Excerpt from Christianity Today Article (see full article here)

When people watch pornography, we found, the images become burned into their minds, just as you would burn pictures onto a CD. The younger they are when they see pornography and the longer they are exposed to it, the more imbedded it becomes. Eventually, even when an addict is not looking at pornography, the images continue replaying in his or her mind.

We have also learned, though, that God blessed us beyond measure by Brandon's coming to us when he did. Statistics show that, although the average boy sees pornography by age 11, the average pornography addict does not seek help until age 35! I shudder to think how long it would have been before Brandon sought help if he had not heard Bill Berry's testimony.

Even so, it has been a difficult road. Despite counseling, support-group meetings, and many other recovery techniques, Brandon's sexual addiction is a one-day-at-a-time battle. As with alcoholics, it seems he will always have to consider himself a recovering addict.

Brandon has learned about sin firsthand, and it has brought him a lot of pain. Out of that pain, though, has come a new direction for his life. After his freshman year, Brandon changed his major from veterinary medicine to psychology. He is now in graduate school, studying the treatment of sexual addictions.
If Brandon goes into counseling, as he believes is God's leading, his experiences will help him reach others with the message of God's love. First, though, Brandon had to forgive the one person he found hardest to forgive: himself.

The Response (Written to Christianity Today)

After reading articles like this one I have to ask the questions. Sure I know that endorphins are released and images are burned into their minds etc and I know a lot about addictions and the counseling and psychological approach to them. I am not a counselor but I have read most of the books out there on sexual addictions from Carnes (who is not a believer) and many Christian psychologists’ books. The question needs to be asked … is this all there is? Is the Christian’s only hope lay in modern psychology and counseling? Do we only fight with counseling practices and addiction models based on psychology?

Do you, the editors of Christianity Today, believe that this quote, “Despite counseling, support-group meetings, and many other recovery techniques, Brandon's sexual addiction is a one-day-at-a-time battle. As with alcoholics, it seems he will always have to consider himself a recovering addict. Is that our only hope? That this is the freedom that Jesus talks about? If Christians are addicted to pornography and they can only be as free as this article says then what advantage is there to being a Christian? Is it true that we have no more freedom that the rest of the world and we have no more power in Christ than the constraints of the chemicals in the body as this article seems to suggest?

Rev. Ed Silvoso defines a spiritual stronghold like this, “A spiritual stronghold is a mindset impregnated with hopelessness that causes us to accept as unchangeable, situations that we know are contrary to the will of God." Then I would suggest that people who believe that what you printed in this article, that this is our answer to pornography addiction, have a spiritual stronghold in their mind. If Christians think that the freedom that Jesus offers is not more powerful than the chemicals and emotions that go through a young man’s body and mind when he looks at porn, then they believe a lie. When Paul writes to the Christians in Galatia that “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Is he saying “except for porn and lustful thoughts because of those chemicals? Don’t you think that it is contrary to God’s will to have any of his boys not set free from the addictiveness of porn? Absolutely it is not His will, and he says in many places in the scriptures that we are free in Christ … period.

So why is it presented as so hopeless in this article that you printed? Why are so many young men in this situation and it seems hopeless to them and their well meaning Christian parents? I think it is because we, as a Christian church, have not learned to fight spiritually and we have this collective stronghold in our minds that Jesus cannot actually set us free from all this lust. When Paul writes to the Corinthians and says, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments, and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. He is talking about porn and lustful thoughts also. We can fight this fight for the mind and have the power in Christ to demolish strongholds. We need to learn how to renew our minds by fighting spiritually first when it comes to lust and sexual issues. Sure we also need to address the emotional, intellectual, and physical, but our hope, freedom and power is in Christ first.

Many men have spent most of their lives believing the lie that I will just have to manage this sin of lust and that it will never go away. That thought is a lie of the Evil One. Jesus IS my savior and Jesus IS powerful enough to renew my mind and cleanse me from all unrighteousness including unrighteousness thoughts and IN Christ I can and do live lust free. I do not rely on my self discipline, my power to resist and defensive tactics like “bouncing my eyes" and other things that you suggest in this article. Things like “cast a safety net. " Keep all TV’s and computers in open family areas, read your Bible and sing Christian songs are all good, but heaven help us if this is all we have to fight offensively with. We can have all our TV’s and computers out in our front yard and still lust a lot in our minds all day. We can read all about God all day in the Bible and if we do not know and believe what God is saying in that Bible and get obedient to it, it is worthless.

Somehow we get distracted from where the real battle is taking place. It is in our minds and it is with lust, we must learn to fight on a spiritual level first … we must learn how to take captive those thoughts … we must learn how to renew our minds or all these “safety net" things have no value at all.

When Paul tells the believers in Colosse that “You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the evil powers of this world. So why do you keep on following rules of the world, such as, "Don't handle, don't eat, don't touch." Such rules are mere human teaching about things that are gone as soon as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, humility, and severe bodily discipline. But they have no effect when it comes to conquering a person's evil thoughts and desires." (Colossians 2:20-23 NLT) Why is it that we have such a difficult time believing that?

I have now helped hundreds (if not thousands) of young Christian men and women to start the process of learning how to live lust free through Lust Free Living materials and the ministry that God has started through that. I know from first hand experience that Jesus does set us free and we can live in his freedom … there is freedom in Christ. The world does not understand this, but we do.

I encourage you guys at Christianity Today … read my web site, read the lustimonies, call me, call some of the young people I am telling you about, come to visit me and see 17 young men that I am mentoring right now every Sunday night and talk to them. Come talk to the young women who are just starting this process for themselves. Talk to the young men on different college campus’ around the country and see the freedom from porn and lustful thoughts. Print articles that show the power and freedom of Jesus working among young people today. Show the hope we have that the world does not have. We, as believers have way more than the world offers, lets tell people about that.

My Experience
For thirty-five years I have worked with young men and their sexual issues. I run two Christian non-profit organizations. One called Timber Bay (www.timberbay.org) that focuses on very high risk youth in 10 different communities around Minnesota and another that God just prompted me to get going called Lust Free Living. (www.lustfreeliving.org) My wife and I have had 32 foster kids all teenage boys. I have helped run Campus Life clubs, Bible studies, youth groups in my church, sat on community committees that formed policies for chemical dependency for our local public schools. I have gone through chemical dependency and addiction treatment programs eight different times as a concerned person for our foster boys. I have been involved in helping young men and women all my life with my career, my church and my community.

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