Why Does the Devil Want You to Watch Porn?
A Christian Perspective on Intimacy, Holiness, and Spiritual Warfare
By Jeffrey Pang, Counsellor, MC, Dip. CSBD (ISAT)
In every generation, God calls His people into intimacy with Him. From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture reveals a God who pursues, loves, and desires deep covenant relationship with His children. Yet one of the greatest threats to intimacy with God today is pornography — not just because of its addictive effects on the brain, but because of the spiritual battle behind it.
“Why does the devil want me to watch porn?”
The answer is simple and sobering:
Porn destroys intimacy — with God, with yourself, and with others.
“Whatever your heart clings to and confides in—that is really your god.”
— Martin Luther
This blog explores the biblical theme of intimacy, why porn is spiritually destructive, and how believers can return to joy, freedom, and wholehearted connection with God.
1. God Desires Intimacy With Us
From the beginning, God reveals Himself as a relational Being — one who desires closeness with His people, not distance.
In the Old Testament: God is the Bridegroom
Over and over, Scripture uses the language of marriage to describe God’s covenant with Israel:
“For your Maker is your husband —
the LORD Almighty is His name.”
— Isaiah 54:5
God pursued Israel with love, longing for her faithfulness, affection, and worship. When Israel turned to idols, God described it as spiritual adultery — not just rule-breaking, but relational betrayal.
The message is clear:
Intimacy with God is the heart of true worship.
2. Christ and His Bride
The theme continunes in the New Testament, which deepens this imagery. Jesus is the Bridegroom; the Church is His Bride.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her…
for we are members of His body.”
— Ephesians 5:25–32
Christ’s relationship with the Church is marked by:
- Sacrificial love
- Purity
- Unity
- Covenant commitment
Everything about Christian life — prayer, holiness, worship, obedience — flows from intimacy with Jesus, not performance.
3. There Is Joy, Peace, and Blessings When We Draw Near to God
True intimacy with God brings life:
“In Your presence there is fullness of joy;
at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
— Psalm 16:11
“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”
— James 4:8
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete.”
— 1 John 1:3-4
“You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.”
— St. Augustine
This is why spiritual attack is real:
Anything that disrupts your intimacy with God disrupts your joy.
And porn does exactly that.
4. Porn Draws Us Away From God
A. Porn Is Sin — and Sin Disrupts Fellowship With a Holy God
The Bible is clear about sexual purity:
“Flee from sexual immorality.”
— 1 Corinthians 6:18
“For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality.”
— 1 Thessalonians 4:3
God is holy — utterly pure, righteous, and radiant in glory.
To be clear, no man can come into fellowship with the Holy God through their own efforts (Romans 3:23). Therefore, we are saved, not by our works, but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). While our salvation is secure through faith in Christ, ongoing, unrepentant sin disrupts intimacy and creates question marks over one’s salvation (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
This is why the devil wants us to be trapped in porn:
As John Piper says, “Satan’s main work is to blind people from seeing the all-satisfying glory of Christ.”
Porn blinds the heart — not just morally, but spiritually.
It shifts your gaze from the beauty of Jesus to the illusion of pleasure.
It doesn’t just stain the conscience — it starves the soul.
B. Porn Is a Counterfeit Joy
God designed us for real, lasting joy that comes intimacy with Him.
Porn offers the opposite:
- Quick pleasure
- Zero intimacy
- Zero commitment
- Zero love
Porn promises connection but delivers emptiness. It promises escape but produces bondage. Akin to cotton candy, porn tastes sweet momentarily but leaves us emptier than before.
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us… We are far too easily pleased.”
— C.S. Lewis
Real joy is grounded in relationship with the Triune God — Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Porn is a distorted shortcut — a dopamine-based illusion of intimacy.
The enemy wants believers to choose the counterfeit, not the real thing.
5. Porn Destroys Intimacy With Others
Porn doesn’t only harm your spiritual life — it deeply damages relationships12.
Porn:
- Reduces empathy
- Disrupts emotional bonding
- Lowers attraction to real partners
- Increases selfishness and fantasy-driven expectations
- Reshapes the brain’s reward system
- Fractures trust in marriage
- Fosters secrecy, lies, and isolation
Porn teaches the brain to seek pleasure without relationship and commitment.
It rewires sexuality toward self, not unity, which is the opposite of God’s design.
“Sex is a way to know and be known — not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. Pornography destroys this by creating desire without intimacy.”
— Tim Keller
This is exactly what the enemy wants — broken marriages, fractured families, lonely believers, disconnected communities.
6. Other Effects of Porn That the Enemy Uses
Porn’s spiritual attack is reinforced by its psychological and relational damage. Some proven effects include:
• Addiction and loss of self-control3
Repeated porn use rewires the brain’s dopamine system, making temptation stronger and self-control weaker.
• Distorted view of sex4
Porn promotes unrealistic expectations, ungodly values, and self-centered sexuality.
• Increased anxiety and depression5
Research consistently shows a link between frequent porn use and emotional instability.
• Escalation into darker content6
The dopamine cycle requires stronger stimulation over time, leading to more extreme material.
• Shame and self-hatred7
The devil uses shame to trap believers in secrecy and despair.
• Loneliness and withdrawal8
Porn encourages isolation and discourages vulnerability and healthy connection.
All of these effects work together to weaken your spiritual life, emotional health, and relationships.
So Why Does the Devil Want You to Watch Porn?
Because porn is one of the enemy’s most effective tools to:
- Destroy intimacy with God
- Distort your identity
- Break relationships
- Weaken your spiritual confidence
- Enslave the mind through addiction
- Bury you under shame
- Separate you from community
- Rob you of joy, peace, and purpose
Porn is not just a moral issue —
it is spiritual warfare.
“Be killing sin or it will be killing you.”
— John Owen
The Good News: Freedom Is Possible
The enemy’s power ends where truth begins.
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
— John 8:36
Healing often requires:
- Confession
- Community
- Counselling
- Accountability
- New habits
- Renewing the mind
- Daily grace
At Sacred Space Counselling, we help Christians break free from the cycle of sexual shame and rediscover intimacy with God and others through trauma-informed, faith-integrated counselling.
You are not alone.
You are not beyond grace.
And you are not destined to stay stuck.
Freedom is possible — and intimacy with God can be restored.
If you’re unsure, you can take a Confidential Sex Addiction Test to better understand your patterns (This is not a diagnosis but simply an assessment).
References
- Willoughby, B. J., Carroll, J. S., Busby, D. M., & Brown, C. C. (2016). Differences in pornography use among couples: Associations with satisfaction, stability, and relationship processes. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(1), 145-158. ↩︎
- Perry, S. L., Willoughby, B. J., & Carroll, J. S. (2020). Pornography and relationship quality: Establishing the dominant pattern by examining porn use and 31 measures of relationship quality in 30 national surveys. Archives of Sexual Behavior. ↩︎
- https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/brain-activity-in-sex-addiction-mirrors-that-of-drug-addiction ↩︎
- Miller, D. J., McBain, K. A., Li, W. W., & Raggatt, P. T. F. (2019). Pornography, preference for porn-like sex, masturbation, and men’s sexual and relationship satisfaction. Personal Relationships, 26(1), 93–113. ↩︎
- Camilleri, J., Perry, S. L., & Sammut, C. (2021). Compulsive Internet Pornography Use and Mental Health: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Sample of University Students in the U.S. (Journal details). ↩︎
- “Who Finds Pornography Stressful? A Latent Profile Analysis.” (2024). PubMed. ↩︎
- “Pornography Consumption and Cognitive-Affective Distress.” J. of Nervous and Mental Disease (2023) 211(8):641-646. ↩︎
- Li, L., Feng, R., Yang, L., et al. (2025). Unraveling the impact of cyberporn motivations on mental health: insights from Chinese college students. BMC Psychology, 13, 562. ↩︎
