8.5 Gate-Keeping Rules

I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.” (Nehemiah 7:3)

Nehemiah created guidelines for when to open and close the gates. They were not to be opened until the sun was hot in the morning, and the gatekeepers were to bar and lock them before they got off duty at night. Waiting until late in the morning to open the gates ensured that the residents were awake and alert in the event of attack. Nehemiah also knew that nighttime was the time of a city’s greatest vulnerability. Closing the gates during that time kept evil influences outside the city walls.

I don’t know about you, but I find that nighttime is the time of day when I struggle the most. I’m physically tired; most of the stuff on T.V. is more sexually tuned; the more explicit shows are on later in the evening; my wife has already gone to bed… There are a variety of reasons why we should keep our guard up in the evenings. Like Nehemiah and the Jews, we could use some gate-keeping rules – not just for nighttime but for all times.

Gate-keeping rules are about avoiding temptation. They are designed to protect you from the infiltration tactics of the Enemy. They are not about legalism. Having rules about what you look at and listen to doesn’t make you any more or less of a Christian. They make you a smarter Christian.

Here’s a list of some rules you might consider for guarding your ear gates and your eye gates. They are organized by area of temptation and by degrees of intensity. The least intense tactics for avoiding temptation are first in each group. The most intense are last. Place a checkmark beside any gate-keeping rules to which you are willing to commit.

INTERNET & EMAIL
	Sign up for an internet accountability service. * (The service will email those you designate with information about which websites you’ve been visiting.)
	Get a pornography filter. *
	Have a professional clean your hard drive to remove cookies, spyware, Trojan horses and other devices that were loaded onto your system when you visited porn sites. (These devices can help pornographers continue to send you garbage even though you aren’t visiting their sites.)
	Put the computer in the family room or somewhere else that others can see what you are looking at.
	Let your wife review your internet History (showing where you have been.)
	Let your wife read your incoming/outgoing email whenever she wants.
	Give yourself a computer curfew (and tell your wife about it).
	Cancel your internet service.
	Get rid of your computer.
SUBSCRIPTIONS
	Get off mailing lists for catalogs that include lingerie and women’s underwear.
	Ask you wife to review magazine subscriptions and remove questionable pictures and articles before you see them.
	Cancel subscriptions to magazines with swimsuit issues (you know which one I’m talking about).
	Cancel subscriptions to men’s magazines that show explicit or revealing photographs or publish articles that prompt lustful thinking.
TRAVEL
	Ask your wife to help you release sexual tension when you are struggling or about to head out of town.
	Pray over your hotel room, bed, T.V., shower… when you arrive.
	Tape pictures of your wife and kids to the T.V. set.
	Throw out the cable T.V. guide when you arrive at the hotel.
	Ask the hotel to block movie access in your room.
	Make a list of shows you will allow yourself to watch in the hotel before you take the trip. Stick to the list.
	Commit to leaving the television off.
	Ask the hotel to remove the T.V. from your room.
	Schedule a regular evening call to your wife or accountability partner where you share how you are doing in the fight.
	Only stay at hotels that don’t offer pay-per-view pornography or cable. *
	Travel with another godly man.
	Commit to never be alone with a woman at meetings, at meals or when you are commuting.
	Change jobs so that you don’t have to travel as much.
MUSIC
	Begin listening to the lyrics of the music you enjoy to determine what messages the artists are promoting.
	Read about music albums from a reliable source before you buy it. *
	Stop listening to any music that has sexually promiscuous themes.
	Change your station presets to stations that play music with acceptable lyrics or no lyrics at all.
	Throw away or delete all music with inappropriate themes and lyrics.
	Listen only to Christian music.
MOVIES
	Close you eyes / plug your ears during a sexual or visually revealing scene.
	Ask your wife to pick out movies that are suitable for you to watch.
	Read about the movie from a reliable source before you go to see it. *
	Eliminate movies that are rated R specifically for sexual content, nudity and/or adult themes.
	Set a ratings limit for yourself (PG or PG-13). (Be careful, some PG-13 movies have heavy sexual content in them.)
	Leave the theatre or turn off the T.V. when you realize a movie is inappropriate.
	Stay out of the video store.
TELEVISION & CABLE
	Read about T.V. shows from a reliable source before you watch them. *
	Ask your cable company to block inappropriate channels.
	Record shows you want to watch and fast-forward through inappropriate commercials and/or scenes.
	Set a ratings limit on shows you can watch through your cable company or on your DVR device (i.e., like TIVO ®).
	Have your wife tell you when you can and can’t look at the screen to help you avoid inappropriate commercials and/or shows.
	Turn off the T.V. when you realize something is inappropriate.
	Cancel your cable subscription.
	Stop watching T.V. altogether.
VIDEO GAMES
	Set a ratings limit for yourself (E, E10+, or T).
	Read reliable reviews about game content before you play or buy. *
	Talk to godly gamers about games before you play or buy.
	Trade in or throw out games that you find to be inappropriate.

INCIDENTAL CONTACT
	Avoid shopping at the mall.
	Keep your eyes off magazine racks and newsstands.
	Avoid channel surfing.
	Preset your radio stations so that you don’t accidentally tune into a shock jock show.
	Avoid “watering holes” where people discuss the latest racy gossip, movies or T.V. shows.
	Don’t go through parts of town with clubs, bars, prostitutes…
	Be where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there.
	Make a covenant with your eyes not to look lustfully at a girl. (Job 31:1)
	Avoid spending time with people who have lower standards than you in this area.
	Throw away anything you shouldn’t have around the house.
GENERAL STRATEGIES
	Read your Bible.
	Memorize relevant Scriptures. *
	Surround yourself with things that remind you of your love and commitment to your wife and family.
	Let your wife look through your contacts and calls on your cell phone whenever she wants.
	Let your wife review your credit card bills or go online to look at your account history whenever she wants.
	Go to bed on time or even early if you are feeling weak.
	Enlist an accountability partner, who will call you or who you can call during the times when you know you are going to be weak.

* See Appendix for resources and recommended businesses.

8.1 Assigning Gatekeepers

My temptations are my masters of Divinity.

–Martin Luther

After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do. (Nehemiah 7:1-2)

As soon as Nehemiah had the walls up, he turned his focus on the temple and made sure that all the important jobs were filled. One of the most critical responsibilities belonged to the gatekeepers, who were to protect the temple by controlling what was allowed into it.

There are actually two types of gatekeepers: those assigned to the temple and those assigned to the city gates. Gatekeepers made sure that only good things were allowed in and that bad things were kept out. By following this simple principle, the city and the temple were protected. If the gatekeepers compromised their leadership role, they endangered the temple, the city and all those within it.

For us, it’s important to guard both our hearts and our minds from attacks by the Enemy. Your gates, as you may remember from the introduction, include your ears, your eyes and your mouth. Things come into your city (i.e., your mind) through your eyes and ears, and things leave your city through your mouth.

If we allow the Enemy past our gates, he can do untold destruction to our hearts and minds. Maybe you remember the story about another city whose gatekeepers compromised when deciding what to allow in the gates.