates were built to provide a point of controlled access to and departure from a city for

people and goods. Depending on historical context they filled functions relating to defence, security, trade and representation and were correspondingly staffed by military or municipal authorities.
In biblical times, many important decisions and events took place at the gates as well. For example in 2 Samuel 18 King David stood at the gate to give instructions to his troops, in Esther 2 the servants plotted to kill the king at the gate and in Ruth 4 Boaz officially claimed the position of Kinsman redeemer at the gate.
I am prompted to write about the gates because they play an important role in our lives. It is therefore important to guard – protect, watch, encircle, hedge around, patrol and to shield the gates.
I believe anything of value faces the danger of abuse, and exploitation. When you put your personal interest first than that of your family, company, or country abuse is bound to happen. Today, marriages, resources and even the church are abused.
In order to protect our nation from exploitation and abuse we need to guard our national gates or ‘borders.’ At the border, they scrutinise what’s entering and leaving a country. Border control is good for the safety and development of a nation.
Today, I want to dwell on gates or entry points which citizens must guard in order to protect our nation. These are entry points or systems that can be used to exploit, weaken or even destroy our nation
Here are the five gates we must guard
(1) Children
The Bemba saying says Imiti ikula empanga. Without children there will be no tomorrow. What we give our children today is what they will give our nation tomorrow. If we give them violence, we must expect a violent generation coming forth. While we complain about the behaviour of our children and youths, the questions to ask is who raised them?
Our children must be protected from anything that endangers their well-being. This can be early child marriage, sexual and physical abuse, pornographic images, violence and other vices. We should ensure the children inherit a safe and peaceful Zambia.
(2) Negative trends
A trend is a general direction in which something is developing or changing. I believe not all trends must be followed. We need to understand that not everything we see via media is good for our nation and we cannot go about imitating everything out there. It’s difficult to decide what you want and what you want to become if you allow trends to own you. Any trend that contradicts our laws, our culture, our belief systems and worldview as a nation is a negative trend. Every citizen must ensure they protect this nation by not promoting any trend that may destroy our morals and reputation as a nation
(3) Family
There is a popular saying that strong families make strong churches, strong churches make strong communities and strong communities make strong nations. With a high level of gender-based violence, divorce cases in this country, it is a big signal that families are under attack thereby we’ll begin to see a weak nation open to various unwanted things. What we must realise is that any attack on the family is an indirect attack on the nation. Let’s stand up and protect and fight for our families.
(4) Religion (faith)
When men have done everything they could and yet fail their hope and strength remains in what they believe in. As a nation, our belief and faith is in God. Therefore we should not allow anything to dilute our faith in God. With so much going on in this country, there is need to protect our faith and embrace sound doctrine from scripture then our nation shall be protected from deceivers. We should be aware that to everything genuine there is a counterfeit.
(5) Politics
According to Wikipedia, politics is the process of making decisions applying to all members of each group. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance. It is organised control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community as well as the interrelationship between communities.
Politics is one of the systems that can develop a nation if well used and at the same time can destroy a nation if not well approached. Therefore, our focus as a nation when it comes to politics should be saving the people and developing our nation.
May God watch over Zambia
The author is a pastor, motivational speaker and mentor.