ONLINE PURITY PT. 1: PREPARE FOR BATTLE

GUEST EDITORIAL BY ROB ONEKEA
“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
ONLINE PURITY is a daily battle for many brothers and sisters in Christ. Taking control of your purity is something that is crucial to your spiritual walk with God; indeed, if you are continually losing this struggle, your salvation is at stake. For the Scriptures are forthright, “But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people… For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person – such a man is an idolater – has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Ephesians 5: 3-5)
HOW MANY of us have been doing great spiritually, when suddenly you receive an email with an inappropriate image inside? Do we easily hit the delete button or are we ensnared the minute that we see the link? David fought a losing battle for purity, as he stood on the rooftop of the palace gazing into the area where Bathsheba was bathing. (2 Samuel 11) David could have chosen to look away, but his sinful desire compelled him to summon her to commit adultery. Sadly, after this affair, Bathsheba told David, “I am pregnant.” The
consequences of David’s sin were many: the death of Uriah the Hittite (Bathsheba’s husband and one of David’s mighty men), the embittering of Ahithophel (Bathsheba’s grandfather and David’s revered counselor) causing him to join and thus strengthen Absalom’s conspiracy; and of course, the death of David’s and Bathsheba’s newborn child. Most of us do not want to realize the serious consequences of the sins of lust and impurity. As with David, the damage caused to our relationship with God and those we love is enormous, and though by grace forgivable, often the damage is irreparable.
 

I WAS BAPTIZED in the O’ahu Church of Christ in 1992 along with my beautiful wife, Burgandie. Since then, I have battled on and off with lust and impurity – pornography and masturbation. In time, this led to my marital unfaithfulness. In 2006, I once again found the grace of God. Through God’s and Burgandie’s forgiveness, as well as through several restoration Bible studies with disciples from the City of Angels Church, I was restored! On the same day I was restored, so was Burgandie! This so moved our then 15 year old son Derion, that two weeks later he was baptized into Christ! Only now do I understand that my decision to love impurity over God led my family away from Christ, and then that my decision to love God more than my impurity has led my precious family back to Christ. Through discipling, God has also taught me that my need for “intimacy and romance” (sex) should lead me to draw closer to my best friend Burgandie, instead of “burning with passion” and turning to the exploited young women, who have prostituted themselves through the internet.
IN the United States, it is reported that every second $3075.64 is being spent on pornography. And every second 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography. Every second 372 internet users are typing adult search terms into search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN. And lastly, every 29 minutes a new pornographic video is being created. There are over 4.2 million adult websites throughout the internet with more being added daily while the revenue from such sites amount to a staggering $4.9 billion! With those type of financial resources, it’s no wonder that the average person receives adult oriented spam daily. It’s all about the money. Now with those odds, how does one go into battle for online purity?
THE SPIRIT writes, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:13-18) In today’s “cyber-world”, we have various pieces of spiritual armor available to us to go into combat against the challenges of impurity.
1. THE BELT OF TRUTH – To end the double life that accompanies impurity, be completely transparent about how you’re doing with your purity with the people in your life. Daily confession, even on a temptation level, is vital to overcome the struggle of impurity. (James 5:16) Spouses, it is vital that you create an environment of openness in your marriage, so that confession can be made. After I have confessed to Burgandie, my wife’s tears not only remind me of how much I have hurt her and God, but move me to repentance. “Godly sorrow” – repentance – not simply “worldly sorrow” – tears and sadness – brings refreshment to one’s marriage. (2 Corinthians 7: 8-11)
2. THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS – “Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23) You can guard your heart with Scriptures that you have committed to memory. I often pray with the words of David, “Create in me a pure heart O Lord…” (Psalm 51:10) Having Scriptures that you can call on at the first sign of temptation is key to protecting your heart.
3. FEET FITTED WITH THE READINESS – If you can’t call someone to help you with your struggle, or you just can’t seem to recall the Scriptures to guard your heart, then there is no shame in having the “feet fitted with the readiness” to just “walk away”. If you have spare time to just browse the internet and stumble or dive head first into lust, pornography and impurity, then you should just get up and walk away from the computer, until you can deal with your heart. The day before my son’s baptism, I had taken him to a movie that ended up being very inappropriate so we walked out of the theater at once. In extreme cases, totally getting rid of your computer may be your only hope for purity and salvation.

4. SHIELD OF FAITH – Just picture exactly what a shield is, something that protects you from attack. If you are defeated by your sin, by letting down your shield, weariness and loss of heart will allow Satan’s arrows to harm you. Galatians 5:6 teaches, “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” Find others to serve instead of focusing on pleasing your own sinful nature.
5. HELMET OF SALVATION – At times, we need to reflect on our salvation and remember from the depths of which we were pulled out of. When you look at the person you once were and where you are at presently in your relationship with God, understanding grace and mercy should be the motivation that reminds you of where you need to be spiritually. Remember Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God  that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and Godly lives in this present age.” 
6. SWORD OF THE SPIRIT – Be in your Bible! However, remember that the sword is an offensive weapon! Instead of being lazy at home, be out studying the Bible with non-Christian friends. As you go through these studies to help your friends, you will remember your own convictions when you entered the waters of baptism. Truly, a good offense is a great defense!
7. PRAYER – And of course the last element that binds this all together is prayer. Pray for the strength to overcome impurity. “Set your mind … and set your heart on things above.” (Colossians 3: 1-2) Temptations are bound to come, yet claim the promise that “God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (1Corinthians 13:10) Praying with my wife nightly, has strengthened our marriage and commitment to Christ.
I OFTEN refer to the movie 300 in times of struggle. Each Spartan was equipped to do everything that was needed to ensure victory. Like the Spartans in a phalanx, who would guard their fellow warriors “left” by never surrendering one’s “right”, how much more so should we be in each other’s lives as friends and brothers in the battle through discipling relationships? Sadly, in churches that have abandoned discipling or teach that it is optional too many are enslaved to impurity, secretly dating non-Christians and many marriages have ended in divorce that once was a rarity among disciples. Discipling has saved my marriage and my soul.
LATELY, I have found an additional shield of faith to assist in my battle against impurity. A content filtering program called “Safe Eyes”. It not only blocks inappropriate content from ever getting into my “heart”, but there is also a feature that notifies someone when I have attempted to search for something or view anything inappropriate or impure. It can be fully configured to allow certain sites, block others, and even prevent certain applications from running such as chat programs. There are many different filtering programs available online that will do the same thing, such as: Covenant Eyes, CYBERsitter, MaxProtect and Net Nanny. Adult websites have a wealth of resources at their disposal, which make it difficult to protect your home from pornography. Therefore, it is key to take things a step further and implement changes on your home computer. We easily spend $60 on the latest version of Call Of Duty, or taking a family of four to see the latest Captain America movie, why then the lack of investment for our online purity? Most companies offer trial versions to download for 30 days to see if it works for you. As a brother who is now experiencing the victorious life, I would strongly recommend installing one of these programs. There is a link on the DC website (www.dcicc.net) that will allow you to download a version to try.
AS OUR WAR for online purity continues, let us take up God’s spiritual weapons as well as our modern tools, and fight with everything we have for our salvation, for the salvation of our families and for the salvation of this very lost world.
Rob Onekea