I was in the Modesto, CA area presenting a seminar. As I was pulling out of the parking lot the Lord dropped a phrase into my mind. “The Sheep are dying.” The most reliable stats I’ve discovered say that 70% of Christians, the sheep in the church, struggle with pornography. One in three visitors to adult websites are women. 96% of teenagers have internet access (and we are well aware of the level of self-control teenagers have). This all adds up to a great percentage in the church that are struggling with or have been affected by pornography or some sort of sexual addiction. Sexual addiction is marked by repeated behavior, a constant returning, cyclical sin. The Bible teaches us the wages or payoff of sin is death (Romans 6:23). If Christians are struggling with repeated sin, then something is dying, a marriage, a grasp on reality, intimacy, honesty, a soul... I should know. I was a "repeat offender," and my denial kept me from seeing that my wife was dying on the vine.
This is one of our hurdles, to get pastors to see that their sheep are dying, but this takes seeing the unseen. You can’t see sexual addiction, yet it sits in the pews every Sunday. We hear sermons on gossiping and the importance of tithing (and it is important), but we do not often hear a message on the devastating effects of pornography and sexual addiction, yet these messages would pertain to a high percentage of the congregation. Pastors are always seeking ways to preach more relevant sermons. Believe me, an educated sermon on the trap of pornography and the effects of sexual addiction is highly relevant for the church today. The sheep are dying.
And sometimes the dying sheep is standing in the pulpit. I'm not surprised by anyone's story anymore no matter how they may come across in front of a crowd or at a gathering of pastors. Several who appeared to have it all together have reached out to us proving that they really don't. And that's when healing begins. When the silence is broken, life is breathed back into dying marriages and sickly souls. There is hope... I should know...
This is why our ministry exists, to help dying sheep... and shepherds.
