Welcome to Overcoming-Lust.com!
The purpose of this website is to help you and those you love to gain and maintain victory over lust.
My name is Jim Vander Spek. Back in 2005, God intervened in my life. Through a series of events, He brought me to victory over lust.
I will not repeat my story here. If you want to find out more about that, read the book Overcoming Lust. In fact, I will happily let you download chapters 1-5 and 9 of this book. These will describe my story and will also explain exactly what I mean when I say, “victory over lust.” To receive this, simply ask for it in the contact box below and I will get a link to you.
You do not need to purchase the book Overcoming Lust, to learn what you need to do to gain victory over this life dominating sin. The essential information is all here on this website. You can start by reading the introduction to the book on the Amazon website and then studying the articles on this site (see drop down menu above), particularly “Understanding Lust” and “Fourteen Weapons for Overcoming Lust”
I encourage you also to read some of the “blog posts” for additional information and encouragement.
The bulk of these posts were written over a two year period. I have slowed down on blogging to a crawl, turning my attention to other pursuits. However, many have found these posts to be valuable and a lot of effort and prayer went into each one. A friend, who does the graphics, has added a lot of care and value to this as well. You are welcome to “subscribe” in the box below if you are not yet on the mailing list. Subscribing means that you will receive an email from me when I add new material to the site.
For about ten years, I wrote a regular column for a local 130K circulation newspaper. Those articles were focused on tax issues and appeared every other week. Being a CPA, this was a subject that I knew about. As I have effectively dealt with lust in my life, I know a lot about it as well. Lust is a powerful sin, wildly misunderstood by me in the past and by many others—including many who are in the church.
Initially, my battle with and victory over lust caused me to write some articles that I posted on a public website. The site is obscure but still gets a lot of hits (about 30,000) so far. They have proven to be helpful to many. Some who had read these articles encouraged me to write my one and only book. I have tweaked some of these articles and posted them on this website. See the drop down menu above.
Why have I created Overcoming-Lust.com? Isn’t writing a book good enough?
- A book is not noticed. As hard as I worked on the book Overcoming Lust, it—like all new books—will have only limited impact. Even the best authors are struggling. I am not a professional writer, teacher or speaker. Heidi Mitchell, a friend in the publishing industry, told me she thought that the message expressed in Overcoming Lust was important and helpful but that it would not be noticed until I developed a “platform.” Since I had no idea of what she meant by that, she pointed me to Michael Hyatt’s terrific book on this subject: http://michaelhyatt.com/platform After reading what Michael wrote, I felt I had no choice but to find a more effective way to explain to others what I had learned than simply writing a book.
- A book is static. (Note: a new updated version was published in 2014) Sure, in this day and age, a book can be easily edited and re-issued. Using POD (print on demand) allows this easily. However, once done, that’s it. People will not notice an updated edition. Whenever anyone “finishes” writing anything, new ideas crop up. The urge to edit, fix and improve something we write can cripple us from completing any writing project. The French poet, Paul Valery, captured this idea well when he wrote, “A poem is never finished, only abandoned.” Once published, a book is finished. On the other hand, this website is always under construction.
- Feedback and interaction. This site encourages interaction and comments. I want to hear about how you are dealing with the sin of lust and other stories and reactions you may have to the things written by me or others. If you want to write me personally, use the contact box below.
- It is free and accessible 24/7! Thousands from around the world access this site every month. The readership has been consistently increasing with over 25% of the visitors returning to dig deeper. I love to hear how this is changing their lives.
Thanks and credit go to Miles Debenedictis, who jumpstarted this project, and to Jim Johnston and Scott Craemer for their technical skills and assistance.
I hope and pray that this website will be helpful for you if you are struggling with lust or helping others to overcome this sin. Let me know!
