What flows so readily and is so available: p**n

By: Steve Huston

As the summer too quickly comes to an end we are reminded how rapidly time advances and things change.

Jesus’ words are to watch and to live in readiness to live for Him moment by moment – day after day. The seasons come and go. “The grass withers and the flower fades away but the word of the Lord endures forever. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” [I Peter 1:24,25]

God’s will is unfolding as it will. Nothing surprises God. He is in control of the nations, our politics, our lives – every breath we breath.

What a blessing to be God’s instruments for service – both you and us here at American Decency Association. Thank you for helping us to continue to proclaim Christ and His righteousness to a sinful generation and to call out to Christians to “pursue holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.”

Let me speak matter of factly.

Pornography is rampant today as never before in my life time. I was born in 1946.

Many of you know the shortened version of my story. As a university student at Michigan State University, I got hooked on pornography.

Early in my twenties, I received Christ as my Lord and Savior. I saw early on that God’s ways for me did not include lusting after images or scantily clad and/or nude women.

With God’s Word helping me to stay focused upon His love, I began to experience victory. Many years have come and gone but God’s grace and power have sustained me. I rejoice and will never forget the reality of His saving power and His changing power.

I cringe today to see what flows so readily and is so available. Yet, you would think there was no problem with the ready display of sexually erotic images (pornography). Those in positions of leadership and authority hardly ever discuss it. Those who follow after us too often don’t have a clue of the dangerous nature of pornography.

Over the next several days I will be discussing the dangers of pornography right here. I want to do my part to warn anyone who has an ear to hear to avoid it – avoid pornography, obscenity and indecency as if it were a plague which it is.

I invite your testimonies as well. As always, I will keep your name anonymous.

Lastly, Oswald Chambers writing in his devotional “My Utmost for His Highest” wrote the following for September 1.

Destined to be Holy it is written, ’Be holy, for I am holy’ —1 Peter 1:16

We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness. Today we have far too many desires and interests, and our lives are being consumed and wasted by them. Many of them may be right, noble, and good, and may later be fulfilled, but in the meantime God must cause their importance to us to decrease. The only thing that truly matters is whether a person will accept the God who will make him holy. At all costs, a person must have the right relationship with God.

Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy? If through your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I then resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness, but it also awakens an intense yearning and desire within me. God has only one intended destiny for mankind— holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity— He came to save us because He created us to be holy. Atonement through the Cross of Christ means that God can put me back into perfect oneness with Himself through the death of Jesus Christ, without a trace of anything coming between us any longer.

Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind— placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life.
http://www.rbc.org/devotionals/my-utmost-for-his-highest/09/01/devotion.aspx?year=2008

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American Decency Association
Bill Johnson, President
P.O. Box 202
Fremont, MI 49412
ph: 231-924-4050
www.americandecency.org

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