An Online Witnessing Encounter

From time to time I'll submit an email I've either received or sent out to someone who has written in to an Online Counseling Website that I set up several years ago to help people with their challenges while trying to, at the same time, be a Christian in today's society.

The website is HELPinChrist.com.  And I admit that when I set up the website, I was not yet a Christian, I was, in fact, what Jesus refers to in the Parable of the Sower as, a false convert or, one upon whom the seed of the Word of God had fallen on thorny ground.  Matthew 13:3-9

In December of 2004, God sent a messenger to where I was at to share His Laws with me to show me that I was still in need of salvation, and the salvation I thought I had was false.  The image I held in my mind of who God was, and the real reasons why Jesus died on the cross were all without a true Biblical foundation.

I was living in the midst of transgressing the 2nd of His 10 Commandments.  I had created for myself a god to suit myself and my own sinful desires.  One that would overlook my sins, and still let me into heaven - and it was at the point of salvation that I knew if I was going to have anything more to do with this website, I would have to share the same truth with anyone who was in danger of being deceived by the same delusions I had previously been mired in myself.

What you will read below is my reply to a young man who is living a similar life to the one I lived the better part of my adult life...  He is a Youth Leader, therefore, he claims to be a Christian...  However, he struggles with pornography - but he doesn't just struggle with that particular sexual sin, he has been dabbling in, and quite recently, as you will find out, he has given in to the lusts of his flesh - namely, homosexuality...

This is not an easy post for me to share because I realize now as I read, and re-read what I've written to him, that I am exposing a lot of my own personal past.  A LOT of which I prefer to leave out of my testimony whenever I share it in mixed company for obvious reasons - not the least of which is that I wouldn't want to cause you to judge me in any way that was not righteous in it's intent.  Though, I have decided to post it here in the hopes of possibly encouraging even one person, while warning others as I myself had been warned.

His name has obviously been changed, and I have left out any references to personal, geographic or otherwise distinguishable information for the sake of total anonymity.  My purpose is to edify, not embarrass.

Joe:

In case you haven't thought I was being serious up to this point, I want you to understand that I am absolutely serious now...

Your problem with porn and homosexuality is sin, and the Bible says that sin brings about death in the life of the person who is living in it.  Jesus said that the person who dies in their sin will be cast into hell.  And the primary reason I'm here, doing this, is so that you won't end up in hell...  I haven't asked you for money, I'm not telling you to join my church or buy my cassettes or videotapes - I'm pleading with you to get this fixed between you and God before another day goes by because you do not know when your soul may be required of you...

It is clear that you understand that your situation is sinful, no doubt there...  What is not clear, however, is how real you believe God's punishment to be for those who sin against Him.  You mention that you hate yourself for some of the things you do - and you should...  You are committing offenses against the one who gave you life and breath and every good thing that you have...  It was your sin that put Christ on the cross - therefore, based upon your own admissions and testimonial, it is difficult for me to talk to you as a person who is a follower of Christ because you continue in your sins.  1 John 1:6, 2:4, 15-17 & Hebrews 10:26-27

At this point, I have to insist that you post-pone your organization and participation in any youth-related activities including the youth conference you are organizing, particularly because of your unresolved, un-repented of sin.  I'm not trying to be mean here, I'm trying to help you get the help you need...  You don't need someone to tell you that everything will be alright, all you need to do is pray to God and believe that He answers prayer.

Joe, I have to be honest with you here because my position in all of this, and the Word of God compels me; I am not telling you these things with a smile on my face.  I am fully aware that this is the exact opposite of what you want to be told when it comes to your involvement in ministry...  However, I have to think about those you have been put in charge of. (the teens in your Youth Group)  This is a situation that you need to take to your Pastor, whether you repent of it or not...  Obviously, if you repent of this sin, it will be easier to share with him because you will simply be asking him to help you through the sanctification that God will bestow upon your life.

What you need is to put everything on hold and get on your knees before God and repent of ALL of your sins once and for all.  Cry out to God for mercy Psalm 51 and confess your wretchedness against God. 2 Corinthians 7:10 You are aware of your lawlessness, but do you realize the severity of the offense?  God will not overlook your sins because you serve in youth ministry, on the contrary, you will be judged more severely because you put yourself in the place of a teacher, one who should know better. Romans 2  You do not want to be one of those who God gives over to the desires of their hearts Romans 1:22-32

And I speak to you as one who was once in your place.  I am not sitting up on my high horse looking down on you as some would.  I've been where you are at.  I once acted upon my sexually sinful desires with another man.  Things didn't go as far as they could have because my conscience (God's Law written on my heart) was screaming at me, telling me that what I was doing was wrong!  As a Youth Leader, I was living in a sinful relationship with a girl I knew, while all the while immersing myself in pornographic lusts...  I was truly playing the part of the hypocrite.  Telling the teens I was working with to be holy because God is holy, while living like the devil in my private life.

Therefore, until you repent of your sins and trust in Christ completely to deliver you from your sins - rather than your own ability to overcome "the moment" you are getting wrapped up in, you will continue this cycle of temptation, lust and sin...  Yet there are four factors in that equation...  And if you are not reconciled to Christ before you come to the final factor, death, and you will suffer eternally for what only happened in a moment.

You wrote in to HELPinChrist.com two months ago today, letting us know that you were addicted to pornography, and struggling with homosexuality.  That you hadn't yet had sex, and now you write in mentioning that "last week for the first time ever..." "...some very bad things happened..."  I have to take some responsibility here for not writing these things to you when you first wrote in - because I am terrified of the idea that you could have died within the past two months, let alone the past week, without hearing the Truth...

It is appointed unto every person once to die, and then the judgement...  Sin is the transgression of God's Law.  If you've ever lied, stolen, blasphemed God's name, disobeyed your parents, hated someone or even called them a "fool" - wished that you had someone else's stuff as your own, or created a God to suit your own personal way of life...  Then you are guilty of sinning against God Himself.  He made your eyes, don't you think He can see what you are doing when you think no one else knows?  He formed your ears, do you not realize that He can even hear the thoughts you are thinking?  He requires truth in our inward most parts...

And He has set aside a day in which He will judge every person in righteousness, according to what they have done...  Acts 17:31  And He will by no means clear the guilty...  The soul that sins shall die and be cast into the Lake that burns with fire...  Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.  

But that's not the end of the story, and God's desire is not to send you to Hell...  2,000 years ago, He became a man, filled a body as a hand fills a glove, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  He lived a perfect, sinless life, fulfilling the Law and then giving Himself up to be murdered to take upon Himself the punishment for the sins of all those who would repent and believe in Him.  He did not come to condemn the world, because the world, because of it's sin, is already condemned...  Rather, He came to seek and to save those who are lost in their sins and trespasses.  John 3:14-21  And He calls all people everywhere to repent of their sins against God because His kingdom is at hand.  

He became the propitiation (substitutionary sacrifice - the sacrificial lamb that was slain) in our place - taking upon Himself God's Wrath for us.  Because we sinned, Christ came to die...  And if you will repent, and put on the Lord Jesus Christ Romans 13:14 as a skydiver puts on a parachute before jumping 10,000 feet, His Word promises that He will save you...  You will be Born Again and brought into a right relationship with God. John 3:3  Just as quickly as you can lose control of your situation (a moment) Christ can save your soul...  He can bring you from death into life, from darkness into light - He can give you a new heart with new desires and replace your heart of stone with a heart of flesh.  I believe that He is calling out to you today to be reconciled to Him through repentance and faith. Matthew 3:8 & Hebrews 3:15

All of this is not to say that you will be perfect this side of heaven...  But you will be "made perfect" in God's eyes - meaning, you will be given Christ's perfection...  You are still human, however, and will sin from time to time - however, you will fall into sin, rather than your current situation where you wade around in sin, ready to dive in the next time temptation presents itself as a viable alternative to whatever you may be doing at the moment.  Remember, I've been in your shoes...  Paul talks about how before we are Born Again, we are slaves to sin, and we commit sin because it is in our nature...  But when we are regenerated by Christ's sacrifice, we become slaves to righteousness - which is what God's Word calls us to, live lives of righteous behavior... Matthew 5:20 & Luke 1:68-75 & Acts 10:35 & Romans 6

I'm sorry if this all seems a little overwhelming, however, God is just that...  God is a consuming fire, and His Word is sharper than any two-edged sword...  Surgery is painful, that's why they sedate you first...  Removing the sin from a persons life is a spiritually surgical procedure...  I'm sure that's why Christ calls us to love one another...  If I didn't love you, and care for your eternal fate, it might be impossible for you to accept what I'm sharing with you.  That's the way it was for me when I heard this message, and the one I shared with you, Hell's Best Kept Secret,  I'd been a self-professed Christian for over 12 years at that point in my life, and a Youth Volunteer (and self-professed Minister) for over 10 years...  When I heard a man who was reading from the Bible tell me that if I was living in sin, that the Bible, and Jesus Himself offers me no assurance of my salvation.

My deepest prayer is that you receive this email with the same heart I received his words.  Because my deepest fear is that you would be one of those Jesus spoke about when He said that many will come to Him in the Day of Judgment saying, 'Lord, Lord...  have we not done many great things in Your name?'  and He would tell you to depart from Him, because He never knew you, because you were one who went on practicing lawlessness...

Jesus didn't promise us that following Him would be easy, in fact, He encouraged those who were not fully committed to following Him to simply return to their homes and families...Matthew 8:18-22  He didn't assure His followers a full moneybag, a new well, or healthy livestock...  (Today I suppose that would be equivalent to the modern-day gospel promise of a full bank account, large house, and a 4-car garage without an empty space in it...)  Nope, he promised that we would be hated for His names sake, that we would suffer tribulation, Matthew 24:9 and persecution, and not the least of which - and this is where Christ's promise hits home for you - we will be tempted... Luke 8:13 The call is for us to overcome temptation and endure until Christ's return...  And we will be blessed if we endure until the end...

I care about you, and don't want you to end up in hell - please consider what God has written, and I have been blessed to share.  And don't take my words for it, please look this stuff up for yourself.  Be like the Bereans and make sure that what I'm sharing with you lines up with God's Word...

I'm praying for you, and those you serve...


-Benjamin, Counselor
HELPinChrist.com

p.s. - Perhaps consider the words of my pastor - listen to the July 27th sermon, I believe you will find the message speaks to your specific challenge...  Not homosexuality, but unbelief...