Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of the Believers Love World also known as Christ Embassy has again become the subject of a controversial debate on whether masturbation is a sin or not. While answering a question sent in by one of the viewers on a TV programme not too long ago, the Pastor disclosed that masturbation is not a sin. With the brewing controversy yet to die down, in another teaching, he affirmed his earlier statement and gave reasons for his stand.
One Kwaku from Ghana had sent in a question which read “How does one overcome masturbation?”
Rev. Ray Okocha who was on the programme with Pasor Chris first attempted to answer the question as he said “firstly it’s a thing of the mind, you’ve allowed the chance that you have to become a habit to you I am sure and a problem to you. You first stop it and you have the power to do that as a child of God, if you don’t want something you can stop it! So don’t think about it! Don’t go in that direction and stop it! And you obviously have a problem with it. The bible says in Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure , and the ability of Christ in is you can if you don’t want it you can stop it.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome who answered after said “it’s really that simple, the question is how does one overcome masturbation? The reason you are thinking about it, the reason is it’s become a habit for you. It’s the way you stop any habit, see masturbation it not more of habit than any other habit.
So, once you make up your mind you want to break a particular habit, you do it, you stop you just stop it by getting your mind to think of something else in fact the way the way to destroy a habit is replace that habit with another habit. That is the habit of not doing it see.
But there is something I would like to bring to your mind that may be of help to you, because the reason you want to stop this is because of what you think it is. If you were in the habit of playing football you probably would not ask us. How can I stop playing football? Because you think there is something wrong with this. Alright so that is where your problem is coming from but no matter how wrong it is in your mind, get this straight in its self, it is not a sin against God.
Now I say that for a reason. There are many Christians that think that is a sin against God and Satan uses it in oppressing them, oppressing their minds and making them feel ineffective and inefficient in the things of God. But once you get to understand, it’s got nothing to do with God. It is all about you and your own body, then Satan loses his power to use it to accuse you. So if you don’t like it stop.
But Gods got nothing to do with it. Its your own body, masturbation is about you and your body. and God is not offended by it. He is only offended by any habit that takes hold of your mind. And if this takes a hold of your mind and dominates you. God is offended by the fact that you let yourself become enslaved by any habit by what so ever. So let’s first of all take the power away from Satan to accuse you when it’s got nothing to do with God
In the whole bible, it doesn’t say anything about masturbation. Well, now somebody may say what about lasciviousness, what about uncleanness? That’s not the meaning of masturbation. Uncleanness can be something about your mind, thoughts that you bring in your mind.
Uncleanness can be having this kind of sexual relations with an animal. That is uncleanness. In fact that is more of what the bible calls uncleanness than anything else. Homosexuality is uncleanness, that’s what God means by uncleanness. So just be clear that Satan should have no power of dominion over you as far as this is concerned. It can be a dirty habit, it can be a habit you don’t like, but its got nothing to do with God. God is not thinking about it. So you want to stop it, stop it like any other thing.
And it’s always easier to be able to stop things like this when you know God will have no problem with it. As long as you are oppressed by Satan, the same devil will push you to do something and make you believe God is against it, so he can you use it to condemn you. But once you know God has got nothing to do with it, and Satan does not have the power to accuse you with it, you will find you will not even do it anymore.
In a more recent edition however, the Pastor expatiated further on the issue. One Timothy Christus from Russia sent in a question saying “I still don’t understand Pastor, can you explain what you mean that masturbation is not a sin because without imagination, there can be no masturbation. Jesus said if you look at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery. When one is masturbating, he imagines an evil thought which makes him to sin. So sir, what do you say? Responding, Pastor Chris said “I don’t think it is a question of what do I say, It is what does the Word say.
Maybe the first thing I’ll like to ask is what is masturbation in the first case? Secondly, do you practice it? Or have you spoken to those who do because you are telling us how it works. So the important thing is what is sin? That is the very first thing. What is sin? What I find in many Christians is that not many even have an understanding of the concept of sin. Now, there is a teaching, and this teaching is in good detail. the title is “The Concept of Sin”. You need it, it will help you understand what the Word calls sin. Remember sin is not what we say it is. Sin is what God says it is and that is very important.
You said something here in your question, you said without imagination, there is no masturbation, Jesus said if you look at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery. Now, let me put it this way, a man stole a loaf of bread from a shop and ate it. Does that mean that eating of bread is sin? because he stole bread from a shop and ate it. Where was his wrong? Did he go wrong because he ate bread? Does that mean that eating of bread is wrong? The problem is not the eating of bread. the problem is that he stole the bread that he ate.
You have to understand the Word of God. You brought out something in connection with what Jesus said, whosoever looketh on a woman lustfully and Jesus actually said that. hath already committed adultery in his heart, that means that the sin was committed in the heart. so if you say that imagination goes with masturbation, where is the sin? The sin is therefore your imagination of sin. Now let me read to you the words of Jesus in St Matthew’s gospel and I want you to listen to this very carefully because it will help you. St. Matthew’s gospel, chapter 15 from verse 16, Jesus said “are ye also without understanding? Do not ye understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come foth from the heart and they defile the man? For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemies, These are the things which defile a man; but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.”
You know what Jesus is saying? He is saying your sin came out of your heart. it is not what you did with your hands, it is what caused whatever you did. That means that your sin begins from your heart. So, have this understanding, Jesus let you know it is not what you did with your hand that is the problem, it is what you did with your heart. You can have this imagination while reading the book, you can have this wrong imaginations while eating your food. so the evil conceptions of your heart is where you’ve got a problem. so what do you clean? Your hands or your heart? Your heart.
So, what I want you to do in helping yourself because because you are not going to accept something because somebody said so. You are going to know the Word of God for yourself.
