Masturbation Not A Sin, Oyakhilome Insists.

Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of the Believers
Love World, popularly known as Christ
Embassy, has insisted that masturbation is
not a sin.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome
He also said the issue should not be
regarded as his personal opinion but as a
resolution from the Bible concerning it.
Pastor Chris, as he is popularly called, was
reacting to more questions from members
of the public who seemed to be confused
about the story going round that he
declared that masturbation is not a sin.
As reported in NEXTVOICE weeks ago, the
Pastor said the act in itself was not a sin
against God but that Satan uses it to
oppress people of God making them feel
ineffective an inefficient in the things of
God.
He also said God is not offended by the
practice but by any habit that takes hold of
one’s mind and this had resulted in
widespread condemnation.
In a recently posted video in which he
reacted to many questions emanating from
his previous teaching on masturbation,
Pastor Chris maintained that people should
rather see the issue from biblical perspective
rather than seeing it as his personal
opinion.
While answering a question from one
Timothy based in Russia, who said he was
confused by the teaching about
masturbation not being a sin because there
is no way one can effectively masturbate
without having evil thoughts, Pastor Chris
said the first question that should come to
mind in the issue is: “what is sin?
“What I find in many Christians is that not
many of them even have an understanding
of the concept; what is sin.”
He referred the public to one of his
teachings on the concept of sin, saying it
would help the people understand what sin
really is, adding that “sin is not what we say
it is but what God says it is.”
Reading out an another question from a
Zambian, who said the Pastor’s previous
teachings had inspired him, but wondering
why he actually taught that masturbation
was not a sin, Pastor Oyakhilome asked the
Zambian to bother himself more with what
the Bible said about it.
He asked: “Why are you concerned with
whether I said it or I did not say it? The
question is, what does the Bible say?
“Have you ever studied the Word for
yourself? Now whatever you think, the first
thing you should do is to go to the word of
God and study it for yourself.”
Using an illustration, he said: “if a man stole
a loaf of bread from a shop and ate it, does
that mean that eating of bread is sin?
“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.”
He emphasised that Jesus actually said
whoever looks at another woman lustfully
has committed adultery in his heart, adding
that means “the sin was committed in the
heart.
“If you say that imagination goes with
masturbation, then where is the sin?
“The sin is therefore your imagination of
sin,” he added.
He further quoted Matthew 15 verse 16
saying that out of the heart proceeds evil
thoughts.
In analysing it therefore, the Pastor said: “it
is not what you did with your hand that is
the problem; it is what caused whatever you
did. That means your sin begins from your
heart.
“Jesus makes us 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 these imaginations while
reading a book, you can have these wrong
imaginations while eating your food.
“So the evil conceptions of your heart is
where you got a problem, so what do you
clean-your hands or your heart?”
He however advised that it is not
compulsory for people to accept something
because someone said it, but that they
should get materials that would help them
to understand such issues better.