A United Front
Letters from Spouses
Biblical Advice
Dear Julie,
I am not surprised by the extent of Samuel's denial. You should have seen Mike deny his involvement with porn....he was absolutely adamant for the longest time when I knew without a doubt that he was involved with it.
At this point, you have acknowledged that you haven't dealt with this whole thing biblically up to this point. And I am rejoicing to see you seeking the Lord and desiring to grow strong spiritually. Amen. It is Christ who will sustain you through this whole process to be sure.
However, you do need to deal with this now according to God's Word. If you will read Matthew 18 then you will note the following steps for dealing with a professing Christian who is (or has) sinned against you. The first step is for you to gather hard evidence of Samuel's involvement with porn and then to give a loving rebuke using God's Word. If that doesn't work then you need to get someone from your church (the pastor or a trusted friend) to go with you with the evidence in hand again and then they need to rebuke him with you. If Samuel's still fails to repent then hopefully your pastor will assist you in this matter further by taking it before the Church body.
I realize that this is very scary, Julie; because I had to do it myself. I was so afraid that Mike would not receive the rebuke; but he did. Praise the Lord. I know Samuel isn't spiritually sound, but no man who is habitually involved with sin is spiritually sound. And no matter what you have to deal with this matter the biblical way now; God is faithful and He will honor your obedience.
One other quick thought I wanted to share with you is that you need to physically be in the presence of Samuel as much as possible. He invited you to go to his job site; I would do it. He goes to pool tournaments.......go with him Go with him when he runs errands. Be with him as much as possible. The goal is to remove as much opportunity for sin as you possibly can.
Finally, when you do confront Samuel again then that is when I would bring up the Setting Captives Free site and Mike's email as a way of offering hope of freedom from the sin. Let me know how it goes.
grace and love to you,
Jody
P.S. You are doing well for now to conceal the matter from his daughter and son in law.
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