by David Gibson<\/p>\n
It’s amazing how many different ways Satan has to enslave us: drugs, alcohol, tobacco, overeating, gambling, etc. Our adversary knows how to get us hooked and keep us hooked.<\/p>\n
Satan has been entrapping even more with another highly addictive practice, using Internet pornography.<\/p>\n
How many thought when they started where this would lead them? How many dreamed what a grip this would get on their minds? How many would have ever guessed what it would do to their marriages? Or, most important of all, what would it do to their relationship with God?<\/p>\n
But Paul cautions, “… let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall<\/em>” (I Corinthians 10:12 NASB).<\/p>\n The writer of Hebrews warns us that we can be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin<\/em>” (Hebrews 3:13).<\/p>\n Sin deceives us when we think we can indulge without consequence. But sin, when repeated, has a definite hardening effect on us. Our conscience can become so calloused by repeated indulgence that it becomes less and less sensitive, and we drift farther and farther away from our God who calls us to be holy as He is holy (I Peter 1:14-16; 2:9-11).<\/p>\n Jesus said, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.<\/em>” And then He said, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell<\/em>” (Matthew 5:28-29).\u00a0While Jesus does not mean for us literally to pluck out our eyes, does He not mean we must take drastic action to save our souls?<\/p>\n Whatever it takes.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson Getting Hooked It’s amazing how many different ways Satan has to enslave us: drugs, alcohol, tobacco, overeating, gambling, etc. Our adversary knows how to get us hooked and keep us hooked. Satan has been entrapping even more with another highly addictive practice, using Internet pornography. How many thought when they started where…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[387,371,372,226],"class_list":["post-88929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-addiction","tag-alcohol","tag-drugs","tag-pornography"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5146,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-deal-with-an-addict\/","url_meta":{"origin":88929,"position":0},"title":"How do you deal with an addict?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to know how the church deals with a member who practices self-destruction? The individual is a brother who has so much potential to excel in the church but has demons he is facing (e.g. alcohol). He is full of energy and commitment but had a recent incident\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54962,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/addiction\/","url_meta":{"origin":88929,"position":1},"title":"Addiction","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by William C. Sexton The word addiction is one we usually associate with drugs. An \"addict\" is defined as \"one who has a confirmed habit, as the overuse of drugs...\" (Webster's). If we look, however, we can see that one can be addicted to almost anything; that is, to have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1446,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-rape-when-a-husband-is-influenced-by-alcohol-drugs-or-pornography\/","url_meta":{"origin":88929,"position":2},"title":"Is it rape when a husband is influenced by alcohol, drugs, or pornography?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 25, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I strongly disagree with you about a husband raping a wife. If the husband is not a Christian and is under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or pornography, what he is doing is not respectful to his wife and not considered in agreement with Scripture that refers to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8841,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-pornography-so-addictive-and-how-can-i-help-someone-stop-looking-at-porn\/","url_meta":{"origin":88929,"position":3},"title":"Why is pornography so addictive and how can I help someone stop looking at porn?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We were just hanging out after school as usual when one of the guys borrowed a mobile phone from a close friend of mine. There were six or seven of us and there were just two girls there. Now this guy who borrowed the phone took a good look\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27263,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-realize-now-that-i-can-be-forgiven-so-how-do-i-get-past-the-guilt\/","url_meta":{"origin":88929,"position":4},"title":"I realize now that I can be forgiven, so how do I get past the guilt?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've obsessed for a long time about committing the unpardonable sin, as some have called it. I have struggled with some addictions for a while (alcohol and pornography), and a few times had the thought come into my mind: \"if you give in to certain temptations, you will lose\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27947,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-does-god-forgive-besetting-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":88929,"position":5},"title":"How does God forgive besetting sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have a question on how God forgives besetting sin. I have given my life to Christ about a year ago, and it has been the best thing I could have ever done with my life. However, I'm finding myself with a pattern of committing sin. I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Taking Decisive Action<\/h2>\n