Article

A Different Kind of Pandemic

Pastor Eric Everhart

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” Hebrews 12:1

By far, the most searched for terms on the internet are related to pornography and it is a growing problem in the world today. Perhaps more than anything else, Satan has succeeded in twisting and perverting the beautiful gift of sex. Sex is good, created by God, and to be experienced by a man and woman in the confines of marriage.  Satan has taken what is good, right, and fruit-bearing (intimate relations between a husband and wife) and he has replaced it with lust, pornography, adultery, rape, and homosexuality. Satan continues to use pornography to destroy self-image, marriages, self-worth, and the beautiful image of God’s creation: humans who are made in his image. 

Pornography can be the first step on a very slippery slope of an ever-increasing wickedness and immorality (Romans 6:19). The addictive nature of pornography is well documented. Just as a drug user must consume greater and more powerful quantities of drugs to achieve the same “high,” pornography drags a person deeper and deeper into hard-core sexual addictions and ungodly desires.

And don’t be deceived–pornography does not consider age or gender. It is just as dangerous for a 75-year-old man as it is for an 18-year-old woman. Remember that scripture tells us that sin comes from, and has its beginnings in, the “desires of our own hearts” (James 1:14). With that said, we are all susceptible to the temptation of pornography and its destructive ways. With social media, virtual reality, limitless internet, and other technologies, pornography is more accessible today than any other time. The sin and desire are the same now as in the beginning of human creation, but our access has changed. 

Below are a few statics concerning pornography:

• Every second, $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography. $20 Billion is spent annually on pornography
• The average child today first sees porn at age 11-13
• 93% of boys and 62% of girls are exposed to internet porn before age 18
• 28,258 users are watching pornography every second
• 1 in 5 mobile searches are for pornography
• 64% of Christian men and 15% of Christian women say they watch porn at least once a month
• 56% of divorces in the church involved one party having “an obsessive interest in pornographic websites”

For those struggling with pornography, God can and will give you victory! Are you involved with pornography and have a desire for freedom from it? Seek God’s forgiveness, ask the Holy Spirit to help you against the work of the Devil, and then swallow your pride and seek someone to walk with you during this time of struggle (the church, a friend, a pastor, an elder). “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).

“Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” (James 1:14-15).

Recent Updates