Author Nate Larkin, who wrote the book Samson and the Pirate Monks, says he experienced abandonment, neglect and abuse as a child, and sex was his coping mechanism. He was involved in various sexual sins even while working as a pastor.
“I was first exposed to hardcore pornography on a seminary-sponsored trip,” Larkin says. “I wanted to be a pastor because it was my family destiny. I’ve been told since I was a kid that I was going to be a preacher like my dad, and I’m good at church, and I’m good with words. I never doubted that that’s where I belonged. And so that’s exactly where I went.
“It was difficult, to say the least, to know that I was a pastor, that I was standing up on Sunday morning to preach the gospel and give people advice, direction on how to run their lives, when my own was completely out of control.”
So, what helped Larkin overcome? Not only did it take hitting rock bottom to run back to following Jesus wholeheartedly, but also finding a group of men he could trust within a Christian environment, he says on the Pure Passion podcast on the Charisma Podcast Network. There is hope for overcoming addiction.
“God loves me. Jesus died for me. For me, that revelation came at the end of a very long road after I’d left the ministry and despaired when my marriage was all but dead,” Larkin says. “And I finally found my way into a recovery group where I heard men in a safe environment stating very simply, and without a ton of shame, the truth about themselves. I actually said the truth and didn’t die; I said the truth and felt the presence of Jesus. …
“The church, I believe, is a healing community. But the gospel is a healing balm. The sacraments of the church are a medicine. And just spending time with the saints, in the communion of the Holy Spirit, has a restorative quality to it. Some guys heal very quickly. Some guys heal slowly. But I’ve yet to see a man who makes his way into the fellowship, the church, who doesn’t experience healing.”
To hear more about how to obtain healing from sexual sin, click here for the entire episode.
