“The scandal was made public Saturday. As many as 11 agents and 10 military servicemembers allegedly brought prostitutes back to their hotel in Cartagena, Colombia, while doing advance work before the president’s arrival for a trade summit.”
Seriously? Another scandal dealing with Sexual Purity issues and public employees? Why does this not surprise me? I didn’t even
bother to watch or read a single news story on the subject of the Secret Service agents and Marines who used the services of 20+ Colombian prostitutes the week before the president made his trip to the South American country. I understood what was going on, just from the headlines. I actually had to search for the story in order to read more about it!
The sad reality is, in today’s mainstream society, it is almost acceptable for a man, especially overseas, to partake in this type sexual immorality. The news stories keep referencing a “secret culture” in the Secret Service that seems to have been in place for a while. However, as “mainstream” as it is for men to visit prostitutes or act out sexually in affairs, self gratification, or pornography, this should never be acceptable. Accepting that a co-worker engage in such activity is just as bad as you supporting them in that activity! The “secret culture” they speak of is a culture of immorality and looking the other way, accepting this type of behavior as normal behavior, both by the Secret Service and Military members. I believe that the problem is that of “group think” where many men have done this for so long and passed it on to others, that when someone new asks the question “why?” the other men accuse him of not being a “team player” but in reality don’t even know where, when, or how this “secret culture” became acceptable, they just accept and partake!
Their actions will have major ramifications not only for themselves and their loved ones, but for the entire agency. The head of the Secret Service agency is now under scrutiny. Why didn’t he stop this “secret culture” when he took the job? Perhaps he was part of that culture and either engaged in the immoral behavior or simply looked the other way. From my knowledge of members of the Secret Service, this type of activity is nothing new. Many participate and those that do not, simply look the other way!
At what point do your friends or co-workers confront you on your sexually immoral behaviors? Is it after you’ve been caught or while you are acting out? A man who struggles with sexual immorality as much as these guys do are perhaps in a deep denial that they have a problem. Furthermore, their “friends” don’t do anything to help the man and just enable his actions, some by joining the “fun” and other by looking the other way. In my case, I wish I “real” friends would have said something to me about my problem with sexual impurity before I went as far as I did.
Have you ever been in a position where you saw a coworker acting in an immoral manner and failed to say or do something about it? Were you just a team player and even joined in on the fun? How about at your church? Do you know the men at your church intimately enough to know they might struggle with sexual purity? Perhaps you have been in a support or recovery group long enough where you can take the initiative and be courageous enough to step forward and do what is right and help out a fellow man. Sometimes, these men need to be brought into the light by brothers who struggle with the same issues.
Sexual impurity, however, is a very secretive issue. So how can a man in recovery help bring out those that need help? It’s easy (sort of). You can help others simply by being open and honest with your own struggles, not caring what the other men or women think about you or your past activities. You never know who might be listening, perhaps someone who is so far “down the scale” that they desperately need to hear about hope in getting out of the pit of sexual immorality. Perhaps one of these Secret Service agents could have had the support to say “No” to sexual immorality had someone at their church given their testimony on how they were a slave to sexual immorality or addiction!
We don’t really know how God will use us or our testimony, just at the right time, for the right person, for the right reason, to advance His kingdom and help a lost man living in the dark, come to the light and enter a spiritual program of recovery.
