The use of Pornography is often a Secret Sin that can have consequences in our Earthly lives and Rewards in Heaven.

Preface

This may be one of the insidious weapons and tools used by the Satanic Forces in the world to destroy men, women and the family.  Some points to consider:

1. There is most likely not a single person, who intentionally or unintentionally, has not seen very explicit sexual interactions in movies, print media and on the internet.    
2. This author has met and knows of people who have lost their marriages, relationships to the addiction.
3. This author visited a patient at an addiction recovery center, who was there for alcoholism, and was shocked to learn they also treat sexual addictions besides alcoholism and drug addiction, because there are commonalities with alcohol, drugs and sexual addictions.  What was very unexpected is the number of women addicted to sex being treated during the many visits which the female patient told me about.
4. This author has been in men's Bible Study Groups where many men have testified:
   (a) They have wrestled with the addiction in the past but still feel an alluring feeling to view it,
   (b) Are still having problems in the area, or
   (c) Conquered the desire with no desires to go back. 

By no means is the information below exhaustive and the information should be a good resource for help, but there may be requirement for some people to get professional counseling.

Men tend to prefer visual pornography, and women prefer written pornography in the forms of literature that are visualized.  Both men and women can be additionally stimulated by visual attraction that is conveyed in photos and movies.

Removes God's Full Gifts

There are acts and habits that all Christians will have to overcome in our lives.  I remember as a very young and immature Christian reading Joyce Meyer's book, "The Battlefield of the Mind", and the title is absolutely applicable to the thought of combating the desire in using pornography.  When we yield to sinful thoughts that either originate from ourselves or the Satanic Forces around us, then we are in affect telling the Holy Spirit, that we are going to do what we want to do and not what He is guiding us to do.

Christians cannot be possessed by a Satanic entity, but oppression is possible which is yielding control of our mind to proclivities which will influence clarity in a negative way of our thought processes.  Three of the signs, when there is a influence or addiction to pornography of any kind, will manifest itself:

• In the impaired ability to conduct conversations with someone who is attractive.
• Spiritual insights from the Holy Spirit are diminished or missing, which the person in addiction will notice.
• Many marital blessings can be temporarily removed, which will be felt and noticed.

Permanently removing the usage of all sexual materials will absolutely return a mind to fully receive the Holy Spirit's influence, direction, blessings and intellectual potential.  The differences of liberation and returned influence with clarity are astounding!  Additionally, a marriage can then have a greater fulfillment and more satisfying sexual experience. 

There are many more benefits which are discussed more as you read this topic.

Married & Invisible Links

If the user of pornography is married, then the use of pornography can damage and potentially destroy the Godly Link between you and your spouse.  The use of pornography is very similar to the problems with adultery / affairs. 

The use must be stopped and all pornographic materials must be deleted and destroyed.  This is just like ending an affair, where all memorable, souvenirs, gifts, photos, linked social media accounts, email / phone contact information from previous relationships must be eliminated.  In both scenarios, all of these items are ties which will cause a damaging spiritual and invisible linkage.

With the use of pornography, it is as if the person is having an affair and the affair has not ended.  While the use of pornography never involves a physical aspect of touching another person, it involves a spiritual aspect that is an invisible Satanic Link which is tangible to our inner being whether we realize it or not. 

Biblical Scholars do not have an easy explanation for the link, other than partially 1 Corinthians 6:16, which is part of the spiritual facet of our existence. 

As proof:

1. We can have a friend who we have not seen in possibly many, many decades where when we see them after so much time has gone by, we can still recognize and feel a connection them even if we don't remember their name.
2. We can go back to a childhood home that we have not lived in for many years, and then feel a flood of emotions with the sight of the place.
3. We can see an old boyfriend or girlfriend that we have not seen for over 55 years, and instantly feel a flood of emotions and a connection.

This may seem like a farfetched assertion, but this author believes Eternity with God will be Perfect because of the new perception of connections we have with God and one another. 

When we have a Godly relationship in marriage and dating relationships, then links from the past and pornography should not be brought forward and not be included, or they have the potential to harm or even destroy this gift link that God gives in a covenant relationship.  The question can be asked if the spiritual links from the past that are good or bad can be removed, and the answer is yes with the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Take the time in prayer, study of the scriptures, friendships with other Christians and never going back to the usage.  More on this later in this topic.

Observation

As an observation, many Christians like to point to specific sins as more heinous or debaucherously than others. Furthermore, some Christians will then potentially point to some other problem such as stealing, drug or alcohol addiction are less condemning than pornography usage.  All sins have unique problems, causes and consequences.  Thank God for Mercy and Grace in all things! 

We need to always remember to hate sins and have compassion for the sinners where it also involves using wisdom when approaching to witness or not to witness on any problem.  It is often seen that someone new in Christianity will be quick to chastise someone they see in some specific sins and also appear to be hateful, judgmental, arrogant and hypocritical.

Consequences

Some of the possible consequences, with casual use or an addiction to pornography, are very hazardous to the Christian's earthly life and eternal rewards.  Most Churches and Pastors will not discuss this subject because it has become a societal taboo area, where Pastors are afraid of offending the congregation which leads to possible loss of attendance, contributions and volunteering.  

Unfortunately, it is not always obvious that the use of pornographic materials may have the consequences of:

• Leading into adultery,
• Homosexuality,
• Depraved sexual desires such as sadomasochism, domineering or even sexual torture, and
• At a specific point it can become an addiction which is also a form of Satanic Oppression with several negative attributes.
  (a) When looking at someone who is visually attractive will automatically cause sexual thoughts along with possible sexual arousal.
  (b) Loss of intellectually clarity, at times, which has nothing to do with withdraw but because of the Satanic Oppression.  Many people who quit or were delivered from the addiction, have related that many aspects of their life are now clearer, easier to handle and peaceful.

If the person knew that these were possibly the future consequences, then it might have been enough of a deterrent to not start viewing pornography.  This is why it is important for Churches to have an education program concerning any area that all of us can have potential temptations, unfamiliarity and additions with solutions along with support. 

Hopefully, the informed and knowledgeable Christian should already know that pornography is wrong but may rationalize it as a way to relieve stress or lack of intimacy in their life.  The use of it, by nature is a secret sin.  Many Biblical Authorities, in this area, have written that it can have additional negative consequences besides the ones already listed. 

The question for many Christians, is there a way to be healed from the desire when it is so readily available and God made us to desire sexual intimacy?  The answer is yes and it requires prayer, spending time getting closer in your Faith lead walk and a strong commitment.  More on this later in this topic.

Biblically Centered Therapists, in published articles, state that an additional two consequence of pornography, that can be reversed through prayer and time, are the potential at some point in the future where the user will be unable to enjoy the normal pleasures of sexual intimacy with these two problems:

• Users often become unable to climax without the visualization of pornographic scenes in their minds.  So if you are reading this and have not got to that point then stop before it happens. 
• Users often are unable to feel loved unless pornography is part of the foreplay. 

We all need to know that we fight against unseen Satanic forces, besides our own carnal nature, so there is an unseen spiritual element to also take into consideration when looking for answers on stopping the use of pornography.  Christians can be oppressed but not possessed.  A Christian can attest to walking into a place sometimes and feeling something or some thought hitting them to do something they know they shouldn't.  Additionally, Christians can attest to having the distinct feeling and voice of the Holy Spirit telling them not to do something.  When using pornography, there is an opening created to be influenced by the unseen Satanic realm.  As an analogy, it is like a dam on a river where there is a hole that is letting the water penetrate, which must be repaired.

In the beginning, the Christian who uses pornographic materials, will have the internal voice of the Holy Spirit letting the person know this wrong.  What is unfortunately common, is for mankind's ability to rationalize and be desensitized to the point of continuing in any sin without remorse, which is called a squelching of the Holy Spirit.  Additionally, some therapist's writings in this area state that the addiction is similar to alcoholism where the user feels a biological chemical and emotional urge that captivates the thoughts into using, which afterwards will initially result in guilty feelings after use for a Christian. 

Specifics

These are summary thoughts regarding the use and addiction of pornography, that were collected through research. 

Comment areas from Biblical Sources:

Some Scriptural reference information:

As noted in this topic, the Judges 3:7 scripture reference on the people of Israel going to the groves to watch sexual worship acts being done by others for the fake god Baalim, which is really a fallen angel, should be used for our knowledge on harming ourselves.   The people of Israel that were in the groves, has the implication that eventually the people in the groves would join the sexual worship of Baalim.   Worshipping Baalim is Spiritual Adultery this a form of Idolatry which is one of the four greatest sins. 

As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit indwelling us where we can grieve the Holy Spirit. 

Solutions to Eliminate Usage

This author knows of men who have simply asked God to remove the desire to use pornography, and the desire was removed.  Others have had to take a route of doing a great deal more, but succeeded in the elimination, desire and freedom from it!

The best account of this transformation was a great friend Ken who spoke about finding a large empty field, which he walked in the middle of it to be alone.  Once he was there, he yelled out loud to God, "If You don't remove this desire to go to topless joints and look at pornography, then I am going to have an affair on my wife!"  Ken said it was the most exhilarating moment of liberation that he had ever felt and the desire was gone!  He said, he walked back to his car smiling, ear to ear, thinking why didn't I just ask a long time ago! 

The key to the removal of pornography from a person's life requires a 100% desire to be cured.  For some people, help is required.  The well know axiom, is the start of fixing any human addiction problem is to recognize that there is a problem.  After recognizing a problem, the most often recommendation for removing a bad habit or an addiction is to replace it with a good habit.  If there is a relapse, then stop again.  Those who have had relapses, have sometimes expressed that they recognized consequential problems starting occurring in their lives, which then went away immediately when they restarted the process of elimination of pornography. 

Here are some Christian ideas that have worked for many people according to research.  Note that Christian Counseling help may still be needed.  It is also noted in self-help literature, that when replacing any habit, it takes several weeks to replace a habit with a new habit, where the old habit does not have an influence.

Rewards with Victory Over Usage

If you conquer the need for using then there are many, many rewards waiting for you such as:

1. Your spouse or partner will become more attractive.
2. Your intellectual acuity will be clearer and more powerful.
3. Your daily walk with God will become more rewarding as increased clarity of thought will be available because your addiction thoughts are not negating the influence of the Holy Spirit Who indwells the Believer.
4. Your day will become more productive.
5. Others will potentially notice a subtle change of calmness in your life.
6. God will reward you with additional blessings that were being held back or stopped because of the negative influence and/or addiction. 
7. You will not lose rewards that are being held in eternity.  The Epistle to the Hebrews is a great book to learn about the promises of the over-comer.  A rewarding excerpt is:
   Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,"

What to read next?

The role of Sex.   What is Abuse of Power?  What is Salvation?  Is it possible to lose Salvation?  We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?  Is there a place of unending punishment and exile form God?