The Curse of Pornography — Erlo Stegen

The Lord Jesus’ Freedom and Reign in the Believer’s Life

Today I want to speak just about one thing, that there should be nothing in our lives that constrains the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus should have free reign, total freedom in your life. There should be nothing that constrains him, that puts him into a vice in your life, a vice grip where he is held back, that he doesn't have the freedom he should.

Our text is in Matthew 28, verses 16 and 17. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Let's pray.

Thank you Lord Jesus for this opportunity you've given us to meet again today. Help us in your grace to be sharp that what we hear, that we will grasp it fully. And may it go deep, to the deepest parts of our hearts, that we will never forget it again.

Engrave it deep into our hearts, like those words engraved into granite on a tombstone, which are there no matter whether the sun shines, whether it rains, or whatever happens, it remains. Amen. This is an amazing word.

We find the disciples in that place that Jesus had told them to go to. It's wonderful when a person is in that place where Jesus has told them to go to. The sad thing is just that while they were there, in that place worshipping him, there was some doubting, there was something in their lives that shouldn't have been there.

But the Lord Jesus God brought to light what it was that was in their lives that shouldn't have been there. He exposed it. He revealed it. So you must know that one day that thing that shouldn't be in your life will be brought to light, as it says in Luke 12.

So pray that God will put his finger on that thing in your life that shouldn't be there, that you can confess it. This morning I told my children and grandchildren about a man that I have great respect for, Dr. Edwin Orr.

Since I met him in 1954, Since I met him in 1954, I've had great respect for him. He was a very gifted man. If he's still alive, I'm sure he's added to that since I met him then. When Billy Graham started his ministry, this man started his at about the same time, preaching to many people.

He also wrote many books. But there was one thing which he specialized in. It's revival. And he said when a revival starts and when it stops. He said a revival starts when people confess their sins. And a revival stops when people stop confessing their sins.

It's a pity and it's troublesome when people sit on things. When they do up to things, they sin in their life, but they keep quiet about it. And you can do as well. And you can do as well. You can do a study and throughout the world, a revival will start when there's confession of sin.

It stops when that confession of sin stops. It's like you, if you say you haven't had a bath for a month or you just last had a bath last year, you'll end up stinking. It's like you, if you say you haven't had a bath for a month or you just last had a bath last year, you'll end up stinking.

When we were young, there was a man who visited us. He was a bachelor. And then he told us on New Year's Day, he said, well, children, you know when the last time was when I had a bath, it was last year.

I was disgusted. I thought, wow, how is such a thing possible? I didn't realize that last year on New Year's Day was yesterday. So he had a bath the previous night. So in our spiritual lives, we should be constantly busy with cleansing our lives.

It should be a daily thing. Because you can start the day by the time the sun's up in the sky, you've already done something which you shouldn't have done. You can sin with your hair. Sin with your lips.

And you can sin with your eyes. Blessed are the pure in heart, they will see God. So just search your life. See whether there isn't perhaps a sin in your life which is constraining the Lord Jesus. I will try and help you now and maybe mention some examples.

Hidden Doubt and the Exposure of Sin

Let's leave no stone unturned. Because as we lift a stone or a piece of old iron, we could find that something is underneath. A cockroach or a rat or a mouse or something. With some of the disciples, the problem was doubt.

I don't know what the problem is in your heart in life. Maybe you say, well, with me, I think everything's okay. Well, the disciples also thought so. They had been sent to that mountain. They went there.

They did everything as he had told them. They went there and he met them there. Maybe you say, no, well, I'm okay. But maybe there's something which is hidden, which the Lord Jesus can see. Remember, his eyes are like flames of fire.

He sees even at night. He created a cat that can see in the dark. So his eyes see far more. So I'd like to just mention a few things. There's something that causes a lot of trouble and that is immorality, loose living.

Immorality, the Churches, and the Warning of Revelation

That does a lot of harm to the gospel when someone is a slave to the lusts of the flesh. It would be lovely if the Lord Jesus would bring everything to light in your life and it would be found that there is no trouble with the lusts of the flesh in your life.

Immorality is an area that God cannot and does not tolerate. If there's immorality in your life, it's a place where the Lord Jesus, his Holy Spirit and God cannot stay. If you read in Revelation the letters to the churches, those letters that were written to the seven churches, it's true that if someone has left this earth, he can have no contact with earth again and write letters.

But Jesus did, some years after he had ascended into heaven, write these seven letters to those churches. There were seven churches. In these letters, the Lord Jesus first wrote about the things that he commended in their congregations, in their lives.

But he also then went on to touch on those things which were wrong in their midst. And there were ten things he mentioned. It was during the time of Caesar Domitanus. And it was during the years 81 to 96 AD.

So these congregations must have existed at that time for about 50 to 70 years. It's such a pity to see that after just so few years, things were going wrong and coming to an end in these congregations.

In fact, today if you go to those places, they tell me that there's no sign of those churches anymore. They say that if you go there, there's no sign of those congregations. It's just history that tells us that once upon a time, there was something there.

And Jesus had warned them and said, if you do not repent, I will remove your candlestick. I once heard of a congregation that was a big congregation, but they say today it's barricaded. Nothing is going on in there anymore.

Pornography and the Destruction of Gospel Witness

And that's during our lifetime. So with the immorality, I'd like to include pornography. Looking at pictures which are not appropriate, which expose the body. They have posters in their bedrooms, photos of these types of people hanging in their bedrooms.

If your child does a thing like that, you need to help that child. If the child doesn't get rid of those photos, then you need to do it. When Billy Graham started his ministry, he had a meeting with his co-workers.

He said to his colleagues, He said to his colleagues, let us just investigate what has been the problem with other preachers of the gospel. Why did things go wrong with them? Because at that time, the gospel didn't have a good reputation in America.

It was in November 1948, in California. He was together with Beverly Shea, who did the singing. And Cliff Barrows, who was the choir conductor. At that time, there were three well-known preachers of the gospel in America.

And of the three, Billy Graham was the least known. The other two were far better known. And they don't say the least known. The others were much more talented. The others were on a greater level than what he was.

His life was insignificant. In spite of the fact that many people came. But to those more came. The other two, they actually fell. They say at the funeral of one of them, there was no one present. No one came to his funeral.

And when they did a study and investigated what caused the preachers to fall, they said the biggest cause of damage to the gospel in preachers' lives was the love of money. Money was the first thing. Money was the biggest cause of damage to the gospel in preachers' lives.

So they found that money was the greatest danger in a servant of the Lord's life. That's what makes the devil very happy when someone loves money. Then the devil starts dancing in his hut. And he's happy.

If a person's after money. Jesus said to his disciples, Don't be concerned like the heathen about what you will eat or drink. Seek first the kingdom of God and all those things will be added unto you.

So worrying about what you need and things like that, that's what the heathen do. In the New Testament, it says, Just read in the New Testament what it says about the love of money. The love of money will cause you much agony and grief, do you much harm.

You can't serve God if you love money. And then they said the second thing that's a danger is women. It's a great problem if a child of the Lord cannot control that part of his life. Where he disciplines and punishes his body, that his body becomes his slave.

Guarding Marriage and Avoiding Sexual Temptation

And so Billy Graham and his team said, let's make a rule for ourselves. Some people don't like rules, they just want freedom. The gospel does set us free, but it doesn't give us that freedom which the devil offers.

So they agreed that they would be faithful in their marriage. If you have a wife, forget about everyone else. And they said, They said, They said, so let's make a rule that we will never travel alone with another woman in the car.

You can go with your wife. Or your daughter. Your children. So they said, let's never travel. They said, They said, let's never travel alone with another woman in the car. And you women who always want lifts, that a man gives you a lift and you travel alone with him.

What are you after? Are you living immorally that you like to be alone with a man? You like a sheep that wants to travel alone with a wolf. You like a. You like a. You like a mouse that falls in love with a cat.

And is so proud that it has a cat as a boyfriend and boasts about the fact. And don't realize all the grief that it's going to cause you later. A cat also loves a mouse and will even write it a love letter and tell the mouse how it loves the mouse.

Good dialogue. Moves of. I see Lima Panana Kundani Komeika. So don't be a fool and be like a mouse. Who has a cat as a boyfriend? What's up? Drangle? I know I'm gonna fool me. Bambang in car. He'll rape you.

He will overpower you even if you don't want it. Good to our Kumsaba. I came down. Seven. Get together little Sabah. What's when Goliath? Jigna ninjas in Africa. They say that in the whole world. There's no country where there's as much rape taking place as in South Africa.

So South Africa is the rape capital of the world. It's South African to me. Sabine walking together. Who put a Google up. Fetch a corner love friend will work or nah. General up. That's the reputation South Africa has that there's no place in the world where there's as much rape taking place as here.

Yet taboo gun over nice. Yeah. In my attention. Yeah. You know, I'll go to Banga. Gee. I'm just sorry. I left that article in the room. Otherwise, I could have told you exactly what the statistics are.

Yes, I mean down for this Feb. I have seen down. What's a Roma? Whom Shabba won't get together. One whistle. Who paid and remember and remember immorality gets a nation? Nowhere, it'll end up on the rocks.

They say the Roman Empire was brought down by immorality. Kabanga way none. Topaz. I'm yes. Golly. Who sued Obama bond? No, ma, so now I'm Samba Nguyen's angel. I a new Meet a key in toyaku if I get going in town.

Um, I sing about Soto. I'm gonna cause a la racie. What walk on? Others will win. We are Bala. Why not? No, Moose Elpid rock. And you're as a schoolchild are up to things, immoral things. You've got a relationship with a boy or with a girl.

You've got your ways. You're clever. You think you're clever. You've got your ways of doing things that the girl doesn't fall pregnant. But God in heaven sees that he's recording it. And remember that what you're saying, you will reap what you're doing to that girl.

Your wife will do with other men one day and your children will end up doing those things and worse. You're bringing a curse upon yourself, your future marriage and your children. And that demon that's in within you is going to continue its dirty work.

A woman was married to a man. This man prayed a lot and he even preached to many other people and spoke about the Lord Jesus. He'd have prayer meetings and quiet times with the Lord till 12, one o 'clock in the morning.

And one night, as the wife was waiting for her husband, she got concerned and said he's been in prayer for so long. Let me rather go and just bring him some sustenance. Just make him a cup of tea while he's so deeply in prayer.

He made the tea. Went to the husband's office. And she did it softly because she didn't want to disturb her husband as he was studying the Bible and praying. She thought a lot about her husband. Because she regarded him highly because of his life with God.

So she made him this cup of tea. She didn't want to disturb her husband while he was studying God's word and praying. So she went on tiptoe that she wouldn't disturb him. Because he was so deeply in prayer.

So he didn't notice that his wife was coming into the office. And as she came from behind and looked over his shoulder, she almost dropped that cup of tea. Because she got such a shock. What was he busy with?

He didn't have his Bible in front of him. No, there he was looking at photos of women in the nude. Disgusting, a disgrace. The wife thinking he was busy with God, all the time he was busy with pornography.

But this curse is not restricted just to men. Women are into it as well. And school children. Even in the school here in DSS, there are children that are busy with these things. Nowadays, you don't need to spend a lot of money to go to a cinema.

You just need a cell phone nowadays. So you parents, you who buy your children cell phones, this is what you're giving them access to. A cell phone can be a good thing, but it can also be an evil thing.

They say over 50 of people with cell phones look at wrong things on them. So you think you're helping your child by giving it a cell phone. All the time they're using the same cell phone to do their wrong things.

Looking at these things, and also texting, sending messages to the boy or to the girl, arranging where they will meet. I'd ask you to be sharp, that you'll listen and hear what applies to you. I'll cut it short because one could still say much more.

The Addictive Effects of Pornography

This is the science. Now the scientists say that if a man looks at pornography, there's a chemical reaction in the brain. And this is a natural reaction which happens like when you're crying, the tears start rolling.

So this chemical reaction takes place in your brain when you look at pornography. There are certain chemicals which are released in the brain the moment you look at pornography. It causes a chemical reaction.

It changes the structures of your brain. Please heed every word that I tell you and don't be a fool. You could have stayed at home and not come here to be an idiot. To listen and you don't grasp what you hear.

It changes the way he thinks. He thinks in another way. He's not himself anymore. He is abnormal. I've told you that I even have pictures of the brain of people that look at pornography where two thirds of the brain is black, pitch black.

One third at the bottom is still white. One third of the brain is black. It's a man. A man with a black brain. If you have a man with a black brain, This is the effect that this literature and these photos have on a person's brain and your children have these things in their rooms, if not on the walls then in their cupboard and their drawers and you don't even go to see what your children have hidden away in their bedrooms, in their cupboards.

Creation, the Fall, and Sexual Purity

Adam and Eve didn't know that they were naked. Because God's glory had covered everything. But after they had sinned, they saw their nakedness. And then God took a lamb, it was slaughtered, and used the skin to cover them.

Then the animal had to die like Jesus died on the cross because of these sins. It's tragic. You don't need to go to the neighbours. You don't need to go and look at TV there because now they can look at everything on their cell phones.

The Bible says that marriage should be honoured by everyone. And the marriage bed must be spotless, blameless. For God will judge the immoral and the adulterous. You can read that at home in Hebrews 13 verse 4.

It's evil, it's a terrible drug, worse than other drugs. You are dismayed when your child smokes dacha, but you are bringing this type of a drug to them. You yourself are buying it for them. You are assisting your child in it.

Years ago, a young man from Soweto visited us here at Sisavantu and said that he was working in Soweto. He was working among drug addicts. And then I said, but how can you help them because you yourself are smoking?

And he said, no well actually it helps me that I smoke too because I go to these drug addicts and the smokers and I offer them a cigarette and that's how I win them over for the Lord. I said, well I don't know what Bible you use because my Bible doesn't tell me that the Lord Jesus became immoral with the immoral to win them.

You want to win a prostitute by sinning with her? You are worse than an idiot. Dr. Klein said that porn is highly addictive. And they are slaves to sin and to this thing. They are bound by these hellish chains.

Looking at pornography makes you a slave to it. It's easier for someone to stop drinking and smoking than it is for someone to stop porn. And the result is that South Africa has become the rape capital of the world.

We are famous or infamous for evil things. And they say that people who have studied this, they say if you look at porn, you look again, it reacts in you, in your body. It penetrates right into your blood and influences you.

Until eventually, it doesn't satisfy you any longer to look at it. You want to practice it. Do you young people hear this, you who are on your way to hell? And hell will come to meet you. You'll experience the most terrible things while you're still here on earth because of all the diseases that are related to this lifestyle.

And so it's said that once you've seen it, you're not satisfied eventually by just looking at it, you want to do it. That's why so many are being raped. I said that I didn't bring the article along, but here it does say that here in South Africa, Every 17 seconds, a woman is raped.

And they say that they only know less than 1 of the rape cases. Every second, 17 seconds, I'm a minute, I'm a second. Where are we heading with such a situation? Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed and just ashes were left.

And I stop at times because I want you to pause and think, like in Psalms where it says selo, which means pause and think. Linings in Africa, 25 They say here in South Africa, 25 of young men practice gang rape.

28 of grown up men admit to having raped a woman. And not just one, more than one. 28 One percent, about one percent. This is how many have admitted to doing it, but as you've heard, many never come out with it, even though they've done it.

So our country is rotten. Our country is rotten. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment. I won't expound on this.

Sodom, Gomorrah, Noah, and Divine Judgment

You listen. Open your ears. I hope you watched them this morning. If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, preacher of righteousness, and seven others.

If he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes. And made them an example of what was going to happen to the ungodly. A righteous man, and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was distressed by the depraved conduct of the lawless.

If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, preacher of righteousness, and seven others. For that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard.

When you're at home, don't look at the newspaper or listen to the radio. I can't say don't look at the TV because I don't believe that you've got such an evil thing in your house. If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

So then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. So then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

So maybe you think, well I'm okay, things are going okay, but God is holding the unrighteousness for punishment on the day of judgment. This is especially true of those who follow the Christian faith.

This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority, bold and arrogant. They are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings. A person that's immoral is bold, he's arrogant, he's cheeky, he doesn't want to be told a thing, he's rebellious.

Why? Because he's bound by the sin. God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and also destroyed the world during the time of Noah. So you can realize that there's no worse sin than this. Half of the people in South Africa that look at the internet, use the internet, also look at porn.

At least 12 of all websites are pornographic and it's cheap, you don't need to pay for it, you can even get it on your cell phone. Where are we going, where are we heading when it's like this? I don't want to end up on the ash heap like you.

We aren't going to heaven, we're going to hell if we practice these things. You can sit here every Sunday, but if you practice these things, you're an angel of Satan. Nothing less. Only those who have a pure heart will see God.

And you think you'll just get into heaven and then you will defile heaven if you got in the way you are. No, it cannot happen. Even God put an angel at the entrance of the Garden of Eden. Men of faith, heroes of faith, like Job, made a covenant with their eyes and said, I made a covenant with my eyes that I would not look at a virgin, at a girl.

Hypocrisy Among Ministers and the Pornography Industry

Now time has flown. Just in brief. In an American hotel there was a conference. There were 800 preachers. After the conference, one of the cleaners in the hotel, he said, what kind of a conference have you just had here?

They said, oh, well, we've had a minister's conference here. He was surprised. He said, what, a pastor's conference? He couldn't believe that they were pastors. He said, you know, since we have been here, the porn channels were the busiest ever.

It has never been as busy as these days with these ministers here, even when worldly people come. You understand? This puts us to shame. Can such people go out and preach the gospel and shake the foundations of hell?

God will shake those churches and those preachers that should have shaken the foundations of hell. But he'll shake them. And thanks God. Thank you to God. Thanks to God that he will do it. They deserve it.

Liars they are, calling themselves preachers, Christians, and practicing such satanic and hellish things. Let me just end with this illustration. Gary Bishop, a serial killer, said that I do this. It all started with pornography.

Go to American prisons and those who committed murder will tell you, it all started with looking at pornography. The pornography industry is a thriving industry today. Big business in pornography. A larger revenue maker than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple, Earthlink, and Netflix combined.

All these things combined don't make so much money than pornography. This is Satan's time. The Bible says the last times will be evil times. In 2006, the money that was generated through pornography was 97 .6 billion U .S. dollars.

You can imagine what it's like now. I think at least it must have doubled. Jeffrey Dahme, who killed many people, a serial killer, said that he had been in the U .S. Army. At some stage, they were posted out to Germany.

And that is where I first got hold of pornography. After seeing it, I went and spent thousands of dollars acquiring pornography. He confessed that he killed a person every single week. At least one in a week.

And your children have got porn pictures in their rooms, and you don't mind? Girls, boys, and girls, you don't mind? You are not fit to be called a parent, a mother or a father. You are an evil person, taking your children to hell.

Where did it start? With pornography. I have to kill people. I am obsessed with it. What will help us? What is the cure? In the Bible, we've got the story you know about Phineas. One day, Moses was together with the leaders of Israel.

Phineas, Sin, and Zeal for Holiness

The Israelite young men came along with a girl, walking right past them. All, Moses and the other leaders. Before their eyes, he went to his tent. He let the girl in and closed the tent behind them. She was a worldly girl, a Midianite.

He had the guts to take her right before them all and walk in front of Moses' eyes. You can read this story in Numbers 25. Phineas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, saw how this man came with this worldly girl and took her in his tent.

Phineas took his spear, went to the tent, opened it and found them there. He went into the tent and found the young man on the girl and he thrust his spear right through the two of them. Right into the ground.

Both of them were stabbed and they died. And God blessed him. For God is a jealous God. A jealous God. Even if you love sin, He doesn't. He doesn't tolerate sin, even if you like it. Phineas saved the nation of Israel because he judged that sin.

Well, dear friend, if this doesn't suffice, then you go back to it again. Don't be surprised if your hell will be a double hell. You will receive more stripes and more severe judgment than the others that didn't hear.

And if you are in this, don't leave this room. Repent and dust the nations.

Prayer for Repentance and Victorious Living

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, you speak to us in such a way because you want us to stop all this. You don't want us to be destroyed with sin. But we pray that your grace will abound now to each and everyone, as we've heard, that we won't leave this place not having done something about our spiritual state.

And Lord Jesus, your grace is stronger, more powerful than all these sins we've heard of. May we accept it with all our heart. Now we pray that you would be with us. Help us in this week to come. That we might live a victorious life.

That will bring honor and glory to your name. Once again, we thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you that it goes so well with Uncle Elo. And that he can bring such a clear message. Be further also with him.

By your grace. Amen.