Ikchoy de Leon: How I overcame addiction to pornography, sexual orgies, masturbation, and illegal drugs
About 60% of men and 16% of women spend up to five hours per week online to look for sex or watch porn. There are practical ways and internet accountability that can help, but ultimately, it is only Jesus who can help you. Ikchoy de Leon tells us his story.
And the sex trip begins
Most boys in the puberty stage are still fantasizing about the birds and the bees. In Ickhoy de Leon’s case, at age twelve, he received his baptism into manhood through a hands-on sex education courtesy of a hired prostitute. This pressed the button that activated his sexual hunger.
His exposure to a culture of violence, when he joined a fraternity in college, fed more fodder to his wild, reckless behavior. His sex addiction found a perfect pair of substance abuse. These worked together to increase his appetite for pornography, masturbation, and sexual immorality.
Corporate slave & party animal at night
When he got employed, he was a corporate slave during the day and a party animal at night. His daily after-office hours were spent partying, carousing, and cavorting till the wee hours.
While high on drugs and alcohol, he would gamely engage in sex orgies. His climb up the corporate ladder entailed business trips perked up with pleasure and sex adventures.
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Old habits die hard
Such was Ickhoy’s decade-long decadent life. Until one day, a gnawing feeling started eating him up inside. So he thought of cleaning up his act. He seriously pursued a lady he wanted to marry. But since old habits die hard, their relationship led to physical intimacy.
The girl left to study abroad, where she met someone who became the cause of their breakup. Their wedding plans were nixed. Another girl came along two years later. He really thought she was the one, but the relationship ended just the same despite efforts to make it work.
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Desperate need for help
At this point, Ickhoy felt a desperate need for the Lord. It was at a singles retreat at CCF, where he had a personal encounter with Christ and was released from the shackles of sexual immorality.
Since then, his office colleagues and party buddies noticed his transformation. He begged off from gimmicks and stayed away from their usual haunts.
Old habits may die hard, but nothing is impossible with God when we turn over the reins of our lives to Him (Matthew 19:26). Never can we overcome sin and other bad habits by our own strength; rather, it is by the power of God’s Spirit working in us.
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Ickhoy, after more than a decade
Five years ago, Ickhoy left the corporate world to devote himself to full-time ministry. The road to purity remains a tough journey for him, with billboards with sexual innuendoes screaming for attention and porn sites on the internet within easy reach.
Ickhoy also points out that it helps to know and understand the triggers that make one prone to lust and other temptations. He submits himself to a church accountability group that supports him in his spiritual walk and ensures that he stays on track.
1 Corinthians 7:22
“… remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ.“
Old has gone, a new creation in Christ
It’s not easy for someone to declare to the world, “I was once a porn addict.” The truth is he has found joy and fulfillment in Jesus, and the love he found compels him to tell everyone that there is real freedom in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:14)
Now more than twelve years porn-free, he won the battle against the flesh by focusing on the true source of his greatest high.
2 Corinthians 5:17
“… anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!“
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