The Screen is the Altar

Brother, you know this has become a kind of idol worship, don't you? You think about P o r n all the time and every time you get a chance to view it, you do. It calls to you from the other room and says, come and look at me. Indulge yourself in the fruits of my delights. If you're bored, come and give me a glance. If you're lonely, come and get an eye-full. If you need an adrenaline fix, give us a view. You have nothing to do for a few minutes, take a little time off and surf the web and see what you can come up with. I wonder what you'll find if you just type in this ___? Hey, what do you know. Hey, this isn't so bad, the censor hasn't kicked in, perhaps it isn't so bad...." And on and on it goes until you are up to your neck in the worship of a foreign idol.

The screen is the altar, the worship is the viewing, the thrill of being caught or not being caught. The culmination of the service, the Communion is the ual relief of self-stimulation. The only downside is that it is embarrassing because you have to tell others about it.

But the whole thing is idolatrous. You don't love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might. You want to take a break here and there. What begins as a few minutes of "down time" turns into hours of filth and scum.

The idol has control, you've lost it. What you thought would give you a thrill, even though you've always known it was illicit, has become your god and it is mastering you. Oh sure, not every moment of every day, but I'll bet you that you think about it either to worship or not to worship far more often than you think about right worship of the true God. And maybe even as you seek to worship the true God there's always that nagging little voice that says, "I'm over here." "Just a few more minutes and you can be free from this Bible study stuff and then you can come and worship at my throne." "Say, maybe your wife left the censor off, maybe you'd better check. It will only take a few minutes, there's no one around. It will be okay. Just this once, and only for a few minutes. You can always go back to your theological reading later." And it has you by the throat, thrashing you around; beating you to a frazzle.

Do a Bible study on how idols work. See how they take control of a person and drag him down to Hell. Study and see what God thinks about the idols we set up in our hearts. See what he says to do about idols...And then do it! This can't go on. You can't continue to do this. You need to be set free from this . It will destroy your life, destroy the lives of your children, destroy the wife of your youth, and in the end it will kill you.

If this enemy were a person, feeding on your family, chipping away at the authority in your home, sneaking up on you, bruising your wife, causing your children's bones to be broken, and taking all your stuff, I can't imagine that you'd be as cavalier as you appear to be with this enemy lurking in your presence. If a big guy were threating to destroy your family wouldn't you fight for them? Wouldn't you lay down your life for them? Wouldn't you do everything in your power to keep anyone from destroying them? What about this? How far will you let it go? How long will you let it go?

The Bible rightly says Satan is like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. You see the lion. You see him coming from a 1,000 yards, but instead of running away, you say, "here kitty, kitty (thinking, you're beautiful, perhaps a few minutes won't hurt)." And the kitty comes and rips off your head.

One thing you should keep in mind here is that I've written some pretty strong things in this letter. I love you and want the best for you. So I wound in order to get you motivated to do what is right and to do it in a strong way. But you need to know that when things get tough people naturally go to their gods for help. Where are you tempted to run right now? What are you tempted to do right now? What would you do if the censor program weren't on your computer right now? Where would you run? If you would run to the arms of Jesus, oh, if you would run to the arms of Jesus, that would be bliss.

God bless you. I'm rooting for you. Remember that there are innumerable folks in the stands also rooting for you (Heb. 12).

In Him,