America's most socially and financially costly addiction is pornography, wreaking havoc by destroying family life as insidiously as a hidden cancer. This addiction does not require leaving one's home to indulge, and despite a reported small decline in the USA recently, the spread among more sellers makes tracking difficult. Approximately 22 million Americans are truly addicted, with one in six being women, and every third person accessing a porn site being female. The financial impact is staggering, with the industry reaching $14 billion annually in the United States, surpassing combined revenues of major sports leagues. Since 1970, when a federal study estimated the retail value of hardcore pornography at $10 million, the advent of the Internet has brought it directly into homes, enabling secret indulgence and driving sales to $13.3 billion by 2006. Worldwide, the sex industry generates $97 billion, with significant consumption in countries like China, South Korea, Japan, and America. Every second, $3075 is spent on pornography in the United States, with 28,258 Internet users viewing such sites and 372 typing adult search terms. Child pornography alone accounts for $3 billion of the annual total. Major cable companies and hotel chains also profit immensely from adult content, with 50% of hotel guests utilizing in-room adult film services, which account for 70% of room profits. The social damage is immense, though hard to quantify, as pornography destroys intimacy with spouses, fosters objectification, and turns sex into a self-gratifying act rather than an expression of love as intended by God.

Lying originates in the heart and becomes addictive to the liar. The addiction grows as the person finds it easier to lie a second and third time until it becomes habitual. The liar then tells lies without attending to it. The fruit of this addiction is that the person makes himself unbelievable. Lies form a fortress inside which the liar feels safe and powerful while attempting to manipulate others. The fortress requires walls built from justifications for the lies. The major damage from this addiction is the destruction of trust. Without trust no peaceful relationship is possible. A relationship may continue after a lie but will never be the same and may be destroyed entirely. Satan intends to capture every soul through lying and make that person his slave. The whole world lies under the sway of the devil and is thus enslaved by lying. One who is addicted to lying cannot help himself. The effect spreads so that an entire nation becomes psychologically enslaved and filled with uncertainty from the conflict generated by the addiction.

Sin is often covered over and tolerated by those who commit it, but God will not allow it to remain hidden and instead uses necessity to bring it into the open for confession and forgiveness. Joseph's brothers acknowledged their sin to one another after facing deprivation, harsh treatment, and solitude, yet their confession lacked reference to the sovereign God until proof of His presence appeared. Personal Egypt is any condition in which something controls life and robs freedom for independent action, such as alcohol, drugs, an uncontrollable urge to covet, debt, marriage problems, health problems, or the desperate search for a perfect mate. Misrayim, the accurate Hebrew name for Egypt, means narrow straits and describes a constricted passageway that confines options and squeezes tightly. Anything that takes over life and erodes passion is an Egypt that saps creativity. Escape from such sin and addiction requires knowing what will replace the habit, committing to a higher goal such as worshiping God in spirit and truth, and accepting that an outside accomplice is needed because human effort alone cannot prevail. God uses messengers and opportunities for change, and those who recognize them can leave Egypt while others remain and die there. The pattern of necessity imposed by famine, the will of man, and inescapable circumstances awakens conscience to sin and draws people to acknowledge the love of God.