Finding Freedom from the Chains of Pornography
Pornography and the sin of lust are at the root of human trafficking, especially sex trafficking.
Pornography is destroying marriages, families, friendships and lives around the world. But it doesn't need to be a destroyer. It can be overcome. While it has taken over the lives of men and women, with prayer and resources it can also be banished from those same lives.
Tucked away in the 31st chapter of the Book of Job is Job's analysis of the sin of lust. He recognized its power to destroy and took steps to counter the power of lust.
He sets up a covenant with his eyes to avoid LOOKING at a woman. He knows God's opinion on the matter. He sees calamity and destruction coming on those who look with lust. He asks a question:
"Does not God see our ways and knows exactly what we are doing?"
He also understood the results of failing to avoid looking and getting involved. He says:
"If my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes'" then he gives many scenarios of what will happen.
Job knew that the defiled life came from a deceived heart. Lust is a fire in the soul and destroys the conscience. He was determined to avoid that evil. A covenant was a very serious step and was used to focus attention on a decision. This decision was purity of life.
Prayer:
"Father, I choose to live a pure life. I choose to covenant with my eyes to not lust after a woman and to give her the respect as one of your loved children. I call upon the power of the Holy Spirit to keep me true. In the Name of Jesus our Lord, Amen"
Keep praying this each time you are tempted.
Look up www.Puredesire.org. It is a site created by Dr. Ted Roberts. At the beginning is a short video called The Noose. It is a disturbing visual of what pornography does to a person. He is diving in a cave.
Watch it.
Now think about how port gains access to your thinking and from there to your "inner man"?
It is through your eyes. The eye is the principal avenue to control our thinking and understanding or simply "what we know".
How does porn gain access? It is through a choice we make to let its message in through our eyes and repeated exposures establish a habit which is not far from addiction.
Jesus gave some critical insight into the role of the eyes in helping to determine what we will become. What we allow to enter our minds helps develop our values. From what Jesus taught we can either be filled with "light" or be filled with "darkness". To be filled with light is to be guided by the Holy Spirit and to make choices, which reflect eternal values.
This is what we mean by looking through your sound eye. The other eye sets its affection on material and temporal things including pornography which results in inner darkness.
The issue is clear. One either is controlled by the sound eye or the other eye which is not sound and leads to a life of darkness and how pitiful is that?
Now read Matthew 6:19-24.
19“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.22“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light.23But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!24“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.
We also need to know how destructive it is to relationships.
It has become the new drug and is dangerously addictive. Those who study the human brain tell us that we develop neuron pathways that control our behavior: for example, porn-viewing sets new neuron pathways which become the control pathway. The brain in its function is reprogrammed and the neuron pathways become dominant.
Addictive behavior is set in the brain. It needs to be countered in the brain. Our thinking becomes of central importance.
Brain scientists tell us that us that changing thinking to cure addiction is very difficult. I agree, but as one who believes in God and His power it is not impossible.
Let me talk for a moment with young men who are thinking of engagement or are engaged and have a problem with porn. You must talk with your fiancé, or intended, and tell her the truth so that together you can address the problem before going into marriage. Getting married will not solve this problem. You will need counseling to head off a disaster.
I would like to recommend two sites for your consideration.
First is CANDEO. Visit this site, then go to candeohealthysexuality.com and click on 3 steps to breaking free.
Second is www.pornharms.com.
Study these sites. You will find them helpful. These are great sites but are not biblical wisdom. I believe the answer to porn addiction can be found in the Bible.
There is a battle going on and Satan is using God's ordained sexual system to destroy. The answer to Satan's attacks are in the Bible.
Finally, let's look at how pornography affects the brain. Neuropathways are formed by repetition. Over time a habit can turn into an addiction.
Pornography, we have seen, has the power to create neuropathways in the brain. Once established, they are very difficult to change. For example: a pornographic image seen only once may remain in the brain for years. Fortunately, the brain is plastic and can be changed.
It is evident that the power of porn is evil in nature. It only produces shame, a negative self-image and estranged relationships between a man and a woman who love each other.
- It is a factor in over 50% of divorces.
- It is seen as significant in the trafficking of children into prostitution.
- It changes a man's view of a woman as she becomes an object in his eyes and loses her value as a person.
- It compresses most of a man's mental and emotional forces into one area: sexual desires or appetites.
"O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the bondage of this death?"All of this is the objective of our enemy, Satan.
John 10:10 reminds us:
"The thief does not come except to steal, kill, and destroy."He lies to us when he offers porn as a substitute for a real relationship.
It is time: we are under the powerful attack of Satan. It is no wonder that we fail in our struggle against this powerful force. It is at this point that the Bible steps in to tell us the truth. We read there that when we believe in Jesus we become new creatures. We are born again and are given the Holy Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit becomes our companion in life and His power is available to us. We need to sincerely repent of the sin of involvement in Satan's wicked scheme to deceive and destroy us. We need to throw ourselves completely on the mercy of God's forgiveness and ask for the Spirit's power to change our thinking.
This is the way that our neuropathways can be changed into channels which are described in Phil. 4:8
"Finally, brothers, 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."In other words, replace the old evil thoughts with the truth. Fill our minds with the Word of God, which has power to change. I recommend you read verses out loud.
As you move forward in your desire to change I challenge you to take the issue out of the dark and confess it to another person who knows Him. Develop accountability for yourself. Pray for the Holy Spirit's power whenever you feel you are under attack. Ask others to pray for you regularly.
David prayed many prayers for deliverance. Consider Psalm 40:13-14
"Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. Let them be ashamed and brought to mutual confusion who seek to destroy my life; let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil."Repetition got you into trouble and now repetition can get you out by going over God's Word constantly. Create new neuropathways.
I recommend you read these books carefully. They will explain in detail the issues and help you find answers.
Overcoming Addictive Behavior by Neil Anderson, Pure Desire by Dr. Ted Roberts. (These are all available from Amazon.)
Written by Arthur Ophoff (1924-2016)
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