When Jesus Christ returns, He will teach some valuable lessons to mankind about avoiding sin. What better example could we see of the grief and agony caused by sin than what has been happening to America’s leading men? Can we see how adultery, lies and sins cheapen the nobility and weaken the power of a person in high office?
Do we understand what those sins are based upon? It is lust! For the purposes of this article, lust can be defined as the inability to stop our covetous thoughts, or evil desires which balloon inside our mind until they control our every action. Lust drives us into sin. When Christ returns, He will pound this world into submission to make mankind stop sinning through lust and all other ways as well!
Destructiveness of Lust
James 1:14-15 say, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” We are living in a world which is literally drenched in the deadly and addictive sin of lust.
We see sexual lust in tv shows, movies and magazines; we even see lust in the highest, most-respected office in America. Mankind is addicted to lust! Thankfully, all of that will be put away when Christ returns, because He is going to break the grip of sexual lust on mankind.
But lust is not just sexual. Mankind also lusts for such things as power and money and virtually everything else that other people have. In the Jerusalem Bible, James 4:1-3 clearly paints a picture of human lust when it says, “Where do these wars and battles between yourselves first start? Isn’t it precisely in the desires fighting inside your own selves? You want something and you haven’t got it; so you are prepared to kill. You have an ambition that you cannot satisfy; so you fight to get your way by force. Why you don’t have what you want is because you don’t pray for it; when you do pray and don’t get it, it is because you have not prayed properly, you have prayed for something to indulge your own desires.” Our evil desires and covetous thoughts drive us to the point where we are prepared to go to war and kill to get what we so wrongfully desire.
Look at the increase of terrorists trying to get their hands on chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. That’s all based on lust! They want what others have, whether it’s power, weapons, office, land, money or a twisted and synthetic form of respect.
What about trade wars and the greed and financial ravages of currency speculators and corrupt investors who deliberately cheat, steal and destroy national economies for their own profit? Humans lust after anything which is not theirs. They want to possess and consume it!
Soon, Jesus Christ will set up a government which will finally bring human nature under control. But today, we clearly see that lust and covetousness are major ongoing components of human nature.
Destroyed by Sin
Genesis 8:21 tells us that “the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth ….” Men and women very early in life, as boys and girls, begin misusing the power of their minds, imagining every evil under the sun.
Only mankind has the ability to lust. Animals don’t lust. Mankind has the power of imagination which God gave us so we could be creators. Just look at all the marvelous machinery and physical things mankind has created.
Unfortunately, man’s imagination has been corrupted by Satan the devil, and we can see that twisted nature even in infants. We have all probably seen little children arguing over toys and trying to take things away from each other. That deep-seated evil of Satan’s nature in mankind (Isaiah 14:12-14), grown to full bloom in adults, was why God used the Flood to destroy all but eight humans on Earth over 4,500 years ago.
At the time of the Flood, God was distressed to see the minds of humans continually filled with wickedness and moral depravity (Genesis 6:5-7). Proverbs 23:7 says that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. God knew the only hope those twisted and depraved people had was to be mercifully put to death and then resurrected at a time when they could unlearn the error of their ways while learning God’s way of truth and love.
As stated earlier, lust is the inability to stop our covetous thoughts. That was the condition of the entirety of mankind before the Flood, with the exception of Noah and his family. Yet down through history that has proven to be the human condition. Humans are continually filled with evil desires which drive us deeper into sin. That is why the Tenth Commandment, in Exodus 20:17, commands mankind not to covet: because coveting can destroy us.
Lust transgresses God’s commandment against coveting. Our carnal, fleshly natures war against God’s Spirit in our minds (Romans 7:7, 22-25). Matthew 26:41 says that “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The late Herbert W. Armstrong taught the Church that this world is held captive by Satan (2 Timothy 2:26). But our hope is in Christ who has already defeated Satan and who will end the captivity of mankind. However, today we are still having to deal with Satan, this present evil world (Galatians 1:4), and the weakness of the flesh.
Covetousness Is Idolatry
The Apostle Paul tells us in Colossians 3:4-6 that covetousness is idolatry because it puts the object of our desire ahead of God. When tempted, we can become willing to break God’s law in order to get what we want. But when Christ returns, we will teach mankind to have no god before the true God! With Christ guiding us, we will end mankind’s lust and covetousness forever. Thank God that Jesus Christ is returning in only a few years to stop the deterioration of this sin-sick world!
One timely example of controlling our lusts was mentioned by Mr. Flurry in a message, where he said that if we cannot stay away from the pornography on the Internet, then get rid of our computer! Otherwise, lust and covetousness can destroy us. There is every kind of filth mankind can imagine on the Internet. And if we are to be changed to spirit when Christ returns, we must conquer ourselves and our lusts today!
Those people who are not called into God’s truth prior to Christ’s Second Coming will have another opportunity to live again physically (Isaiah 65:20) while practicing God’s way with a Spirit-begotten mind. But the called-out ones alive today are being prepared by God for His purposes (Luke 1:17), and we must learn these lessons during this present lifetime. Ephesians 5:1-5 say our only hope of inheriting God’s Kingdom is to learn these lessons now, and overcome our sinful human natures! We must conquer ourselves to be the unblemished Bride of Christ.
If we hope to occupy top government offices with God the Father and Jesus Christ (Revelation 3:21), we must overcome just as Christ overcame. Christ, our example in all things, overcame human nature even as a child. He overcame Satan and the demons, and He overcame the evils in this world. In short, Christ overcame sin! And we must learn these same lessons—now!
If we will put these lessons to practice in this life, then we will have the glorious opportunity to teach them with Christ in the World Tomorrow! One of the major responsibilities of Christ and His firstfruits will be to stamp out sin. This lust-filled, sin-sick world will be taught a lesson which you and I must learn now!
Teach Thought Stopping
When Christ returns to this Earth, one of His highest priorities will be to teach mankind a vital technique which He used to defeat sin in His own life. Jesus Christ will teach mankind all about “thought stopping”—the ability to stop our thoughts before they become sin.
Learning to control our thoughts is of primary importance to God’s very elect (Matthew 24:24). Self-control, called “temperance” in Galatians 5:22-23, is one of the fruits of God’s Spirit, and is an absolute requirement in order to be given God’s free gift of eternal life (Romans 6:23).
When Christ returns to this Earth, we will work with Him to teach mankind all about turning away from unrighteous thoughts. That is what thought stopping is all about. Isaiah 55:7 says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” Forsaking unrighteous thoughts, which lead to sin, is the essence of thought stopping.
Counseling and Homosexuality, Resources for Christian Counseling, a book by Earl D. Wilson, gives a very clear understanding about thought stopping: “I believe that Scripture has some very helpful suggestions regarding the importance of controlling the mind if one is to control the behavior [he then quotes Philippians 4:8 and Proverbs 23:7]. Thought control can be approached from both a Christian (scriptural) orientation, or from a behavioral (mind control) approach. I have found the two approaches quite compatible ….
“Behavioral psychologists have taught thought stopping for years. A technique I use is to ask my counselee to wear a rubber band loosely on his or her arm. When obsessions [lust] start they are to flip themselves with the band and then change their thoughts to something nonsexual. You may have to help counselees pre-select some positive topics to which they can turn. Arm them with a list to which they can readily turn. Something relaxing or pleasant is helpful; flowers or football or a memory of a quiet walk in the forest may be helpful ….
“With behavior therapy you can reestablish personal mind control for your actions, feelings or thoughts …. In general, obsessions [lust] are best overcome by starvation. When a person stops feeding them, they die …. Prolonged abstinence has great value. The key is to help the person realize the importance of stopping the obsession. As long as he or she remains attached to the obsession no change will occur. Thought stopping begins when the counselee agrees that continuing the thought pattern is futile and needs to be eliminated.”
We adults must teach ourselves and our children personal mind control. Understand that thought stopping is effective only if the person wants to practice personal mind control. It cannot be successfully forced on another person in this life.
In the Millennium, however, we will know a person’s thoughts and will be able to intervene. Isaiah 30:20-21 describes that time when God’s immortalized firstfruits are going to teach the whole world after mankind becomes teachable and malleable like soft clay, after experiencing the Great Tribulation. After Christ returns, we will teach thought stopping to the entire world! We will cleanse all mankind from the evils of human nature!
Willing and Obedient
In Isaiah 1:16-20, God is offering you and me the opportunity to learn these lessons of spiritual cleanliness right now—if we are “willing and obedient” (verse 19). We will have the great honor of teaching these lessons to the rest of mankind if we will repent and stop sinning; if we will be an unblemished Bride for Jesus Christ. God is telling His very elect to change!
Author John Maxwell said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” We must lead by example, which is something some of our present-day political leaders have not done. Christ and His Bride will teach the same lessons we learned and put to practice in this life.
Hebrews 4:14-15 show that Christ was tempted just like all humans, but without sin, and He did it by thought stopping. Jesus Christ refused to allow a temptation to take root in His mind and thereby produce sin. He fought human nature even from the very beginning and never let sin conquer Him. That is what we must do. Christ’s example is that we must strive with all our might against the sins which so easily beset us (Hebrews 12:1-4).
Conquering ourselves takes great effort and never-ending self-discipline. Harry Truman, the 33rd president of the United States said, “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves …. Self-discipline with all of them came first.” Disciplining the self, our mind especially, is necessary to overcome ourselves, Satan and this world. It takes self-control (mind control) to overcome sin, because sin begins in the mind!
Christ knew that sin begins in the mind (Mark 7:20-23). That is why He never once gave evil temptations an opportunity to become sin. You can see that in Matthew 4 where Christ was tempted by Satan. Christ refused to even entertain the possibility of yielding to Satan and his temptation. Christ filled His mind with God’s Word and acted in absolute faith, stopping all thoughts which could lead to sin. That is what thought stopping is all about: putting a stop to a tempting thought before it becomes sin. And this is a lesson we must learn. We must become experts at recognizing sin early, before it takes root.
Man’s Lust-Filled Nature
Micah 2:1-2 tell us how lust and covetousness work: “Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.” We think out ways to make our evil plans work. We scheme and plot and then finally take action on our plans. Lust and covetousness is a thought process which can actually be seen if we know what to look for.
Read Genesis 3:1-6 to see the thought process which led Adam and Eve to sin. If only Eve had immediately turned away from Satan, or if Adam had stepped in, corrected his wife, and then not eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil himself. Then perhaps mankind could have been spared a lot of grief and trouble. However, Adam abandoned his leadership role and followed the woman in rejecting God’s way of life, which cut off all mankind from the tree of life except those specifically called to accomplish God’s purposes down through time. Between the lines, you can see Adam and Eve’s thought process of lusting after that which was forbidden. This is literally a story as old as mankind itself, and it has been repeated countless billions of times down through history.
Chapters 11 and 12 of 2 Samuel tell the story of King David and Bathsheba. Read the story and you can see the lust and covetousness, which then led to lying and finally even murder. There is a thought process that can be easily seen. That thought process is what we must learn to recognize in ourselves. Once we see our thoughts leading to sin, we must immediately stop them.
Romans 1:18-32 is also a good example of sin as seen from God’s perspective. In those verses, we can see the progression of burning lust leading to even more degrading sins and perversion. Those verses also reveal how disgusting sin is to God! Sin begins in the mind, but with a little effort can be prevented by thought stopping—if we just would. This is one of the greatest lessons Christ will bring with Him for His Bride to teach mankind.
2 Peter 2:14 and 19 describe the downward pull of lust and covetousness which eventually enslaves us as we fall victim to our habits: “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children: While they [false teachers in verse 1] promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.”
Lust is so psychologically addictive that finally the addicted person cannot cease to sin (verse 14). This is why lust and covetousness are so deadly to mankind in general and can so easily lead to the lake of fire and eternal death for God’s elect if we don’t stop the thoughts (Romans 6:23). We must overcome Satan, this world, our evil natures and sin—just like Christ did—if we hope to be part of Christ’s Bride.
Learn Thought Stopping
So, you might ask, how can I learn thought stopping?
First: Recognize sin early. Proverbs 22:3 says, “A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished.” We must learn to quickly recognize the direction we are going in our thoughts. We must learn to monitor our thoughts—listen to ourselves—and recognize the patterns of our thinking which are continually leading us to sin, sometimes the same sins over and over and over again.
Ask yourself: Am I dwelling on or fantasizing about sinful acts? Am I making excuses in my mind for a particular weakness? Do I sometimes argue or fight with myself about whether to do or say something which I actually know I should not? Do I justify my actions in spite of my guilty feelings? Do I manipulate and plan circumstances to work out in sinful ways? Do I fear getting caught? If so, these things should be our first clue that we are heading into sin. “A prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself.” If we can be honest with ourselves and catch ourselves in these types of thought processes, then at that time we have an opportunity to stop our thoughts before they lead us into sin.
Romans 6:16 says, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.” We must understand that if we yield to our sinful thoughts, then we become slaves of those sins.
The second part of learning thought stopping is to think on lawful things. Colossians 3:2 says to “set your affection [margin: ‘mind’] on things above, not on things on the earth.” One of the keys to thought stopping is to get our minds off physical, fleshly things and onto spiritual, heavenly things. Not only must we get the bad out, we need to put something good back in its place.
We must set our minds on godly things. Sing a hymn—anything to break the thought process which is leading to sin—and get our thoughts onto something righteous instead!
Philippians 4:8 says to think pure thoughts. Joshua 1:8 says to meditate on God’s law, His precepts, testimonies, statutes. We find the same thing in Psalm 119:15, 23, 27, 48, 78, 97, 99, 148. Psalm 145:5 says to “speak of the glorious honor of [God’s] majesty, and of thy wondrous works.” Psalm 19:14 admonishes us to “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart [or mind], be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.” We must train our minds to get off the subject of sin and onto lawful things—things which please our God so we are able to be blessed by Him.
The third step to learning thought stopping is to be content. Hebrews 13:5 tells us to not be covetous—but “be content with such things as ye have.” Simply put: Don’t lust and covet! Faithfully love your wife or husband! Live within your means and don’t be jealous or envious of what others have!
1 Timothy 6:6-14 tell us that “godliness with contentment is great gain” and that we, as Christians, should be content and not covet or err from the faith. We should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33) and let that be our priority—not beauty or riches or power!
The fourth way to develop thought stopping in our lives is to stay away from temptation. Avoid people and situations which encourage or cause evil thoughts to spring up. An important thing to remember is that alcohol drops our guard against sin and that we should avoid, at all costs, any situation or place which involves alcohol and illicit sexual temptation.
2 Thessalonians 3:14 says to avoid those who don’t obey instructions. Romans 16:17 tells us to avoid people who cause division. Proverbs 14:7 admonishes to go from the presence of a foolish man (or woman). Proverbs 22:24 says to avoid ill-tempered people. 2 Thessalonians 3:6 says avoid those living in idleness, which brings to mind the old saying, “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 give an entire list of certain types of people we should always avoid as much as possible. Matthew 5:14 and 19:14 (as well as Numbers 16:26 and many, many other verses) tell us to leave sinners alone and don’t keep company with them. Avoiding temptation is one of the most effective ways to prevent sin in our lives.
As a Man Thinketh
A small book titled As a Man Thinketh, by James Allen, has some very fine words on the subject. “Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him …. A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts ….
“As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them ….
“Act is the blossom of thought, and joy and suffering are its fruits …. A noble and God-like character are not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts ….
“Man is made or unmade by himself; in the armory of thoughts he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man ascends to the divine perfection; by the abuse and wrong application of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between the two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master ….
“A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.
“Just as a gardener cultivates his plot, keeping it free from weeds, and growing the flowers and fruits which he requires, so may a man tend the garden of his mind, weeding out all the wrong, useless and impure thoughts, and cultivating toward perfection the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts …. He also reveals, within himself, the laws of thought, and understands, with ever-increasing accuracy, how the thought-forces and mind-elements operate in the shaping of his character, circumstances, and destiny …. Thought and character are one ….
“Every thought-seed sown or allowed to fall into the mind, and to take root there, produces its own, blossoming sooner or later into act, and bearing its own fruitage of opportunity and circumstance. Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit …. As the reaper of his own harvest, man learns both by suffering and bliss.”
In conclusion, let us remember the example of pain and destruction we are seeing in the wake of sins left in the very public lives of some of our national leaders, and then not let it happen to us. We must be prudent and foresee the evil and hide ourselves from it. We must learn to short-circuit the mental process toward sin by the personal mind control technique of thought stopping.
When Christ returns, as His Bride, we will teach mankind to put out the overpowering and consuming fires in the mind that drive humanity to sin and result in death—eternal death!