Throughout the centuries, Christians have always had to face the overwhelming temptation to conform to society and the call of God has always been, “Come out of her, My people.” God is not looking for half-hearted citizens who are addicted to the pleasure of earth life. He desires followers whose minds and hearts are fixed on heaven and heaven’s King. The truth is that no Christian should be dwelling in Babylon. The time to break away from her intoxications is now!

One of the greatest tools used by the enemy in our generation has been social media. It appeals to some of the most powerful desires of the human heart. Multitudes have fallen prey to its addictive nature, including those who attend churches across the United States every Sunday morning. Join us as we unpack this vital topic in episode 14 of "Babylon: The Seat of Satan's Power."

What word would you use to describe an airport during the holiday season, with thousands of people all trying to make their flights on time? Perhaps frantic or busy come to mind. This same feeling could describe a New York City street or a Los Angeles freeway. But while much of this may seem normal to the average American, our culture’s busy lifestyle presents a real spiritual problem for believers.

The psalmist declares that our Good Shepherd will lead us beside still waters. It’s only when we know how to be quiet and still before God that we can find the refreshing our souls long for. And as Steve Gallagher shows us in episode 13 of our series, a life of ceaseless agitation is built to draw us away from that still life, away from God and deeper into the heart of Babylon.

We see it all too often. And we see it from both sides. There is the man who is struggling with sexual sin, with his addiction to pornography, but he thinks, “My problem will all go away when I get married.” Then there is the young woman who knows of her fiancé’s struggles, but she marries him anyway, thinking the same thing: “Marriage will fix him.” In this Purity for Life episode from 2019, we answer the question “Should I Marry a Man Struggling with Porn?”

Resources

• I'm Engaged to a Struggling Man (Article) By Rise Colón

In part two of our discussion on the Spiral of Degradation, Ken Larkin expounds on steps three through six of the Spiral of Degradation. If you haven’t already read part one, you can find the link to that article below. (from Podcast Episode #493 - Babylon: When Satan Rules the Hearts of Men)

Click here to check out "The Spiral of Degradation (Part 1)"

Nate: Let’s begin this part of our discussion by talking about the third step in the spiral of degradation which is the suppression of truth? What are some ways that people to suppress the truth?

Ken: In Romans 1:23 it says that the people who began suppressing the truth did so by exchanging the truth of God for a lie and that they began to worship and serve the creature rather than the creator. So, it's not just the idea that you're suppressing the truth, but you're replacing it with a lie. That's an important distinction. I've counseled men in sexual sin for 14 years, and it’s unbelievable that most of the men that come into our program have an exaggerated sense of their own spirituality when they first arrive. They often say things like, “I'm walking with God, but I just have this one little problem.”
           Meanwhile, their whole inside world is filled with lust and perversion. You see, they’ve compartmentalized this one aspect of their lives as being the problem without realizing that their whole heart and their whole character is moving away from God. Overall, their issue with sexual sin is just the fruit of a life that's not right with God. So when it comes to suppressing the truth, maybe the Holy Spirit has been dealing with them for years about how they have been living and they've silenced His voice and somehow justified or minimized their sin. They may lie to themselves and think that it's not a big deal or that they’re like everyone else. Meanwhile these lies that they are buying into are just enabling them to continue down the spiral.

Nate: I can think of some of the ways that people suppress the truth. We can easily choose to suppress the truth whenever we feel guilt or shame. We can tell ourselves, “Well, everybody does this.” Or “I'm just human and God doesn't expect me to be perfect.” Or maybe we find someone who will coddle us in our sin. I remember one time when somebody confronted me in my sin and said, “You're not a victim.” I had been telling myself I was a victim, and it was that truth that really cut through and helped me realize that that victim mentality had been enabling me to continue living in sin.
        There are so many ways that we can suppress the truth. We can distract ourselves and throw ourselves into a hobby or the pursuit of pleasure. Some people when they realize that they are addicted to something decide to exchange one addiction for another and suddenly they're all into weightlifting or self-improvement. There are just so many ways that we can keep ourselves from acknowledging when our life is a wreck.

Ken: Yeah. And I would say another thing is that a lot of people that come to us for help come from ministry backgrounds. That makes it easy for them to dismiss their actions by saying, “I'm working for the Lord. I'm not doing good in this area, but look at all of the good that I am doing over here.” In their mind, somehow their wrong behavior is balanced out by other good things that they are doing. But it's not true. Just because you're doing the right thing in one area doesn’t mean that all of sudden your sinful behavior is okay.

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Nate: Let’s move on to the next part of the Spiral of Degradation. Steps four, five and six in the spiral of degradation all have the common denominator of being given over. It starts by being given over to the lust of the heart, then given over to degrading passions and then given over to a depraved mind. So, you can definitely see that a person is being progressively given over, further on and further down. I'd like for you to talk about this term given over, because I don't think it's really clear just from the outset what that even means. What does it mean in the Bible when God gives someone over?

Ken: Well, it's interesting. The word paradidomi in the Greek has the idea of handing one over to an enemy. But in the case of the Spiral of Degradation, it's not so much that God just hands someone over, it's more of the idea that He withdraws His protection. So now you're undefended and you have an enemy out there that wants to kill, steal and destroy and you're basically defenseless. I think it’s easy to forget how much God's grace keeps us from sin.
         The other aspect is not so much that He's just throwing you to the wolves, but He's withdrawing His restraining influence - the grace of God that keeps you from sin. You've rejected it so often that God is slowly withdrawing His presence and now you're left to fend for yourself. And you've already given yourself over to a particular sin and shown you've wanted it. So, God gives you what you want and you're helpless in yourself to defend it.

Nate: So then, can you describe steps four, five, and six of the Spiral of Degradation? What would it look like to be given over first to the lust of our heart, then to degrading passions, and then to a depraved mind?

Ken: The idea of being given over to the lust of the heart is interesting. I like the Scripture in James 1:14 where it talks about how each man is tempted and carried away or enticed by his own lust. It's the idea that we've seen played out a lot where someone might start out indulging in a certain sinful behavior, but there's still some sense of morality or a semblance of knowing what's right and what's wrong. But when they do give in to sin, they are being drawn away by their own lust. They’re enticed. It's like they're carried away to an alternate state where they're in a trance and morality flies out the window. Then they're given over to the point where they would begin to consider and do things they never would have considered doing before.
           Maybe someone crosses the line where in the past they were only acting out with the opposite sex, but now in this lust, they don't care how they fulfill their lust. Suddenly they may begin dabbling into fantasies about the same sex or even begin acting out with people of the same sex. They just start crossing lines and God has given them over to that. Basically, their whole life is starting to revolve around this sin and again, going back to the law of diminishing returns, after a while one begins to be so depraved that morality doesn't matter. Consequences don't matter in this altered state. Whether they're hurting other people – their friends, their family, their children – none of that matters. The only thing that matters is how are they going to fulfill their lust, and they're totally given over to it.

Nate: Yeah. So, then you kind of see that if you're given over to the lust of the heart and you don't repent, that's just going to perpetuate this cycle where then now you're going further and you’re being given over to degrading passions. You explained that a bit already. Is there anything else you would say about degrading passions?

Ken: Yeah. We can go back to talking about the restraint of God. For example, when someone is being given over to lust in their heart, maybe in that step, they weren't crossing lines as far as acting out in a particular sin. But now they're given over where God's restraint is being lifted and His grace and they're basically left to their sin. And we become a slave to what we obey. So, they’re becoming addicted and enslaved to their behavior and now they're probably crossing lines and acting out indiscriminately with other people, because morally to them it doesn't matter anymore.
          And one of the scary things is that a person becomes less and less aware of this pattern. They can get to the point where they don't even realize that their heart's becoming darker because they're getting more and more deceived, more and more depraved, and they love to have it that way. So, they are just given over more and more within.

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In America today, conservatism is often equated with Christianity. And though they share some of the same values and lifestyles, there is a real danger in linking them too closely with one another.

For American Christians, it is vital to examine our hearts and our faith, to see if nationalism has replaced devotion to Christ. And in any area where the values of the Kingdom of God and the values of conservatism differ, we must be willing to align ourselves to God alone.

In this episode, we're not taking sides or looking to diminish real gratitude for the core values of our nation. Our desire is to call believers back to passionate dedication to Christ and His cause because He deserves our greatest loyalty.

This is part two of our episode, "A Leaders Guide to the Sexual Addict." We created this episode to be a guide for lay leaders, counselors or anyone who wants to help someone overcome their sexual sin. We hope it will give you a better understanding of what's going on inside the heart of a professing Christian who is involved with sexual sin. We can't discuss everything, but we're trying to hit the key features.

Resources

• A Biblical Guide to Counseling the Sexual Addict (Book) by Steve Gallagher
• How to Minister to the Sex Addict (Article) by Jeff Colón

When a church culture is compromised enough that false teachers can thrive inside of its system, this will undoubtedly affect people in their daily lives. You see, Jesus said that when we continue in His Word that we will know the truth, and that the truth would liberate us. And so the converse is also true. Without the truth, we will not be liberated. And by definition, false teachers do not offer the truth of God to people, not in its purity. And so people are left bound in slavery to their sins. In this episode, Nate sits down with Patrick and Jon to discuss how this played out in their lives, and how it was that God helped bring them out of that system.

Resources

This series is based on the book Intoxicated with Babylon: The Seduction of God’s People in the Last Days by Steve Gallagher. You can find out more about that book by visiting our bookstore.

The world as we know it is in a spiritual freefall—moving ever further away from God. Those who remain attached to this world system are moving irresistibly into an ever-greater darkness. Before long they will be utterly engulfed, unable to escape. The only way out is to live in the will of God every minute of every day. This is the only path into the light—the only way into God.

Register now for the 2023 Pure Life Ministries Conference!

Ken Larkin has been a biblical counselor in our Residential Program for 14 years. He's seen many men who have entrenched themselves in sin and have traveled deep down the Spiral of Degradation. In part one of this interview, he discusses the first two steps of the spiral and how they can play out in a person's life.  (from Podcast Episode #493 - Babylon: When Satan Rules the Hearts of Men)

Nate: In Romans one we are given a description of what many Christians’ call “the Spiral of Degradation.” And what we see in this passage is a group of people who are going through a spiritual process that ends in total corruption. Anyone can go through the same spiritual corrupting process that would make them the kind of person that God destroyed in the biblical flood described in Genesis 6. So, anyone of us can become the kind of person that would make God say, “I am grieved that I made them.” Personally, I believe that viewing pornography is a fast track to becoming that kind of person. So, I brought Ken Larkin in to help us take a detailed look at this process. Ken, you’ve watched men come into our program who are way down the spiral of degradation, but you've also seen men come out of the spiral. So, first, could you briefly describe the steps down the spiral of degradation for us?

Ken: Sure. There are basically seven steps. The first step is a failure to reverence and give gratitude to God. In Romans 1:21 it says, “They did not honor or glorify Him as God or give thanks.” The second step is the darkening heart. Verses 22 & 23 say, “Professing to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man.” And you can see where this is going here with the whole idea of pornography and sexual sin. The third step is suppression of the truth. Verse 25 says that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie.
       As you're going down that spiral, the next step would be to be given over to the lust of the heart. Verse 24 says, “Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.” Step five signifies being given over even further. In verse 26 it says, “God gave them over to degrading passions.” Further on down the spiral is step six, which is the depraved mind. It says this in verse. Lastly, step 7, goes from verse 29 to the end of the chapter where it says that they came to a place of being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, and they were given over to a lifestyle of fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the sinful mind.

Nate: If somebody were to read through that portion of Scripture, they would definitely be able to see that there are definite steps along this pathway. This is not just one quick jump all the way to filled with all manner of unrighteousness. This is a process and what we want to help people realize is that if they are anywhere in that process, they're headed somewhere. But we also want them to see that they can come out of the spiral. So, here's what I want to do. I'd like to flesh these steps out and give a little bit of what they might look like in a practical way, so that somebody could see where they identify with being in this process. Or maybe they have been there, or it may help them see where they are headed. Let's start with the first step down. They did not glorify God as God or give Him thanks. What does that mean exactly? And what does it look like when somebody is taking that step?

Ken: Well, it's interesting because Scripture says first that they did know God. So, it's not ignorance. This is someone that has the knowledge of God, has come into a relationship with Him, but then they lose their reverential and worshipful fear and love of God. You could say it's like someone left their first love. First of all, what happens is they begin to lose their adoration and awe of God. They lose the place where God is literally the center of their universe, where He should be. They lose the place where God is everything and where God is God, and what slowly happens is that begins to be replaced by self.
        If you look at someone that may have been broken over their sin, they should be coming into true repentance. But often times even after repenting, all of a sudden, their self-life and pride starts rising up again and they become bigger in their own estimation and God becomes smaller. Then what happens is since they're not deriving their ultimate fulfillment from a relationship with God, a sense of discontentment or dissatisfaction starts welling up in their hearts and they become ungrateful. Then since they're not seeking intimacy with God, they might be doing all the outward things they did before, but something inside their heart has changed their direction and now they're turning away from God and seeking fulfillment or satisfaction outside of Him. This causes them to be disgruntled and believe that somehow God's holding out on them and not giving them what they want. It's a very evil disposition.

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Nate: Yeah, and it's also very subtle. This doesn't even necessarily mean that a person is engaging in some gross sin. This is just like you said, a change of direction in the heart. I think that’s important for people to understand. The danger zone is not looking at pornography once a week or starting to commit A, B or C sin. The danger zone is where the attitude of the heart changes towards God. Now let’s look at the second step which is the darkening heart. What's happening at this point and how do you see this taking place?

Ken: It's a change in direction. Now they're moving away from the light and toward darkness. I've heard it said that morality is not a line, it's a direction. So now they're moving in the opposite direction and what happens is since they're not satisfied with God, they're going to seek satisfaction in their idol. And in a lot of people's case the idol is sexual sin, which Scripture really brings out in Romans 1. So, what's happening is they might be involved in a certain behavior and it's maybe euphoric or they really get something out of it. It’s almost like a drug addict. The first hit is amazing and then afterwards they're always seeking that high again.
        Eventually they want to continue this behavior more frequently. They were giving over to their sin once a week and now they are giving over daily. But ultimately, it's the law of diminishing returns, because it's not going to continually satisfy. It's never going to be like the initial high or euphoric experience, so they're going to want to continue to do it more frequently. And then what happens is you cross lines and begin to engage in more depraved behavior. Where once it might have just been looking at porn, now this person is acting out with other people or getting involved in behavior that is worse than what they ever would have dreamed they would do. But they're starting to go down in a direction away from God and toward their sin.

Nate: Yeah. And when it says the darkening heart, I think the thing to remember is that it's not just a change in the progression of behavior, but something's really happening in the person’s heart. What other kinds of things could you see taking place in this person’s internal world maybe?

Ken: One of the things is that their value system begins to change. What they would have considered evil before, no longer looks that bad. As a matter of fact, it looks good and it looks enticing. It looks like something desirable even though it might be something God hates and it’s inherently evil. And one of the aspects of sin which we'll get into more as we go down the spiral is that one of the lies that is easy to believe is that you can just easily quit whenever you want. That is not true. The more you give over to sin you're being corrupted on the inside and your heart is becoming more dark, more polluted, more fouled and tainted by that sin. And the effects of that don’t just immediately go away once your wrong behavior stops.

When you've ministered to Christian men in sexual sin for as long as we have, you start to get a pretty good idea about who you are dealing with and what they need. If you’re a pastor, if you’re discipling someone who is struggling with sexual sin, or if you recently found out that someone you love has been living a double life of hidden immorality, this episode is for you. Welcome to part one of "A Leader's Guide to the Sexual Addict."

Resources

• Counseling the Sexual Addict (Book) by Steve Gallagher
• The Foundation of Biblical Counsel (Article) by Jeff Colón

When Chris looked at Marissa, he saw a woman who would help him control his lust. He saw someone who would help him achieve a prosperous life. When Marissa looked at Chris, she saw a man who would help her pursue the Lord, someone who would help her cultivate the kind of spiritual life she dreamed of having. One day, both of their dreams came crashing down. But this did not result in the destruction of their marriage. Instead, it brought about the creation of something unexpected. Something beautiful. Something brand new.

Resources

• No, Marriage is Not the Cure for Lust (Article) by Jeff Colón