The following mail header (modified only slightly to make it suitable for publishing) is typical of the recent avalanche of porn “spam” that has been coming my way.

From: yummy
Date: 30 Nov 2001 07:58:25 -0000
To: phil@heartlight.org
Subject: You left your jacket
Get a FREE PASSWORD to our premier teen hardcore website

    No, I haven’t visited any of those sites nor have I replied to any of their emails (Never reply to these kind of emails, it only confirms that you are an active email address and they will pass on your address to other spam marketers — just delete the vile things!). My cache is clean and so is my conscience on this matter. I’m not sure how they got my email address. In visiting with other godly men that I trust, I’ve found that many of them have had the same spam problem lately. Frighteningly, most of these unwanted spam solicitations are pushing underage subjects for their pornography.

    What makes this kind of thing tough for those who have struggled with Internet pornography is that it slips in under the web filters on their web browsers because it comes in via email. Often these porno marketers will switch names, or URL’s, so that they are not blocked when the email link is accessed.

    So as men seeking to be godly, how do we deal with such things?

    Well, I’ve repeatedly advocated several things that may be worth mentioning again, and I’ll do that later in the article. But first, I want to draw your attention to the subject line in the mail header listed above. “You left your jacket.” That’s it. That’s our first line of defense. Flight! Avoidance! Running for our life!

    Sound crazy? Appear extreme? Is it overly prudish? I don’t think so! Remember the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife?

Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn’t have a worry in the world, except to decide what he wanted to eat! Now Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man. And about this time, Potiphar’s wife began to desire him and invited him to sleep with her. But Joseph refused. “Look,” he told her, “my master trusts me with everything in his entire household. No one here has more authority than I do! He has held back nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How could I ever do such a wicked thing? It would be a great sin against God.”
She kept putting pressure on him day after day, but he refused to sleep with her, and he kept out of her way as much as possible. One day, however, no one else was around when he was doing his work inside the house. She came and grabbed him by his shirt, demanding, “Sleep with me!” Joseph tore himself away, but as he did, his shirt came off. She was left holding it as he ran from the house. (Genesis 39:6-12 NLT)

    In the face of sexual temptation, the best advice when we first recognize its presence is to get away from it. That’s our first line of defense! In fact, “leaving our jacket behind” is exactly what Paul tells us to do!

Run away 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 Corinthians 6:18 NLT)

For the LORD sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes. An evil man is held captive by his own sins; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his incredible folly. (Proverbs 5:21-23 NLT)

God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. (1 Thessalonians 4:3 NLT)

Some Scriptures to Remind Us of God’s Truth Proverbs 5:1-23 Matthew 5:28 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 Galatians 5:16-25 Ephesians 4:17-24 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

    So in a bizarre way, this spam sent to entice me was used by the Holy Spirit re-awaken me to God’s truth: when exposed to sexual temptation, as a man of God, my first reaction is to get away and stay away. My hope and prayer for both you and for me, is that when faced with a sexual temptation, every encounter ends with the line, “You left your jacket behind!”

    Now for some standard operating procedures that I’ve found helpful in dealing with this issue:

• Be accountable to someone you trust that will ask you hard questions. This needs to be another guy and not your spouse. Meet with this person regularly — at least twice per month. The last question needs to be: “As a man of God, do you promise that you have told me the truth without hedging, distorting, or hiding the truth?” When you fall into this sin, confess it — hiding perpetuates the “secret shame” cycle that gives the devil a powerful foothold in your life.

   

• Make sure your computer and screen are open and easy to examine. Have the screen face the door and surf with the door open. Allow your cache and history to be examined by the person to whom you are accountable.

   

• Use a filter and have your accountability partner keep the password. While not a perfect solution, it is better than nothing. Sometimes a delay in getting to this sinful material opens the door for the Spirit of God to help us break the allure of the temptation.

   

• Be wise in regard to the time you access the Internet. Late night Internet access, when only you are awake, is not wise. Limit the length of time you are online and make sure you have a specific task or two for getting online. When you are especially fatigued and frustrated, especially spiritually, are dangerous times to access the web, especially if you have struggled with pornography issues.

   

• Go over God’s truth about these matters at least monthly. Use God’s truth to counteract the lies of our sexually supercharged culture. (See the list of Scriptures above for a starting point for Scriptures relating to this area.) Ask the Spirit to make these truths alive in your mind and heart, and not just words or rules on a page. As you pursue holiness, ask the Father to not let Satan deceive you or distort God’s truth by rationalizing or minimizing this area of sin in your life.

   

• If you have ongoing struggles with this sin and these principles don’t help you win the victory over the temptation to pornography, then please, get help with a counselor. Don’t let this destroy your life and your relationships with real people you love.

For more resources to help those struggling with pornography, click here for our special resource page.

Title: "Our First Line of Defense"
Author: Phil Ware
Publication Date: December 7, 2001

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