Temple (Ep. 1)

I remember the day it all started. It was like yesterday. Well, it was yesterday, two years ago. I had told my mother that I was going to see a movie with some friends. We did see a movie, but it didn’t end at the movies, there was more. I should stop speaking in circles and go straight to the point, right? Well, I would.

My name is Betty, and this is my story.

In a bid to gain some sympathy, I will tell you all the many things that went wrong with me as a child. These might not justify the way I live now, but perhaps, my backstory would prevent you from quickly casting stones.

I lost my father when I was 11. My mother didn’t love him at the time of his death. It was obvious that they hated each other, but isn’t death supposed to bring people closer?

The fact that my mother could not hide her disdain made me hate her the more. I had planned to get back to her one way or the other. At that moment, though, I couldn’t focus much on my revenge plan against her as my dying father lay before me. My eyes welled up with so much tears that could fill an ocean. Two weeks later, he died.

At that point, my world broke. Of course, my mum could not openly rejoice, so she hid in her room. I was alone. Where was Comfort when I needed it the most? Why did my father have to leave? Why did he not take me with him?

I believed that wherever he was, was much better than where I was. I began to hate him. He should have known better than to live with a woman who hated him so much. Who knows, she probably killed him. I hated her even more. But my grief did not last for too long. At least I did not end up killing myself as I initially planned to.

I found Comfort, and it was in a boy. I know you must be thinking this is about to turn into one of those cliche stories, right? Well, you are not far from wrong; neither are you right. Comfort was comforting for a while, but then tables turned.

When Ezra came, I knew what he wanted, or I thought I knew. I met him two years ago, at the ‘movie’ show with my friends, and I accepted him into my life.

All I needed was a shoulder to cry on, someone to help me heal from the pain of losing my father and having a mother that did not care. But Ezra wanted to play a much deeper role. I was aware that every single thing he demanded of me was wrong, but did I have a choice?

Whenever I said no, he would threaten to leave. I could not bear to see him go. I could not afford to see another person I loved dearly leave me, so I would eventually agree to his demands.

For two years, I said yes to him. These two years were not as easy as I put them to be. Some days seemed blissful, and other days were clearly hell. I cried these two years, even more than I cried for my father’s death. How ironic.

I had given my body so much to Ezra that he no longer had value for me. Whenever I threatened to leave him, he did not believe me. He turned the tables and began to threaten me. I had grown so dependent on him that I could not imagine being away from him.

He did not maltreat me, but I was no longer mine. There was a value to my body that I had lost. I knew that if I were to leave him, I would end up with another man who would do the same thing I allowed Ezra to do to me – everything I knew was wrong. How could I move on from here?

I decided to speak to a friend, Maria. She was my Godsent gift. I told her that even though I thought I loved Ezra, I no longer wanted to give him my body, but I did not know how to leave.

Then she asked, “Have you ever been to a temple or ever imagined what a temple looked like? Ever questioned why there was an outer and inner court?”

I wasn’t sure what she was driving at, but I listened.

She continued. “For the sake of this discussion, I will lay more emphasis on the inner court. The inner court is separated from the outer temple by a cloth or some form of covering. Only specific chosen people were allowed to enter into the inner court. Whosoever steps into the inner court without being authorized was carried out dead. Your body is like this temple. In fact, the Bible refers to it as the temple of God. That is, God lives in you. If God says that your body is His temple, it means you ought to pay attention to the ways and patterns of how the temple was cared for in the days of old. Not everyone can enter into the inner court. God has put us in charge of our temples! He won’t strike down the unauthorized people who enter you as a “temple” as He expects us to control the entry and exit.”

“Betty, submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. God has given us the power to control this temple, and He keeps releasing power and grace as long as we continue to submit ourselves to Him. The journey to sexual purity starts with submission to God, and until you have fully surrendered to God, you cannot attain sexual purity.

“Unfortunately, in our days, many people preach sexual purity as ‘being a virgin up till the marriage night’, but that is not all there is. Sexual purity is not just about being a virgin. It goes way beyond that. It is more about what and who goes in and out of your body. Things like what you watch and songs you listen to. Who are your friends? It starts from these things.

“Most people think that as long as they abstain from premarital sex or stop having premarital sex, they have attained a point of sexual purity, but that is not so. About your affairs with Ezra, it goes beyond stopping the sexual relationship – which you should. It is more about having a new ruler in your life. If you don’t define the rulership of your life, keeping Ezra at a distance will be much more challenging and ineffective.”

Maria suddenly paused, and I could see tears welling up in her eyes. I didn’t understand why.

And then she continued, “Betty, I wish I knew this truth before I ruined my life. I wished someone told me all of this before I allowed my life to be affected by the power of pornography and masturbation.”

I could not have imagined that Maria had a sexual past.

She went on, “Well, that is a story for another day, but Betty remember this: your issue with Ezra is beyond the fun you are having now. There are huge consequences in the future, and it is almost impossible to let go of what has been planted in your life unless a new man, Christ, helps you overcome.”

TO BE CONTINUED…