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Discussion Forum : News and Current Events : Flood of pornography breaching the church

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 Re:

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Every day I "take heed lest I fall," and at times I find a thought that wars against the spirit. This, however, is almost always brief and I receive victory the moment I look to the cross.



Almost every time I pass by a pretty girl on the street, or see a Calvin Klein type ad - and my mind begins to conjure garbage - I remind myself, "She's made in God's image. How can I look at God that way? How can I look at my sister (fellow Godlike image) that way?"

When something really nasty pops into my head I just think to myself, "Now THAT was straight from hell!"

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To add to something Corey wrote,about God hating the person who loves looking at pornography as a habitual practice... After I came to know Christ, more than once I indulged in terrible secret sin... the Lord's displeasure was awful and I literally despaired of living. I thank God He loved me enough to regenerate the troubled areas of my heart and gave faith and practical wisdom to me!!! Our God shows incredible kindness, and pulled me from a pit into holiness!



Soon after I was saved I realized how difficult, nay, impossible, it was to look at such stuff... with tens of thousands of angels looking on... and the King of Universes gazing down upon me with eyes of fire and a face like lightning...

This is why when I hear about people, especially people in ministry, "struggling" with this problem, I have a hard time believing they're saved - or at the very least dangling off a very deep and dangerous precipice.

When I was saved, He made me quit bartending, drinking, women, porn, you name it in very short order.

Coffee and smoking are next. Maybe. Maybe next year...

 2007/7/10 19:39
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

Quote:
This is why when I hear about people, especially people in ministry, "struggling" with this problem, I have a hard time believing they're saved



Corey, do you really think this? In your mind, the fact that someone is [i]struggling[/i] with sin equates to them not being saved?

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When I was saved, He made me quit bartending, drinking, women, porn, you name it in very short order.



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Coffee and smoking are next. Maybe



Brother, but I was delivered from smoking immediately. Am I therefore justified to "have a hard time believing you are saved" because you still smoke, or struggle with this sin?

Just trying to bring some sobriety to your post. A healthy challenge!

Brother Paul

(edit) Hey Corey, don't get upset, man. I'm writing in love, with genuine respect for you. I'm not trying to instigate. I hope you see that. Please don't look at this as a personal attack.


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Paul Frederick West

 2007/7/10 20:29Profile
seanjol
Member



Joined: 2004/11/12
Posts: 55
Charleston, SC

 Re:

This thread is relevant to me today as I listened to Zac Poonen's first exposition of Exodus. Moses stuck his hand into his breast and came out with leprosy. Zac said it was a reminder to us all that there is nothing out there that we cannot be tempted by. We need to not ever look at ourselves as being better than these men who may struggle with this. But for the grace of God it could be any one of us. We need to pray for these pastors, possibly for even their salvation.


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Sean

 2007/7/10 20:38Profile
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

Through experience, I can tell you this: After extended victories over sin and lust and flesh, we need to be as vigilant as ever. We get cocky. We begin preaching graceless truth, subconsciously believing we've won the total victory and anyone less-than-perfect has had a questionable salvation experience.

This mindset creeps in like a cancer, and we don't even know it. Another brother or sister may notice it, though, and point it out. "You've got a little white spot on your skin, brother. You should see the High Priest, get it checked out. It may be the beginnings of leporsy." In other words, examine yourself. Take your high-minded doctrine to Jesus, and let Him give you a routine biopsy in the Holy Spirit.

I can't tell you the amount of times where the verdict has come back to me, "unclean". These leporous splotches usually occur during periods of spiritual prosperity, when we least expect. God indeed was showing Moses that nothing good dwelt in him; inside the man of God's breast was death, leporsy, disease.

I preached a message once to the youth about this very thing. We are all susceptible to disease; it runs rampant throughout our hereditary generations. Sin. If I knew that diabetes or prostate cancer ran throughout my family...I would be getting physicals every few months. I knew a girl whose mother and grandmother both had breast cancer, so she wasn't taking any chances! She would get checked out monthly for tumors. When she took a shower she would feel for lumps.

The rebellious cancer "gene" of sin plagues humanity. Knowing our susceptibility, we also ought to "examine ourselves" daily, and allow the daily condition of our inner men to be reflected back by the mirror of the Word of God.

Brother Paul


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Paul Frederick West

 2007/7/10 21:04Profile









 Re:

Quote:
Quote:
This is why when I hear about people, especially people in ministry, "struggling" with this problem, I have a hard time believing they're saved.



Corey, do you really think this? In your mind, the fact that someone is struggling with sin equates to them not being saved?



If the person's conscience is burdened by a sin he did/is/will commit he is still under grace. But for how long?

If the person's been "found out" it's just as likely he's sorry or embarrassed for being caught - not genuinely, inwardly, penitent.

And in all cases, if someone in the ministry is looking at porn on a regular or even irregular basis, they ought to be removed and banned from serving again (at least in an official sense).

If Paul caught Timothy looking at gay porn online would he offer to be Timothy's "accountability partner" as Timothy continued to minister? Seriously.

If the vast majority of churches in North America have 2-3 pastors each, and a third of all pastors view porn, about 90% of American churches have leadership involved in sexual immorality.

The pastors that view porn say they're the "victims" when, in fact, they're the perpetrators...

As authority figures, these people have access to young women and young men, boys and girls yet the churches view these sinners as "victims", too.

This is sick. It needs to stop.

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Brother, but I was delivered from smoking immediately. Am I therefore justified to "have a hard time believing you are saved" because you still smoke, or struggle with this sin?

Just trying to bring some sobriety to your post. A healthy challenge!



Hehe. Depends if coffee and smoking is a sin or not. It's not explicit, as in the Bible doesn't mention it outright. And I'm down to 2-3 a day from over a pack last year and LAY OFF ABOUT THE SMOKING THING ALREADY!!! I'M HAVING A NIC-FIT!!!


(edit) Hey Corey, don't get upset, man. I'm writing in love, with genuine respect for you. I'm not trying to instigate. I hope you see that. Please don't look at this as a personal attack.


Upset? Who's upset?

 2007/7/11 0:24





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