Hope for the 'viewer'

Hopelessness grips far too many people in today’s world. What is the solution? What will break the shackles and open the way to a better life? - Mike Bennett

Everyone who walks on earth is exposed to sufficient social pressure because we live in an increasing world of terrorism in which the economy is less stable as well as broken homes, with many illnesses being discovered but still less cured. This is why everyone needs hope.

The church should be a life and light giving prop. Christ did not die to make good works merely possible or to produce a half-hearted pursuit. He died to create many of his kind as torch-bearing and hope-giving spirits. It is the church’s primary duty to give hope to everyone, including the pornography addict, and not always preach our ten-point sermon on why they are going to hell with such an addiction.

People who see no hope can feel frustrated, discouraged, stigmatised, distressed, and irritated. As a person is beaten down further and hope ebbs away, it may turn into giving up, listlessness towards the things of God and lifelessness—just going through the period of the addiction more like an automaton than a human being with free will, self-determination and great potential. All the characteristics that reflect his or her humanity can be buried under the avalanche of hopelessness.

Most of us have felt the misery of being lost in a maze of watching pornography, with no idea where to seek help. But sometimes this idea of ‘I can stop this by myself’ has shot us into that very dead-end; and the addiction has, in fact, made us its prisoner.
A renowned Christian Apologist, Ravi Zacharias,  in his talk on ‘Drawing the lines about pornography’, said: "I think the pioneers of pornography, at the time of a judgment, will bear some of the harshest response from the very person of God due to the number of young lives they have destroyed."

Research from the U.S-based Webroot Inc. demonstrates that 28,258 consumers watch pornography every second and spend $3,075.64 on porn every second on the Internet. 37 pornographic videos are produced daily in the United States, and 2.5 billion emails containing porn are sent or received daily, already amazed? For now, I don't think you should. Back to these facts...each month porn sites receive more periodic traffic than Netflix, Amazon, & Twitter combined. (HuffPost), 35% of all web downloads are porn-related. More than 5,517,000,000 hours of porn were consumed on the world's biggest porn site in 2018 alone. (Ponhub Analytics).

One evening after a service, a Christian brother came to me and discussed the rising power of pornography over his life. And like most of us here will do, I wondered if he had fasted and prayed about it. He told me how with fasting he had already called on the powers of heaven. This fasting life of his to break his viewing addiction even goes beyond the length in days I had probably waited on God without food. He felt he had received that power from time to time, also refraining from looking at pornography for months, yet he reverted to the viewing habit. (Shared with approval)

Let’s meet next week for the continuation of lessons on Pornography. But as it stands now, there’s hope to the ‘viewer’. You can be free from this pornography addiction. Kindly share this week’s article with at least one person, and you’ve done the lords biding! Have a blessed moment.

For help and counselling on any sexual issue email us on seperatedyoungsters@gmail.com. You can let us know how this piece has blessed you at the comment session or share your testimony via the email above.