Pornography addiction...

Could You Stand the Seven?

For most of your life you had battled a spirit of addiction. It had manifested itself in the form of pornography addiction. You had followed that spirit wherever it led you…into adult bookstores and theatres, into the world of illicit thought, into a relationship with that lying spirit that helped you cover your tracks, or so you had thought.

Then someone came into your life that ministered to you and helped you walk away from the addictive habits you had formed. To your surprise you had found it easy to walk or drive past the bookstores and video rental businesses. You had cleaned house, sweeping the spirit of addiction and others that accompanied him out of your life. Perhaps you had read Luke 11:24-26. When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” (NKJV)

Many numbers have significance in biblical terms. The number seven in biblical terms is the number of completion or of finality. There are seven days in a week. When Jesus fed the multitude, He did it with seven loaves of bread and had seven baskets left over. Jesus made seven statements from the cross. And there are many more examples. It is conceivable that when the spirit that has been swept away comes back with “seven other spirits more wicked than himself,” complete and final destruction for the person who is the target of that spirit will begin. Could you stand the seven?

If the spirit of addiction, who up to this point had manifested himself only in your thought life, trips to adult bookstores and the accompanying lying, left but came back, could you stand the seven greater than himself that he brought with him? Before you decide that such a return would be impossible, remember that the stronger man wins. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.”Luke 11:21-22 (NKJV)

Back to Top

Could you stand it if those seven spirits were…

1)  a spirit of perversion…perhaps in the form of pederasty (even though you had been an avowed heterosexual for your entire life)? Perhaps that spirit would manifest itself in the form of pedophilia or some other equally horrendous activity. Could you stand it if you were to become mentally incapable of seeing any person as human being, but instead were able to see them only as impersonal three-dimensional objects upon which you thrust your sordid desires?

2) a lying spirit? Thus far you have been able to lie, but to maintain a facade of integrity. What if your life were to become one characterized totally by deceit? Do you know that deceit begins within and that you are the most deceived of all? If no one on the face of the planet trusted you, would you be able to stand it?

3) a spirit of witchcraft? The spirit of witchcraft has been talked about from every angle imaginable, sometimes with accuracy and sometimes without. At it’s root, though, is its ability to manipulate people. Maybe you don’t see it, but you’ve been manipulated to the point that you are no longer capable of living a sane and respectable life. The spirit of witchcraft is sure to present itself to you because in order for the spirit of perversion to increase its destructive work in you, you must be able to manipulate people to the point that they become your victims. Oh, you don’t call them victims. You call them willing participants. But they are victims nonetheless. And so are you!

4) a spirit of bitterness? When your family falls away from you because they can’t stand the pain any longer, will you be able to stand up against the spirit of bitterness and unforgiveness that causes you to hate them? Will you allow that spirit to blame your parents and consequently hold everything that goes wrong in life on them, even though you, by your own actions, committed the sins? Are you aware that bitterness and unforgiveness hinder your prayer life? See Mark 11:25-26. What do you need for yourself more than forgiveness and answers to prayers? (You remember the prayers — ”Lord take this crazy thought out of my head. You know, the one about my neighbor’s wife.”)

5) other forms of addiction? What are you going to do when the spirit of perversion introduces you to other manifestations of the spirit of addiction? You know that those poppers, which you use to break down your inhibitions and those of your secret sexual partner, are really nothing…that is, nothing but a gateway to stronger and more hideous drugs. And do you remember alcohol? It loves sexual addicts! Could you stand more of the spirit of addiction?

6) stealing? Will you be able to bear the pressure when you stand before a judge, charged with writing hot checks…checks that you wrote to buy groceries and clothes for that wife and child whom you think knows nothing of your addiction? Will you survive the day you stand before a different judge, charged with stealing the sexual purity of a woman or the innocence of a child…a child whose life might never be the same again because you allowed pornography to rot your own mind away?

7) death? Will you be able to outrun the spirit of death when the drug you’ve taken to mask the pain attempts to stop your heart? Or if you become afflicted with AIDS, will you survive it, knowing that you might have avoided it had you not left your house swept empty? When the spirit of suicide comes knocking on your mind’s door, trying with all its might to convince you how quickly you could end the pain, the shame, the anger, the confusion, and the ugliness that is the most prominent thing that you can remember, will you be able to stand up against it?

Back to Top

Could you stand the seven spirits? Perhaps you believe so, but sin also has many consequences that it inflicts upon its own victims. There are seven consequences in particular that can, and do, affect the life of a pornography addict or sexual addict. They are:

1) Divorce. The divorce rate is extremely high among pornography addicts and sexual addicts, including Christians.

2) Poverty. There are men who earn good incomes but whose families are in the food stamp lines every month because his loyalties in every area are to his addiction, not to his family.

3) Loneliness. There is no loneliness like the emptiness that fills the life of a pornography addict — that emptiness that comes from knowing that the real you is not even there.

4) Constant confusion. The mind of a pornography addict is terribly unsettled. In many cases the same lack of ability to form high quality decisions pertaining to self-control and family life spills over into their businesses and into every other area of life.

5) Incarceration. Incarceration is a definite possibility for the individual whose life becomes so totally controlled by his addiction to pornography that fantasy replaces reality, resulting in a sex act being illegally perpetrated against another person. Will a prison sentence be what it takes to show you how far you’ve fallen? Will you be able to stand up under the pressure of having your first mug shot taken, or of having the whole ugly mess that your life has become paraded across the front page of the newspaper or the ten o’clock news…right in front of your wife and children, your fellow employees, or your pastor?

6) Loss of status. Pornography addiction is ruthless. The spirit that drives it has no regard for humanity, except to the extent that it can entice a person away from God’s grandest design for that person. A person who is severely addicted to pornography is subject to losing his job, his family, his reputation, his financial status, and his friends. By the way, the people who assist you in your addiction are not your friends regardless of how you view them.

7) Separation from God. Above all the other forms of punishment that sin, including pornography addiction heaps upon the perpetrator is separation from God. When the feeling of closeness between a person and God is gone, everything else in life becomes unimportant, for you see, all that is of real value in a person’s life comes from God. Self-esteem, health, loving relationships, peace, provision…all are gifts from our Creator. See James 1:17.

Back to Top

Is there hope for the person whose addiction has presented him with the seven returning spirits or their consequences? There was for me and there certainly is for you. Can you avoid the seven? I failed to avoid most of them. But, you can! When your spiritual house is first swept clean, when you make that first real spiritual effort to end the madness of your addiction, don’t leave your house “swept clean,” or empty. Instead, study your Bible. Fill your heart and mind with godly things.

Philippians 4:8 in the New King James Version of the Bible says,Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.”

There are eight items in that list, eight items against which we should measure our thoughts and temptations. The number eight in biblical terms is the number of new beginnings and those eight items can be the foundation of a new beginning in your life. When the spirits of addiction and perversion present themselves to you in any form, weigh those temptations or thoughts against the descriptions in the list you just read. If it fails to measure up to any of them, then it is not something that you should further entertain. Period! Don’t try to rationalize your approval of it. Just don’t do it!

Perhaps it sounds too simplistic, but I promise you that you will see dramatic changes in the thoughts you have and in your ability to respond correctly to any inappropriate thoughts that you might have if you will develop the habit of weighing all thoughts and temptations against the items listed in Philippians 4:8. Along with that habit, study the Word. Pray. Ask for God’s guidance. Then, you will indeed be able to stand the seven.

Print this page.