“I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial."
1 Cor 6
I woke up at 5 am this morning with so many thoughts swirling through my head. Writing helps me process and I am hoping writing God's Word will help someone else process.
There has been a lot of discussion/arguments about the movie, Redeeming Love that just came out. I read the book almost 20 years ago when Reece (our oldest) was a newborn. I don't remember details but I remember not being able to put the book down and crying. I loved it back then. It was a beautiful story of God's relentless love toward someone who did not deserve it. I think we can all relate to that! A lot of women did. It pulls you in emotionally.
It quickly seemed to become everybody's favorite book. So when they announced a movie was in the works, I was so excited! This was gonna be awesome!! Such an opportunity to bring God's Word to life and it is always fun to support Christian movies since we want more of them.
I planned a romantic night out to a fancy dinner with Tim and then we were gonna go see the movie the weekend it was released. What a perfect date night! My friend texted me and asked what we were doing so I told her. She texted back,
"heads up...heard Redeeming Love has a lot of soft porn in it".
Huh?? You should have seen the look on my face when that text came through. So, I googled some trusted movie review sites. She was right and spared me (and my cute prince!!!) from unknowingly walking into something I would never have signed up for.
I shared this info on facebook and said I wasn't going to see the movie. Since then, hell has broken loose (no pun intended). Many women were thankful for the heads up but others were offended.
I have been accused of a holier-than-thou attitude. That I should be able to "handle" it. That it is a great teaching tool for young girls to understand redemption.
Almost all the Christians who have seen it say the sex scenes are "uncomfortable". One friend said she had to get up and walk out.
(I have to wonder if that "uncomfortable" feeling described by so many Christian women is the Holy Spirit grieving.)
What is the big deal?
Most people love to say "Primetime TV contains much worse".
A lot of women justify the sex scene because they are "married". So, somehow that makes it ok to watch two people having sex?
We are seeing a de-sensitizing.
"Having lost all sensitivity,
they have given themselves over to sensuality"
Eph 4:19
I was talking to my spiritual mom about all this and she said she had a raw conversation in her women's Bible Study. She asked them: "Would it be ok if I came over to your house and watched you and your husband have sex?" They said NO. "Would it be ok if I came over and listened to you and your husband have sex?"- NO. "Would it be ok if I had camera crews come and film you and your husband having sex and then I watched it on a screen?"-NO. "Then why is it ok to do it and slap a Christian fish on a film of 2 people having sex and thousands of women watch it?".
She also went on to say that one of the acts of Baal worship back in the day was for 2 people to have sex on Baal's altar and people gather around to watch. That was an acceptable sacrifice to Baal!! :(
This movie is suppose to be based on the book of Hosea. It is ironic to me that it is exposing thousands of women to the very sin that angered God in Scripture. The fall out from this movie also doesn't point to the Lord. The fruit is rotten. Division, fighting, compromise, etc...
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The Bible is CLEAR about how we deal with sexual immorality. Run, flee, put it to death!
Why? Because God wants us to miss out on a cool new movie? No. Because He wants to BLESS us.
"Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts"
2 Tim 2:22
After years of doing conferences for high school/college age girls, I quickly discovered porn wasn't just a problem for guys. Girls were addicted to it too. From college girls to homeschool girls, erotica and romance novels quickly turned into porn addiction. They didn't know that the sin they flirted with was more addictive than heroine.
If looking at a naked person can take down King David, it can take down me and YOU too.
Our eyes are the lamp of our whole body. If our eyes are filled with light, our whole body will be filled with light. But if you are allowing darkness in through your eyes, it fills your whole body and your whole life with darkness.
This IS a big deal. That is why I am willing to speak out about it.
Even though I am getting beat up for it. I don't care. Take your shots.
I have looked into the eyes of girls taken PRISONER by this and lives shattered. I have wept with my best friend as her husband went into rehab for porn... AGAIN. Eventually divorce was inevitable. Soft porn (if there is such a thing) turns into hard porn that turns into death porn that turns into lives, marriages, and families devastated.
I have looked into eyes that are filled with this darkness and the depression that comes with it. No one should be flirting with sensuality. Not even in a "Christian" movie that plays on your emotions. It reminds me of Eve. The fruit "was pleasing to the eye". There will always be a lure. Something that will draw our flesh in. James 1:14 says that our sinful nature is DRAGGED AWAY and ENTICED. The Message puts the next part it this way.
"Lust gets pregnant and has a baby- sin! Sin grows up to adulthood and becomes a real killer."
Sexual sin is different than other sins.
"Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body."
1 Cor 6:18
Exposing yourself to sexual sin is planting seeds in your heart, your mind, and your marriage. You just don't realize they are venus fly trap seeds that start eating away at all things pure and lovely in your life. I'm not letting this garbage anywhere near my marriage. Marriage is HOLY. Sex within marriage is sacred. It is not meant for the big screen. It is the holiest of holies and to be treated that way. If you want a good sex life, you have to protect it! The enemy hates amazing sex lives. Because our bodies are instruments of righteousness and a weapon against him. He will do anything he can to keep us from experiencing the beauty of sex in its fullness. The devil wants to RIP YOU OFF.
We cannot give our flesh a chance! We cannot think we are beyond temptation. You will get DRAGGED by your flesh. Like my mom always said, "sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay & cost you more than you are willing to pay".
The enemy knows how to entice us without us even knowing we are walking right into his trap. He will make the fruit lovely to look at. Just like the Venus fly trap!
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Nothing is considered sacred anymore. Holiness seems like an out-dated idea with no relevance in our culture. Holiness has become "optional" for the believer. The Word is no longer the standard. Our emotions are.
God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.
1 Thess 4
When we understand what Jesus did on the cross for us and what our sin did to Him, we should HATE what is evil and cling to what is good. It is a command that is for our good. The people who choose to live holy are the most blessed, most joyful, most satisfied people I have ever met.
The Bible tells us why they are this way in Isaiah 35 when it talks about a Highway called the "Way of Holiness".
And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Is 35
When we make the choice to shun evil and separate ourselves from sin, we travel on a different road.
There are no fools there or lions or beasts. But only THE REDEEMED. Those who know what their Savior has done for them. The redeemed sing! They have joy and gladness! Sorrow and sighing flee away. When you are living in sin and compromise, you no longer have those precious things.
It is a a parallel highway that we are suppose to walk on as we sojourn to our eternal home.
Righteousness matters! I explained it to my kids like this: Imagine God giving you his most beautiful robe (or wedding gown). The Bible says we are suppose to be "unspotted" (James 1:27).
Pure religion is this... to keep himself
UNSPOTTED from the world.
So here you are in your God-given robe (or wedding gown). The devil has a paintball gun, the world has a paint ball gun, and your flesh has a paint ball gun. You gotta learn how to BOB AND WEAVE (or shun as the Bible calls it!). So that when He appears you can stand before him "confident and unashamed" (1 John). It is His righteousness that gets us into heaven but we have been called to live holy lives and to be UNSPOTTED.
Listen to what our heavenly Father expects of His sons and daughters:
"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?
For we are the temple of the living God.
As God has said:
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
Therefore,
“Come out from them
and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
And, “I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters"
2 Cor 6
This is on my heart not because I want to condemn people. Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn but he did flip tables when people started selling diseased junk to His people and using His name to make money! Redeeming Love sure reminds me of that. This is not acceptable to the Lord, nor is it holy. But it is VERY profitable.
So, what is our response? Shame and sorrow? Maybe.
If you have been living in sin, there should be shame and sorrow.
BUT- God says if you go to Him with godly sorrow, you will find mercy and salvation and A LIFE OF NO REGRET. (Wow, what a gift!)
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret
2 Cor 7:10
"Repent" is not a popular word but it can change the course of your whole life! And it is not a one time thing. We produce fruit in KEEPING WITH REPENTANCE. Acts 11 says repentance is a gift from God!
God has granted repentance that leads to life.
I know from Scripture there are two main responses to someone who preaches repentance.
1. Beheading (John the Baptist)
People want to kill you (most of the prophets in Old Testament)
Crucifixion (Jesus)
OR
2. Salvation (Jonah)
Preaches repentance and an entire wicked nation falls to its knees.
Salvation (Jesus)
A remnant responds.
May that be us! Falling to our knees. Responding to Jesus and His call to holiness.
I am asking the Lord to show me areas I need to repent of and HE IS. He wants the best for us. He wants to give us ABUNDANT life. He doesn't want us walking around in chains and wounded by our chronic bad choices. :(
He wants us to walk in freedom.
But we have to LOVE HIM MORE THAN OUR SIN and even our deceitful hearts that lead us astray.
I am bracing myself for the attacks. Just don't use the "holier-than-thou" one. That's not what this is. That dart is just a smoke screen.
I am BURDENED to see believers walking in the fullness of life and to bring God glory in the way they live.
Ask God to give you HIS convictions. Not mine. Not your friends. HIS!!!
And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness
John 16:8
He chose you out of the world. Don't go back. It is empty.
The enemy only wants to steal, kill, and destroy.
But Jesus came that you may have LIFE and have it the full.
Guard your heart!
Guard your marriage (or your future marriage).
Be a gatekeeper in your home.
Don't grieve the Spirit. If something makes your spirit get tied in knots, GET OUT OF THERE. The Holy Spirit always has your best in mind.
If you are ready to repent and TURN from anything you know goes against God's Word, just spend some time in prayer. Confess your sin. He is faithful and just and will FORGIVE!
You will receive mercy and find salvation.
Know this is from my heart and that I am FOR YOU.
If you will take the Word seriously, and take sin seriously, be prepared for a joy-filled life of no regret!
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