Author E.Z. Zwayne is on a mission to address a topic “no one really wants to talk about” — sexual struggles, pornography, and purity within the church.
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“It is massively, massively prevalent,” Zwayne told CBN News of such struggles. “And I don’t mean prevalent in a positive sense. This issue of pornography that has been taking the world by storm [and] is wreaking havoc.”
He continued, “It’s destroying men, it’s destroying families, it’s destroying society, it’s ravaging the church.”
Zwayne, president of Ray Comfort’s Living Waters, is out with a new book, “Fight Like a Man: A Bold, Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity – Practical Strategies to Defeat Sexual Temptations and Restore Your Life,” in which he addresses these issues.
“I was burdened to come out with something that filled in the gaps,” he said. “There’s a lot of books on this subject, but the tragedy is that they don’t hit certain sweet spots that need to be hit.”
Zwayne said he wanted a biblical book that was practical, memorable, and theologically sound. And with so much dysfunction and chaos surrounding sex in the modern era, the author said he believes “Fight Like a Man” is desperately needed.
“We tend to forget that sex was God’s idea,” Zwayne said. “This thing didn’t just kind of pop up on its own, but what we’ve seen happen is that the world has tainted it. Satan has twisted it. Our fallen flesh, our sinful nature, has perverted it.”
Despite the chaos human sin has created around sex, Zwayne called it “wonderful” and “beautiful” and is trying to help men reclaim the biblical approach to the topic.
“We live in a world system that is contrary to God,” he said. “We have an enemy who’s real, who is the destroyer of our souls. We have our fallen sinful nature. So all of these elements compound, and there’s like this confluence that comes together to wreak havoc in this way.”
Zwayne cited 1 Corinthians 6:18, which reads: “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body” (NIV).
The author noted that sexual immorality is essentially set aside as a “distinct sin” due to the “massive repercussions and ramifications” that can come from it. These consequences can be profound and, as recent events show, often seep into the Christian church as well.
“It’s high time that we, as Christians, rise up and say, ‘We’re not going to cave into this,’” Zwayne said. “You know, 75% of men in the church say that they dabble with pornography, 40% of women — and 18% of pastors. I think it’s a lot higher because most won’t be honest about that.”
And the horrific stats don’t end there, as he said, “95% of 11-year-olds… will have looked at pornography.”
With all this in mind, Zwayne is hoping “Fight Like a Man” will equip men to stand up and fight back, taking key action to protect themselves and fight back against sexual immorality.
“Men don’t fight anymore,” he said. “We have this peacetime mentality when we are in the midst of wartime. Can you imagine a soldier in World War II being deceived into thinking that he’s on a luxury cruise ship heading for the shores of Bora Bora to a luxury resort, when, in reality, he’s on a Higgins boat heading towards the shores of World War II Normandy.”
Ultimately, he said men need to know their “enemy” and have a battle plan to ensure they don’t fall prey to the lies and chaos.
“We need to know his battle plan against us, and we need to have a battle plan against him, a counterattack to be able to fight it off,” Zwayne said. “And I’d say the other thing is that men have this sad excuse that says, ‘I can’t help it.’”
But he said this, too, is a lie. Zwayne said men must “rearrange” their value systems to ensure they align with the Lord and take an “eternally minded” approach to evading sexual sin.
For any men struggling now with pornography, lust, and sexual sin, Zwayne offered hope and specific steps to help get them on track.
“First of all, you need to get others involved,” he said. “Don’t be deceived into thinking that you can go this alone. This is one of the biggest deceptive elements.”
Accountability, he said, is key.
“You need to take the hard steps,” Zwayne said. “Jesus talked about cutting off the hand, plucking out the eye, not literally, but meaning that, in hyperbole, we take whatever steps necessary.”
In the end, it’s all about turning these struggles over to the Lord and trusting in Jesus, who died for the sins of humanity.
“[Christ] sympathizes with your weaknesses,” Zwayne said. “He paid the highest price for anything ever paid in the history of the universe to redeem our souls. And, so, through Him, there’s hope. We can be forgiven, cleansed, empowered, and we can have victory over this.”
Watch the interview for more and grab a copy of “Fight Like a Man: A Bold, Biblical Battle Plan for Personal Purity – Practical Strategies to Defeat Sexual Temptations and Restore Your Life.”
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