Most men with any shred of reason understand that “nothing comes from nothing, and nothing ever would.” Stupidity does not become more plausible when dressed up as so-called science. Deep in the heart of any thinking person is a God-fashioned skylight pointing to a Creator who is both divine and sovereign. God has placed eternity in the heart of every soul. Curse God if you will, excuse him with “millions and millions of years” if you dare, yet the echo of all such nonsense is the unquenchable whisper of the conscience: God is, and you will meet Him some day. No exceptions. No escape.

The real enemy of the church is not the spurious claim that God doesn’t exist. We all know better. Rather, we find our enemy in a sad and growing practice of Christian men and women, who believe He doesn’t exist in the secret places of their own private lives. (Have we forgotten that hitting delete doesn’t cleanse our sin?) Like painting a rotten fencepost, the church today is using religious whitewash to hide a fatal attraction. Pornography is literally eating us from the inside out. Like Isaiah’s generation of old, we are a generation of unclean lips and need a holy fire to purify us (Isaiah 6).

Recent Barna surveys and other polls suggest that, among born-again Christians, 95 percent say that they have looked at pornography, with 54 percent indicating that they view it at least on a monthly basis and 44 percent admitting that they saw it at work within the past three months. 77 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 30 visit these lurid sites weekly, and twenty-five percent of believers hide their Internet browsing history by erasing porn URLs on their computers and electronic devices. Also, about 18 percent of Christian men in this group confess that they are addicted to porn.

Easily, 1 out of every 4 men within a typical congregation of believers is captivated by the seduction of pornography. Joel Hesch, founder of Proven Men Ministries, says, “these statistics knock the wind out of you.” Pastors, deacons, elders, missionaries, ushers, and youth leaders are losing the battle to what Peter calls “fleshly lusts, which war against the soul” (I Pet. 2:11).

Dr. David Jeremiah recently alluded to this hidden epidemic in the church by citing statistics about the amount of time people spend viewing this pollution. One popular porn site and its affiliates stated that worldwide in 2015, 4.5 billion hours of time was logged viewing their programing. Translated into years that means that in 2015, collectively, over one half of a million years of time was spent worldwide viewing porn on this one site alone. Millions and millions of years more when you consider all the sites that produce this filth. This is more than astounding; it is a desperate alarm. Who is helping church men (primarily, but not exclusively men) win this war?

It is becoming clear that the evangelical “born-agains” with in this group who were polled proved not much better than the general consensus of nominal Christians. When it comes to infidelity, nearly a third of the self-proclaimed born-again Christians admitted to having an extramarital affair while they were married. The dangers today are more prevalent than ever, more present than ever and more accessible than ever. Children old enough to navigate a hand-held computer, phone, or mobile device can instantly be in the steamy bedrooms of strangers, and each sexual encounter fuels the natural hunger for more. And these aren’t images of broccoli; we are talking about the most alluring visual stimulus known to man. How can we hate what we love?

It is the nature of addictions to stir curiosity, corrupt, captivate and then finally kill. It is the nature of the enemy to lace a scintillating image in every advertisement and promotion. Sex sells, and the porn industry is touted to bring in 14 billion dollars a year (US) and 100 billion (worldwide) in revenue. With these statistics, it is not surprising that today within the church we have men dressed for church who are walking dead to the cause of Christ. Peter warns us about those who “promise liberty but they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Pet.2:19).

Next week - 5 wonderful strategies to breaking the bondage.

Blessings!