Many of you have heard of the sex scandal of Sam Hinn, the brother of Benny Hinn.
For over a lengthy time, while preaching in the pulpit, Sam Hinn carried on in his ministry and life like nothing was going on.
The hypocrisy of preachers is one of the best deceptions the enemy uses to suppress the presence of God in the people of God.
I know what this is about, this hypocrisy thing, so I am not throwing stones.
Just go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/prevailingword1for my testimony if you think otherwise.
Many men and women in Christ and in the pulpit commit Secret Sexual Sins on a regular basis. It is a clear indication that we haven’t learned anything from the previous lessons of fallen leaders. We do not have to fall in sin. We choose to do so and explain it away as a mistake.
It’s not a mistake.
It is a calculated, deliberate act to defy the Lord.
A mistake is a “wrong action attributable to bad judgment, ignorance, or inattention.”
Jesus and James, the Lord’s brother, defines sin as a deliberate act.
Matthew 15:19 and James 1:14-15 says….
“For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”
“But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full- grown, brings forth death.”
In Systematic Theology, sin is the deliberate, intentional commission of an act of defiance against the Lord in three areas.
1. Thought
2. Action.
3. Words.
So when you call sin a mistake, it’s like we are telling the Lord, “O Lord, my bad. I miscalculated.”
The power of the devil is only as effective as we allow it to be effective. The power of the devil can have a zero effect on our lives when we cut off the avenues by which he operates. However, it starts with what’s in our hearts.
The originating point of all sin is in the mind. Once the mind is told something, the eyes see something, and the mind meditates on something, the course to fulfill the desires of the flesh initiates the urges and impulses to commit a deliberate, intentional act of defiance against God begins to run its ungodly, merciless course.
Notice what Paul said in Romans 13:14.
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
Now go back to James 1:14-15 and you will see that as long as you do not give in to the “desires,” the devil’s enticements cannot overpower you (see 1 Corinthians 10:13).
Therefore, you instinctively make no provision for the flesh.
Flesh has a vision and it will provide to fulfill that vision.
So here are the 10 Deadly Sins. We will not get through them all in this setting but we will address each one in subsequent articles.
1. No Real Relationship With The Lord.
Jesus said in Matthew 15:7…
“Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”
In the service of ministering the Word of God, it is very easy to assume that your relationship with the Lord is ok. However, little things begin to creep in or perhaps, they are already in your life, but you never really took time to address these issues.
You started watching the news and this woman or man sexually appealed to you. You thought nothing of it, but every morning, like clock work, you just had to see him or her. These little things turn into big issues. You start seeing R Rated movies with a little soft porn in it.
One thing always leads to another. Next thing, the very thing you thought you’d never watch is on your TV screen or lap top computer.
Some pastors are daring. After their sermon preparation at home or in the church study, they click the links to free porn. This may not be true of Sam Hinn, however, we know that when a pastor is willing to commit Secret Sexual Sins, it’s a process that may involve porn and self gratification.
This is not true with everybody because to put a one size fits all on every preacher is unfair.
However, to carry on a Secret affair, is just another form of acting out sexually that was premeditated.
Remember, sin is a deliberate, intentional act to defy God.
When our lips truly match our hearts, it is a revelation of the kind of worship the Lord is getting.
Hypocritical worship or genuine worship.
Our worship of the Lord is one or the other because of our love for Him, or lack thereof.
Your relationship with the Lord is not just found in your time of daily devotion. In my own life, while I was in Secret Sexual Sins, I prayed and studied the Word of God. However, I still had sin in my life. The lusts of the flesh and mind, and eyes. Of course, I “repented,” but my repentance wasn’t real. It would be remorse, and there is a big difference.
Remorse is a “feeling of deep regret (usually for some misdeed).”
This regret is a sad feeling associated with having done something wrong.
This is what I was experiencing. No one really told me the difference. So right after I get over the sad feeling, the regret, the mind returns to the place where the pleasure of sin exists. Remorse takes you right back to the place where you think about pleasures of sin.
Like a dog licks its vomit up, so does a man return to his folly (see Proverbs 26:11 and 2 Peter 2:22).
We haven’t really understood that sin is folly. In Proverbs, “folly” means “foolishness.”
So the next thing that happens is that you suppress the Word of God within you. You suppress the promise that you would never sin that sin again. You begin to make provision. You sin that sin that you promised the Lord, your Lord, that you claim deliverance from.
The cycle continues again.
When all of us sinned sexual sins, we’ve experienced this revolving door experience many times and it gets to the point where we cross over from hope to hopelessness. That’s the least of your concerns. As far as Secret Sexual Sins is concerned, the deliberate, intentional commission of an act to defy the Lord takes on a life of itself.
This sin is what you live for.
You begin to schedule your every move around the sin you love.
Allegedly, Sam Hinn’s car was found outside the apartment of this married woman who was a congregant in his church. This is one of the ways exposure comes. The Lord loves us so much, that He gives us time to repent but when we do not know the difference, the cycle of madness continues.
This adulterous affair took time to develop and he made his relationship with God, his family, and ministry fit his time for his sin. The things that were important became secondary, if anything. God, his family, and his ministry were relegated to the back seat. Misplaced priorities always begin with a man or woman’s heart attitude towards the Lord.
That’s why it was easy to miscommunicate the commandment of the Lord. According to the accounts, the female that was involved in the affair was told by Sam Hinn that the Lord permitted this relationship. However, anyone with common sense will tell you that if you are a married or single woman, getting involved with a married pastor is a bad move with no justification.
The tradition of men, when it usurps the commandment of the Lord, it takes on a nature of its own making. If Sam Hinn was in a genuine relationship with the Lord, and if the adulterous married woman was in a real relationship with the Lord, it is safe to say that we would not be talking about this.
A real relationship begins and ends with Psalm 91:1-2.
“He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my Refuge and my Fortress. My God in Him will I trust.”
In a real relationship with the Lord, Secret Sexual Sins is off limits in the Secret Place of the Lord.
In a real relationship with the Lord, you begin to see that this is hurting the Lord.
Paul said…“And grieve (sadden) not the Holy Spirit.”
Real repentance understands fully that a deliberate, intentional act to defy God hurts the Lord on the level that Adam and Eve hurt God.
In a real relationship with the Lord, you understand fully that you do not want to hurt God like that.
All acts of betrayal begins with disconnection from the Lord. Not just in prayer, fasting, and the Word, but the Lord is personally betrayed when we walk away from Him to commit the very thing that would eventually hurt us.
We hurt the Lord when we get into the car and a good looking woman walks in peripheral vision range, and we just had to take a look at her sexually.
We hurt the Lord when we watch salacious movies. You know, those trailers warn you of the content, yet, you insisted that you could handle watching that movie but you really didn’t get it. The Lord is looking at that movie with you. His eyes is watching that movie through your eyes.
We hurt the Lord when our minds are not fully stayed on Him and we engage in deliberate sexual thoughts other than healthy ones as far as our wives or husbands are concerned.
These are the things, the little foxes that spoil the relationship with the Lord.
Why not take the time to really repent of the sins of allowing the little foxes in when they should have been chased. Take the time to understand the magnitude of how the Lord was hurt by your deliberate and intentional act of defiance. Take the time to fully feel the heart of the Lord. But also know that the Lord pities you. He loves you and wants you back. He knows that if you do not turn from your wicked ways, the devil will take you to other levels of sin.
In sin, it only gets worse but when you have learned to stop, you will see the Lord return to you to help you get yourself together.
Ultimately, the devil will pull you into the spirit and age of apostasy if your prodigal heart fails to catch itself.
We’ve prostituted ourselves long enough.
So repent, for real. And come back to right standing and right relationship with the Lord.
Isaiah 55:6-7 says,
“Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.”
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