BODY THINGS

therefore glorify God in your body... – 1Co 6:20

Your body – that handsome/beautiful thing that looks back at you when you look in the mirror – is a gift from God to you. Not one square inch of it is from the Devil. It was “beautifully and wonderfully made”: crafted preciously by the Maker Himself as a showpiece of His exquisite workmanship. There is no body (pun intended) on earth like you.

Every beautiful and desirable thing in your body was put there intentionally by God for His own glory. Jam 1:17 says “EVERY good gift and every perfect gift is from above,” and Rev 4:11 tells us that that stunning craftsmanship you call your body was created to glorify God.

It is the Devil, not God, that hates the Body. That is why he seeks to corrupt its desires; that is why a tell-tale sign of demonic possession in a person is self-mutilation and affliction of the body, (see Mk 5:5; 9:22; 1Ki 18:28). That is why those who have dabbled into the occult will tell you affliction of the Body is the Devil’s rule of thumb.

In all Devil-inspired religions we have today, the Body is always the ‘scapegoat’ to explain their inability to live holy. In Christianity, however, the body is not the enemy, but is the temple of the Holy Spirit (2Cor 6:19)!

 It is quite revealing of God’s nature, that Leviticus – replete with rules, rituals and regulations as it is – gives no room for ONE act of mutilation.

It’s only the Devil, who did not (and cannot) create your body, that will ask you to harm it in the name of religion or piety.

Don’t look at the mirror with loathing, look at it with gratitude. Your body is like your child, it will always ask to be pampered ignoring the consequences; but what it needs is DISCIPLINE, not EXORCISM. Under the control of a regenerate mind, the body will be a vessel of righteousness: giving glory to God and being of great use to His Kingdom on Earth.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

PROPER MORTIFICATION

Biblical Christianity is not a religion; indeed, it is the direct antithesis of all the manmade, hell-inspired religions we have in the world today. So, it should be disturbing if there seems to be no distinction between their beliefs and ours.

An example is in the doctrine of Mortification-based holiness. Scriptures does ask us to “Mortify” our members. But the demonization of the physical body, resulting from the twisting of this word, just as – and actually in conjunction with – “sarx”, is a hallmark of cults and false religions right form the time of the first Apostles.

Many of the Church’s canonised ‘saints’ attained that appellation from their reputation of being ‘holy’ through the subjecting of the flesh.

One was said to have “performed Penance by chanting 20 psalters accompanied by 300,000 lashes over six days”; another had self-afflicted penances of “vigils, fasts, frequent flagellations and the use of a hairshirt”. A woman flogged herself thrice a day and lived on nothing except Communion elements, and another girl ‘saint’ got paralysed through her self-flagellation.

While we may consider these examples extreme, or seek to distance ourselves from those who venerate them, can we claim to be totally cleansed from this religious mindset?

When we equate humour or boisterousness with carnality, or rank a Believer/church’s spirituality based on their gravity of conduct, it evinces a wrong perception of sanctification and holiness.

It’s interesting that Scripture didn’t ask us to “crucify the flesh”! Gal 5:24 says “they that are Christ’s HAVE CRUCIFIED the flesh ...” And Rom 6:6 says “our old man IS CRUCIFIED with Him...”

The key to biblical mortification and holy living is the revelation that the flesh has ALREADY been crucified (with Christ). This is why holiness is IMPOSSIBLE outside of biblical Christianity, but DEMANDED in it. Other belief systems may venerate their saints/’holy’ men in their ability to flagellate the physical flesh, but like Paul rightly pointed out in Col 2:23 “These things look like wisdom with their self-imposed worship, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body. But they have no value for holding back the constant desires of your corrupt nature.” (GW)

Only Biblical Christianity can that.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

“ALL SARX IS NOT THE SAME SARX”

 “...RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of truth.” – 2Ti 2:15

The Apostle Paul may not have had the “Sarx controversy” in mind when he told the Corinthian church, “All sarx is not the same sarx (“All flesh is not the same flesh”; 1Co 15:39), but his choice of words has become of very real significance to us today.

During sermons, we are often asked to “crucify the flesh”, but I never saw anyone put up their hands to ask, “which flesh?”

This lack of distinction and clarification has not only led to frustration among God-loving Believers, but actual heresy in some segments of the Church.

There is the obvious “flesh” that refers to our corpus: our body, the physical ‘meat’ with which we see, feel, taste or otherwise interact with the physical universe.

Then there’s the “flesh” that refers to the carnal, un-renewed MIND. (Of course, “flesh” also has many other meanings in the NT).

We should know that it is of great advantage to the Devil that we focus our energies on our body and neglect the mind. The physical body is not your enemy, your mind is. If the body is the source of our sinful predilections, then the ICU of hospitals should contain the holiest people on earth.

When Paul beseeched us to be living sacrifices (Rom 12:1,2), he qualified it by asking us to be “transformed BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND”.

Some persons, for example, have tried to suppress lust through dry fastings and literal flogging of the body, only to find the monster raise its ugly head days later. It never occurs to them that maybe they’ve been flogging the wrong “sarx”. 

Let’s learn from our Lord’s teaching (see Mk 721-23) and focus on the right “sarx”; when we do that, the body will follow.

 “Think over these things I am saying [understand them and grasp their application], for the Lord will grant you full insight and understanding in everything.” – 2 Timothy 2:7 (AMP)

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN

THE ‘SARX’ CONTROVERSY

“All flesh is not the same flesh:” – 1Co 15:39

It’s not very often that the fight among academic Bible scholars is spilled into the streets. They usually restrict their queer quarrels to scholarly journals, reviews and colloquiums. So, I found it interesting when a certain Greek scholar made public his reservations with the translation methodology of some modern Bible versions.

In this case, it was with the Holman Christian Standard Bible and the issue was with their translation of a rather unexceptional Greek word: “SARX”.

But what is “sarx” and (more importantly) why should we care? While it does sound exotic, it’s actually one of the more common words in the New Testament; occurring over 150 times and in almost each book.

Here’re four out of the five times Matthew used “sarx” in his Gospel:

...Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for SARX and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Mt 16:17)

...For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one SARX (Mt 19:5)

And except those days should be shortened, there should no SARX be saved… (Mt 24:22)

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the SARX is weak. (Mt 26:41)

From the above, we can see that “sarx” apparently means “flesh”. But we also notice that “flesh” in one verse is different from the “flesh” in the other. 2Ti 2:15 tells us to “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of truth.”

This “rightly dividing”, lacking in many Bible studies today, has caused no small error in theologies and doctrine.

When studying the Word, we must let each word in each verse determine its meaning based on its immediate context. Transposing the meaning of the same word in another verse, or giving the same meaning to ALL incidences of that word will only lead to confusion at best, or heresy at worst.

Let’s not be like that Russian computer which, when asked to translate Mt 26:41 (quoted above), replied in Russian “The whisky is agreeable, but the meat has gone bad”. J

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus’ Name.

GREG ELKAN 

ABOUT  TEMPTATIONS (Part 4)

 “And he took THE CUP, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink you all of it; For this is my blood of the new covenant, WHICH IS SHED FOR MANY FOR THE REMISSION OF SINS”. (Mt 26:27, 28).

As a child, I used to think “betrayal” was a bigger sin than “denial”. Why? Because Peter DENIED Jesus and still remained an apostle, but Judas BETRAYED Him and went to Hell. However, when you come to think of it, Peter’s denial IS betrayal of the Christ and of the great relationship they had had for over 3 years. He didn’t just flat out deny Jesus, he SWORE to God he had never known Him! (Mt 26:72).

Our concern today is about an important phrase Jesus said about the cup hours earlier during the Last Supper (Mt26:27, 28). I’ll repeat it in several translations for you to see the import:

(GNB) “Drink it, ALL OF YOU ...”

(MSG) “Drink this, ALL OF YOU...”

(NET)  “Drink from it, ALL OF YOU...”

(NLT) “EACH OF YOU drink from it”

The cup represented His blood which would be shed for the forgiveness of sins, and the number of those who were to partake of that cup was “ALL”. Including James, and Co. who would all in the next few hours desert Him; including Peter who would eventually deny Him with an oath; ...  and yes, including Judas Iscariot who Satan would use in the subsequent minutes.

“All” means ALL.

But Judas made the fatal mistake that many do today: he felt his sin was unforgivable.

There is a legitimate remorse for sin; but what one does about that is very important. The devil that tempted you in the first place is very much alive and well; and while you feel you are FINISHED the devil thinks he hasn’t (Selah).

After Judas sinned he

1. Repented: “Then Judas... when he saw that he was condemned, repented...” (Mat 27:3)

2. Restituted: “... and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, (ibid)

3. And punished himself: “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged HIMSELF.  (Mat 27:5)

That last move was where it all went wrong. His counterpart in Jesus-backstabbing, Peter, was also remorseful (Mat 26:75); however, he remembered Jesus’s words about remission of sins (see Act 10:43) and threw himself at God’s mercy rather than inflict upon himself some supposed judgement.

Brethren, we don’t hang ourselves like Judas today, but every time you expect bad things to happen because you failed, or apologize AGAIN to God whenever something good is taken from you (i.e. seeing it as a result of “that sin”), etc. you are taking the Judas approach. That is a dangerous mindset, and the devil will surely exploit it to the fullest.

AMEN.

 “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputes not iniquity”. (Psa 32:1-2)

“Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices”. (2Co 2:11)

More Blessings await you today; you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

ABOUT  TEMPTATIONS (Part 3)

“Rejoice not against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me”.  (Mic 7:8)

When Satan set out to make a mess of God’s anointed man Samson, God (with Samson’s cooperation) turned it round and made Samson an example of faith, much to the devil’s chagrin.

God always has a way to make the devil shut up; it’s our job to cooperate with Him rather than let the devil try to have the final say.

The story of David and Bathsheba is one of the most scandalous in scripture; scandalous not just on David’s side but also on God’s side. Out of all of David’s 19 odd sons, God chose Jedidiah, a product of David and Bathsheba and the 10^th born son, to be King!

This little fact caused a big stir in a Bible Study that I attended several years ago. A member took issues with this act of God and went as far as to insinuate that God was practically endorsing the adultery of David and Bathsheba. (The pastor, unfortunately, took this personal and went on to shout and threaten curses on the member for casting aspersions on God).

Scandalous, innit?

Most people would not even be familiar with that said “King Jedidiah”. But I guess they would know him by his more popular name, SOLOMON. “Jedidiah” was God’s personal name for him.

To the best of my knowledge, Solomon is the only normal (i.e. not by prophecy) child in scripture that God named. Like a loving grandmother who hears her daughter has given birth to a baby, the Almighty sent His own name through a prophet to the parents of the baby (2Sa 12:24-25). 

And, yes, Jedidiah means “Beloved of Jehovah”!

Scandalous?

Maybe. But I believe that, just like with Samson’s story of  yesterday, God was trying to send a message to Satan:

“If you try to mess up the life of my children, I’ll bless them so much you’ll wish you didn’t.”

‘Jedidiah’ went on to be the richest king of all time with a kingdom greater than even his father’s.

Our LORD Jesus was not just the descendant of David through His adopted father Joseph (royal line leading up to King Solomon); he was physically descended from David by blood through Mary, (Lk 1:31,32; 3:23-38). King David had at least 8 wives. The Virgin Mary could have been a descendant of any of their sons; but Bible chronology tells us she came from David through a certain son called Nathan. Nathan was the son of Bathsheba! AGAIN.

I guess you already see the picture.

When the devil causes you to fall, your duty is to run back to your Heavenly Father’s arms to receive His unconditional forgiveness purchased by the blood of His Son Jesus.

But know this for sure, the devil will not have the last laugh over your life in Jesus name. Who knows, the LORD might even use your life to send a reply back to the devil... by blessing you scandalously.

AMEN.

More Blessings await you today, you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

ABOUT  TEMPTATIONS (Part 2)

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Rom 11:33).

When Potiphar’s wife asked Joseph to lie with her, the devil in her that was instigating the strange lust wanted to eclipse Joseph’s destiny. He wanted to truncate not just the young man’s life but also the extended salvation plan that God had in store for the Jewish race.

This was not the first time, and this would not be his last. Many centuries later, he tried it again with a certain Israelite judge named SAMSON. This time, he succeeded.

Or so it seemed.

Sometimes, God has a way of messing up the devil’s mess.

If Satan had looked at Samson’s life after Delilah, he must have really thought he had him there. He didn’t just tempt Samson; he actually succeeded and got him blinded, literally. But clearly, GOD AND SAMSON had other things in mind. Samson turned around in the end and wiped out a great deal of the devil’s people in the process.  The plan to push Samson into oblivion didn’t succeed because, clearly, his story is set in scriptures for all eternity.

However, it is not simply the fact that Samson is mentioned in the Bible that’s the big issue here, but WHERE he is mentioned. Samson is mentioned in the book of Judges, and also somewhere in the New Testament; in Hebrews chapter 11, OF ALL PLACES!

Hebrews 11 is a listing by the Holy Spirit of the names of great people of faith that are worth emulating. He mentioned Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph... and in the end, He said, “And what shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of ... SAMSON”.

I can imagine the devil’s heart skipping a beat the first time he saw that.

SAMSON?

Satan really went to great lengths to bring Samson down. He probably assigned special demons for his case. We know Delilah was not just any prostitute; she was, for all purposes and intents, a hired assassin. If that’s what we see in the physical we can infer even more was going on in the spiritual realm.

“And all that effort for what?” (Says the devil), “To have his name listed among the spiritual giants of the Old Testament?”

Hebrews 11:32 is probably one of the most frustrating verse for the devil.

If you are blessed, you are blessed. The devil CANNOT have the final say in your destiny. When he thinks he has done his worst, then comes God to do His best. Never let the devil trick you into thinking he has destroyed your destiny; (he doesn’t know it anyway, he just has an idea).

Do not let him deceive you into believing you have sinned beyond recovery, or that you have really disappointed God this time, (it’s impossible to ‘disappoint’ an omniscient being in the first place).

Be like Samson, believe and know that God still loves you and will receive you back. God will turn every mess into something so beautiful, the devil will have to bang his head on the nearest wall.

Remember Hebrews 11:32!

AMEN.

We’ll continue on these thoughts tomorrow.

More Blessings Await you today, you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN

ABOUT  TEMPTATIONS (Part 1)

The devil is wicked. No, scratch that.

The devil is VERY wicked.

He has no iota of good in him. When he looks at a man, all his thoughts are geared towards hurting, destroying, and bringing that man down.

I say this because one day I was thinking about the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. It’s on oft-repeated tale about the Master’s wife trying to seduce a dedicated slave. The Bible says, “She kept begging Joseph DAY AFTER DAY, but he refused to do what she wanted or even to go near her”.  Gen 39:10 (CEV).

Why Joseph? He was not the only man in that large house. Potiphar doubtlessly had other male slaves in that house who would be more than happy to oblige her, so why would she keep insisting to sleep with Joseph?

I was somewhat bothered about this until one day it occurred to me that, though there were dozens of male slaves in that house, only Joseph had a throne in his DESTINY! Joseph may have been a slave, but sitting inside him was the ruler of Egypt! Potiphar’s wife may not have been able to know this, but the devil inside her that was instigating her lust definitely knew.

If she had said to Joseph, “Come lie with me, no one will ever know”, she would have been absolutely right. NO ONE WILL EVER KNOW!

Potiphar wouldn’t know

The slaves wouldn’t know

The Egyptians wouldn’t know

And yes, YOU AND I too wouldn’t know

She was right, Joseph’s destiny would have closed up there and then and his bones would be part of the sands of Egypt today.

The glorious story of Joseph moving from slavery to being the de facto ruler of Egypt that we read about would never have occurred and we probably would never have known anything about him, at least that was the plan.

The devil is very wicked.

“Don't give the devil any opportunity to work”. Eph 4:27 (GW)

“So place yourselves under God's authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you”. Jas 4:7 (GW)

“Put on all the armor that God supplies. In this way you can take a stand against the devil's strategies.” Eph 6:11 (GW)

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”.  (1Co 15:57)

“Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ”.  (2Co 2:14)

AMEN.

We’ll continue on these thoughts tomorrow.

More Blessings Await you today, you’ll not miss them in Jesus Name.

GREG ELKAN