There are more Christian outlets today than ever before. There are more Christian books available now than ever in history. Mega churches are popping up all over the United States. The Word of God is being taught effectively and the Spirit of the Lord is moving in church services in miraculous ways. Praise the Lord! If all of this is going on, why oh why is pornography on the rise in the church?
Week after week we hear sermons about faith, finances, healing, family -- and did I mention finances? However, very rarely if at all do we hear about how huge a role pornography plays in today's church. So many times after praising God, shouting in church, paying your offering, hearing the Word and fellowshipping afterwards many Christians late that night complete their Sunday experience by watching pornography online.
I remember being about 14 years old at a family event in Brooklyn, when I had my first encounter with pornography. My uncle said he wanted to share something with a few of the guys and took us in a room and showed us a very popular X-rated movie at the time. Little did any of us know at the time how much that tape would impact my life. Ever since that day it became an addiction for me. I am totally convinced that their are demonic spirits linked to pornography and they desire not just to affect the individual but their spouse and children as well. I say spouse because pornography is just not viewed by males as we thought but the number of females who view it has increased dramatically as well. I speak to several males and females and they express the daily struggle they fight to gain victory over their physical desire to watch pornography.
Despite the numerous Christian outlets we have today I believe one of the reasons why pornography has increased is because of access. When my uncle showed me that movie back then it was on VHS tape. Generally to obtain those movies you had to go to a video store , incognito as not to be recognized by your fellow saints. Then you had to go into a back area with a fake curtain to get your movie. Sneak out to the register and hope the clerk had no problem finding your movie. Occasionally they had to call across the counter to see if they had your movie... "Hey Joe, do you have Debbie Does Texas" over there. Being discreet was top priority. Then after you finally made it home, keeping that tape hid became another issue.
So the enemy knew that Christians wanted to watch pornography but were wary of being discovered, so the next step of pornography was having cable companies provide it on demand. That solved the issue of going outside and being discovered, now the Christian could please their flesh from the privacy of their own home. Problem solved, right? No. When that bill came in the following month and it had charges of $11.99 per movie that was a huge problem. You have to hide the bill from your spouse and spend extra money on the bill. So this was another hurdle that had to be cleared.
So finally with all of this technology we have, the next step of pornography was to have it to be FREE online on any hand held device. Whether it is on an iPhone, Android, iPad, tablet, etc., it is accessible to anyone, at anytime free of charge. This now allows the child of God to watch all the pornography they want, without fear of being detected or embarrassed by going outside, or having to pay for it.
This is why it is on the rise to the delightful of Satan. He has removed all of the obstacles that would hinder a Christian from viewing. This is killing the church. And it is a silent killer because most people will tell their close Christians friends about a healing issues, or a financial issue, maybe even a marriage issue, but rarely will anyone tell anybody about a pornography issue. How can I tell you about that, I am suppose to be able handle that, I am suppose to be able to stand on the Word and walk in victory over that easily. This is killing Pastors, Elders, Choir members, ushers, First Ladies. I am not saying everyone is watching it, of course not but there is a large amount of members as well as leaders who struggle daily with this. I read that a hotel reported that when a Christian conference is being held the viewing of pornography goes up as compared to other conferences, so someone is watching it.
How do we stop? I know some people, adults, mature Christians who are hesitant to be alone at home because they know the temptation is very strong for them to view it. We have to pray but do much more than pray. What I have noticed is that this is a daily battle that must be fought aggressively and purposely. You can't let your guard down for one second. If the enemy sees you are trying to avoid the hard core porn he will try to sneak in with soft core porn to enter your mind and defense like the Trojan Horse. You may say "well this isn't hard core, I don't watch hard core porn, I only watch soft porn like Being Mary Jane, Zane Chronicles or Scandal, or some of the other shows on Showtime late night." A person that has issues with alcohol can't have one sip, because it may take them back down that road, same thing with sexual shows. Yeah but those are good shows, but are they worth that spirit dwelling in your home and attacking your family, no, not worth it.
Also try to have a very, very, very ,very mature friend who you can confide in. The enemy wants you to keep this as quite as possible. He wants you to fight it silently and to be ashamed. Once you break the silence and have a true saint who you can confide in, that sheds some light on the situation. This is a battle we have to win because some people have this issue for years, and years and pass it on to generations, we have to say this curse stops here, right now!
So be vigilant, if you slip up, don't quit. Don't let it keep you down, remember you only lose if you stay down. God welcomes you back but He so wants you to resist to the end and say enough is enough and the time wasted on watching pornography can now being invested in bringing the dream to pass and impacting your future form your family. Praise God, you can do it!