Doorways Through the Body
"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." — 1 Corinthians 6:18
Why God Guards This So Carefully
Sexual sin is treated differently in Scripture from every other category, and there is a reason.
"Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body... therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit." (1 Corinthians 6:18, 20)
This is a hedge-breaking sin. Any sexual contact outside marriage will almost always result in demonic infestation — which is precisely why God has given His people so many commands about purity. They are for our protection.
This also explains something otherwise puzzling: why sexual encounter has always been among the most effective methods of recruitment into occult practice, and why pagan temples throughout history have kept temple prostitutes. What is transferred through the encounter then influences the unsuspecting person.
The Categories
Scripture is plain that these are sin: sexual relations with the same sex, with animals, with anyone other than your spouse, and with spirits.
Three further categories deserve specific mention because they appear constantly in this work:
Rape and violent sexual assault, particularly of children. This is a doorway encountered repeatedly, and it results in the entrance of some of the strongest and cruelest things. Note carefully: this is not the victim's sin. But a door was opened in them by what was done, and it must be closed. Many wounded people carry this for decades without knowing it can be dealt with.
Incest within a family always leads to infestation.
Pornography opens the door.
The Trap Set for Ministers
There is a doorway here that is almost entirely overlooked: sexual counseling of a person of the opposite sex.
Surveys have suggested that a very large proportion of pastors have been involved in illicit affairs. The trap is set through widespread disobedience to one instruction:
"The aged women likewise... teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children." (Titus 2:3–4)
Older women are to help younger women with their problems, especially in marriage — not a male pastor.
Disobedience to that single instruction has probably caused more trouble in churches than any other single source. Discussion of sexual matters between persons of the opposite sex always opens a doorway — and it is a simple matter for someone hostile to send something at a pastor during such a session.
Pastors should always have a chaperone, preferably their spouse, when counseling someone of the opposite sex, and should never visit them alone.
Marriage to an Unbeliever
For believers married to unbelieving spouses who are living in open sin, there is genuine assurance:
"For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband." (1 Corinthians 7:14)
The believing spouse may stand on that promise — asking the Lord to sanctify their marriage bed and their spouse, and to close that doorway with the blood of Jesus so that they do not become infested through the relationship.
And Abortion
Abortion is a doorway that always results in infestation, because it is in substance the sacrifice of a child — no different in kind from the practice God condemned when children were passed through the fire.
And it can be repented of, forgiven, and closed like anything else. If this is your history, do not skip past it in shame. The blood of Jesus Christ covers this as completely as it covers everything else, and the doorway can be shut today.
Point to Ponder
Where you were sinned against, the door was still opened. That is not your guilt — and it is still yours to close.
Verse to Remember
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you... ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price." — 1 Corinthians 6:19–20
Question to Consider
What in this area have I never brought into the light?
Today's Practice
This is difficult ground. Take it slowly, alone, and be thorough.
Write down what applies — what you did, and what was done to you. Both need dealing with, and they are dealt with differently.
For what you did, confess it as sin and close the door:
"Father, I confess to You my involvement in ______. I ask Your forgiveness. Lift out any entrance that resulted, cleanse me, and close that doorway forever with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. In His name I command everything that came in through it to leave me now and never return."
For what was done to you, there is no sin of yours to confess — but there is a door to close and a person to forgive:
"Father, this was done to me and it was not my sin. But a door was opened. I forgive ______ and I release them to You. In the name of Jesus Christ I close that doorway forever with His blood, and I command everything that entered through it to leave me now and never return. Lord, heal what was damaged."
If this is beyond what you can do alone, find a mature believer of your own sex to stand with you. That is wisdom, not weakness.
Prayer
Father, my body is the temple of Your Spirit and it was bought with a price. I have not always treated it that way, and others have not always treated it that way either.
I confess what I have done. Forgive me and cleanse me by the blood of Jesus Christ.
And for what was done to me — I bring it into the light. I will not carry it in the dark any longer. I forgive those who did it and I release them to You, the just Judge.
Close every doorway opened in me through this, by my sin or by another's. In the name of Jesus Christ I command everything that entered through them to leave now and never return.
Heal what was damaged. Restore what was taken. And let me glorify You in my body and in my spirit, which are Yours.
In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Older women teach the younger women. Disobedience to that one instruction has cost the church more than almost anything else.