Mental Prostitution

I ministered on a pretty tough subject today – porn and masturbation. I’ve been doing a series on pure sex, and today was the last message. I believe that for us to go as the body of Christ where God wants to take us, we must live clean! He will not snuggle up to dirty living!

If we are going to live clean we must watch what we allow our eyes to see and our ears to hear. In Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus moved sin from an outward act to a thought process. To Him, the look of lust is the same as the act of adultery.

The Greek word for adultery is Pornos. It really refers to the act of prostitution. In God’s mind, an adulterer or adulteress is committing the act of prostitution.

The word pornography is a compound word – from pornos (prostitution) and grapho which means to write. So pornography is the writings of prostitution! A person who views pornography is really committing the act of mental prostitution!

This is certainly a strong word, but we are living in challenging and demanding times. Pornography is a huge problem worldwide and is prevalently abused among believers!

Consider these stats:

* Pornography is a $13.3 billion industry annually in the US and takes in more
money every year than the NFL, NBA, and major league baseball combined.

* 35% of all downloads are pornography material.

* The pornography industry is larger than the revenues of the top technology
companies combined: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix
and EarthLink

* Every second - $3,075.64 is being spent on pornography

* Every second - 28,258 Internet users are viewing pornography

* Every 39 minutes: a new pornographic video is being created in the United States

* There are 4.2 million pornography websites

* 25% of search engine requests are for pornography – 68 million per day

* 80% of in-room hotel movie rentals are pornographic. 60 minutes reported that
In-room movies account for nearly 70% of hotel profits for the major chains –
Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, Hyatt, & Holiday Inn

In addition, it is estimated that 70% of Christians have looked at porn on the web. It’s also estimated that 50% of Christian men and 20% of Christian women are addicted to porn in America. This is a huge problem. And statistics indicate that is the same among church folk!

If you’ve been involved in viewing porn, let me encourage you to repent and get some help! You’re committing mental prostitution if you do this, and you’re hardening your conscience to the Lord. Your heart is being hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
The Holy Spirit is pleading for purity in the church today! Allow Him to cleanse your thoughts and your heart. Cry out for purity and become accountable to another person.

Some excellent help can be found at settingcaptivesfree.com if you want freedom from this sin and you want accountability. XXXChurch.com is another good resource for some info and accountability software for your internet searches. http://relit.org/porn_again_christian/toc.php is a small book you can download from Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle Washington. It’s title is Porn Again Christian, a frank discussion on pornography and masturbation. This one is in your face, so be aware that you’ll be challenged!

Father, bring your purity into all of our lives. Move us to repentance and freedom in Christ. Bring your forgiveness to each one who reaches out in faith and repentance, in Jesus Name!