There’s a sport that a few daring souls have begun to embrace called BASE, or extreme jumping. Its name is derived from the acronym for buildings, antennas, spans, and earth. Instead of jumping out of a plane and parachuting, these folks jump off tall buildings, high antennas, bridges, and cliffs—tempting fate and danger for the thrill of it. Because of its inherent danger, it’s banned in most places.

Jan Davis was one of five BASE jumpers prepared to challenge one such ban in Yosemite National Park. The group had climbed to the 3,200-foot peak of Yosemite’s El Capitan. Their jump was going to be a public protest to demonstrate that the jumps could be made safely.

Davis was 60 years old and a veteran of countless jumps made over 16 years. She was the fourth of five jumpers, and used borrowed gear because she didn’t want hers to be confiscated by rangers waiting to arrest her on the valley floor. As her friends and family watched from below, she jumped, but her chute never opened. She fell to her death. The newspaper headline of her death read, “Chutist dies in ironic tragedy.” BASE-jumping is inherently dangerous. That is part of its allure. But for Jan Davis it was a fatal attraction.

Like Jan Davis, each one of us has our own fatal attraction. While we may not consider ours nearly so dangerous, our fatal attractions can ruin our reputation, marriage, career, friendships, and dreams. Perhaps there’s no more vivid example in the Bible of this danger than Achan.

Achan’s story is found in Joshua 6. Israel had crossed the Jordan River and marched around Jericho for 7 days as God had commanded them. The story is familiar. Perhaps not quite as familiar are God’s specific instructions. Before the people were commanded to shout, which would bring down the walls of Jericho, they were reminded:

The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord; only Rahab the harlot and all who are with her in the house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent. But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. But all the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord (Josh. 6:17-19).

Achan was there, and he heard the ban. But the temptation proved too great for him, and he broke it. Unfortunately for all of Israel, the divine consequence of Achan’s sin was that God would no longer go before them and lead them to victory.

Unaware of what Achan had done, Israel attacked a small outpost called Ai. What should have been an easy victory turned into an inglorious defeat, and 36 men of Israel were killed. Ai remained defiant and unconquered. Joshua 7:16-26 relates the dramatic way that God exposed Achan’s sin to Israel, and his resulting confession.

From Achan’s example we can discern seven symptoms of a fatal attraction that may be evident in our own lives. If ignored, they could lead to a defining moment not unlike Achan’s—terrible, shameful, and destructive. But if we can identify them, there’s great hope that we can disarm the ticking time bomb before it explodes in our lives. The first and most obvious symptom is:

A Fatal Attraction Never Lies Dormant. A fatal attraction is nothing more than a secret sin or sinful attitude or activity that we have allowed to bloom. It is something we find ourselves drawn to that we know is dangerous and sinful, yet we have convinced ourselves that it’s safe for us. Perhaps we’ve even cultivated this attraction in private.

How long had Achan struggled with this problem of greed? This was not a momentary character lapse for Achan, but the natural result of a fatal attraction he had nurtured. Unfortunately, it was an attraction needing only the right opportunity— a defining moment—to prove his undoing. Achan’s fatal attraction was a glaring chink in his spiritual armor that he had ignored. His desire for wealth had hideously devolved into greed of the first order.

Achan’s motivations are common to all of us. James exposed the process of temptation in every human heart when he wrote:

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death (1:13-15).

How graphically this is revealed in Achan’s defining moment! But beyond James’ words there is, in Achan’s own confession, the clear downward spiral of temptation and sin:

When I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it (Josh. 7:21).

He saw, he coveted, he took, he concealed.

Before we leave this scene, it’s good to remember that thousands of Hebrew soldiers saw what Achan saw when they invaded Jericho, but their own greed had not degenerated to the level of Achan’s.

There is an enlightening equation we can derive from Achan’s life:

A FATAL ATTRACTION + OPPORTUNITY = SHAME, DISGRACE, AND LOSS

There is latent within all of us a fatal attraction. We can ignore it and assure ourselves that we have it under control. Or we can fear it, terrified that it may one day be our undoing.

We often mistake the lack of opportunity with self-control. But as Achan shows, by God’s mercy we may never have been exposed to the right opportunity. At some point, Satan will be given permission to tempt us again, and the opportunity will be presented.

Each of us has a sensitivity to different temptations. Some of us are extremely susceptible to financial temptations, others to sexual temptations, while others are vulnerable to temptations of fame or power. As you review the downward progression that led Achan to ruin, can you identify your own position on the continuum? I saw. I coveted. I took. I hid. How close to danger are you?

Achan’s defining moment came when he first laid eyes on the treasure he had discovered, because at that critical moment something happened that even he didn’t understand. An unaddressed perverted passion had grown too strong for him to control. Did it surprise even him?

The movie Little Shop Of Horrors is the story of a small alien flower that comes into the life of a young employee at a plant store. While the flower looks strange to him at first, he does his best to try to keep it alive. But despite his best efforts and all conventional care, it continues to die. It’s only when he accidentally cuts his finger and a drop of blood dribbles on the plant that it perks up. He is shocked to discover that it subsists on blood.

Each day the young man pricks his finger and feeds the ravenous plant. And each day the strange plant grows bigger and stronger, demanding more and more blood. It finally grows to fill the whole shop and even commits murder to fulfill its unquenchable desire.

This is an apt picture of what happens to unaddressed passions within us. They do not remain dormant. They will demand attention, and we must either deny them— sending them back into the shadows—or feed them, making them stronger still.

I saw. I coveted. I took. I hid. One unaddressed evil passion in our lives is all it takes. Remember, a fatal attraction never lies dormant. Second:

A Fatal Attraction Deafens Us To God’s Work And Voice. A quick review of the book of Joshua reminds us that Achan had been part of two tremendous miracles of God within a short period of time. First, he had walked across the Jordan River on dry ground as the water was miraculously held back in a heap. Second, he had witnessed an amazing miracle when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

Just before this miracle, Joshua had told everyone not to touch anything that was under the ban. So Achan knew exactly what he was doing when he took the loot. He showed no concern that God was active in Israel, ignoring the miracles performed right before his eyes.

Additionally, Joshua 5 indicates that Achan must have been one of the men who had been circumcised. Circumcision was a sign of the Hebrews’ covenant relationship with God. Had Achan forgotten the implications of this so soon? How can a man witness such miracles of God and then let his greed run amok? Didn’t he believe God would see what he was doing?

Achan’s story highlights the devastating effect of an unaddressed sinful passion. Our desire to listen to God’s Word wanes. We lose our appreciation for His works. When we embrace a sinful passion and allow it to grow strong in our lives, one of its first debilitating attacks is on our spiritual focus. To reach any goal— even an evil one—takes concentration and focus. We work, think, and strategize to reach what we want most. When that happens, we lose sight of everything else. It’s inevitable.

Achan’s greed was all he focused on in the end. He had stopped listening to God and appreciating His mighty works because all his senses were trained on one thing—greed. An unaddressed passion will slowly but surely deaden us to God’s work and His Word in our life. We will begin to tune out God’s voice because it will present an unwanted obstacle to our sin. And we don’t want our sin challenged; we want it fulfilled.

This is why Paul warned the young pastor Timothy, “The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Tim. 6:10). We can insert any number of passions in that verse and the result would be the same. The love of power, fame, and lust are also roots of all sorts of evil.

As Paul noted, some of us wander away from the faith. It’s a slow defection rather than an abrupt departure. We don’t just turn our backs on God one day; it takes time for a sinful desire to develop the level of intensity that will cause us to ignore the scriptural wisdom we’ve adhered to for years.

After years of counseling people who have been caught in various sins, I have noticed a clear pattern of behavior. A slow exchange of passions, developed over time, causes people to lose interest in God’s work and voice. It often happens slowly, so confident of their spiritual convictions that they fail to address the danger properly. Gradually they become oblivious to the danger. And then, in what appears to be just a moment, they fall.

One evening I was watching a documentary about strange creatures. The episode dealt with a predatory fish that had the extraordinary ability to burrow into the ocean floor, becoming completely camouflaged. While this odd fish was too slow to catch the smaller fish on which its diet depended, God had given it a long worm-shaped appendage on the top of its head that could wiggle freely. When the fish lay on the ocean floor wiggling that appendage, it looked just like a real worm dancing about. The unsuspecting prey would swim by, become tantalized by the wormlike appendage, and prepare to devour it. But in a split second, the predator would rise up and swallow the smaller fish.

Nature reminds us that this kind of thing happens every day. The Bible reminds us that it happens to people as well. Like the little fish being tantalized by the wormlike appendage, we become oblivious to the danger because we have stopped listening to God’s warnings. But the danger doesn’t end there. A third symptom is that:

A Fatal Attraction Stimulates The Growth Of Other Sins Within Us. Listen to God’s assessment of Achan’s activity. “Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things” (Josh. 7:11). How frequently do we traffic in one sin, and soon begin to “change lanes” to avoid detection. When we embrace one sin, it becomes necessary to resort to another. Not only did Achan steal, but he had to deceive everyone into thinking he hadn’t.

“Sins are like circles in the water when a stone is thrown into it; one produces another,” wrote Phillip Henry. “When anger was in Cain’s heart, murder was not far off.”

When someone becomes involved in scandal, drugs, alcohol, or any kind of immoral activity, how often does lying and deception enter the picture? Deception becomes necessary to hide the first sin already committed. For example, when President Clinton was accused of immorality with Monica Lewinsky, what was his immediate reaction? He lied to try to cover up his sin. But before we throw too many stones, is he so different from the rest of us? Who among us has not lied to cover up another sin? Did not King David try to cover up his sin with Bathsheba? One fatal attraction stimulates the growth of other sins within us.

Did Achan exhibit any concern for the 36 men who died? (Josh. 7:5). Did he care for their families, or for his responsibility in their deaths? The answer must be no, because the lot wo uld have taken quite some time to fall to him, and he had ample time to come clean (vv.14-18).

So why didn’t he care? He didn’t care because the seeds of self-centeredness and self-preservation had been cultivated in his life, to the exclusion of compassion and conscience.

The great aircraft carriers of World War II were vital war weapons. They were always escorted by other ships to protect them. In the same way, our fatal attraction requires other sinful “escorts” to keep itself safe.

We must not deceive ourselves. One nurtured sin waters other seeds of sin that have fallen into the fertile ground of our wavering faith, and they will quickly bloom. The idea that we can isolate a particular sin in our lives and restrain it from spreading elsewhere is a myth. The weeds of sin will always spread. Fourth:

A Fatal Attraction Blinds Us To Encroaching Danger. Achan’s response to the process of the lot in Joshua 7:14-18 is a fascinating study in human nature. Achan clearly understood how the lot worked, but at each draw of the lot, as it drew nearer and nearer him, he adamantly refused to confess. Achan never came forward, which leads me to believe he didn’t think he was actually going to be caught. This shouldn’t surprise us. He had already demonstrated that he was deaf to God’s work and voice.

The Hebrews used the lot to determine God’s will. The lot may have been stones marked with either black or white paint, or as others have suggested, they may have been pieces of marked pottery. Why the lot? Because “the lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord” (Prov. 16:33).

There were mountains of evidence that God was carefully watching over Israel in every way, but Achan’s sinful passion blinded him to it. It’s conceivable that he simply didn’t believe he would get caught. If he had an inkling he might, he was too greedy to risk losing his treasure unless he was forced to. Remember that he now had in his possession the thing he wanted most in life, the thing he had risked everything to get. Maybe he even hoped the lot would implicate someone else.

A fatal attraction blinds us to encroaching danger. Achan obviously had the will to sin; he lacked only the opportunity. But it’s doubtful he recognized his own weakness, for that would require wisdom. Achan had sacrificed wisdom on the altar of greed years earlier.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources reports that more than 17,000 deer die each year after being struck by motorists. According to the state wildlife director, the peak season for road kills is in late fall. Why? Because in November, the bucks are in rut. He tells us, “They’re concentrating almost exclusively on reproductive activities, and are a lot less wary than they normally would be.” Those words are so instructive: “a lot less wary than they normally would be.”

But we are not islands. And the activities we become involved in, for good or evil, start ripples that touch all those around us. Tragically, our fatal attraction will not affect only us. Fifth:

A Fatal Attraction Infects And Destroys Those Nearest Us. We sense a twinge of injustice when we see all Israel punished for one man’s sin, but we must remember that they had all entered a covenant with God. They had willingly agreed to be His people, to be faithful and obedient to Him. It was a unique arrangement. God looked at them as part of a unit. Each one’s sin affected the whole. They had entered this agreement willingly and freely, and God had taken it seriously.

When we read that his family was killed with him, we are further prompted to shout, “No fair!” The law said, after all, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin” (Dt. 24:16). Since this was part of the law, which Joshua knew thoroughly, it seems to indicate that Achan’s family was complicit in his scheme.

It would have been difficult for Achan to dig a hole in his tent, deposit several large objects, and then cover them up without his family knowing. Apparently, they were part o f the conspiracy to remain silent. Here we see another tragic outcome of refusing to address a fatal attraction—it infects those around us.

The values of parents are learned by their children. Achan’s newfound wealth couldn’t help but make life better for everyone involved, could it? Is it possible to believe that Achan’s greed was not noticed by his family? His own covetous passions were being conveyed daily to his own children.

Before we dismiss the offense as petty theft, remember that as a result of Achan’s sin, as many as 36 daddies didn’t come home and 36 families lost sons, fathers, and husbands. An entire army was demoralized and in danger of being attacked by other armies who would gain courage from Ai’s victory over Israel. God’s protection had been removed from them. An entire nation was now in great danger. Why? Because one man refused to address a sinful passion in his life. It destroyed not only his own life and family, but also 36 others.

When we lose control of our lives, our friends and loved ones are often injured in the crash. Achan was not the last person to lose far more than gold when his life careened madly out of control. Far more than just our own family and reputation are at stake. Sixth, we also know that:

A Fatal Attraction Shames God And His People. God’s assessment of the situation was clear and unequivocal: “He has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel” (Josh. 7:15). Not only was Israel disgraced by Achan’s action, God was shamed by it as well. Achan never even considered the shame his action would bring. Perhaps this is the most tragic of all the characteristics of Achan and all those who are in the grip of a fatal attraction—he didn’t care. His sinful desire was far more important to him than God’s reputation.

Years ago, one of the large churches in our area was rocked by a public scandal. A former president of a large parachurch organization, who was an elder in the church and a Sunday school teacher, was accused of molesting young girls at his home. The disgrace was intense.

What is worse is that this same man had been accused of similar activity 20 years earlier, but nothing had been done about it. His fatal attraction had remained buried until it finally bloomed and could no longer be hidden.

As we approach our own defining moments, we need to ask ourselves an important question. Is there something in our life that, if not addressed and brought to light, could bring shame to our family, our church, and our God? There may be an even more important question: Does the thought that our life could shame God and His church even bother us very much? If it doesn’t, we may be further along in our fatal attraction than we think.

The seventh and most serious of all the symptoms of a fatal attraction is:

A Fatal Attraction Steals From God What Belongs To Him. Achan never saw the seriousness of the sin he was harboring in his heart, but Joshua did. Remember God’s instructions? “The city shall be under the ban, it and all that is in it belongs to the Lord” (Josh. 6:17). Now look again at Joshua 7:23. “They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord.” Why did they pour Achan’s treasures out before the Lord? Because they were not Achan’s, or Israel’s, or Joshua’s—they were God’s!

Every one of us, regardless of whether we consider ourselves poor or rich, will want something we don’t or can’t have. The Bible reminds us that this is an essential part of our fallen nature. “Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, nor are the eyes of man ever satisfied” (Prov. 27:20). We may want someone else’s popularity, income, possessions, spouse, reputation, job, authority, girlfriend, or boyfriend. God, from His heavenly treasury, gives to each of us precious gifts of relationships, talents, family, position, and finances—but they are His. When we court any sinful passion within us, we are secretly conspiring to take more than God has allotted to us. To conspire to take what God has not given is to steal from Him.

Could a fatal attraction in your life be a plan to steal from God? It’s difficult in our consumer-conscious, materialistic society to believe that God may not want us to have what someone else has, but it’s true. If we can accept this truth, it can be one of the most freeing things we’ve ever learned—relieving us of the drive to accumulate and compare with everyone else. If we can’t accept this truth, it may be the last warning we are given.

A secret sin, a fatal attraction, can be the determinative factor in a tragic defining-moment decision—unless we realize it and address it beforehand.

I saw. I coveted. I took. I hid. This was a defining moment tragically caught on divine film for eternity. Will we address our own fatal attraction before it’s too late? Achan let the process go too far. We can still stop it. We must—and the sooner the better. May our legacy read: I saw. I was tempted. I resisted. I escaped.

Personal Reflection

Is there an attraction in your life that is growing so strong that, if given the right opportunity, you might indulge it? Ask yourself how this decision would affect your loved ones and the reputation of Jesus Christ. A fatal attraction is a ticking time bomb that must be defused, or it will eventually explode. You are either actively defusing the bomb or waiting for the explosion. Which is it?

Follow-through

Confess to God your secret fatal attraction and your feelings of powerlessness to overcome it. Be honest. Ask Him to strengthen you to resist this temptation and to send His servants to you to help you overcome it before it’s too late. Actively seek out a pastor, or a wise and godly mentor or counselor, to help you defuse your bomb before it explodes.