Charisma News – Lee Grady – 8th October 2014
Last week, late-night comics joked about the fact that yet another Christian broadcaster had gone down in flames because of a moral failure. This time it was Rory Alec, the British founder of GOD TV, who announced on Oct. 2 that he was stepping down from the network he co-founded in 1995 and putting his wife, Wendy, in charge.
Despite the giddy reaction from secular pundits, this is no laughing matter. When the world looks at us they think we are just a bunch of greedy hypocrites who can’t keep our pants zipped. The embarrassment that started in the 1980s with Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart continues today. We are now experiencing an epidemic of sexual failure in the church that threatens to discredit us.
Wendy Alec has promised to explain the details of her husband’s resignation in a statement this week, and the least we can do for our fallen brother is pray for his restoration. But beyond that, I’m also eager to help Christians who might be tempted to think that the failure of yet another high-profile minister means it’s impossible to stay sexually pure in a world full of temptation.
The truth is: Jesus can keep you from falling if you trust Him and use biblical common sense. Here’s the most honest advice I could give any sincere believer, male or female, who wants to avoid becoming a statistic in this struggle.
1. Maintain an intimate relationship with God. I can offer a 100 percent guarantee that no man or woman who prays regularly, worships God intimately, reads the Bible consistently and knows God’s grace personally will fall into sexual sin. When we are full of God’s Spirit, His fire will keep us far away from the edge of moral failure. It’s only when a person loses his first love for Jesus that he drifts toward sinful desires.
2. Never get in a sexually compromising situation with a person who is not your spouse. It’s never wise to play next to the edge of a cliff. Yet Christians today seem to think it’s spiritual to flirt, literally, with danger. The Bible says: “Flee from youthful lusts” (2 Tim. 2:22). “Flee” does not mean linger, loiter or dawdle, nor does it mean wink to see if you get a wink back. It means run for your life!
(more…)