Week 49: The Church that Taught Me About Pornography

Are you going to church… or are you actually being the church?

That question is not casual. It is confrontational. Because the difference between going and being is where purity is either preserved… or perverted.

Let’s deal with something uncomfortable. I didn’t learn perversion from the world. I learned it in places that claimed to be sacred.

Not from the pulpit. But from the people, even during joking gestures from a pastor. From side conversations filled with lust dressed up as humor. I learned gossip that felt normal, even entertaining. I heard backbiting that sounded like concern but carried the weight of betrayal. I learned all of this from believers who lifted hands in worship but could not bridle their words in private. In church, I also saw people create boundaries as opposed to forgiving seventy times seven. And the doors of these kinds of churches remain open.

Perversion is not just sexual. It is anything that distorts what God designed to be pure. And what makes it dangerous is how subtle it is.

It doesn’t always look evil. It looks familiar. It sits in pews. It sings on teams. It serves in ministry. It knows Scripture, but it does not submit to it.

So while we are busy going to church, we are often being discipled by dysfunction. My greatest struggles were not born in rebellion; they were formed in environments where accountability was optional. Scripture makes it plain: “evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33). What we tolerate, we eventually embody.

We knew how to shout, but not how to sharpen. We knew how to gather, but not how to guard one another. We knew how to attend, but not how to transform. And slowly, perversion became normalized.

However, to be fair, corruption is not about location. It is about influence. You can sit in church every week and still be shaped by distortion. So no, I am not against going to church. But going has never been the goal.

Because you can be present in a building and still be perverted in your appetites. Not always in action. But in desire. In thought. In tolerance. And that is where compromise takes root.

God Looks at Condition, Not Coordinates

One of the greatest deceptions we have embraced is thinking God lives where we gather. We say, “I’m going to God’s house,” as if His presence is confined to a place.

But even Solomon challenged that thinking. In 1 Kings 8:27, he said heaven cannot contain God, much less a building made by hands.

By the New Testament, the message becomes unmistakable. Acts 7:48 says the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands. Acts 17:24 repeats it again.

Then Scripture turns the focus directly onto us. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Now this isn’t about location anymore. It’s about condition. Because if you are the temple, then the issue is not what’s around you. It’s what’s in you.

Which means the state of the church is not revealed by what happens in a service, but by what we carry when we leave it.

Built as a Body, Not a Building

So what is the church? It is not a building. It is a body. 1 Peter 2:5 calls us living stones being built into a spiritual house. Ephesians 2:22 says we are being built together into a dwelling place for God by His Spirit. That means the church is mobile.

As the church, you don’t just attend environments. You influence them. Every room you walk into is affected by what you carry. Every conversation you engage in reveals what lives in you.

This is why the real question is not where you go. It is who you are. Because many have mastered attendance but abandoned transformation.

We have gatherings without accountability. Large crowds without correction, connection, or community. And wherever accountability is absent, perversion thrives. And this is the concern with many churches: quiet compromise, hidden habits, unchallenged behavior, and false doctrines. Unfortunately, we call it fellowship. But God is calling us higher; He requires more from us.

Why Gathering Matters

Now let’s bring clarity. Scripture does command us not to forsake assembling together. But we must understand what that actually meant.

The early church did not gather weekly for routine. They assembled daily for refinement. Acts 2 shows believers devoted to teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, and prayer.

In Hebrews 10:24, the NIV says “spur,” the KJV says “provoke,” the ESV says “stir up,” and the NLT says “motivate”—all pointing to the same truth that this kind of intentional encouragement happens when we gather in accountable community.

Hebrews 3:13 says to exhort one another daily so that none are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Because sin deceives. And perversion thrives in deception.

So true assembly is not about simply attending church. It is about growing in unity of faith, being equipped as believers, and ultimately bringing glory to God.

Biblically, gathering looks like this:

• Exhortation that challenges complacency
• Accountability that confronts compromise
• Confession that breaks secrecy
• Encouragement that builds strength
• Correction that realigns behavior
• Love that produces action
• Unity that reflects Christ

This is what protects a community. This is what keeps the body of Christ pure.

So no, this is not a call to stop going to church. But it is a call to stop hiding in it. Because you can attend faithfully and still live perverted privately. You can serve publicly and struggle secretly. You can gather consistently and never be corrected. But that was never God’s design.

The goal was never to build better or bigger buildings. It was to become purified vessels. So when people encounter you, they should not just see someone who went to church. They should encounter someone who is the church.

Saved in the Assembly — Alignment with the Creator

Let me close this with something personal. I got saved in a local assembly.

Not online. Not in isolation. Not through theory. In a room. With people. With preaching. With presence. Local assemblies matter to me.

But I need to say this with equal weight. They are still buildings. Not where God lives. But where God visits… when hearts are aligned.

Because God has never required a location. He has always required a condition. So yes, I honor the building. But I will never idolize it.

Because the moment we treat a place like it contains God, we stop becoming the people that carry Him.

Why This Matters

A healthy local assembly is a gift. It reveals what you cannot see alone. It confronts what you would rather ignore. It refines what still needs to be purified.

You cannot practice forgiveness by yourself. You cannot walk in accountability in isolation. You cannot fully mature without people. This is why Scripture commands us to gather. Because real growth requires real people.

A healthy assembly will:

• Challenge your blind spots
• Confront your inconsistencies
• Sharpen your character
• Strengthen your convictions
• Surround you with accountability

Not to control you or burden your finances. But to mature you.

The Church Is Alive

We must get this right. The church is not an organization. It is an organism. It is alive. Organizations can risk running without God. The church cannot. Organizations depend on systems. The church depends on the Spirit and the Scripture.

That is why Scripture calls us a body. Bodies grow. Bodies respond. Bodies require connection. And when parts disconnect, the whole body suffers.

So when we reduce the church to programs, positions, and performance, we suffocate what was meant to live. Because the church is not something you attend. It is something you become.

When Culture Distorts What God Designed

This is where we must stay alert. When local assemblies begin to add cultural practices that do not align with Scripture, things begin to shift. Not loudly. But subtly.

We start excusing what God confronts. We normalize what God corrects. We adopt what God never authorized.

And over time, people are no longer being shaped by truth. They are being shaped by culture. They are manipulated with strategies to allure bodies to a building, not discipled with Truth that wins souls to Christ.

This is how environments can feel spiritual, but lack transformation.

Because anything added to God’s design that contradicts His Word will always lead to distortion.

When It Becomes Dangerous

Cults do not start extreme. They start with small compromises. Cults develop when:

• Leadership becomes unaccountable
• Scripture is replaced with control
• Correction is silenced
• Loyalty to people overrides obedience to God
• Isolation replaces healthy connection
• Fear replaces freedom

When people are subconsciously influenced to follow a man more than Christ, something is off. When questioning truth is discouraged instead of examined, something is off. When growth is limited to protect control, something is off. And if left unchecked, what started as an assembly becomes something else entirely.

God’s Model for Healthy Growth

Growth is not the issue. But growth without structure leads to disconnection. In Exodus 18, Jethro tells Moses, “What you are doing is not good.” Because one man was trying to carry what was meant to be shared.

So God established a model. Leaders over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Why? So people would not get lost. So they would be known. Covered. Accountable. Connected. Because as assemblies grow, intimacy must be protected.

Without it, people become numbers. Without accountability, people become hidden. Without connection, people become spectators. And that was never God’s design.

When Buildings Lose Their Value

A building without God is just a building. A gathering without accountability is just attendance. A church without transformation is just activity. And here is the truth. God does not honor crowds. He honors alignment—being of one accord.

He does not dwell where there is performance. He dwells where there is purity.

The Final Call

So this is not a call to stop going to church. It is a call to stop hiding in it. Honor the assembly. But do not idolize it.

Stay connected. But stay discerning. Submit to leadership. But never above Scripture. Because the goal was never attendance. It was transformation.

So the next time you walk into a building, don’t just ask if God is there. Ask yourself… Are you?