Exploited

When we are tempted, when we experience weakness and are having trouble resisting the enemy, we have a powerful friend who is described as an "ever-present help in time of trouble," according to Psalm 46. Hebrews 4 states:
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Remember, the temptation is not the sin - the response could be!  Bondage to the strongholds of the enemy does not occur overnight, it builds and builds as we fail to respond correctly to his schemes.  So, while it is most effective to resist the initial temptation, once a stronghold takes shape, we still know that the tools of the Lord are powerful to bring it down.  But, we have to take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, in order to respond to his lies with God's truth.  We replace the thoughts that the enemy has planted and we have received with truth that God has provided.

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The enemy is destroying minds through the exposure to material that perverts God's perfect plan for sexuality.  And, what I am going to be covering today will not be appropriate for young children.  So...let me share a Scripture, then I'll share some statistics on this Survey Thursday.

This is from Philippians 4 and should describe a filter for what we allow into our minds:
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

I quoted from Penny Young Nance of Concerned Women for America yesterday in my commentary.  She had quoted some statistics about the harm that is done by exposure to pornography.  She linked to a piece that ran on the Huffington Post website back in 2014, authored by Elwood Watson.  Two statistics to which she referred:  the article says, "90% of young boys and 60% of young girls have been exposed to pornography before they reach the age of 18."  Also, as Nance noted: 50% of religious men have indicated they are addicted to pornography.

The HuffPost article also says that 20% of religious women are addicted to porn.

The prevalence of this material is staggering: at that time, the estimate was that it was a 13 billion dollar industry!  The article also states:

In 1994, now the recently revived Promise Keepers organization conducted a survey that revealed that 50% of the men who attended their rallies engaged themselves with porn within one week of attending the event. That was two decades ago. The fact that a considerable percentage of religious people have been affected by pornography causes many astute individuals to sit up and take notice.

A 2015 blog post on The Gospel Coalition website from Jared Wilson quoted from Steve Farrar's book, Finishing Strong:

A number of years ago a national conference for church youth directors was held at a major hotel in a city in the mid-west. Youth pastors by the hundreds flooded into that hotel and took nearly every room. At the conclusion of the conference, the hotel manager told the conference administrator that the number of guests who tuned into the adult movie channel broke the previous record, far and away outdoing any other convention in the history of the hotel.

Wilson quoted from Justin Holcomb, who had interviewed hotel managers about consumption of adult material surrounding conferences.  Holcomb said that managers reported that porn use goes up during conferences in general, and that usage seems to be "the same or a bit more" coinciding with Christian conferences.  He wrote:

One manager was a Christian and he said a line I’ll never forget: “Unfortunately, ‘they know you are Christians by your…porn consumption’ is more truthful than ‘love’ when it comes to this.”

Back to the HuffPost article (and you have to consider that the website pushes a liberal agenda, so it may not be considered Christian-friendly), but as Ed Stetzer says, "facts are our friends."  The article states that:

A recent survey conducted by the Barna Group found that approximately two-thirds (64%) of U.S. men view pornography at least monthly. Moreover, the study revealed the number of Christian men viewing pornography virtually mirrors the national average broken down by age...

Watson also notes in the article: "Patrick Means, author of Men’s Secret Wars, revealed that 63% of pastors confirmed that they struggle with sexual addiction or sexual compulsion."

As I mentioned yesterday, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, once known as Morality in Media, has described pornography as a public health crisis.  It's certainly a moral and spiritual crisis, and it points to a double life that is being lived by a significant number of Christians.

Our takeaways: as Christians, and especially as Christian men, we are better than this. Not that we in and of ourselves have power to resist the temptation of the enemy and to stand strong against his schemes, but that we have the power of Almighty God, who enables us to seek the good and reject evil.  This...is evil, and it could be considered a spiritual crisis.

The devil has brought this fight to the doorstep of the church.  But, it appears, based on the data, that too many are giving in.  I commented yesterday on the way of escape that the Lord has provided for us, but we have to not gladly accept what the enemy is trying to sell us, for his intent is to harm us personally and our family relationships, as well.

I remember a message at Promise Keepers one year; I believe it was Steve Farrar.  He mentioned how character is defined by what we do when no one is looking.  Well, we always know that God sees - and when we stumble, we have to remember to run toward Him, not try, as Adam and Eve did in the Garden, to run from Him.  Jesus was tempted in all things, we are told in Scripture, and He will give us the strength to stand.  But, we have to make up our minds to renew, purify, and cleanse our minds, not allowing ourselves to become polluted and corrupted by the images that the enemy would want to engrave on our consciousness.