SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : News and Current Events : Flood of pornography breaching the church

Print Thread (PDF)

Goto page ( 1 | 2 Next Page )
PosterThread
sermonindex
Moderator



Joined: 2002/12/11
Posts: 39795
Canada

Online!
 Flood of pornography breaching the church


[b]Flood of pornography breaching the church[/b]

One pastor who spoke to the TEXAN about the problem said the incidence of sexual immorality in the church, with pornography as the culprit, has increased in the last five years.

The pastor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he has counseled two fellow ministry leaders regularly over the last year who have lost their ministries because of porn and related problems. One lost his marriage and the other is fighting to keep his, the pastor said.

One was a para-church leader whose wife discovered his addiction. "He's doing treatment, he's doing counseling, he's doing accountability," the pastor said. "He's doing everything he can do."

The man did not have extramarital intercourse, but "he was doing the pornography, topless bars.... He spent thousands of dollars on this type of stuff. This guy was in ministry." ...

read more: http://www.baptistpress.com/BPnews.asp?ID=26023


_________________
SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2007/7/9 1:18Profile
enid
Member



Joined: 2006/5/22
Posts: 2680
Nottingham, England

 Re: Flood of pornography breaching the church

This is just so sad. It's not shocking, because I guess most people in the church know that it's going on.

But it is unbelievably sad.

The pastor who looked to the word of God for deliverance found it, rather than in any other method that man thinks of.

How it brings down the name of Christ when Christians participate in this kind of thing.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart...

God bless.

 2007/7/9 1:53Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

I suppose one should not be too surprised when you have more people involved in 'ministry' as a profession, a vocation or a job rather then to minister to the saints of God. You will end up with pastors who do not know twit about walking with the LORD. They may have an abundance of head knowledge, but no heart knowledge nor one who has the Spirit of Truth ruling their hearts. These are the people one needs to be wary of. Perhaps it is good for the saints to see how God is exposing these false prophets? Now how will we respond? That will be as revealing as the condition that provoked it, IMHO. Will we justify them? make excuses for them? say they are human and not so responsible? Hey, ya'll there are many in the pews who do not have the problem!!! why should he be exempt from any responsibility?

ginnyrose


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2007/7/9 9:03Profile









 Re: Flood of pornography breaching the church

Quote:
One was a para-church leader whose wife discovered his addiction. "He's doing treatment, he's doing counseling, he's doing accountability," the pastor said. "He's doing everything he can do."

I've been down this road, and I know what porn does to a man. But none of the above treatment will do any good. It trains the mind but the heart is just as wicked as ever.

The answer that I found is the old fashioned rugged cross. It's a battle to the end, we must reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin and resurrected unto God. The fight is to maintain that death as Paul said, "I die daily". When we by faith acknowledge that we are dead, the holy Ghost works in our lives cutting away all that pertains to death, when we sin and go a whoring after our flesh, He stops. Faith is what keeps the surgery moving along, without it we cannot please God.

I have found victory in Jesus thru taking up the cross. These Pastors need to know that it's only by the cross that they will ever find any lasting victory over the sins of the flesh. If we want to save our lives, we must lose it.

Even though these men have not practiced intercourse outside of their marriage, they have in their heart, and this is the real issue.

Dear saints, please do not judge these men too harshly. If these men belong to the LORD and the Spirit of God dwells in them, God has a way of bringing whats in the heart to the surface and by pressure it boils to the top. The scum needs to be scraped off the surface, this is a work of grace. They probably have prayed the same vows we did, same restrictions, same everything, but nothing works, save the cross of Jesus.

 2007/7/9 12:03
Lotis
Member



Joined: 2006/9/26
Posts: 84


 Re:

This is a big problem indeed. The most important thing is that we have compassion on these people if they have repentant hearts and help them restore their relationship with Christ and with their wives and families! For any out there who struggle with this in secret but are afraid to seek help because they will have to step down from ministry: Better to obey God and live with a pure heart with a loving family than to go on in ministry with a burden of guilt and shame and potentially destroy your life and the lives of countless others who count on you. I would respect a man who came clean and repented more-so than a man who hid it away for his reputations sake. This is coming into the light more and more I think, and it's only a matter of time before Jesus shakes this from his church! Lets get clean now before we are spit out of his mouth! He will have mercy and compassion on us if we run to him now, his love will fulfill all our needs much more than pornography ever could. Song of Songs 8:6, we set you as a seal upon our heart oh Lord, a seal of firey love that many waters cannon quench.


_________________
John

 2007/7/9 12:03Profile









 Re:

From the article:

Quote:
Additionally, the six-year-old research showed that 51 percent of pastors admitted pornography was a possible temptation, 37 percent said porn is a struggle and 33 percent had viewed Internet pornography at least once a year.



One third of pastors have viewed porn in the past year? One third? Pastors???

Quote:
Rogers added: "Confession is a powerful deterrent to temptation."



"Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." (MAT 26:14)

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (I COR 10:13)

Quote:
One pastor who spoke to the TEXAN about the problem said the incidence of sexual immorality in the church, [b]with pornography as the culprit[/b], has increased in the last five years... Henry Rogers, corporate chaplain at Dallas-based Interstate Batteries and author of the book "The Silent War: Ministering to Those Trapped in the Deception of Pornography," told the radio audience of "For Faith & Family" that [b]porn's proliferation is "ripping the soul out of the American male.[/b]"



That's like saying a wallet's guilty of theft or a gun's guilty of murder.

Pornography isn't the culprit; the sinner that views it is.

Quote:
"The Bible talks about how we will not be tempted beyond what we are able to endure, and when we're tempted God will provide a way out. What does that mean? What does that look like in real life? The Holy Spirit is huge in overcoming this. The Holy Spirit will bring accountability in my life. [b]When I feel temptation coming on, I start to drift where I'm not supposed to drift ... and the phone will ring and it's a friend from church[/b]," Lawhon said...

...[b]Lawhon spends much of his time working with college students, many of whom are struggling through many of the battles he went through[/b]. He advises them to continually renew their minds by memorizing Scripture and dealing with only one day at a time, because overcoming sexual temptation is fought one battle at a time.



Whoa! So this guy still "drifts" towards his earlier temptations - yet somehow "helps" college students battle the very thing he still struggles with?

"And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?" (LUKE 6:39)

"Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children... [i]While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption[/i]: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. [b]For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.[/b] For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog [is] turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." (II PET 2:14-22)

Quote:
The pastor the TEXAN interviewed said one of the ministers he is counseling is "going to do everything he can to recover. [b]He turned himself in [to his ministry], started the counseling process, started the accountability, did a contract with his wife and with me and with some other guys.[/b]"



But was he removed from the ministry?

Quote:
But even with accountability, vital as it is, "both you and I know that people can lie," the pastor said. "In fact, one of these guys I used to meet with, he did lie to me for a while. When all this started, when he actually was doing some of this stuff, he was lying to me."

The man later initiated a meeting and confessed that he had lied.

"There's no guarantee that goes with accountability. And we're naïve to think that just because somebody sits down and asks the questions that we are always getting the truth. But at the same time, I think it's something important. I think it's something you need to do. It's a process you need to be experiencing, though it's certainly no guarantee."

The pastor said [b]it is crucial that a minister allows friends, staff and fellow church members to inspect the cache of his computer anytime to see what sites he has visited.[/b]



Isn't it more "crucial" to get a sinner viewing this junk out of the pulpit?

"For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (JUD 1:4)

"[b]But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, [i]let it not be once named among you,[/i] as becometh saints...[/b] For this ye know, that [b]no whoremonger[/b], nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, [b]hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.[/b] Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. [b]Be not ye therefore partakers with them.[/b]" (EPH 5:3-7)

I would simply [b]love[/b] to hear A.W. Tozer, Leonard Ravenhill, or Vance Havner blast away a sermon after reading a sirupy, liberal, airy-fairy article about the helpless pastors who desperately need help breaking their porn addiction - while still preaching righteousness from the pulpit...

"All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not." (MAT 23:3)

"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity." (MAT 23:27-28)

 2007/7/10 4:58









 Re:

And how can one (say a pastor) who has fallen into the ditch help someone else get out of the ditch? It cannot be done unless the men rally together to get them all out.

The sad state of affairs is that there is no help to be found in the majority of churches today, even for the wife as well as for the husband/father who has fallen. (Everyone is too busy telling her and him what they should be doing instead of praying.)

Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Ga 6:1 NKJV

The above verse is a tell-tale sign that shows the condition of the heart because we can't really live it unless we are living Christ's 2nd commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself." But we cannot do that really unless we've attained to the 1st: "Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, and body." So it's very telling to watch how Christians treat each other.

 2007/7/10 5:59









 Re:

Quote:
And how can one (say a pastor) who has fallen into the ditch help someone else get out of the ditch? It cannot be done unless the men rally together to get them all out.



If a third of pastors actively look at porn, and fifty percent of men in the congregation actively look at porn - [b]they are still in the ditch[/b]. They haven't come out.

Pornaholics don't need to "rally together" - that's like one man sinking in quicksand asking another sinking man to pull him out. They need to read scripture, repent, pray, and get out of the ministry.

Quote:
The sad state of affairs is that there is no help to be found in the majority of churches today, even for the wife as well as for the husband/father who has fallen.



No. This "sad state of affairs" is due to bleeding heart liberals who prefer humanistic theraputic "help" over sound Biblical doctrine like,

"Repent, sinner! Repent! Rend your heart! Pray in sackcloth and ashes and you'll be forgiven - but woe to the man that continues with one foot in pornography and one foot in the church!"

Quote:
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.
Ga 6:1 NKJV



"For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them." (II PET 2:20-21)

"NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH: BUT IF ANY MAN DRAW BACK, MY SOUL SHALL HAVE NO PLEASURE IN HIM." (HEB 10:38)

"See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven." (HEB 12:25)

"Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation." (MAR 3:28-29)

If these pastors and lay-churchmen are indeed Spirit-filled, born again believers, yet they turn away from the promptings of their conscience (the voice of the Spirit), they are in the process of committing the unpardonable sin. How long before God gives them over forever?

Quote:
The above verse is a tell-tale sign that shows the condition of the heart because we can't really live it unless we are living Christ's 2nd commandment, "Love your neighbor as yourself." But we cannot do that really unless we've attained to the 1st: "Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, mind, and body." So it's very telling to watch how Christians treat each other.



"Hate the sin. Love the sinner"?

No, my friend. If we love children, we must hate pedophiles. If we love justice, we must hate iniquity. And if we love looking at men, women, boys, and girls (images of God) as they commit abomination, blasphemy, fornication, and adultery - we hate God and He hates us.

"But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death." (PRO 8:36)

"Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate." (AMO 5:15)

"It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." (LUK 17:2)

 2007/7/10 14:22
theopenlife
Member



Joined: 2007/1/30
Posts: 926


 Re:

Quote:
The answer that I found is the old fashioned rugged cross. It's a battle to the end, we must reckon ourselves to be dead unto sin and resurrected unto God... Faith is what keeps the surgery moving along, without it we cannot please God.



Agreed, Compliments.

Corey, some strong words and verse choices. I understand and empathize with your hot displeasure at the reproach these men bring against our Lord's name.

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.

Romans 6!!! I was baptized into His DEATH! He lives in me with incorruptible life! I think often of my baptism, with comfort and strength in this path of identification with our risen Savior.

I suggest Art Katz's "God Crucified" message.

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!

 2007/7/10 15:37Profile
tjservant
Member



Joined: 2006/8/25
Posts: 1658
Indiana USA

 Re:

Quote:
This "sad state of affairs" is due to...humanistic theraputic "help" over sound Biblical doctrine



This seems to be the root of most problems today.


_________________
TJ

 2007/7/10 15:59Profile





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy