Editor’s Note: The Letters PHN signify in Portuguese the term Por Hoje Não Vou Mais Pecar which means For Today I Will Not Sin Anymore. In English, the letters used are NTD, Not ToDay Will I Sin. I have left the letters PHN here to correspond with the original graphics for the PHN [NTD] movement.-ed. This originally appeared in April of 2010
Have you imagined walking through the streets of your neighborhood, the city and encountering some persons filled with dirty rags, matted hair and yelling “Impure, Impure!?
Well, now, if you never imagined this, I invite you to do that, think for 5 seconds what would be your reaction, please. . . Ready? Good, I, if I were close, would get far away as fast as possible, almost running.
I account to you that this was the norm of life of the poor leperous brothers according to the narration in the Old Testament, yes. Look here, “The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp. (LV 13:45-46 NIV) They did this to be able to distance themselves from the lepers and avoid the possibility of contagion.
The proposal of PHN is exactly the same, but opposite. Yes, as you read this, equal but opposite.
No matter how far we’ve come, one supposes that at the beginning of our fight against sin, we should walk through life screaming “Purity, Purity!” so to attract the most people possible for God. Do you agree? It is the same but opposite.
In your house, in your neighborhood, in your chapel, in the place where you study, in your work, in your city, in your country you are invited to leave a trace of your presence, here walked a PHN person, things can no longer be the same. You should have a trace of peace, of happiness, of a simple smile and the good scent of Christ (2 Cor 2:15)
Do you know why PHN attracts so many persons from Brazil and the World? Because there is a human being who desires heroism and today fighting against the evil that the world offers us one has to practically be a hero, saying no to the thousands of bad options daily that we have in really an act of heroism, in other words, holiness. According to the Spanish dictionary, heroism is the eminent force of the will made with self-denial that brings the man to do extraordinary acts in the service of God, his neighbor or his country.”
Therefore, I can affirm without doubt that you and I are heroes of the modern era, for it is an act of will to say No To Sin every day Still injured, we get up and continue believe that it is possible to go through this world screaming with this form of life. Holiness, Holiness! Chastity, Chastity! Life, Life! It is a necessity, the world needs to be attactracted by this form of heroism of PHN, the youth want to be heroes, they want to make a differnce and this encounters iiself in holiness, in the holy fight for chastity, purity, healthy happiness. The world needs that you scream. Shall we scream? “PHN PHN”
Marisa Reyes Franco
Maria Reyes Franco is a member of the New Song Community, The producer of the PHN program hosted by Dunga on TVCanção Nova Tuesday Nights at 9:00 ET (USA). She writes from Cachoeira Paulista, Brazil.
Translated from Spanish