Power Of Purity | Christian Views On Sex, Porn, Fornication, Adultery, Masturbation, Homosexuality, Transgender & Sex Addicti

In this episode Tony shares 4 important observations from the resurrection of Christ that inspire great hope in our hearts. No matter what's going on in our lives or situations, we do not have to be afraid, because of the resurrection. We can both see and experience God's fingerprints and work in our own hearts and lives, and then, based upon what the Lord has allowed us to "see", we can then "go and tell" others. Sometimes we're afraid because of the difficult situations or circumsances of our lives, but God always makes his joy available to us, and this is really good news, because it's so much better to have joy in the midst of our fears instead of just having our fears by themselves. And we can rest assured that the Lord will reveal himself to us, because the very first person he chose to reveal himself to, after the resurrection, was Mary Magdalene, who had been possessed by seven demons. What happened on that day, the most significant day of human history, reveals a template of how God still works in th

In this episode, which was recorded during Holy Week, Tony shares some reflections from Matthew chapter 21 concerning Palm Sunday. This was the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, and as he did the people shouted exclamations of praise, adoration, and joy! "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!" Among other key thoughts, Tony focuses on one intriguing observation from the passage, which is the prophetic quote that was written by the prophet Zechariah 500 years before the actual triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!  Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!  See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.  Zechariah 9:9 Based upon this scripture, Tony reflects on the unusal way in which the animal that Jesus rode into Jerusalem is mentioned in the passage: (1) A donkey (2) A colt (3) A foal Why did Zechariah seem to go above an

Jesus was fully God, and fully human, both at the same time. Jesus, as a human being, lived in this broken and fallen world. And in his humanity, Jesus experienced temptation just like us. Because of this, we have a Savior who understands us. When Jesus was in the wilderness he fasted for 40 days. At the end of the fast he was hungry, and the devil came to him to tempt hm. The devil tempted his to "turn these stones into bread". Or said another way, the essence of the temtptation was for Jesus to take care of the legitimate needs of his physical body in his own way. As if the devil was saying, "You're hungry Jesus, so do what you need to do to take care of yourself!" And in much the same way, the enemy often comes to us and tempts us to take care of the legitimate needs of our own physical body in our own way. In this sense, the urge for a man to satisfy his legitimate sexual needs through the use of pronography is a similar temptation to "turn these stones into bread". Jesus set the example for us. Jesus was

Just like a coin has 2 sides - heads and tails - there are 2 different components that are virutally inseperable, which are sex and relationship. Or, said another, sex is intended to occur within the context of relaitonship, and this leads to a very important and undeniable reality, which implicates the importance of healthy relaitonship. Or, said another way, the healthier and more funcitonal the relationship is , the healthier and more funcitonal the sex will be that occurs within the context of that relationship. But there's another very important and undenial reality, which is the truth that relationship can be very challenging and difficult. What often happens in the context of relationship is what Tony is calling in this episode, the "X". The "X" is not good. The "X" is hard. The "X" is a disagrement, a difficulty, a tension, a fight, an argument, or a misunderstanding. And the reality is that every couple is going to experience, not just one "X" in their relationship, but many different "X's" over time

In this weeks short episode Tony reflects on a very interesting scripture found in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He's very sad and he's struggling because he knows what's about to happen. He leaves most of the disciples at a particular place in garden, and then takes Peter, James, and John with him a little further into the garden. As the following scene then unfolds, he asks these three disciples, three different times, to "watch" and to "pray" so they would not fall into temptation. Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Matthew 26:41  It's of significane to notice that Jesus connects two important spiritual disciplines here directly to the problem of temptation: to watch and pray. Or said another way, because of the temptations that are lurking around us, that can and will entice us, we must "watch and pray", and it's these spritual disciplines that can then empower us to resist these temptations. The word "wat

This is Episode 400 of The Power of Purity Podcast! The Blood Arrow! If you were an Indian and you went hunting, you'd probably take more than one arrow in your quiver.  In fact, you'd probably want a whole quiver full of arrows, so you'd have plenty of shots ready if you needed them. In much the same way, people need many different "arrows" in their metaphorical quiver that they can draw upon in their struggle/battle agaisnt temptations.  We need to have a battle plan in place, before the temptation arises, so that when the moment of truth arrives we have some resources, concepts, and strategies we can immediately employ in the face of that partiuclar temptation.  These strategies are the "arrows" in our quiver, and in this episode Tony presents the concept of a new arrow to fight this battle: The Blood Arrow! The blood of Jesus is very powerful! The blood of Jesus brings us the forgiveness of our sins, makes us a child of God when we beleive in Jesus, gives us a relationship with living God, and even gives

In this episode Tony shares the SECOND greatest gift you could ever give to God, which is the submission of your will to his will. When God decided to create human beings, he did most amazing and remarkable thing when he decided to give us free will. God did not make us robots. He did not program us so we would have to love him and obey him. Instead, he gave us free will so we would have the choice, and we could then choose to love him and obey him or we could choose not to. In this way, when we do choose to love God and obey him, and when we do choose to surrender and submit our will to him, it's among the greatest gifts we could ever give him. This was the original temptation in the Garden of Eden, when the serpant essentially tempted Eve to exercise her will independently of God. "Why should God have the right to tell you what you can and cannot do?  If you eat this fruit, you can be like God!  You can decide for yourself what's right and wrong!" And a good example of this from the bible is the example of

In this episode Tony shares a concept / idea / strategy that has helped him tremendously in his personal life... in his walk with God... in his purity walk... in his mental and emotional equilibrium for at least the past year. The Power of Music! God made us, and gave us a heart. And God made music, and music, in a mystical way, is a powerful language of the human heart. There's music in heaven, and there will be music for eternity. It's almost as if we wouldn't know how to be human if we didn't have music. From the earliest days of humanity, humans intuitivly discovered the importance of rhythm and beat, even if it was as simple as  beating on a drum. There is rhythm, and melody, and cadance, and beat. And this is the importance of worship, because the music can quite literally transcend our thoughts and reasoning to transport us into the very presence of God. In this episode Tony shares how music can powerfully and profoundly effect our brain chemistry to release the feel good chemicals - dopamine, oxytocin

In this episode Tony shares 2 important metaphors. The first one concerns the game of chess. When you're playing chess, the objective is to get your opponent in "checkmate". This means he doesn't have any moves left. In this metaphor Tony compares our relationship with God to the game of chess. In one sense God is attmepting to get us in "checkmate", which means we surrender completely to his will, plan, and Lordship for our life. God's was is better than my way. And in an interesting turn of events, it can often be the sexual area of a man's life that God uses to finally get that man in "checkmate". It's when we become desperate enough as a result of our struggle with sexual brokenness, compulsion, and addcition, that we often come to the place where we're finally ready and willing to do the work we need to do that will allow God to work in a deeper and more powerful way in our heart and life than ever before.  CHECKMATE! The second metaphor is taken from the wonderful movie, The Wizard of Oz! When the farmh

Are you serious about being a man of purity? Are you serious about expressing and experiencing your sexual gift in a way that’s consistent with what God says about sexuality? Are you serious about really working on this area of your life? If you are, these things are not going to happen on accident. It’s only going to happen if you can identify some strategic issues that will truly make a difference in your relationship with yourself, and then do the work that’s necessary to apply those things to your life and situation. In this episode Tony shares 4 important skills of purity that will be very strategic for the average guy to practice as he seeks to experience his sexual gift in a healthier way. (1) Self-awareness You need to be in touch with yourself. You need to be award of what’s going on with yourself emotionally so you’re aware of those moments when you might be getting more vulnerable to temptation and acting out. If you don’t know what’s going on with you it sets you up for repeated failure. (2) Inter

God did the most amazing and mysterious thing. He created us with free will; the ability to choose; the ability to say "yes" to something if we want to say "yes", and the ability to say "no" to something if we want to say "no". God could have made robots, but God wanted something way more authentic, and real, and sincere than that. He wanted a creature that had the ability to disobey him, but that would freely to choose to obey him. Wow! In this episode Tony reminds us that we have the ability to choose. Over and over again, probably severeal times a day, you're going to have the ability to "choose", and the choices you make will both determine and reveal the person you truly are. Being a healthier person has something to do with getting the power of choice back, and then exercising your will in obedience to God! 14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.15 And if it is evil in y

This world is very broken. Every person is very broken, and this is why we need a Savior. This world has a way of beating people up. There's hurt, pain, confusion, depression, difficulty and hardship in every person's life. It just looks different for each of us at different times of our lives. There's an ebb and a flow. When the going gets a little bit tough (or a lot tough), and it seems like things are really hard, we may sometimes be tempted to struggle with questions about God's love. Does God really love me? Does God really care? If God really loved me, why is he allowing this difficult situation in my life? Why doesn't God do something about this? In this episode Tony explores the question of God's love. How can we really know for sure that God loves us, even when we're going through something really difficult in our life? How do I know that God really loves me, even if I'm struggling with a weakness, or even if I've been acting out in a sinful way. What's the ultimate proof of God's love? There is an

Our connection to God in the process of change, healing, and recovery is of supreme importance. It’s hard enough to overcome sexual compulsion, sexual addiction, or addiction to pornography with the Lord, let alone without the Lord. Even secular recovery programs such as Alcoholics Annoymous affrim the importance of your relationship to a "higher power" to the process of recovery, and at least 6 of the 12 steps directly mention this reality. Step 2: accept that a higher power, in whatever form, will restore your sanity Step 3: make a decision to turn your will and life over to a higher power Step 5: admit to a higher power, another human, and yourself the nature of your wrongdoings Step 6: accept that a higher power will remove your character defects Step 7: humbly request the higher power remove your shortcomings Step 11: use prayer and meditation to connect with the higher power If we're serious about being better men, we must have a relationship thing going on with God, and not just a religio

Tony recorded this episode on New Years Day, 2024! He focuses on one particular passage which is Luke 8:22-25, and observes how God often chooses to bring his people through a "storm" rather than around the "storm". In Psalm 23 it says that God is with us through the valley of the shadow of death. In the Old Testament God brought his people through the Red Sea when Pharoah was coming to destroy them. Jesus himself had to go through the cross in order to get to the resurrection. And in Luke 8 the disciples had to go through the storm in order to get to the other side of the lake where Jesus had told them to go. No matter what's going on in your life at this time, you can rest asured in faith, that God is with you, and God is going to get you through the situation you might be currently concerned about or struggling with. Even if you're stuggling with your sexual gift in any way at this time of your life, God can get you through. He can get you through sexual addiction to the other side. He can get you through

Good News of Great Joy Tony recorded this episode on Christmas morning and shares a significant observation from the story of the birth of Jesus in Luke chapter 2. 8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”  Luke 2:8-12 We learn from the story that this “good news of great joy” is for “all the people”, and this means that what happened on that holy night was for me and for you! On the night Jesus was born, an angel appeared to the shepherds in the fields around Bethlehem and proclaimed a message to them that reveals the very reason that our lives

This episode was recorded on December 19th, 2023... in the shadow of Christmas which was just 6 days away. It's so easy to get lost in the helter-skelter and business that comes along with this time of the year - buying Christmas gifts, parties, get togethers, traveling, family obligations, etc. Rush... rush... rush... busy... busy... busy! Sigh! In this episode Tony encourages us to remember the "true reason for the season", and shares 3 important observations from Luke 2, which is the story about the birth of Jesus. It's interesting to note the progresson of 3 intersting vignetes that appear one after the other in this passage. The first one concerns something that was proclaimed by the angel who appeared to the sheperds that night. The second one concerns something that was proclaimed by the old man, Simeon, who had a special connection to the Holy Spirit. The third one concerns something that was proclaimed by the old woman, Anna, who had been a widow for 84 years, and was over 100 years old. SAVIOR! SALA

In this episode Tony explores the mystery of the Incarnation - the mysterious reality that God became a man, and made his dwelling among us. God became one of us, and the little baby in the manger - Jesus - was incomprehensibly 100% God and 100% human at the very same time. But this profound mystery isn't just theology for us to believe in our head. It's reality that makes all the difference in our hearts and lives. It's the reality that God is with us that creates the possiblity that our lives can be truly different. It's the reality that God is with us that creates the possibility that a man who's struggling with an addiction to pornography can truly change into a new and different man. What do you think the chances of true and lasting change would be if God wasn't with us? When we're confused... God is with us! When we're struggling... God is with us! When we're depressed... God is with us! When we're discouraged... God is with us! When we feel weak... God is with us! And when we're strugglng with pornogra

What can God stop? God is God, and God is all powerful, and God is almighty, and nothing is too hard for God. God can do anything God wants to do, and God can stop anything God wants to stop. In this episode Tony shares 15 amazing things that God stopped in the bible, along with the corresponding verse for each of these 15 things. (1) God stopped sickness. (2) God stopped the storm. (3) God stopped the armies of pharaoh. (4) God stopped paralysis. (5) God stopped leprosy. (6) God stopped lameness. (7) Gid stopped infertility. (8) God stopped hungry lions. (9) God stopped 135,00 Midianites. (10) God stopped the firey furnace. (11) God stopped demons. (12) God stopped deafness. (13) God stopped Goliath. (14) God stopped blindness. (15) God stoppeed death itself. Is there something going on in your life right now that you would like God to "STOP"? In this episode Tony affirms that God can "STOP" anything God wants to "STOP", but also shares one very important reality that we absolutley need to understand and acc

The truth is incredibly important. You're in a spiritual battle that's raging over your life, and the greatest weapon the enemy has to use against you is the power of the "lie". If the enemy tells you a lie, and you beleive the lie, it's as if the lie becomes your truth, because you're beliving it's true, even though it's a lie. In this way the lie can hold power and authority over your life and soul. For example, in the early days of Tony's struggle, he believe the lie, "I cannot resist temptation." And because that lie was holding a place of authority in Tony's life, it was very hard for Tony to resist tempation, because Tony was believing that he could not resist temptation.  Jesus said in John 8:32 - "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." It's absolutly imperative that we identify the lies that are coming against us and that we replace those lies with the truth of God. In this epsiose Tony shares 12 statements of "truth" that will be central to your walk of purity. If you don't beleive

A listener of The Power of Purity Podcast sent the following note: I recently listened to episodes 162 and 163 with Frank Johnson and am now going through all 300 plus episodes myself. I am tired of that powerless feeling when those BAM moments hit and want to get to a place where I am controlling sex and not the other way around. I just want to say how much of a blessing your show has been to me. I really relate to you and the guests you’ve had on the podcast. Please continue to keep up this work. Looking forward to hearing from you! Can you relate? Have you ever been living your life, minding your own business, and then out of no where... BAM... you get blindsided with a sudden and unexpected temptation or trigger? It happens to all of us. The "BAM" is the moment you get hit with an unexpected temptation, and how we handle those "BAM" moments will determine our ability to be the man of purity God is calling us to be. In this two part series, Important BAM Prinicples, Tony shares 3 different ideas that are i