Seduction can so easily mask itself that sometimes we don’t even realize we are flirting with it. As I was studying for this lesson, I came across the following scripture I shared with you in an earlier lesson that alarmed me. Please take a moment to read it again slowly to digest every word it says.

1 Timothy 4:1 says “But the (Holy) Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach” (AMP).

What does the Holy Spirit declare in this scripture that will happen in latter times?

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I want to take a moment to talk about the word seduction. The root word is seduce. What would you define that word to mean?

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The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines it as, “To persuade to disobedience or disloyalty; to lead astray usually by persuasion or false promises.” In the above scripture Paul is saying that some will give such attention to seducing spirits. Given our definition of seduction, we can see that Paul is stressing that some will give attention to spirits that will lead them astray, particularly baiting the hook with false promises.

Have you ever thought about how television and movies portray such a false promise of romance? Have you ever found yourself comparing your relationships to those on TV? I know it sounds silly, but women often do it. As I stated earlier, I believe that Satan is using demonic forces to seduce the Body of Christ into flirting with seduction through televisions, internet, and other sources. Particularly he is seducing many through sexual perversions delivered right into your family living room. Beth Moore says in her book When Godly People Do Ungodly Things that, “I am compelled once again to shout from the rooftops what I’ve already said in several other books: The Body of Christ is being sexually assaulted by the devil! We must learn how to defend ourselves in the power of God’s Word and His Spirit.”

I believe along with Beth that we are being seduced by the enemy and its time we wake up and take a defensive stand against it. We can’t take a stand against him until we recognize his schemes. Just as the military watches and studies its enemy to know how he attacks, we to need to know how it is we are being attacked by our enemy through seduction! The enemy is doing everything he can to seduce the body of Christ so they will fall away from the faith. He does so by persuading them towards disobedience. Like I stated in an earlier session, one way he does this is through trying to get us desensitized towards immoral behaviors. One way this happens to us is by watching particular shows on television that tempt us towards sexual sin. I believe the enemy persuades you to watch things on television that feed your flesh. He has been around a long time and knows our weaknesses. He will use something that is appealing to you; something that you will give attention to.

Look closely at the scripture in first Timothy above. Notice how it uses the term “giving attention to…” What are you giving attention to on television that might be seducing your mind?

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What we are allowing our minds to be seduced by can have a huge affect on our lives when it comes to sexual compromise. Most of the time we don’t even recognize that seduction is driving us to watch a particular ungodly show. We know that the battle begins in our minds. We can avoid a battle altogether if we avoid feeding our minds ungodly material. I once heard that the way to kill the desires of our flesh is to stop feeding them! Feed the spirit, starve the flesh. When it comes to our thought lives, I believe some of us need to stop feeding them garbage through certain television shows. I don’t want to sound harsh here. I know that it is not always fun to consider the things we feed our minds. It feels good to feed the flesh, at first. That is why Satan uses things that feel good to our flesh as bait for seduction. He wouldn’t use something to captivate your mind that felt bad. I know that some of you might feel I am a little radical when it comes to me encouraging you to evaluate what you watch on TV but I want you to know it is because I fell for schemes that I am desperate for you to avoid. I believe God calls us to live radical lives. The word teaches us to “consecrate” ourselves (see Leviticus 20:7). In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 it says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What do you think that means?

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To sanctify means to be set apart for something sacred. I believe God wants us to be set apart from the world and sanctified in every area of our lives because He is returning soon. If we are the brides of Christ, we need to begin to prepare ourselves as a bride to be. Sisters, He is coming soon. Are we going to be ready? Just as a bride to be prepares herself for her wedding day, we too are to be preparing for Christ’s return. Meditate on the following scripture. Revelation 19:11 says, “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True...”

Brides, your Prince Charming is coming for you! Oh, I so desperately want to be anxiously awaiting His arrival, don’t you? I don’t want to miss a thing. It gives me butterflies just thinking about him coming down to take me away on His white horse. How I pray you will have that same desire. It’s okay if you don’t have that desire. What is so awesome about the heart of God is that He will change your heart to long for Him if you ask him. I have not always felt this way. Several years ago I began to ask Him to give me a heart to love Him. It’s okay to be honest with Him. He already knows your thoughts anyway.

Okay, back to the subject at hand. Please consider what you are watching on TV. What are some of the programs you currently watch?

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In what ways could any of those programs be feeding ungodliness to your mind?_____________________________

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I will give you some examples of ways we are being seduced through TV. Take soap operas for instance. Is there really anything to gain spiritually from them? Most of the material in them is ungodly. You will usually see unmarried women sleeping with other unmarried men. There always seems to be some woman chasing another woman’s husband or even another woman chasing another woman! These types of scenarios feed our fleshly nature. Our flesh naturally craves things of the sinful nature. When we expose our flesh to sinful things, it begins to crave them more. Have you ever noticed how you get excited to see what happens next in a sinful situation on television? Do you think that perhaps some kind of seduction is being used to tempt your flesh to watch more?

Have you ever found yourself engrossed in one of them to where you actually started hoping that the ungodly relationship worked out?! What you know to be wrong is overridden temporarily because your feelings get in the way. You think, “It’s just imaginary. It’s not like this show is real.” Seduction has tempted you to compromise what you believe to be truth just so you can feed your flesh. Before you know it, your soul feels depressed when the season finale is over and you have to wait all summer for the show to pick up where it left off.

From what we have learned thus far, how can certain TV programs be compromising?

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Besides some of the material being totally out of line with what God says about sex and marriage, it is a waste of time! Think about the nightly network shows that come on. Take “Desperate Housewives” for example. It is filled with adultery and other ungodliness. By watching this kind of material, you might find yourself making excuses for their behavior. Even though it is not “real” it still allows you to get your thoughts in line with the characters who are totally acting outside of God’s boundaries. Some precious ladies I work at a school with are always giving the Reader’s Digest version in the lounge on what happened the night before on “Grey’s Anatomy”. They were talking about some guy named Dr. McDreamy the other day. So my curiosity got the best of me and I wanted to know if it was a show I might want to watch. So I asked my friend, does anyone leave a marriage for someone else? Of course, they said “yes”. So, I guess I will have to dump Dr. McDreamy before I ever even get to meet him!

Shows like these plant ideas in your mind and the more you feed your mind with this kind of material, the more desensitized you become to it. I know I am probably stepping on some toes right now, especially the single ladies! I know this is not fun to hear. When you become desensitized, you tend to become more accepting of ungodly behaviors. I want to stress to you that if you watch shows like “Desperate Housewives”, I am not trying to shame anyone nor convict anyone. Ask the Holy Spirit about the shows you watch. You may be one that is not susceptible to seduction. If perhaps you are not, you may be able to watch shows like this and not cross the line between reality and fantasy. However, if you are susceptible, shows like this could be as dangerous as it is for an alcoholic walking into a bar or liquor store.

I know women who have said that they often place themselves in the character’s role in their minds so they can fantasize what it’s like to have an affair with the lead male role in the movie or show. Earlier we talked about people being led away by false promises. Some TV shows make romance look one way when it reality it is not. God did not intend for us to have sexual encounters outside of our marriages. These types of shows glorify ungodly relationships and lead you to become accepting of certain ungodly behaviors. They portray the idea that the way to find emotional gratification and sexual excitement is to seek it outside of the marriage. Shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” portray to its viewers that it’s okay to fulfill your sexual desires through adulterous relationships, if need be. Somehow, they may portray that it’s not necessarily okay at first, but they somehow make it acceptable in the end. You may find yourself making excuses for their behavior. Sometimes, shows like this teach the viewers that the way to spice their love life up is by having a secret love life on the side with someone outside of their marriage. Secretly having the hots for another women’s husband is not the right way. Watching a woman have a steamy love affair feeds the lust of your flesh. It causes you to have feelings internally that feel good to your sexual desires. For a short period of about an hour you become engrossed in the drama and find yourself enjoying the immorality. If you feel offended by what I just wrote or feel I am wrong, feel free to vent your feelings before the Lord. Ask Him to show you why you are feeling the way you are. I have found myself in these very circumstances of wanting to watch them to get a “quick fix” in my love life. My flesh sometimes screams when I deny myself to watch “Grey’s Anatomy”. For me, these kinds of shows are my drug of choice. At times, I have to walk against every feeling I have to not watch them. It is quite a struggle sometimes!

God calls us to be aware and alarmed by immoral activities. He never calls us to accept them and welcome them. The apostle Paul said that he was terrified that the believers’ minds would become corrupted and seduced from its devotion to Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:2-3). When we are devoted to Christ we don’t grow accepting to sexual immorality. We need to take a stand against it. Let’s look at what God’s word says about all of this.

Please read Colossians 3:5-8. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.”

When you read these scriptures, God is telling us to put all these things to death in our lives. If something we are watching on television involves sexual immorality or impurity, for instance, what are we to do with that in our lives?

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If what we are filling our minds with any of the above, we are to rid ourselves of them. I know it may seem radical, but I believe we are living in a time where God is calling us to live authentic, radical walks before Him. If the scripture in Colossians calls our earthly desires idolatry we have got to put them to death. God will not stand for us to worship another god. He is sure to remove it if we do not!

If God is calling us to rid our lives of all ungodliness, it is for our own good. When we fill our minds with these things, at some point we begin to accept these types of behavior. Accepting them would be compromising our God given sexuality. We are living in times that sexual temptations have never been higher. We are wise to take the safe road and protect ourselves in every way. Understand that God never calls us to do things that are not for our own benefit and safety. He is here to protect us from all evil.

Tomorrow we will look at the kinds of materials we are reading and its effects on our sexuality. Let’s take a break. This is heavy material, I know. I encourage you to go do something fun today with the Lord! Need some ideas? Perhaps you could go to Starbucks and enjoy a coffee while reading His word, or take a walk and praise Him for His awesomeness!