Conquering Temptation With Fear?

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Are Pastors and Politicians simply  ”losing their minds” in order to gain satisfaction of their hidden lusts?

 Weinergate is further documentation that we are in some serious trouble folks. Flagrant deception, covetousness, hypocrisy, camouflaged with  bold public  lies.

Dr. Russell Moore tackles the flagrant sin issue and goes to the root of the problem in his “Are You Smarter Than Anthony Weiner” article. 

 Moore is Dean of the School of Theology  at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY.

rgh

“Almost every adultery situation I’ve ever seen includes a cheating spouse who honestly believes that he or she is not going to get caught. The cheater often doesn’t want the marriage to end in divorce. Instead, like the characters in today’s headlines, he or she instead wants to keep everything the same: spouse, kids, and lover too. That’s irrational and completely contrary to the way the world works. Anyone can see that.

But you can convince yourself…or be convinced…that it will work for you. You’re special, after all. That’s the way temptation functions. We put consequences out of our minds, both temporal and eternal consequences. We start to believe that we are gods, with power over good and evil and life and death. And then we do crazy things.

This doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence. Satan is hyper-intelligent. And yet, even knowing that he will ultimately have his skull crushed, he rages all the more against Christ and his people, “because he knows his time is short” (Rev. 12:12). In terms of the most basic principles of military strategy, that’s crazy. What we need is not intelligence, but wisdom. Wisdom includes seeing where the way I want to go will lead (Prov. 14:12).

I don’t know who you are, reader, but I know you are probably not smarter than Anthony Weiner or Arnold Schwarzenegger or John Edwards. And neither am I. Both of us, you and I, are on the verge of wrecking our lives. We’re probably not on the verge of a situation quite like any of those men, but the gospel tells us we have vulnerabilities just the same, and they all can lead to destruction.The answer isn’t found in talent or in strategy or in brilliance. It’s found in fear, the fear of the Lord and the vision of his future.
Lord have mercy.”

http://www.russellmoore.com/2011/06/06/are-you-smarter-than-anthony-weiner/

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2011/06/07/the-fear-of-the-lord-and-the-tempatation-of-life-without-consequences/

This Will Scare The Sin Out Of You!

In this months newsletter, Chuck Swindoll shares a real life moment wherein  he confesses to experiencing the temptational urge to succumb to infidelity.  He roots his strength for “flight” in the spiritual discipline of hiding God’s word in his heart.

Fleeing sexual compromise and marital infidelity are both “word based and fear oriented.” Why? Because God has made it clear that he will not be mocked! Whatever a man sows, he will reap…and that should scare the sin out of us!

rgh

“Many years ago, when our children were still in school, Cynthia stayed home with them while I flew to Canada for a full week of ministry. I was exhausted by Friday night, so I grabbed a hamburger at the hotel café and headed back to my room.

I can still hear my heels tap across the polished floor of the big rotunda-like lobby leading to the hotel elevators. I pushed “up,” stepped into the empty elevator, and before the doors closed, two very attractive women walked in. I pushed “six,” and asked, “Which floor would you like?”

In unison, they said, “Six would be fine.” Both smiled, looked at each other, and then one of them looked back at me with eyebrows raised and said, “How ‘bout it?”

I won’t lie to you. For a brief moment, the offer seemed inviting. But immediately something powerful happened within me. In the recesses of my mind, I recalled the words my mother had drilled into me as a little boy when she and I memorized Scripture together over the kitchen table. They were: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Galatians 6:7). I repeated those words slowly in my mind.

I quickly answered, “No thanks, I’m not interested. I’ve got more than I can keep up with at home.” Then the doors opened and I stepped out . . . alone. When I got to my room, I leaned against the wall in a cold sweat thinking, Thank You, Lord, for Your powerful Word!”

http://www.insight.org/donate/this-months-letter.html