This is the hardest thing I have ever admitted.  I am a christian, and have been raised in a christian household, but I have been dealing with a sin that I’m scared could ruin my relationship with God.  I have watched pornography for a long time.  I have prayed for forgiveness many times and for strength, but I always fall back into this extremely painful sin.  I want to stop and be forgiven but I’m afraid I’ll fall again since it has happened many times.  I’m so scared God will not forgive me, but I truly am sorry.  I know the Bible says God will always forgive, but I keep doing this terrible sin.  I hate what I have become, and I’m very scared.  I guess I’m just asking for some advice and begging for you to help.  Please pray for me.

Sincerely,
Ashamed

Dear Ashamed,

This sin is deeply entrenched in your life, and you need permanent repentance.  We are told that a powerful tool in defeating sin is confessing our sins to one another (Jas 5:16).  Sin likes to be kept secret (Jhn 3:20), and bringing it to light by making it public goes a long way in defeating habitual sin.  A very popular way of getting this sort of accountability is by using accountability software that forwards your browsing history to a friend or trusted individual.  Companies like CovenantEyes make accountability software, and many struggling pornography addicts have found it to make a huge difference.  If you want to defeat sin, you must expose it.  Confess your sin to others, and you will begin to see change.  It is time to get serious about removing this sin.  You know you are serious about defeating sin when you are willing to expose it at all costs.

Where in the Bible would I get a physical description of Lucifer before he was cast down.  I know he was God's choir director, and, supposedly, musical harmony emitted from his chest (as I heard one minister say).  I'd like to read it for myself.  I've tried the internet… but to no avail.  Please help.

Sincerely,
Music In Mind

Dear Music In Mind,

The Bible doesn’t give a physical description of Lucifer… in fact, the Bible never uses the name ‘Lucifer’ to refer to Satan at all.  The things you have been told are a great example of how many religious leaders say things that don’t have biblical truth behind them.  There is only one Bible reference to the word ‘Lucifer’, and it is in Isa 14:12… and only in the King James Version.  All the other versions use the words ‘Morning Star’… and the verse isn’t talking about Satan; it is talking about the Babylonian king (Isa 14:4).

The Bible never says Satan was God’s choir director, music emitted from his chest, etc.  In fact, we are never given any specific detail as to what Satan is and where he came from.  The Bible is silent about such things.  There are millions of theories about him, but no biblical facts.

I've studied the Bible lately and have been growing in the Lord a lot.  I'm really excited that I can finally answer questions for my ever-curious ten-year-old little girl.  She recently asked to be saved by herself.  I am so proud and happy that she wants to know everything about our Lord and Savior, too.  However I can't answer this question completely yet... we both want to know: why does Satan have sooooo much power??  How come he can influence the world so much?  And why would God give him the authority of ruling over all things (evil and worldly) on this planet?  The answers in the Bible are not really clear to me, and I've yet to listen to a ministry message that talks about this or, at least, where to look it up.

Sincerely,
The Curious Pair

Dear The Curious Pair,

Satan’s power is only strong enough to devour us if we want him to.  It is true that Satan is a roaring lion (1 Pet 5:8), and he has princely power on this planet (Eph 2:2), but God has chained this lion.  In the book of Job, we see that Satan is restrained by God (Job 1:12).  1 Cor 10:13 says that we cannot be tempted beyond what we are able to overcome.  Satan may be strong, but he cannot attack us unless we let him.  Like a rabid dog on a chain, he can only harm us if we get within the chain’s radius.  Satan doesn’t have total authority on this planet; in the end, Jesus is the king of all (Php 2:9-11).

     My question is regarding Jesus' casting out of demons.  During our sermon today, our preacher referenced Matthew 8 where Jesus cast out demons from many people after preaching in Capernaum.  What happened to the demons after they were cast out?  There is the one example of them being cast into the herd of swine and then drowning in a lake, but what about the others?  I couldn't find anywhere where it says anything about what happened to them.  Did they die?  Were they permitted to go on living on Earth?  Were they cast to hell?  Any idea?  Thanks.

Sincerely,
Disturbed By Demons

Dear Disturbed By Demons,

When they were cast out, the text seems to indicate that they went back to the spiritual realm – what Matt 12:43 describes as ‘waterless places’.  Matt 12:44 talks about a demon coming back from those waterless places and re-possessing a person, but after Christ’s time, that no longer became possible.
Demon possession ended not long after the days of Christ because when Jesus cast demons out, they were cast out for good.  Jesus made it clear that one of His jobs was to bind the devil and take his strength away by casting out his demons (Matt 12:28-29).  When Jesus’ disciples had come back from their evangelism trips and related to Him that they had cast out many demons, Jesus told them that they were defeating Satan by getting rid of Satan’s demonic minions (Lk 10:17-18).  When Jesus and His disciples cast out demons, they did it permanently and bound Satan by their acts.

     Why when Jesus told demons to come out of a man did the demons ask Jesus to allow them to go into swine?  And why did Jesus allow them to?  Jesus cast demons out of people, but they still went into someone else.

Sincerely,
Perplexed For The Pigs

Dear Perplexed For The Pigs,

Demon possession ended not long after the days of Christ because when Jesus cast demons out, they were cast out for good.  Jesus made it clear that one of His jobs was to bind the devil and take His strength away by casting out his demons (Matt 12:28-29).  When Jesus’ disciples had come back from their evangelism trips and related to Him that they had cast out many demons, Jesus told them that they were defeating Satan by getting rid of Satan’s demonic minions (Lk 10:17-18).  When Jesus and His disciples cast out demons, they did it permanently (Lk 8:30-33 – the demons’ request makes sense because it gave them one last chance to possess something) and bound Satan by their acts.  We no longer have to deal with such overt attacks by the devil because he has been bound by Christ’s sacrifice (Rev. 20:2).  Demon possession no longer exists; the devil must use subtler methods to deceive us now.