In one of my blog articles, I wrote that I was a fan of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti and Bob Marley, and how my life would have gone off on a tangent that would have led to only God knows where!
Apart from worldly music, one of the things that had me ensnared at that time was pornography. I was steeped into reading deeply graphic novels. The lure was irresistible.
Every book, every page and every line I read was a noose around the neck that pulled me to another line, another page and another book until the noose was firmly tightened into a stranglehold. Death was being served piecemeal.
Words do paint pictures. Then, we did not have access to videos as such, but there were comics, photo-books and magazines, in addition to the novels that did the job perfectly. My submission to Christ was a massive deliverance for me. The slaughter slab was not too far ahead.
Sadly, the wildfires of porn are raging in the Church. Some years ago, a fellow pastor attempted to introduce me to pornographic videos. He said, “It is sex education, and it would help you to be sexually more effective in your marriage.” He wanted to be a blessing to my marriage! My antennas went up. Satan’s lie!
Our brains do not distinguish between what we see on a video and what we see in real life. It would have been the same thing if the pastor had come into our sitting-room with his wife or any other woman, stripped, taken the position of the TV set and they both do the educating before my wife and me as we watched on the couch. I declined the ‘blessing.’ My late friend Pastor Tonyemieba Oggory would describe such an offer as a “gift that has k-legs.”
There is an African proverb that says, ‘if you see a man take to his heels when he sees a rope on the ground, you would not know what a snake may have done to him.’ Some snakes disguise as beautiful twines.
Now Solomon, where are you taking us to? Just wait and you will see the deliverance of the Lord.
Can a man take hot coals to his bosom and not be burned?
Sex is a sacred, spiritual, mental, emotional and physical activity; it is an act of worship. The words porn and pornography are from the same root.
In my book Criminals behind the Pulpit, I wrote that the word pornography is derived from the Greek word Porneia, which epitomizes worship at the altar of human carnality, sex and passion. It connotes prostitution, harlotry, incest and adulation. Pornography is idolatry.
“Porneia refers to when a person indulges in any sexual activity that is outside God’s blueprint for sex, which is sex between a man and a woman that are married to each other. It subsumes all forms of sexual activity and behaviour outside of this blueprint.”
“Porneia would therefore include pornography, fornication, adultery, incest, bestiality, masturbation, bi-sexuality, all forms of sexual orgies, homosexuality, prostitution (i.e. sex for sale), lesbianism, nudity, paedophilia, rape and such like perversions. None of these is honourable and undefiled in the eyes of God; none of them glorifies Him.”
Beyond its devastating spiritual impact, pornography distorts the human mind.
Pornography charms the heart and mind of a man and creates infinitely insatiable hungers. Nothing and no one can satisfy the passions created and minds captivated or enslaved by pornography. Its regress is deeper and deeper into a dark pit. It is a perversion of the heart and mind through the gate of the imagination.
God has wired humans for intimacy, and our sex drive and neurology are subsumed under that wiring. Our sexuality is properly designed to stem from intimacy, not the other way round. An intimacy that is undergirded and guarded by nuptial commitment. This is one aspect of our makeup that pornography distorts. It elevates sensuality and makes it take the place of intimacy. It throws true love out of the window and enthrones lust and self.
Man is a spirit being, he has a soul and he lives in a physical body. The human brain is the most intricate biological machine in the universe. When a person views pornography, it seizes the normal functioning of the brain and results in the adoption of dysfunctional patterns that have intense effects on one’s psychology and behaviour.
According to Wikipedia, “The UK children’s commissioner initiated a meta-study conducted by researchers at Middlesex University which concluded that pornography is linked to unrealistic attitudes about sex, beliefs that women are sex objects, more frequent thoughts about sex, and found that children and young people who view pornography tend to hold less progressive gender role attitudes.” What porn does to children and youth, it also does to adults.
Pornography destroys people’s lives, destroys marriages, destroys homes, and destroys the mindset of children, young people and everyone; Pornography destroys organisations, ministries, and it destroys societies. Friend, read my lips, you can never develop healthy sexuality with pornography.
My heart quakes for our generation and that of our children’s. Purveyors of pornography are targeting younger children and youth to keep their businesses going. They understand the addictive and destructive power of porn, but they do not care about you or your children.
Satan has principalities behind pornography. The kingdom of darkness fully understands the destructive power of porn. They use it to set strongholds in the minds of people. If porn has made you suicidal, seek help immediately, because Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy.
However, greater than the power of porn is the redemptive power of the Gospel of Christ, which can deliver anyone who would repent and come under the cover of His blood, and receive life eternal. Jesus came that we might have life, and have it to the full.
If you are a Christian and you have put yourself under the bondage of porn, you can be set free. God still loves you dearly.
Also, if you have not given your life to Christ, His love is wide open to receive you and cleanse your life, to deliver you from the kingdom of darkness and translate you into the kingdom of God’s dear son, Jesus Christ.
Friend, it is time to draw the lines. Pick up your mobile device, and your computer, delete all porn material you have saved on it, block all porn sites and delete their cookies, keep away from movies and TV channels that are purveyors of suggestive material, burn all pornographic CD’s, DVD’s, print materials, books, magazines, comics etc, that you have. Do not just throw them away, burn them! Seriously limit or cut relationships with friends who encourage you along these lines, even if it is your twin!
Ask God for mercy and grace to keep away from them. Save your life, save the lives of your children and generations after you. Do it today!
Do not forget to keep living, loving and learning.
References:
- Proverbs 6:27; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; John 10:10; Colossians 1:13; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
- Criminals Behind the Pulpit: Exposing False Ministry and Unveiling True Ministry in the Church
- Imitators of God by Solomon A. Aror
- 5 Facts About Pornography and the Brain
- The Effects of Porn on the Male Brain
- Effects of Pornography, Wikipedia.
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