I suspect that most Christians wanting to quit porn are not calling anyone. The thought of confessing one’s sexual sins to an accountability partner or group causes most Christians to quit a purity program before they even get started. Even if this was the only available option, I suspect that most Christians wanting to quit porn would still choose to hoist the white flag, acknowledge defeat, and resign themselves to a hypocritical, inconsistent walk. They may even cite passages like Romans 7:17-25 and Galatians 5:17 to mistakenly justify their inconsistent walk. Many more would be willing to give purity programs a try, if they were not required to be part of a flesh-starving accountability group. It is for this still struggling and still quietly suffering group of Christians that A Way of Escape was written.

WHO YA GONNA CALL TO HELP YOU QUIT PORN?—NOBODY

Is there any support for the suspicions voiced above? Yes! In a survey of persons wanting to quit porn, a whopping 83% of respondents admitted to having nobody in their life to help them quit [1].

WHO YA GONNA CALL TO HELP YOU QUIT PORN?—GOOD HELPERS. BUT NOT THE BEST HELPER

This same survey asked senior pastors about their most effective resources for dealing with porn use. The five (5) responses [2]:

1)     Mentors

2)     Accountability Groups

3)     Personal Counseling

4)     Internet Monitoring/Filtering Software

5)     Topic-Specific Bible Study

Who ya gonna call to help you quit porn? Five (5) good helpers were named. But not the Best Helper. Conspicuously absent in the five responses is any mention of our Chief Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 16:7).

Conspicuously absent in the five responses is any mention of our Chief Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 16:7).

Has the success of flesh-starving accountability-based purity programs come at a price? Has the success of flesh-starving accountability-based purity programs resulted in most in the Church no longer seeking (or even considering the possibility of) wholly Spirit-powered options?

A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THE CHURCH

Please understand. I am no more critical of the aforementioned responses than I am of myself. I did not “get” the Holy Spirit’s role in delivering believers from lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16) on a first, second, or even a forty-second (42nd) reading! It is hoped that pointing out this shocking neglect of the Holy Spirit will serve as a wake-up call for more in the Church. As another author has so famously stated:

... we’ve ignored the Spirit for far too long, and we are reaping the disastrous results ... (let us) stop and remember the One we’ve forgotten, the Spirit of the living God [3].

A GAME-CHANGING BOOK HAS ARRIVED

In A Way of Escape, readers learn how to quit porn—not by starving the flesh, but—by stepping up the degree to which they “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16). They learn how to build a library of Spirit-anointed, flesh-diffusing apps. Apps that are uniquely fitted to them, and their unique Spirit-filling triggers (Ephesians 5:18b-19).

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh (Galatians 5:16).

The still-struggling 83% now have another option. The still-struggling 83% now have fresh hope for discovering that long-sought-after way of escape from temptation and resulting sin (I Corinthians 10:13). A way that—because it is wholly Spirit-powered—does not require enlisting the aid of an accountability partner or group. Truly, a game-changer!

THANK YOU, HOLY SPIRIT!

REFERENCES

1.      The Porn Phenomenon: The Impact of Pornography in the Digital Age, Barna Group, Ventura, CA, page 112 (83% determined as the average of 79% for Teens and Young Adults and 87% for Adults Age 25 and Older), 2016

2.      Ibid., page 113

3.      Chan, F., Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, First Printing, David C Cook, Colorado Springs, CO, (quote taken from the Amazon online blurb for this book), 2009