Hell is real. Heaven is real. The choice between them is not made in abstractions but in the embodied theatre of our daily living. The apostolic warning, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” (1 Corinthians 6:19), thunders with uncompromising clarity. It is not a suggestion for pious reflection; it is a verdict from eternity. The body is no playground of lust, no market of indulgence, no experiment of fleeting passion. It is a consecrated shrine, a blood-bought cathedral, an estate belonging not to man but to God. “You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20). To defile it is to desecrate an altar; to dishonour it is to vandalise holy ground.
Yet a silent warfare rages. Men groan under the weight of lustful appetites, some driven to humiliation as the very wives meant to be their covenant partners deny them tenderness, turning intimacy into a weapon of scorn. Others, enslaved to their own desires, fall into chronic adultery, their vows shattered upon the altar of pleasure. Women too, often neglected in this discourse, languish in silence. Many battle desires unspoken, carrying broken hearts in bodies starved of affection. They long for love yet receive denial; they ache for companionship yet reap indifference. Behind painted smiles are caverns of emptiness. The tragedies are not merely emotional but eschatological. A desecrated body becomes a desecrated temple, and a desecrated temple invites eternal ruin.
The voices of prophets, past and present, converge in lament and in warning. T. B. Joshua cried, “When you misuse your body, you shut the door to the Holy Spirit.” Bishop David Abioye thundered, “When the flesh gains mastery over a man, destiny becomes a casualty.” Dr. Myles Munroe warned, “When purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable.” Gbile Akanni pierced the conscience with his solemn declaration: “Whatever conquers your body has conquered your soul. If you cannot say no to your flesh, you cannot say yes to God.” These are not poetic embellishments but eternal decrees, confirming the same truth Paul uttered to Corinth: the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
The hour is perilous because the seductions are subtle. Lust is not confined to brothels and adulterous chambers; it now parades across screens, pervades social feeds, and enters the secret chambers of the imagination. Intimacy has been commodified, chastity mocked, fidelity reduced to nostalgia. Yet the ancient word still breaks into the din: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). If the Spirit dwells within, then to indulge the flesh is sacrilege, a profanation of the very throne of God within man.
Our fathers in the faith understood this terror. Augustine cried, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.” Oswald Chambers declared, “Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end of man.” To pursue happiness at the expense of holiness is to mortgage eternity for dust. To gratify lust is to enthrone the flesh upon a seat reserved for the Spirit. To turn the body into a theatre of fornication is to convert the temple into a tomb.
Yet even amidst the ruins of disobedience, mercy pleads. T. B. Joshua reminded, “The Holy Spirit is more eager to dwell in you than you are willing to receive Him.” The Spirit does not flee at the first scent of failure; He calls men to repentance, to re-consecration, to the hard path of holiness. The summons is urgent: change your attention today. Fix your gaze upon eternity, not upon the fleeting passions of the flesh.
The temple must be consecrated. The body must be kept holy. For in the end, no lust will be excused, no indulgence overlooked, no covenant broken without consequence. Heaven is real. Hell is real. The habitation of God will not dwell in a profaned sanctuary. Let him who has ears hear, for the Spirit still cries: your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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