Although some may disagree, marriage, in it’s purest form, is as much a creation as the trees, the animals and even us. During the process of creation, particularly after the Creator finished with humanity, he stated the following in Gen 2:24: 24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Our Creator dictated that a man and a woman would become one flesh. The only time that a husband and wife can become one flesh is during intimacy. Therefore, we can safely say that sex was given as a gift to humanity to be used in the security of a loving and committed marriage relationship for the purpose of procreation and the glorification of our Creator. Another thing to keep in mind is that we were created in His image. Think about that for a minute and ask yourself what He thinks when He sees some of His children involving themselves with the filthiness of pornography.

When it comes to the topic of pornography, we cannot afford to sugar coat the effects or deny the fact that many people, including some believers, are currently struggling with this problem. Due to the nature of this article however, I recommend that parents either read this article with their teenagers or discuss it with them. Whether parents want to believe it or not, taking into account the way that pornography is now being marketed, it is more likely that your teenager, child etc, will be exposed to pornographic (or similar) images than that somebody will offer them drugs. In fact in a recent survey, 90% of the teenagers that used the Internet to do their homework admitted to visiting pornographic websites. It is not hard for children under the age of eighteen to enter these pornographic sites without anybody knowing.  Even though the government set the legal age to view porn to eighteen the government does not and cannot enforce it. When you go to a porn site sometimes there is a dialogue box that cautions you that you must be eighteen to enter, but that is easily passed by clicking the ok button.  It is impossible and unreasonable for parents to watch their children twenty-four hours a day, however, parents should be careful not to let their children use the computer as a babysitter tool to entertain them for a few hours.  At the very least, parents should be very aware as to what kind of material their children are viewing on the Internet.

Unfortunately in the fallen world, pornography sends clear messages, generally to men, that faithful sexual attention to one woman is not necessary. There are many other women to look at: why only be satisfied with one? The words "you can look but not touch" are very common amongst some men. Those men do not realize that looking at another woman with lust is as much a sin as touching.

Matt 5:27-29 "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.

Adam and Eve’s problems began long before they touched the Forbidden Fruit; their problems started when they first saw the fruit. The fruit was appealing to the eye and they ultimately felt that they had to eat it. Satan didn’t have to work hard to entice them, they were well on their way to eating it before he came along. Similarly, when we involve ourselves with pornography or similar material, Satan doesn’t have to work hard to entice us to commit adultery against our spouse. He provides the means for us to do it. But, as Yahshua said, the adultery had already been committed in our hearts and minds. .

Pornography uses the strong visual senses of men to promote lust and to make them vulnerable and weak. It stimulates the pleasure centre in the brain; after a while, more pornography is needed to produce the same effect. The addictive cycle is started. Then there is an increase in intensity in the addiction so that the individual needs harder material to get the same affect, moving on to the accepting of repulsive behavior (desensitization) and the ultimate acting out of images seen in pornography. Pornographers know that men are wired to be sexually aroused by sight, they take advantage of this physiological reality by parading beautiful women with firm bodies for any man to see. They take something that is real and good (sex in the marriage) and they masquerade it with false realities and negative concepts. The fact that the pornography industry brings in millions of dollars more than regular filmmaking proves that their techniques to make people addicted are working. In less than three decades, pornography has grown from a small-scale operation of $5-10 million annually into a giant industry with yearly sales of $12-13 billion. That's as much as the gross revenue of the three major television networks combined. Some sarcastically jest that pornography is a harmless vice. The truth is that society, women, marriages, and individual users, all suffer devastating consequences.

The problems created by this industry are many and they include:

--Men will develop a distorted view of what a proper sexual relationship should be, they may resent their wives if they don’t look like the women on screen or if they don’t perform the same way. Wives will feel degraded, disrespected and may begin to have low-self esteem. Often times this is made worse by the fact that pornography is often done in secret , if the wife is aware that her husband does it, she may not want to divulge the problem to friends and family because of the stigma that may come with it. (Rom 13:13-14: Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the likeness of Yahshua Mashiach, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

--Men will also develop distorted views of other women and see them as sexual objects, they may also seek out unusual and deviant sexual practices. Men who repeatedly look at pornography lose their ability to give women the respect they deserve. Instead of enjoying the mind and heart of a woman, they focus on her body--undressing her in their thoughts and picturing what it would be like to have a sexual encounter with her. They may mistake a woman's innocent, friendly smile as a flirtatious come-on. In many cases, they find it difficult and uncomfortable to imagine themselves being involved with a woman in any other way than physically. (Isa 59:7 Their feet rush into sin;…Their thoughts are evil thoughts; ruin and destruction mark their ways.)

--Men will develop an addictive behavior and may seek out other forms of pornographic material, including child pornography. (Matt 18:6: But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.)

---Men will develop loss of attention towards family, spouse and children. Contrary to what some believe, sexually explicit material does not enhance sex in a marriage. Real life seldom lives up to what is represented in the fake world of pornography. And when a husband demands that reality imitate his fantasy, sex becomes empty for him and degrading to his wife. In the end, both feel resentful and less interested in sex with each other. Furthermore, pornography doesn't create a desire to be close; it destroys intimacy in a marriage. As men become more addicted to this material, they will spend more time feeding their addiction, this means that they will spend less time with their kids. Missing work, family functions and other social events is not unusual for men that are involved with this filth. (Ps 128:3-4: Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your sons will be like olive shoots around your table. 4 Thus is the man blessed who fears Yahweh. 1 Cor 7:3-5 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife's body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the same way, the husband's body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control).

---If a parent allows pornographic material in the home or if a child is left unattended to surf the Internet, there is a likely hood that he or she will be exposed to pornography. This in turn will develop unhealthy attitudes towards sex and women. Girls will develop behavior that mimics what they see in pornography as they feel that it will please others. (Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in Yahweh’s training and instruction.)

--Men will develop strong feelings of guilt, shame, and low self-esteem; this may ultimately lead them to walk away from the faith (Yahweh). (Matt 25:41: "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

--The effects of pornography on society are tremendous; researchers have shown that regular exposure to pornography can lead to rape and child molestation. In one study, 86 percent of convicted rapists confessed to regular use of pornography, with 57 percent acknowledging that they tried to reenact a pornographic scene during the rape. This study also revealed that 87 percent of molesters of girls and 77 percent of molesters of boys regularly used hard-core pornography. Another study found that over half of the male students exposed to violent pornography, indicated a likelihood of raping a woman if they could get away with it.

Not all men who look at pornography get addicted to it, but research shows that most of them do. The Internet is now the biggest net for men to get hooked; researchers suggest that some people would have never had problems with sexual compulsivity if it were not for the Internet. "The National Council on Sexual Addiction Compulsivity estimated that 6%-8% of Americans are sex addicts, which is 16 million-21.5 million people.

Sadly, most men don't admit the problem until they get caught; they believe that they're in control of the problem. Others feel hopelessly enslaved and they don’t know the way out. If you are a person who struggles with pornography, or if you know anyone battling with this problem, the rest of the article will offer techniques that will help you break the cycle. One must keep in mind that once you have been involved with pornography to the extent that we have mentioned in this article it will be harder for you to walk away. Developing a support group will help, Prov. 28:13 verifies that in confession and renunciation we will find mercy: "he who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy." It is also important to treat this problem as a drug addiction, in other words, expect withdrawals, episodes of setbacks, and expect a life-long struggle. Overtime however, with much prayer and guidance of the Holy Spirit, a person can be set free from Satan’s clutches; one must always keep in mind that Satan will not give up that easily, although we may not have a problem with pornography, we all have our issues that Satan uses against us. In a sense we are all going through similar struggles which is why 1Peter 5:8-9 says the following:

8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

The important thing about the following techniques to keep in mind is that one must always be pro-active and not reactive. There are countless Scriptures that speak about the need for one to be prepared; this is what I mean by being pro-active. Let’s take a look at a good example: 1 Peter 1:13-16

13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Yahshua Mashiach is revealed.

Peter could very well be telling us to train (prepare) our minds for the coming of our Master. It could be that the antichrist will be so convincing that he may lead us away from the true Messiah. That is why now, as we are able, we must prepare our minds (know what to look for) so that when that time comes, we will know how to respond. We do not want to wait until the last minute (reactive) to start preparing ourselves. By then it will undoubtedly be too late.

The obvious part for overcoming the addiction of pornography is that we must , with a humble and sincere heart, seek our Father’s forgiveness in the Name of Yahshua. Unfortunately, some people may be so deep in pornography that they may be thinking that there is no way that Yahweh will forgive them; so they block out the need to ask. Satan influences that line of thinking, as he uses any means necessary, especially guilt, to make an individual think that he is not worthy of forgiveness (he does this with any issue that separates us from Yahweh). Satan does not want us to believe that we can be forgiven through Yahshua. The Scriptures speak otherwise:

Acts 10:43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

Acts 13:38 "Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Yahshua the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

Acts 26:18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Elohim, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me [Yahshua].'

Eph 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of Elohim’s grace

Col 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

(The Prodigal Son mentioned in Luke 15:11-32, gives hope to those brethren that have walked away from Yahweh because of pornography.)

Once we have acknowledged our problems with pornography and have asked for forgiveness, we can move unto using the following techniques to help us deal with this addiction. We must constantly meditate on Yahshua Ha Mashiach and take upon us His frame of mind, always seeking to please and praise our father Yahweh.

(Please keep in mind that these are only suggestions not rule of law. There are other ways that can be used to break this negative cycle; none of them however replace the word of Yahweh)

Stopping: This technique may be the most difficult to do because it involves the breaking of a behavior cycle. Since we are creatures of habit, the hardest things to stop are those behaviors that we have grown accustomed to. Think about what you do when you wake up in the morning or when you come home from work. Chances are that most of the time you go through the same ritualistic behaviors. When dealing with pornography, this involves terminating the use of the Internet or any medium that exposes you to it. This can be quite difficult because we can always justify the use of the Internet for something. The point here however is that if it is out of sight it will be out of mind, and based on the problem that may exist with pornography it may be worth getting rid of the Internet. There is of course software that will help monitor and block negative content from downloading onto your computer (this would be good especially for kids). The problem with that software however is that it may be limited to only blocking the material that the software makers think is negative. It may allow other content that can be just as detrimental as pornography.

The Stopping technique also involves the separation from individuals who influence negative behaviors or that support the use of pornography. There are men who blame their spouse for their involvement in pornography. The Stopping technique includes the stopping of putting blame on others and accepting responsibility for their own behaviors.

The last part of Stopping that we will discuss involves a complete break in thought pattern. This applies to those men that start fantasying about other women. When a man begins to have thoughts about another woman, he must immediately tell himself that he has no right to do that and Yahweh does not approve of such behavior. The thought pattern is immediately stopped and changed to something else. Perhaps a prayer can be said, the key here is to stop that pattern of thinking and to change it to something productive, and edifying to Yahweh.

Strategic Placing: If you are like most people and you view pornography in secret, it may be a deterrent if you move your computer in a room where most people in the house can see what you are viewing. If your spouse does not know that you view pornography and you view it when she is not there or when she is asleep, it would help if you train yourself not to surf the Internet unless she is there. If you have to, force yourself to go to bed at the same time that she does and pray together before bedtime. You will find that bedtime is a great time to communicate with your wife, as the kids are not around to disturb. Strategic placing is great when dealing with kids. A parent that allows his kid to have his own computer with access to the Internet in his or her room is just asking for trouble. Remember that the protecting software is limited to it’s programming. It often keys on words that people would use when dealing with pornography or violence, however, words like bikini or bras are usually not recognized as being bad and so access may be granted. Some of those websites can be just as raunchy as the pornographic sites. There are many words that you wouldn’t think would take you to porn sites, words such as "glasses" or "white house" but they do. The pornographers are sleek and they use any means necessary to get people to their sites. They particularly like the younger audiences because they have a greater chance of creating a customer for life. Nothing however, beats the presence of a parent when the children are surfing the Internet.

Blocking: This technique is very simple; it involves the practice of hindering or preventing yourself from being exposed to pornography or similar material. It involves making good choices when selecting movies or television programs.

Blocking also involves control by association. The best example I can give is the following: On any program in a computer there are three symbols on the top right corner which are the following, a lower dash which means Minimize, two small boxes which mean Restore Down, and one X which means Close. A person who uses the Internet to view pornography is encouraged to think X (close or terminate) when they long to see those images. Just like the window disappears or closes when you click on the X, the idea is that the person will also picture the thought closing, disappearing, or terminating before the mind entertains it. In some ways it is similar to the stopping technique and involves many of it’s facets. Probably the biggest difference however is that in blocking you completely detach yourself from pornography by not allowing your mind to dwell on the images that you viewed. This is done by always keeping your mind on other things and not allowing yourself to think about negative things; this technique is not easy for a person that has been entrenched in pornography. However it is much easier when you develop a higher sense of morals, values and ethics.

Cognitive Restructuring: Although this sounds complicated as this technique is often used in the treatment of Anger Management and it contains similarities to the other techniques mentioned; we can use it in dealing with our problems created by the use of pornography. Simply put cognitive restructuring actually involves a complete change in the way that a person thinks. For example, many men who are involved in pornography will often take a kind gesture from a woman and turn it into a flirtatious event. This line of thinking can lead to many embarrassing moments and is degrading to women. Other irrational thoughts that men may develop are the belief that all women want is to have sex. "It doesn’t hurt to look," is yet another irrational thought that some men have. Cognitive Restructuring involves the changing of all irrational thought patterns and seeing things in a more rational and Biblical manner. Some women are friendly but that doesn’t make them sex addicts. Women want to be respected and recognized as being created in the image of the Most High. That gives them self-worth and the right to be respected. Men do not have the right to have indecent thoughts about women. Cognitive Restructuring is successful when we ask the question what would Yahshua do or say in this situation. We should put on Messiah and overcome evil with His way of thinking.

Eph 4:24 and to put on the new self, created to be like Yahshua in true righteousness and holiness.

It is important to remember that nobody can successfully overcome the trials of this sin, or any sin for that matter, without the urgency of not only wanting to please our Father Yahweh but in also doing the things that pleases Him. Our Father Yahweh will guide us out of sin and not only redeem us but also forgive us. In Matt 19:26 Yahshua said, "With man this is impossible, but with Elohim all things are possible." As long as we put our trust in Yahweh, put on Messiah, and we do what Paul recommends in Col 3:5-6 we will be successful:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

We must remember that behind every image that promotes adultery there is a demonic spirit whose job is to lead us away from the Most High. 1 John 2:17 remind us that the satisfaction that men encounter when looking at pornography is temporal and will fade away. Only those people that overcome and do the will of Yahweh will be granted everlasting life.

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of Elohim lives forever.

We must not forget that as temples of the Holy Spirit, we must remain pure in heart, mind and soul.

1 Cor 6:18-20 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from Elohim? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor Yahshua with your body.