Pornography Problem? There's an App for That! (Part 1)

50% of Christian men admit to being addicted to pornography. 20% of Christian women admit to being addicted to pornography. 37% of pastors say they struggle with pornography.

These statistics are heart-breaking more than they are shocking. It's no surprise that the main source of porn viewing is on the Internet.

Sadly, the rise of the wonderful tool of technology has also opened the door for the fall of many into the darkness of pornography. Yet, we cannot blame technology alone for this epidemic addiction. There are other forces at work.

Romans 1:18-32 describes the woeful fate of a nation or culture which rejects God as their Creator. This description is not speaking about Christians but those outside of Christ. Every person is given two evidences that the Creator God is present and desires a relationship with them. In Romans 1:19-21, the first evidence is an inward intuitive knowledge everyone is born with. The second evidence is creation itself.

An eventual result of a nation's ongoing rejection of God as Creator is that He "gives them over" to sexual sin. A nation's rejection of God eventually destroys the family. Why? Without being in relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ, men do not lovingly lead their wives and children. Women do not respectfully submit to their husbands. Children rebel against their parents. These dysfunctional families eventually implode and change the entire nation. The result? God's intended design for sex within marriage begins to spill outside of marriage. The USA experienced this social phenomenon in the 60's during the Hippie era. It was called the "free love" movement.

As our culture today continues to spiral downward into darkness, Christians are being sucked into that vortex in the area of pornography.

Why are Christian men and women addicted to pornography? The short answer is that they are attempting to meet God given needs apart from their love relationship with Jesus Christ. More specific answers include these reasons. Spouses may feel angry, disillusioned or unfulfilled in their marriage. Married couples don't make time for frequent sex. People want to feel something other than their emotional pain, such as, stress, guilt, anxiety, fear, depression, loneliness, rejection, boredom, etc. People accidentially find Internet pornography and make it a habit. People want something which stimulates them for the purpose of sexual release.

At its core, involvement in the sin of pornography is false intimacy with a fantasy partner. In other words, God made all of us with the need to feel loved, accepted, worth something and secure. Pornography involvement is a human attempt to meet those legitimate needs in illegitimate ways. Yet, the sexual sin of pornography cannot fulfill the deep needs of the human heart.  

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding,

President and Founder GraceLifeInternational.com


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 All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Can Christians Be Alcoholics?

    I asked this question when I was recently teaching in our Foundation for Transformation Weekend. We call it this because it has proven time and time again to be quite transformational for those who attend. It is a verse by verse study of Romans 5, 6, & 8. On the second night we were studying Romans chapter 6:1-7. In my opinion it is one of the most fantastic Scriptures in the entire Bible!

       The idea is that our old identity from Adam has died. Our new identity in Christ has been created in His resurrection. Romans 6:6 says "knowing this, that our old self has been crucified with Him..." The old self is everything we were before we came to know Christ. It includes the identity you had when you showed up on planet earth. Romans 5:19 tells us this," through one man's disobedience many were made sinners, even so to the obedience of the One many will be made righteous." That is the incredible power of the gospel. Through our faith in Jesus Christ, who we were as sinners was put to death and we were raised up in Christ with a new identity of being righteous.

         That is very difficult for most of us to accept. Why? Because we've learned to define ourselves by what we do. If we play tennis, we consider ourselves a tennis player. If we fail, we consider ourselves a failure. If we sin we consider ourselves a sinner. But that's not how it works in God's kingdom. In God's kingdom it is our birth which determines our identity. Our first birth made us sinners. Our second birth made us righteous, even though none of us will ever live a sinless life.

        So, back to my question. Can Christians be alcoholics? Many in my class said "Yes" without hesitation. Then there was silence which seemed very long. But I said nothing. One or two began to say, "That's not possible". Again, I said nothing. The silence was uncomfortable. Finally I answered." A Christian cannot be an alcoholic." However, a Christian can be addicted to alcohol. Again the class was silent." I asked, "Can a Christian be a liar?" Again I received some "yes" and "no" answers. I waited a little while longer. Then I said, "a Christian can lie but he can't be a liar".

       Here is the wonderful good news of the gospel. God has so changed who we are that our behavior no longer defines us. Can we still sin? Of course! But our sins no longer define us.

          Don't get me wrong. I understand why the 12-step programs try to get people to admit that they are alcoholics, liars, etc. It is to get them to break their denial. However, I think a better way to do this is to get Christians to realize who they are in Christ and that they have a  habitual sin problem with their addiction to alcohol, drugs, pornography, etc. 1 John 1:8 says, "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."
         Our sin no longer defines us. Hallelujah! Our new birth in Christ defines us. Rejoice and be honest with yourself and with God about any sin you are consistently being defeated by. And if you need help, contact us. If we cannot help you in person or by Skype counseling, we can often refer you to someone else in your area who can.  

Live Free In Christ, 
Mark Maulding, 
President and Founder 
GraceLifeInternational.com 
All Content Copyrighted © 2012 Mark Maulding

Do You Know God Cares about How You Smell!

Did you know God likes perfume? And you are going to see that you are that perfume!

When God was giving instructions to Moses in what to put in the Old Testament tabernacle, surprisingly, He tells him in Exodus 30 to make a small alter to burn incense on it, just in front of the entrance to the Holy of Holies. As I read that passage recently, I prayed and asked the Lord, why He wanted incense burned in front of the door to where His presence lived among Israel.

It reminded me of the "hippy" days when it seemed like everybody burned incense. I think back on this time and thought it was probably just for fun and it could have made you feel cool. But then again, some people burned it to cover the smell of other things they smoked. I was not a part of that, but I do remember lots of people burning incense.

So, I was prayerfully wondering why God would want sweet smelling incense to be burning in front of the Holy of Holies. Immediately my mind went to 2 Corinthians 2:15, "For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." As we depend on Jesus Christ to live through us, we exude the aroma of Christ.

One of our staff had surgery a few months ago. He told me that the nurses and assistants just seemed to like to come in his room. Why? Because he was relying upon Jesus in him during his recovery and they could "smell" it. They did not know what it was but it was Jesus Christ they smelled.

Ellen (my wife) and I were recently in a city where we had to ride the bus quite a bit. It was amazing that almost every time we got on the bus, women who sat beside her wanted to engage her in conversations. She would look for an opportunity to talk with them about the One who lives in her, Jesus. Some times she shared the gospel with those without Christ. Sometimes, she explained the grace of God to those who were in Christ. Other times, she just listened and talked. It got to be a joke that every time we got on the bus, some lady would end up talking with her. Why? They smelled Jesus as He was expressing Himself through her, whether she was talking or just sitting.

Wherever you go, to work, to run, to the kid's games, to worship, to your neighbor, you can be the aroma of Christ if you will ask Him to live His life through you. This is a sweet spiritual perfume to God just as the incense in the tabernacle was a sweet physical perfume to God. Part of my daily prayer each day is, "Jesus fill me with Your love for me and live Your life through me today." I encourage you to make this request a part of your daily prayers too

Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
GraceLifeInternational.com
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Christians Who Think They Are Superior

     When God freed me from my years of legalism, I was transformed forever. This resulted in my ruled based ways of living drifting away. Hoever, much later, I had to face the reality that I was still not free in one area in particular. It was a fleshly attitude that hurt some of those I loved the most. I had to be confronted in love, but very firmly, to understand that I had a problem. My problem was pride. When my mentor first asked me if I struggled with pride, I said, "No one has ever mentioned that to me". Wisely, he followed with, "Do you have a problem with believing you are superior"? Immediately, my eyes were opened to a side of pride I did not realize was there. Yet, I was puzzled. Where did that come from? I knew my identity in Christ! How was this possible?

     Well, I wish I could tell you that I could immediately pinpoint when this thinking started, but that would not come until later. I think my Father took some time to let me see the ugly hurtfulness of this sin. I kept asking Him, where did this come from? At first, I realized that it was left over from my years of legalism. The root of pride produces the fruit of superiority in the legalist. They see themselves as superior to other Christians because they "keep the rules".

Next, the Holy Spirit took me back to my high school years, where I started to beleive that had to be the best to feel significant.\

     Finally, He caused me to understand some of the messages I often observed being played out before me as a child. In this context, I realized that I had learned superiority.

Yet even before that, my real problem was that I was born into this world as a sinner and all sinners perform for acceptance. I did it in "socially acceptable ways". My younger brother did it in "socially unacceptable ways". In either case, those who think they perform well believe they are superior.

     My loving Abba began to slowly free me from my sinful pattern of superiority. It was a really big pattern in my flesh, and it took multiple crises for me to come to grips with it.

In Philippians 2:3, we are instructed to "Do nothing from rivalry or conceit but in humility count others as more significant than yourselves". When we are confident of who we are in Christ, we can actually consider others as better than us. This does not mean we are to put ourselves down with some twisted false humility. But it does mean we are to realize that the flesh can lead us to sit on the "perch of superiority".

     Galatians 3:28 says, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." All of our superiority died with our old sinful identity on the cross.

     How about you? Do you have a problem with superiority? Do you have spiritual superiority? Gender superiority? Racial superiority? Socioeconomic superiority? Those are all sinful ways of feeling superior and come from this world.

     In God's family, the only One superior is our God! Yes, in Christ, we are all important but no one is more important than any other regardless of how we perform, how big our ministry is, what we possess or our what position we have. We are all children of God with equal value.

     If you realize you have a problem with the sin of superiority, I urge you to face it. Ask God to show you where it started. Then ask Him to bring into your experience your freedom from this because of who you are in Christ.  In Christ, you are humble!

Until next time, remember He loves us!


Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder
GraceLifeInternational.com

All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding

Lecrae Video "I;m a Saint"

Here is a cool video by Lecrae about our identity in Christ.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAKxJ5I8VXw 

Live Free In Christ, Mark Maulding,
President and Founder GraceLifeInternational.com
All Content Copyright © 2012 Mark Maulding