The Addicted Society II

We look around the world, especially those of us who are in our senior years; we are aghast at what is happening and taking place, and yet, in the process of time this country has been brought down to a level of evil that is permeating the whole society and permeating the whole world. It truly fulfills what Rev.12:9 says, that Satan is 'deceiving the whole world.' I want to talk a little bit about what happens to a society and why it is so pervasive.

Proverbs 1:20 "Wisdom cries outside; she utters her voice in the streets."

• What does this mean: wisdom cries out?
• What happens to a society when there is no wisdom?

You can go back and you can read the history of America and how it was founded on Biblical principles, in the main. And yet, the Achilles Heel, which killed the whole thing, was Sunday. You read what they were teaching concerning the rest of the commandments of God. They made people learn them. They taught children to learn them. What happens to a society when that takes place?

God blesses anyone—whether in the letter of the Law or the spirit of the Law—who obeys Him. We will see that God judges nations. Then we will see what happens to other people who go along and get along and allow all of these things to take place.

Proverbs 14:34: "Righteousness exalts a nation…" This is a truism: You take the commandments of God, which are righteousness, and you evaluate any nation or society, the closer they are to the Laws of God and keeping them as the laws of the land:

• the greater the nation is
• the more prosperous the nation is
• the lower the crime rate
• the lower the rate of:
  • infidelity
  • homosexuality
  • thievery
  • disobedience to parents

They are all lower! It is a society what you would call righteous. I'm sure there were times in American history when we came fairly close to that.

Notice the other half, and this is what's important concerning the book of Proverbs. As we'll understand later, the only way to separate good thinking from stinking thinking is to study the Proverbs. The Proverbs tell us right from wrong, good from evil, all the way through.

It says: "…but sin is a reproach to any people" (v 34)—and the margin says to nations.

So, when a nation comes to a point that it goes against God, goes against the Truth of God, then they're going to find themselves in grave and terrible trouble.

Let's see what happens, because we are going to understand that this wickedness comes from the very leaders who are supposed to keep the nation righteous.

Psalm 7:9: "O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous…" There is a division! Even in the midst of all the things that are going on, God still can separate His people.

 "…for the righteous God tries the hearts and reins" (v 9). That's important that we understand that every human being is being judged by God by their behavior! That's how He does it.

Verse 11: "God is a righteous judge, and a God Who has indignation every day."

Here's what's happened: When those who don't believe in God control education, government and law, then you have what we have in America today. There was quite a good documentary on Fox News—Church and State—and it showed how that this nation went down the tubes, when the Supreme Court began getting rid of God!

Satan has a plan. When they had the Scopes trial to get rid of teaching of God and about creation in the classroom, now they can't get rid of it. Parents cannot even have a four-paragraph, intelligent design read to the students on the first day of biology class—only once—because the ones who have done this are those who cannot allow God in their thoughts.

A recent poll says up to 94% of people believe in God. How is that 6% can cause such distress? Well, the truth is, the way they believe in God is far different from the way that God says they ought to believe in Him!

Always remember that James says, 'You believe there's one God, you do well—the demons do and tremble!' How do you believe in God? It's one thing to believe in God, it's another thing to believeGod. That's the difference! In that special that they ran—Church and State—it comes down where we are now, that the atheists are really controlling everything that is done. One of the most fatal judgments made was by Sandra Day O'Connor in the opinion that she wrote that said: 'in the expression of religion, if it offends someone it should not be allowed.' That's where we are on all the flap that's going on. There is a real spiritual warfare going on!

Psalm 14:1: "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God!'…." What do they do? They get attractive, good-looking spokeswomen and men and say, 'I don't believe in God and I'm normal'!

So, people being tolerant say, 'Why should I be critical?' The reason they make that judgment is because they can't discern the difference between Truth and error and they cannot be willing to bring a judgment against someone attractive, to bring a negative or condemning judgment against them. Satan knows that!

But God says: "…They are corrupt; they have done abominable works; there is none who does good…. [God is seeing all of this going on] …The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God" (vs 1-2).

Jesus made a statement that 'When the Son of man comes will He find faith on the earth?' I don't think that was in reference to the world! That has got to be in reference to the Church! What we are seeing more and more is that people want to bring the world into the Church. That's what they've done with Protestantism, and Protestantism is going down the tubes fast, and they want to compromise with the world. They want to get as close to the world as they can and still be accepted of God! Now, if that isn't pure Laodicean thinking, I don't know what is.

Verse 3: "They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not even one. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, those who devour My people as men eat bread and do not call upon the LORD?" (vs 3-4). That's what they're doing.

Psalm 9:16: "The LORD has made Himself known. He has executed judgment; the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Selah. The wicked shall be turned into the grave, and all the nations that forget God" (vs 16-17). That's what's happening! This nation is forgetting God!

• Why is that?
• How does it come to this?
• Where are we headed with it?

Let's understand what the warfare is, and how this comes about. We're going to see how it's taking place today right in front of eyes. We need to see this and realize how much we have to do this every day.

Ephesians 6:10: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of His strength…. [that's the only sanity; that's the only way out] …Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…. [he is clever, slick and promotional] …because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual power of wickednessin high places" (vs 10-12).

What does that mean? We've already seen how it is with the Supreme Court! We've already seen how it is with religion!

Let's look at something here that's important for us to understand and important for us to realize what is taking place. As we know about Babylon the Great, remember, there is an economic aspect—business and economy—with Babylon the Great. There is religion! There is government!

from: The Marketing of Evil: A Quiet American Revolution by David Kupelian

Common sense provides ample proof to a rational person that the First Amendment's religion clauses couldn't possibly mean what the ACLU and many of today's judges say they mean, since there is simply no evidence of it in history….

Anti-Christian Liberation Union!

We are deluding ourselves into believing there is some neutral ground between good and evil…

This is why the book of Proverbs is so important to get straightened out in an addictive society. You have to have right and wrong; good and evil; Truth and error.

…and that this is where the government is supposed to be. But such a neutral ground, if such can even be said to exist, is in itself evil.

Chapter three: The Killer Culture—Who's Selling Sex and Rebellion to Your Children

Here's the aspect of it that has the 'stage has been set' by the elimination of God and by the problems that we have in education, and it's coming right into the churches.

Merchants of Cool: "They want to be cool. They are impressionable, and they have the cash…. [and very little, if any, parental supervision] …They are corporate America's $150-billion dream." That's the opening statement in PBS's stunning 2001 Frontline documentary: The Merchants of Cool,' narrated by author and media critic Douglas Rushkoff. What emerges in the following sixty minutes is a scandalous portrait of how major corporations—Ciacom, Disney, AOL/Time Warner, and others—study America's children like laboratory rats in order to sell them billions of dollars in merchandise by tempting, degrading and corrupting them. Think that's a bit of an overstatement? It's an understatement.

And you can see what has happened! Here's what the problem is:

"When you've got a few gigantic transnational corporations, each one loaded down with debt, competing madly for as much shelf space and brain space as they can take," says NYU communications Professor Mark Crispin-Miller, "they're going to do whatever they think works the fastest and with the most people, which means that they will drag standards down."

This is what has happened.

"It's a blizzard of brands, all competing for the same kids," explains Rushkoff. "To win teens' loyalty, marketers believe, they have to speak their language the best. So they study them carefully, as an anthropologist would an exotic native culture. Today," Rushkoff discloses, "five enormous companies are responsible for selling nearly all of youth culture. These are the true merchants of cool: Rupert Murdoch's Newscorp…

Though He owns Fox News—which you do and most people think is fair and balanced and good news—he also has a stake in MTV.

…Disney, Viacom, Universal Vivendi, and AOL/Time Warner." The documentary demonstrates how big corporations literally send spies to infiltrate young people's social settings to gather intelligence on what they can induce these children to buy next.

As I read this next part, I want you to understand that today, the most dangerous thing you can allow your children to do is watch MTV and the major sitcoms on the major television networks: NBC, ABC, CBS, UPS and so forth.

Another thing: These entertainment corporations control all the music that is put out. Music is the most devastating and the most controlling factor that captures the mind of children. They are designed to make them rebellious, turn them away from the their parents, cause them to not believe in God, get them involved in sex and promiscuity and drugs as a normal behavior!

"The entertainment companies, which are a handful of massive conglomerates that own four of the five music companies that sell 90 percent of the music in the United States…

Wonder why you can't get any good music anymore? That's why!

…those same companies also own all the film studios, all the major TV networks, all the TV stations pretty much in the 10 largest markets," University of Illinois communications professor Robert McChesney reveals in the documentary. "They own all or part of every single commercial cable channel."

To show you how they make their money: They tie MTV together—they bunch it—with four channels on the cable. They have it like with Discovery or History, and they bunch it together with those, and in order to get the ones you want you have to buy MTV. They say, 'We can block it.' Okay, then block it. But what happens? Even though it's blocked, when I pay my cable television bill, a certain portion goes to MTV. Here's what they do:

"They look at the teen market as part of this massive empire that they're colonizing…."

MTV: What about the cable channel that positions itself as champion of today's teens and preteens—champions of their music, their rebellious free spirit, and their genuine, if ever-changing, notions of what is "cool"? Whatever else MTV might be, at least it's interested in kids, right? Sure, just like the lion is interested in the gazelle.

"Everything on MTV is a commercial," explains McChesney. "That's all that MTV is. Sometimes it's an explicit advertisement paid for by a company to sell a product. Sometimes it's going to be a video for a music company there to sell music. Sometimes it's going to be the set that's filled with trendy clothes and stuff there to sell a look that will include products on that set. Sometimes it will be a show about an upcoming movie paid for by the studio, though you don't know it, to hype a move that's coming out from Hollywood. But everything's an infomercial. There is no non-commercial part of MTV."

That's what they're doing to the kids!

This is how they make the addicted society. Just like a drug-pusher, they are, standing on a corner giving out free drugs and then come back and we'll give you some very cheaply. Also, the law is on the side of the kids, that parents can't keep control of what goes on in kid's room. They lock themselves in there and they have their porn, their drugs, their MTV, their cell phones, all of this sort of thing.

As I said before, the generation that is now is the generation of Matt. 24 and it is building itself for a slaughter! You can understand why God is going to absolutely wipe the face of the earth and why there are going to be dead bodies strewn from one end of the horizon to the other end of the horizon, because of what this generation is doing right now. We'll see how that happened before. For example: He talks about the midriff, about teens running around showing their midriff. Where did it first start? How did such a thing happen? It started on MTV! Women are involved in it, as well as teens, because it's the cool thing to do.

Let me read you about this one music group that is captivating; they keep changing so they can captivate them. Isn't it interesting: captivating! Whatever you are captivated by, you are addicted! If you are captivated by something it occupies your mind. Whatever occupies your mind is what you are! Here's a new group out called Insane Clown Posse—that's a music group.

A member explains: "Everybody that likes our music feels a super connection…. You feel like you're the only one that knows about it."

"These are the extremes," intones Rushkoff, "to which teens are willing to go to ensure the authenticity of their own scene. It's the front line of the teen cultural resistance: Become so crude, so intolerable, and break so many rules that you become indigestible."

Amazing! No limits! That's where it's coming to. Everything! No limits on anything!

Remember, they kicked Howard Stern off one of the radio stations, fined them a great fine. So, what did they do? Now they're going to have satellite radio on Sirius—which is the name of the channel—and he can say anything, do anything.

Even Bill O'Rielly interviewed him on Fox News, and he virtually told Bill O'Rielly, 'I'm going to be gross, evil, and as pornographic as I can.' He said at 'five-years-old he had a dream that he would do this.' Whose agent gave the dream? Now we're into no limits! Look at the way they dress. Look at the way they do.

Guess what? Those Hollywood depictions [of Sodom and Gomorrah] don't even begin to capture the shocking reality of what is going on in America's culture today—they're not even close.

First of all, there's sex. Very simply, there seem to be neither boundaries nor taboos anymore when it comes to sex. Anything goes—from heterosexual to homosexual to bi-, trans-, poly-, and you-don't-want-to-know sexual experiences.

It gets into bestiality and things like this on an open basis and they cannot even convict people in the law of the land for bestiality anymore.

Sex has become a ubiquitous, cheap, meaningless quest for ever-greater thrills…. Moreover, with the evolution f online pornography, every type of sexual experience has literally been shoved under the noses of millions of Americans against their will.

I will have to say: with their will!

Then it talks about body-piercing. It talks about other things. Then they get to the extremes, those who are going out were called 'bug chasers,' and what do they do? Those are young men seeking out other men who have HIV and AIDS to have sexual relations with them so they can receive the disease!

Let's see who's to blame in this. Everyone is to blame! Then we will see what happens when everyone is to blame. One place in the Jeremiah. God said, 'there is no Truth!' So, when we get to the point that there is no longer any Truth—and we are getting closer and closer to it—you understand why there are such abominable translations of the Bible out there:

• to mock God
• to mock the Word of God
• to get rid of the Word of God

In America it all started when they did not keep the Sabbath with the rest of the Ten Commandments. That left the door open! Now, that may sound a little extreme, but that is true, because you may know about God; you may have principles concerning the Word of God, which you live by; but you do not know God and you are not sanctified by God unless you keep His Sabbaths—He says so!(Exo. 31)

So, here's what happens, and this is going to happen to us, Isaiah 3:1: "For behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water."

As we're reading this, let's understand that it did happen; let's understand that these are part of the punishments that God brings, because of sin.

Notice who it affects, v 2: "The man of might and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable man and the adviser, and the cunning charmer and the skillful enchanter. 'And I will give young lads to be their princes, and capricious children shall rule over them. And the people shall be crushed, every man by another, and every man by his neighbor; the young shall rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable'" (vs 1-5). And we're going to see:

• they are corrupt
• they are degenerate
• they are satanic

That's what's happening!

Verse 5: "And I will give young lads to be their princes, and capricious children shall rule over them. And the people shall be crushed, every man by another, and every man by his neighbor…" (vs 4-5).

You don't know who your neighbor is; you don't know what the kids are like; you try and be nice with them.

Like happened in one case. It was a 14-year-old boy and an 8-year-old girl. She came over to his house and they became friends and then she went into the boy's bedroom, and lo and behold, he had his own computer with a big sign to the parents: Keep Out! Of course, the court will uphold that as 'private property' for the children against the parents. He was involved in porn and all kinds of stuff. He got involved with the 8-year-old girl, killed her, didn't know what to do with her; stuffed her body between the mattress and the box-springs and wasn't discovered until the body started stinking and they had to find out what was going on. You can't even trust your neighbor; like it says here: oppressed!

"…the young shall rise up against the old…" (v 5).

Just recently a bus driver, because of the yakking of one child, put some tape over the mouth of the child to keep it quiet, and he was reprimanded and moved to a different job.

"…and the base against the honorable" (v 5).

Verse 9: "The look of their faces witnesses against them; and they declare their sin like Sodom. They do not hide it! Woe to their soul! For they have rewarded evil to themselves." That's exactly what it is in this society!

Now, here's one little verse to give you hope about your life, v 10: "Say to the righteous that it shall be well with him; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings." That is of righteousness and obedience toward God!

Verse 11: "Woe to the wicked! For the evil doing of his hand will be given to him." We're going to see whatever you are addicted to, you're going to receive!

Verse 12: "As for My people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them…."

Every writer, just as this writer of The Marketing of Evil, shows that the degradation of the family began when women demanded equal rights:

• equal political rights
• equal working rights
• equal sexual rights
• we want all of men's rights, as well as, all women's rights,

And men have none! That's where we are!

"…Oh, My people, those who lead you cause you to err and destroy the way of your paths" (v 12).

It's been planned, calculated, inspired by Satan the devil and his Babylon corporations of the world.

• it is intended to get us addicted
• it is intended to tear us down
• it is intended to make the nation immoral and corrupt and debased

And according to the doctrine of Balaam to sell them to sin so that God must judge them, and it is going to happen! Without a doubt!

Verse 13: "The LORD stands up to plead His case, and stands up to judge the people. The LORD will enter into judgment with the elders of His people, and their kings: 'For you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean? You crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?' says the Lord, GOD of hosts" (vs 13-15).

Then it talks about what the daughters of Zion do and what they have done. And it's going to come just exactly as He says here:

Verse 16: "And the LORD says, 'Because the daughters of Zion are proud…'"

All you have to do when you go through the checkout stand look at the 'haughty' faces of all women on these magazines, designed to keep all women brainwashed into the foolishness of the feminist movement and promotion of homosexuality and lesbianism and the fashions design.

"…and have walked with stretched out necks and ogling with their eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet… [having ornaments and things like this] …therefore, the LORD will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the LORD will uncover their secret parts" (vs 16-17)—and making them naked in public, and we go full circle to Sodom and Gomorrah!

Now, what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, Lot should have moved! Look at how disjointed and dysfunctional his family was. When it came time to go, he told his sons, and they didn't want to go. They probably said, 'Well, this is cool. We understand this. We're not affected by it; we can keep it away from us. We'll be fine.'

What happened? They died with it! They died with the destruction! Even Lot's wife didn't believe. She had to turn around and look when she was told: 'Don't turn around and look.' She turn to a pillar of salt! Josephus says that the tourists come and 'view that pillar of salt to this day.'

Let's see how God does this. Then, Lot's daughter's felt free to molest their own dad, so we have Moab and Ammon.

Jeremiah 18:7: "If at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck it up and to pull it down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have spoken, will turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. And if at any time I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build it and to plant it; if it does evil in My sight, that it not obey My voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would do them good" (vs 7-10). That's exactly what has happened here in America over the last 200 years!

Verse 11: "Now, therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the people of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am forming evil against you, and devising a plan against you. Return now, each one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good."'"

That's their responsibility. For any addict to say, 'Oh, I'm helpless and can't stop it,' you're kidding yourself. You don't want to change. All the misery you go through hasn't convinced you you ought to change. It is your responsibility to change.

Verse 12: "And they said, 'There is no hope; but we will walk after our own ways, and we will each one do according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.'"

We're just about there again—aren't we? Yes, indeed! God is going to judge, not only in individual lives. What happens when people get to this point? You are under two authorities:

• the authority of God
• the authority of Satan

If you put yourself under the authority of God, there's going to be wisdom, a spirit of wisdom!

So, we're talking about the spirit that is permeated in a society because of righteousness or because of sin. The more sin, and the more that people give themselves over to Satan, the more demons that are allowed to come to control. You have the spirit of whoredoms; the spirit of addiction!

Rather than the spirit, which comes from righteousness. God's Spirit is not devoid in the world. Where there is a group of people that do righteousness, and do what God wants, they have a spirit of doing right. When you have the permeating of evil, more and more evil comes, and more and more demons are let loose to control!

• When was the first Parliament of Religions of the World? 1893!
• When was the challenge concerning Sabbath and Sunday between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestants? 1893!

Re-read Rome's Challenge to the Protestants! And like I said, keeping Sunday was the key to opening the door to evil!

When they had this great witness in 1893 and they rejected it, when did we start coming apart as a nation? Right about that time—step-by-step!

(go to the next track)

Addiction: Let's talk about how much it costs in America—all kinds of addiction! It's one of the most costly public health problem in the United States. It's very simple to solve: quit promoting it! Singapore has a policy: If you are caught with drugs, you're executed—that's it! No appeal! No nothing! If you're selling them, you're dead! That would end it, but people don't want to do it. One way or the other, if you're addicted to it, are you not the walking dead. So, what is the difference if you are executed for doing it.

You might give those who are addicts a chance to quit, but what it says from a copulation of various websites:

Addiction Statistics—It is a progressive syndrome, which means it increases in severity over time unless it's treated.

Do we have more drugs than ever before? Yes, indeed!

Substance abuse is characterized by frequent relapse or return to the abused substance. Substance abusers often make repeated attempts to quit before they are successful.

Which is true! They go to rehab centers sometimes two, three, four, five times before they finally get it turned around.

In 1995 the economic cost of substance abuse in the United States exceeded $414-billion. Healthcare costs attributed to it: $114-billion.

So, you are dealing with over a half-trillion dollars a year! Then they list all different addictions and the solution for them:

• sexual addiction
• gambling addiction
• drug addiction
• alcohol addiction
• eating addiction
• tobacco addiction (causes more sickness and disease than anything else)

If you are an addict, you've got to quit being an addict instead of substituting one thing for your addiction.

Alcoholics: When they go to AA they have candy. And candy is only a substitute for the alcohol, because what you're getting, you're getting the carbohydrates from the sugar which alcohol is.

Smoking: Instead of taking cocaine or something like that, now you smoke. Instead of taking 'meth,' now you smoke. And 'meth' is the most destructive of all; it stays in your system, it stays in your liver and kicks out every once in a while when you are recovering and makes you angst and angry and all of those sorts of things.

What we need to do is realize how pervasive addiction is. All of these addictions change the chemistry of your brain! One person overcame alcohol addiction by becoming and ice cream addict, and ate it by the gallons.

Eating addiction: I want to cover two things on eating addictions. Eating addictions come from:

• eating the wrong things—you don't know what is nutritious and what is not
• you're so concerned about your appearance—either too fat or too thin

Anorexia and bulimia and bingeing and all of those affects 5-millon American men and women. Fifteen percent of young women have substantially disordered attitudes toward eating and eating behaviors.

Diet soda addiction: You can always tell if someone is addicted to a soda. Sodas are as bad a alcohol! You can tell because they carry a bottle of soda with them and they take the top off and they take a little swig and nip on it and they put the top back on and they walk along and carry the bottle.

One thing about diet sodas: Aspartame is the major sweetener that is used—and some of these other substitute sweeteners are just as bad—is a protein. When it gets into the system, it causes a carbohydrate craving, because your body is imbalanced without enough carbohydrates.

People believe that if they eat carbohydrates—those that are low in fat—they don't gain weight. But it causes them to gain even more weight. Those who are addicted to the diet sodas generally become obese over a period of time because of that. They get into the habit and pattern of drinking more diet sodas so they won't gain weight.

Fat-free foods is one of the worst things you can have, and also you need to realize that your body needs a certain amount of the right kinds of fat. Your brain is made up mostly of fat and cholesterol anyway.

There are many, many different addictions!

Prescription pain killer addictions

Pornography:

Let's understand something that's important. There are two things that Satan wants to capture that you have and that you alone are responsible for:

• your mind
• your sex organs

If he can capture you on those two things, he's got you! This is why 'guard the door of your mind,' because 'as a man thinks in his heart so he is.' Let me just read some of the things that I have marked on the important problems in pornography, because we are under the spirit of whoredoms. We are under the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Internet pornography: 2.5-billion e-mails per day are pornographic. Thirty-four percent of church-going women say they have intentionally visited porn websites online. Eighty-one pastors surveyed—74 men, 7 women—98% were exposed to porn; 43% intentionally accessed a sexually explicit website.

MSNBC ran a trap—a chat-room with kids—where they made out as if they were a little kid looking for something online, and they had come to a home. They had a Catholic priest; a banker, a rabbi and all walks of life come in there and they wanted to see how far this guy would go.

So, he said, 'Oh yes, by the way, come into the garage, it will be open, and undress and then come into the house.' Sure enough he did! Then the next day, he said, 'I need help' and all this sort of thing. The next day they trapped him again, and said, 'Meet me down at McDonald's.' So he came down to McDonald's hoping to get a pedophilia relationship with a kid. They all said, 'This is the first time I've ever done it.' What's that old saying: 'Liar, liar, pants on fire!'

In 2004 there were 272-million pornographic web-pages; 2.5-billion e-mails—which is 8% of all e-mails; 100-thousand websites offering illegal child pornography; and 72-million worldwide visitors to pornographic websites.

They even have websites setup for kids to order little innocent things and then download pornography right in front of them. You have to be careful of that.

One in five kids have been propositioned for cyber-net sex. Pornography and cable television and videos: There are 800-million rentals each year of adult videos and DVDs. Cable companies brought in revenue of $177-million from sexually explicit pay-per-view programming. Americans spend $10-billion annually on pornography. Thirty-eight percent of adults believe it's morally acceptable to look at pictures of nudity or explicit sexual behavior.

They say there's nothing wrong with pornography! Here's a section on teens and sex and sexually transmitted diseases.

Prov. 5 needs to be taught to every child beginning at five-years-old: guard your mind and guard your pants!

Proverbs 5:1: "My son, attend to my wisdom; bow your ear to my understanding; that you may keep discretion, and that your lips may keep knowledge…. [you've got to be taught] …For the lips of a wanton woman… [or man, girl or boy] ...drip as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil" (vs 1-3).

Sounds good—freedom! 'Oh, you can take a pill and not get pregnant. Oh, if you're pregnant you don't even have to tell your folks and you can have the school take you over there on school day and get an abortion.' Isn't that wonderful! You've just destroyed your life, because once you give up your mind and give up your sex organs to promiscuity, you're life is never the same. I can tell you this right now, that most of the marital problems that people are having today—not in the Church and in the Church—because of these kinds of sexual behaviors when they were younger. It still effects them to this day! Impress upon your children you are dealing with the 'issues of life' (Prov. 4:23).

• your life
• your health
• your ability to think, to reason, to live, to work

Verse 4: "But her end is as bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on the grave. She does not ponder the path of life; her ways are unstable... [going to change the tactics, but the end result is the same] …you cannot know them" (vs 4-6).

If you allow your children, or your teenagers to watch MTV, get involved in all of these video games—and you do not know what they are doing or where they are going—they are so sexually active today, it's almost impossible to trust them, to leave alone anywhere! They demand their privacy. Not so they can study the Word of God, not so they can pray to God, but so that they can play together—male and female; male to male; female to female—and have promiscuous sex and everything is all right. You get home from work and you don't know what's going on. Today, in this corrupt Sodom and Gomorrah society, parents even encourage their children to have sex at home.

Here's the advice—we're going see this again and again: The only way to not get caught up into it is to avoid it—period!

Verse 7: "Now, therefore, hear me, O you children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your ways far from her…" (vs 7-8).

Whatever the temptation is sexually, get away from it! You have no control if you stand there and are enticed in it.

"…and do not come near the door of her house, lest you give your honor unto others and your years unto the cruel; lest strangers be filled with your wealth, and your labors be in the house of a stranger; and you moan when your end comes, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say, 'How I hated instruction, and my heart despised correction; and I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ears to those who taught me! I was almost in utter ruin in the midst of the congregation and assembly'" (vs 8-14).

This is why the Proverbs are so important. We're going to see there is no way that you can overcome any addiction of any kind that we have mentioned here if you give yourself one little degree of fudge-factor! What do I mean by that? 'Well, a little bit won't hurt' or 'I can get close to it, but it's not going to bother me!' You cannot do that! You must get rid of it totally. You either have to put yourself under the authority of God, or you're under the authority of Satan. There is no middle ground because Satan owns the middle ground.

Proverbs 6:23: "For the commandment is a lamp… [this is why they wanted to get God out of the schools] …and the Law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life."

You can no longer discipline or correct children; that's 'cruel and unusual punishment.' Here's what it's to do:

• it is to arm you
• it is to give you mental strength
• it is to give you ability to say 'no' when you ought to say 'no'

Verse 24: "To keep you from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of a strange woman. Do not lust after her beauty in your heart…" (vs 24-25).

That's the whole heart an core of pornography! Where would there be pornography if there were not women willing to do that? Just like when I went to the checkout stand. There are thirty magazines with the faces of women in various degrees of whoredom and slutism, and one muscle magazine for men.

"…nor let her seduce you with her eyelids" (v 25). Flashing! Where do you see the first of that? On Disney cartoons! Yes, indeed!

Verse 26: "For by means of a harlot a man is vanquished to a piece of bread; and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?" (vs 25-27).

Look how many female teachers are seducing their male students, and men the girls. Then to avoid prosecution, in a news story, they ran off to Georgia—a 15-year-old boy and a 34-year-old woman—and got married, because it's legal to do so. The way it's going today, what's the greatest percentage of ministers and priests that are involved in it? Well, the Catholic Church is notorious for what it's done!

Verse 28: "Can one walk upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So is he who goes in to his neighbor's wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent" (vs 28-29).

Then it talks about those who steal compared to those who commit adultery:

Verse 32: "But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does it destroys his own soul. He shall get a wound and dishonor; and his shame shall not be wiped away" (vs 32-33).

How many churches has this kind of behavior destroyed? They claim to be 'Christian'; and we've seen it also in the Church of God!

Let's talk about the 'dagger that goes through you.' Let's talk about the 'two-edged sword' that gets them. Satan is interested in you from as young as he can get you.

Teens and sex, sexually transmitted diseases: Approximately 19-million new cases of STD occurred in 2000. Sixty-eight percent of teens are unconcerned about sexually transmitted diseases. Seventy-eight percent of new cases of genital herpes are caused by a virus found chiefly in the mouths of 16-21-year-olds.

You tie that in with all the oral sex that's going on.

Sixty-five percent of all sexually transmitted infections contracted by Americans in a single year will occur in people under age 24. Every day 8,000 teenagers become infected by a sexually transmitted disease. A young mother today has had an average of 2.3 sexually transmitted diseases. Teens from communities of color are disproportionately affected by STDs because they are more sexually active. The only black leader willing to admit that is Bill Cosby….

He was caught with an illegitimate child!

…Young African-American women experience at least 14-times more the reported gonorrhea rates and about six times the chlamydia rate of young white women. Chlamydia rates among African-American men ages 15-24 are 12-times higher than rates among white males.

That is not discrimination. That is a statistical fact based on their behavior. Where is the worst AIDS and HIV? In Africa! The next: Southeast Asia!

STD and HIV: In 2002 it was estimated that 3.2-million teens under the age of 15 were living with HIV. Although African-Americans comprise only 13% of the US population, it accounts for over 50% of new HIV diagnosis reported in 2002, and 49% of AIDS diagnosis in 2003.

I have one solution, and this is not too radical, and it's not racist. Quit fooling around! If you don't get involved in illicit sex you're not going to get sexual diseases—period! It's that simple! We'll talk about what God talks about next on solving the problem.

Pres. Bush wanted to sponsor and have more money for abstinence programs. And guess what? Abstinenceprograms work! Guess what? Those who sexually abstain do not get sexually transmitted diseases. Wonder of wonders!

Teenage Sex: 42% of guys and 33% of women ages 15-17 have had intercourse. In grades 7-12, 23.4% of first sexual relationships are one-night stands.

They go out to the dance or go to the football game, or go to the basketball game. 'Oh, mom and dad, you're such a prude; why can't I be with my friends?' Then there are the 'overnighters.'

33% of guys and 23% of girls feel some or a lot of pressure to have sex.

Why? Because they go to sex-education classes! Guess what's on their minds when their walking home from school? Just when their bodies are beginning to mature and the sex hormones are pouring through their systems, and their parents are not home to watch them because the satanic system has it that they have to work in order to live. So, their lives become all messed up: mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically—every other use.

Let's talk about what's going on here with a lot of teens—77% of teens; I want you think about that!

77% of teens would classify oral sex as sex, while 43% say oral sex is not seen as being a big deal as much as sexual intercourse.

Where did they get that? It's a big enough problem without having the President of the United States [Bill Clinton] saying that having oral sex is not sex. Now there is a plague of gonorrhea of the throat among teenagers.

55% of teens 13-19 admitted to engaging in oral sex.

This is a summary of hundreds and hundreds of magazines, and we are literally possessed with the spirit of addiction and whoredoms. It's not going to get any better unless there is a great deal of repentance coming down the pike.

Delores made a comment just yesterday: 'What if we could resurrect George Washington, Thomas Jefferson—all the signers of the Constitution—and say: 'Look at America.' They would say it is fit for destruction! This is not what we intended.'

Let's how this has happened through history over and over again. We're living in a time very similar to what Jeremiah lived in, only on a greatly magnified basis worldwide.

Jeremiah 5:7: "'How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me, and have sworn by them that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full… [which we are] …then they committed adultery, and gathered themselves by troops in a harlot's house…. [any bar on Friday night, that's what it is] …They were like lusty, well-fed stallions in the morning; every one neighing after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish for these things?' says the LORD. 'And shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this?'" (vs 7-9).

It got so bad that Jeremiah had a very tough ministry. He had to stand alone, and he had to withstand everyone's hatred toward him. In standing alone, here's how he felt:

Jeremiah 9:1: "Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for traveling men, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. 'And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies. But they are not valiant for the Truth on the earth…'" (vs 1-3). You tell them the Truth and they get angry and mad!

"…for they go from evil to evil…" (v 3). This means, as it has been coined in today's terminology, the making of deviancy downward; taking away all laws for those kinds of behaviors and making the perverted the norm.

"'…and they do not know Me,' says the LORD. 'Everyone beware of his neighbor, and do not trust any brother! For every brother will supplant his neighbor, and will walk with slanders. And everyone will deceive his neighbor and will not speak the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and they weary themselves to commit iniquity. Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me,' says the LORD" (vs 3-6).

Here's the heart and core of the whole thing, v 13: "And the LORD says, 'Because they have forsaken My Law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, and have not walked in it, but they have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after the Baalim, which their fathers taught them.' Therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, 'Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and make them drink poisonous water. I will also scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them until I have consumed them'" (vs 13-16).

That gives us an obligation what we have to do, and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing here. We'll finish where we began, that 94% of the people say they believe in God. This is depicted in Isa. 58.

Recently, the History Channel showed that in the Civil War they had hordes of prostitutes following the army and they actually had more deaths because of venereal disease because of that—syphilis and gonorrhea—than they did of the men who were killed. They had over 300,000 die from venereal diseases.

Isaiah 58:1: "Cry aloud, do not spare, lift up your voice like a ram's horn…"—not to be mealy-mouthed, not to compromise!

We need to ask ourselves: If anyone is offended by what I've said in these sermons, then you'll just have to be offended, because you're offended at the Word of the Truth of God, and the truth of the facts that are going on in the society around you. We have a responsibility not only to the Church but also to the people at large.

"…and show My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins" (v 1).

So, if 94% of the people believe in God, but we have this kind of behavior, what are we dealing with?

Verse 2: "Yet, they seek Me daily, and seem eager to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and one that did not forget the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they seem eager to draw near to God." But they take no delight in doing what God wants them to do!

You read all the way through this—the 58th chapter—and what do you do? You come down here to v 13, and it comes right back where I started! What did I say is the chink in the teachings of 'Christian' America: Sunday-keeping. What does God say?

Verse 13: "If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath, from doing your own desires on My Holy day…" It starts at sundown!

• How many crimes are committed on Friday night through Sabbath morning?
• How many adulteries?
• How many drunkennesses?
• How many addictions?
• How many sales of cocaine and illicit drugs take place on Friday night?

Then they desecrate it with sports activities in the daytime, all day on the Sabbath. They don't know God! So, God says the solution is to start with the Sabbath!

"…and call the Sabbath a delight, the Holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor pursuing your own desires, nor speaking your own words" (vs 13). It has to begin with the Sabbath!

We're going to see some things in part three of this series on how you stop becoming an addict. You've got to do it, and you've got to do it no uncertain terms, regardless of what the addiction is.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible in Its Original Order, A Faithful Version

Scriptural References:

• Proverbs 1:20
• Proverbs 14:34
• Psalm 7:9, 11
• Psalm 14:1-4
• Psalm 9:16-17
• Ephesians 6:10-12
• Isaiah 3:1-5, 9-17
• Jeremiah 18:7-12
• Proverbs 5:1-14
• Proverbs 6:23-29, 32-33
• Jeremiah 5:7-9
• Jeremiah 9:1-6, 13-16
• Isaiah 58:1-2, 13

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Revelation 12:9
• Matthew 24
• Exodus 31
• Proverbs 4:23

Also referenced:

Books:

• Marketing of Evil by David Kupelian
• Josephus

Booklet: Rome's Challenge to the Protestants (truthofgod.org)

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 12-20-09
Reformatted/Corrected: 6/2020