God's Fire Escape

Some of you will accuse me of stereotyping men as being somewhat simple, but when it comes to sex and women most men are. Chris Rock the comedian once said, “A man is only as faithful as his options”. That of course was meant to be funny, but there is a thread of truth to this statement. If a man avoids temptation he won’t fall! The Bible says in Proverbs, “Can a man take fire unto his bosom and NOT be burned”, I know from personal experience that this is very true! Back in 1983 I was a young Christian about to go to Korea for the second time. I had a girlfriend that attended church BUT who was not a Christian. She wanted to have sex before I left for Korea, We necked and made out but hadn’t gone all the way. I avoided this because I knew it was wrong, but my resistance was way low! I agreed to getting a hotel room the night before I had to fly off to Korea. I had around $800.00 dollars in the bank, but I had to go to an ATM to get some money. I had decided to disobey God and fornicate, (by the way she looked a lot like Chaka Khan). I went to the ATM put the card in and it malfunctioned and kept my card! This was on a Saturday night so I couldn’t physically go to the bank until MONDAY! My flight was Sunday morning! God rescued me from sin! My anger turned to shame because I was willingly going to sin against God. I cried on the airplane because I realized how close I came to falling prey to the devil.

I share this story because this woman was EXACTLY what I desired physically! She had long thick hair, brown skin, full lips, pretty eyes, high cheekbones, and she was built like a woman in a Ruben painting. Yes I am describing a woman that looks like Chaka Khan! (By the way Chaka’s real last name is Stevens too!) Do you understand me now! I really believe the enemy can “give” us the desires of our flesh. I know the Bible say’s “delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desire of your heart…” in the reverse of this scripture, if you delight yourself in the things of this world, Satan will “give” you the desire of your flesh and emotions. We often fall prey to our emotions as well as our fleshly desires. I really liked this girl, but I knew it was wrong to fornicate! The enemy knew I was attracted to her, but he attacked me in the emotional realm (soul) as well. The young lady in question came from a troubled home. I tried to “minister” to her! Singles should NEVER try and minister to members of the opposite sex at all.

Married ministers should NEVER minister to the opposite sex without your spouse being present! She begged me to spend the night with her. I gave in for two reasons: 1. Sexual attraction 2. The need to comfort her. Both reasons would have caused me to fall, but God intervened! Praise Jesus! There is no telling where my life would have turned out if I fell that night! When I got to Korea 2 days later (it’s a long flight), That was where I accepted the call to preach and also where God filled me with the Holy Ghost. Fornicating that night would have probably caused me to get off of the airplane in Seoul ready to have a one-year tour of “sexcapades”. I praise God for the Holy Spirit and the divine providence of God! I really believe God sets up spiritual roadblocks to help us live holy. We are lying If we think we live holy because of our “will” power! When we admit our flesh is weak THEN we can experience the willingness of the Spirit to help us. (Read Psalms 32, 38, and 51)

The devil knows that we (Christians) won’t just go out on a whim and commit certain acts of disobedience. The devil will attempt to get you to start small so to speak.

In the 80’s I was big into weight lifting and bodybuilding. I even won a few power-lifting contests overseas. I was proud of how I sculpted my body through hard training. I was a Karate Instructor on base and I ran 5 miles a day. I used to read muscle magazines to see how the stars trained and ate. I would say about 1983 –84 there was a big change in the magazines. In the early seventies the magazines were just filled with pictures of men training, diets, and articles on various topics related to the sport. As the eighties came more and more there were sexually explicit pictures. Women’s bodybuilding was taking off…and so were their clothes! I remember chastising a brother about buying pornography, and the Holy Spirit immediately hit me with “Aren’t those muscle magazines pornography?” I had to confess to God, myself, and the brother I was scolding that I was guilty too! Pornography is all around us! When I go to the mall in the summer and rest on a bench, I see pornography!