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Grace Notes Ministry:
Jump to: Part 2
Pornography: Lies and Chains
James 1:13-15
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Intro:
“Don’t talk on this subject, preacher, it’s inappropriate.”
Oh yes, we must, and let me tell you why. The world talks about it and no one isn’t touched by it…it’s high time the church take a stand!
“But, I don’t use porn, and I’m sure my spouse and kids don’t.”
Good, then you won’t be on the spot at all today!
Pornography is big business. According to U.S. News and World Report, the industry 5 years ago grossed an estimated $10 billion. That figure represents an expenditure of about $30 per person in the United States. That's more than is spent annually on gambling! And it has the same links to organized crime!
Porn is now as American as Apple Pie, and has found a place in every corner of our society, including the church. We’ll talk about that in a minute.
It’s now a $12 Billion dollar a year industry in the US alone! This amount is much larger than Hollywood's domestic box office receipts and larger than all the revenues generated by rock and country music recordings. Americans now spend more money at strip clubs than at Broadway shows, off-Broadway shows, in Branson, or regional, and nonprofit theaters; at the opera, the ballet, and jazz and classical music performances -- combined. It is today the #7 grossing industry in the US!
The revenues of the porn industry in the U.S. alone are bigger than the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball combined. Worldwide porn sales are reported to be $57 billion. To put this in perspective, Microsoft, who sells the operating system used on most of the computers in the world (in addition to other software) reported sales of 36.8 billion in 2004.
Family Safe Media
Most of the profits being generated
by porn today are being earned by businesses not traditionally associated with
the sex industry -- by mom and pop video stores; long-distance carriers like
AT&T; by cable companies like Time Warner, and by hotel chains which now earn
millions of dollars each year by supplying adult films to their guests.
The United States is now by far the world's leading producer of porn,
churning out hard-core videos at the astonishing rate of about 150 new titles a
week.
Each year, Americans spend more than $150 million ordering adult movies on
pay-per-view.
Playboy's Web site now averages about five million hits a day.
Telephone sex -- Every night, between the peak hours of 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.,
perhaps a quarter of a million Americans pick up the phone and dial a number for
commercial phone sex.
There are now more outlets for hard-core pornography in the United States
than McDonald's restaurants.
The introduction of pornography to the information highway has made home
computers the fastest growing and primary mode of distribution of illegal
pornography.
*A study by Nielsen Media Research indicated heavy traffic into the Penthouse
Web site from corporate networks. Use of this Web site did not taper off at all
during office hours. In just one month, employees from IBM, Apple and AT&T
visited the site 12,823 times.
Compaq Computer dismissed approximately 20 employees, each of whom had
accessed sex-related Web sites more than 1,000 times.
*50% of all search engine requests are for porn of some level!
*25% of porn websites use popular names in their title bars such as Barbie, Disney, Nintendo, Toys, Games…so as to attract the “right” crowd to their sites.
*In Oklahoma City, as they eliminated over 150 sexually oriented businesses, the rape rate declined over 27 percent in the five-year period. During that same time, rape in the rest of the state continued to rise over 19 percent.
*A study in Phoenix, Arizona, found that neighborhoods with a pornography business experienced 40 percent more property crime and 500 percent more sexual offenses than similar neighborhoods without a pornography outlet.
*Many men and boys, Christians included, are caught in the deadly attraction to
pornography. Barna says that as many as one in four pastors struggle with or are
addicted to pornography. We can conclude, therefore, that in each of our
churches a sizeable percentage of men in our pews on a Sunday morning are in the
heat of this battle. Josh McDowell’s website indicates no percentage of teen
male participation in porn…it only says, “virtually ALL” teen boys look at it!
12-17 year old boys are the leading demographic of users of pornography.
* According to the Justice Department, in 1998 there were 28,000 X-rated Web sites generating 925 million dollars in revenue. Within just three years this number increased to 280,000 X-rated Web sites.
* 60% of all website visits are sexual in nature
MSNBC Survey 2000
* The No. 1 search term used at search engine sites is the word “sex”. Users searched for “sex” more than other terms such as "games," "travel," "music," "jokes," "cars," "weather," "health" and "jobs" combined. The study also found that "pornography/porno" was the fourth-most searched for subject.
Alexa Research
* A 2000 MSNBC.com survey found that as many as 80 percent of visitors to sex sites were spending so much time tracking down erotica on the computer that they were putting their real-life relationships and/or jobs at risk. "Until they discovered cybersex, most of these people had no problems with sexual addition", according to the survey’s author, Al Cooper, a sex therapist at the San Jose Marital Services and Sexuality Center in San Jose, Calif.
* 77% of online visitors to adult content sites are male. Their average age is 41 and they have an annual income of $60,000. 46% are married.
Forrester Research Report, 2001
* In 2001, in a study of 7037 adults, two thirds of those who visit websites with sexual content say their Internet activities haven't affected their level of sexual activity with their partners, though 75% report masturbating while on line.
Divorcewizards.com
* The U.S. Customs Service estimates that there are more than 100,000 websites offering child pornography (which are illegal) worldwide.
Red Herring Magazine, 1/18/02
* Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year – more than 20 times the mainstream movie production.
LA Times Magazine, 2002
* 39 million homes receive the adult channels in scrambled form, while the number of children with potential exposure to such images is about 29 million
Morality Continues to Decay. Barna Research Group, November 3, 2003
* One in 4 American adults surveyed in 2002 admitted to seeing an x-rated movie in the last year.
National Opinion Research Letter
* 50% of hotel in room movie rentals are porn movies.
LA Times, 2-2-05
* The average time a porn movie is watched in a hotel room is 12 minutes.
Time.com, 3-29-05
* The average teenager spends three to four hours per day watching television and 83% of the programming most frequently watched by adolescents contains some sexual content.
Gary Rose, CEO of The Medical Institute, as reported by Focus on the Family 7/8/2005
* 42% of songs on ten top-selling CDs in 1999 contained sexual content, 41% of which were "very explicit" or "pretty explicit."
Family News in Focus, July 2005
* "Last year, Comcast, the nation's largest cable company, pulled in $50 million from adult programming. All the nation's top cable operators, from Time Warner to Cablevision, distribute sexually explicit material to their subscribers. But you won't read about it in their annual reports. Same with satellite providers like EchoStar and DirecTV, which is owned by Hughes Technology, a subsidiary of General Motors.
How much does DirecTV make off of adult product?
“They don't break the number out. But I would guess they'd probably get a couple hundred million, maybe as much as $500 million, off of adult entertainment, in a broad sense,” says Dennis McAlpine, a partner in McAlpine Associates, who has tracked the entertainment industry for over two decades. “I would think it's probably more than what their overall profit is. The other areas are losing money. But that's making money.”
Then there are the big hotel chains: Hilton, Marriot, Hyatt, Sheraton and Holiday Inn, which all offer adult films on in-room pay-per-view television systems. And they are purchased by a whopping 50 percent of their guests, accounting for nearly 70 percent of their in-room profits. One hotel owner said, "We have to have it, our guests demand it.”
From a CBS News Special Report, November 2003
* "The porn industry employs an excess of 12,000 people in California. In California alone the porn industry pays over $36 million in taxes every year."
Bill Lyon, a former lobbyist for the defense industry turned lobbyist for porn, as quoted by CBS News November 2003
* In a Kinsey Institute survey, people were asked "Why do you use porn?"
72% said they used porn to masturbate/for physical release.
69% - to sexually arouse themselves and/or others.
54% - out of curiosity.
43% - "because I can fantasize about things I would not necessarily want in real life."
38% - to distract myself.
* “Most girls who enter the porn industry do one video and quit. The experience is so painful, horrifying, embarrassing, humiliating for them that they never do it again.”
Luke Ford, quoted by CBS News
* A study of university networks by Palisades Systems found searches for child pornography at 230 colleges nationwide. The research revealed that 42% of all searches on file-to-file sharing systems involved child or adult pornography. The study also found that 73% of movie searches were for pornography, 24% percent of image searches were for child pornography, and only 3% of the searches did not involve pornography or copyrighted materials.
April 1, 2003 – Des Moines Register
* Queen's University in Belfast conducted a survey of 350 businesses in the U.S., U.K. and Australia for the porn-filtering firm SurfControl. 28% of those questioned said they had downloaded sexually explicit content from the Web while on the job. U.S.-based employees were slightly less likely to do so than workers in other countries. The survey also found abuse to be slightly higher in organizations with more than 500 employees. Of the 31 percent of employees who distributed sexually explicit material from work, 36 percent worked at companies larger than 500 employees; 27 percent worked for companies with 20 employees or less.
MSNBC 9-6-04
* In May 2004 Businessweek printed the results of a ComScore Networks survey where 44% of U.S. workers with an internet connection admitted to accessing an X rated website at work in the month of March 2004, as compared to 40% of home users and 59% of University users.
* More than 30% of 1,500 surveyed companies have terminated employees for inappropriate use of the Internet, while only 37.5% of companies use filtering software.
Websense Incorporated and The Center for Internet Studies, 2000
Men, to look at porn is to commit adultery, acc’d to Jesus Christ!
Matthew 5:27-28
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: [28] But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
But is it only about men and boys? No.
* 17% of all women struggle with porn addiction
* 1 of 3 visitors to all adult websites are women
* 9.4 million women access adult websites every month
Internet Filter Review
Females? Yes! Some would be lesbians or bisexual, but many are thinking they can learn what men want by viewing porn. And let's not forget the many women also victims of pornography--both those who are sucked into exposing themselves for pay and those of you who do it for free! Do it for free, what do you mean, Pastor?
Just look at the definition of porn.= “exposure which leads to sexual arousal.”
It’s time for Church girls and Christian ladies to stop trying to fit in w/ every style and realize we ought to obey God rather than men…and the Bible teaches modesty, innocence, and saving that unveiling for your wedding night. It’s time for girls to realize that males will look if you’ll show it, and that he’ll take off the rest of your clothes w/ an eyeball undressing if only you hint at what else is under there!
Ill.—you’re advertising…you’d better be ready and willing to deliver the merchandise on your billboard…and if you won’t freely give it to him, he’ll take it w/ the imagination you’ve sparked in his mind! Or maybe forcibly!
* 38 percent of adults believe it is ‘morally acceptable’ to look at pictures of nudity or explicit sexual behavior
Morality Continues to Decay. Barna Research Group, 3 November, 2003
* 59 percent of adults believe it is ‘morally acceptable’ to have sexual thoughts or fantasies
Morality Continues to Decay. Barna Research Group, 3 November, 2003
* 38 percent of adults believe there is nothing wrong with pornography use
Morality Continues to Decay. Barna Research Group, 3 November, 2003
* 42 percent of surveyed adults indicated that their partner’s use of pornography made them feel insecure.
Marriage Related Research, Mark A. Yarhouse, Psy.D. Christian Counseling Today, 2004 Vol. 12 No. 1
* 41 percent of surveyed adults admitted they felt less attractive due to their partner’s pornography use.
Marriage Related Research, Mark A. Yarhouse, Psy.D. Christian Counseling Today, 2004 Vol. 12 No. 1
* August 7, 2006: 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.
From the results of a ChristiaNet poll reported by Marketwire.com
* In December of 2000, the National Coalition to Protect Children and Families surveyed 5 Christian Campuses to see how the next generation of believers was doing with sexual purity:
48% of males admitted to current porn use
68% of males said they intentionally viewed a sexually explicit site at school
* Roger Charman of Focus on the Family's Pastoral Ministries reports that approximately 20 percent of the calls received on their Pastoral Care Line are for help with issues such as pornography and compulsive sexual behavior.
* A 1996 Promise Keepers survey at one of their stadium events revealed that over 50% of the men in attendance were involved with pornography within one week prior to attending the event.
* In a 2000 Christianity Today survey, 33% of clergy admitted to having visited a sexually explicit Web site. Of those who had visited a porn site, 53% had visited such sites “a few times” in the past year, and 18% visit sexually explicit sites between a couple of times a month and more than once a week.
[the stats are higher among pastors in anonymous surveys]
* Out of 81 pastors surveyed (74 males 7 female), 98% had been exposed to porn; 43% intentionally accessed a sexually explicit website
National Coalition survey of pastors. Seattle. April 2000
* In his book, "Men's Secret Wars", Patrick Means reveals a confidential survey of evangelical pastors and church lay leaders. Sixty-four percent of these Christian leaders confirm that they are struggling with sexual addiction or sexual compulsion including, but not limited to use of pornography, compulsive masturbation, or other secret sexual activity.
* In his book "The Sexual Man", Dr. Archibald Hart revealed the results of a survey of some 600 Christian men, on the topic of masturbation:
61% of married Christian men masturbate
82% of these have self sex on an average of once a week; 10% have sex with self 5-10 times per month, 6% more than 15 times per month, and 1% more than 20 times a month.
13% of Christian married men said they felt it was normal.
* 34 percent of female readers of Today's Christian Woman's online newsletter admitted to intentionally accessing Internet porn in a recent poll.
* In March of 2002 Rick Warren’s (author of the Purpose Driven life) Pastors.com website conducted a survey on porn use of 1351 pastors: 54% of the pastors had viewed Internet pornography within the last year, and 30% of these had visited within the last 30 days.
* 47% percent of families said pornography is a problem in their home.
Focus on the Family Poll, October 1, 2003
* In a survey of over 500 Christian men at a men's retreat, over 90% admitted that they were feeling disconnected from God because lust, porn, or fantasy had gained a foothold in their lives.
As reported in an article on Pastors.com by Kenny Luck
In March 2005 Christianity Today published the results of a study called “Christians and Sex” in their Leadership Journal. 680 pastors and 1,972 laypersons were surveyed, with the following results:
* 44% of churchgoers want to hear more scriptural teaching from their pastors on the subject of sex.
* 22% of pastors feel they should spend more time on the topic.
* 85% of pastors say they speak about sexual issues once a year, while 63% of churchgoers say their pastors do so. Among churchgoers who say they want their pastors to preach more about sexual issues, 47% say their pastor speaks about it once a year, an even bigger difference of opinion. A CTI analyst was quoted saying "Perhaps this desire for more biblical exposition on sexual issues exists because pastors are not speaking forcefully or clearly enough, while exposure to sexual images and messages in today's media is ever more heightened."
* 57% of pastors say that addiction to pornography is the most sexually damaging issue to their congregation.
* Almost 9 in 10 pastors reported counseling a layperson on sexual issues once a year or more.
-----
[Written by a Pastor]
I had a hard time believing that half the men in the church would really be accessing porn, so in early 2004 I asked the church where we attended at the time if they would be willing to take a survey. They agreed, and in the survey we asked the men "when was the last time you looked at pornography?" The church was made up mostly of young families, and the idea that many of the husbands and fathers I sat next to every Sunday were dabbling in porn... I couldn't comprehend it. Surely, I thought, the numbers would be lower. It can't be half, not in my church.
Here's what came back:
25% had viewed porn within the past month
44% within the past 6 months
61% within the past year
“Don’t talk on this subject, preacher, it’s inappropriate.”
Seems to me it’s quite an appropriate topic for today and tonite at the very least. Pornography is corrupting the church and destroying our nation; without action the problem will only get worse.
“But, I don’t use porn, and I’m sure my spouse and kids don’t.”
Still feel that way? It’s true, they will probably deny it…and so, guess what! That means they’ll have no problem with the new accountability and protection rules you’re going to implement! “No, you cannot have a private computer in your room.” “You have to be off the computer by 9 PM, and if you’re going to stay up until 2 AM, it won’t be with TV or PC privileges!”
[cable boxes / sexually explicit videos and
video games / MySpace and internet chat rooms and webcams / set time limits /
get the programs at the bottom of this sermon that aid in accountability, tho’
they aren’t completely sufficient w/out you, the adult, taking
responsibility!]
It’s extremely dangerous, like an intruder in our own homes, and so Christians
must become involved in the battle against pornography in order to
protect themselves.
We are in the midst of a battle. Indeed, this is spiritual warfare. We must have
a battle plan to fight pornography. Our battle plan must include our recognizing
pornography for what it is, who the victims are and how to bring healing to them
and strategies to turn the tide regarding the devastating influence of
pornography in our country.
I. What is pornography?
A. Pornography is a perversion that attacks everything God cherishes most.
Man is made in God's image. Therefore, the theological foundation against pornography begins with the premise that every human life has dignity and is sacred (Genesis 1:27).
Job 31:1
I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
B. Pornography is an enemy which destroys the innocence of children.
It has been estimated that approximately 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 7 boys will be sexually molested before the age of 18. The relationship of pornography to child sexual abuse is compelling. Seventy-seven percent of those who molested boys and 87 percent of those who molested girls said they were regular users of hard-core pornography. [taking advantage of the innocent!]
UNICEF reports that one million children each year are forced into prostitution and used to make pornography. [Child trafficking]
Mark 9:42 [levels in hell? I think so!]
And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
C. Pornography is a lie.
Pornography says the best sex is outside of marriage. Pornography promises what it cannot deliver. Proverbs 9:17 tells us that "stolen waters are sweet..." However, Proverbs 14:12 tells us, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the ways of death."
II. Who are the victims?
A. Those who are addicted to pornography are victims.
Males: There is such a thing as the "pleasure of sin for a season" (Hebrews 11:25). However, according to James 1:13-15, lustful sin in its fullest form brings forth death. Death to our self-esteem, to meaningful relationships, to moral absolutes, and all too often literal death to the innocent as well as the guilty.
In an odd twist, exposure to pornography leads to a lower net return each time—which is to say that the more pornography one sees the more explicit the images must be in order to excite interest… his eyes roam across the images of unblinking faces, leering at women who make no demands upon him, who never speak back, and who can never say no. There is no exchange of respect, no exchange of love, and nothing more than the using of women as animal like sex objects for his individual and inverted sexual pleasure.
Men, to look at porn is to commit adultery, acc’d to Jesus Christ!
Matthew 5:27-28
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: [28] But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Males are victims of porn…and so are…
Females: both those who are sucked into exposing themselves for pay and those of you who do it for free!
Just look at the definition of porn.=exposure which leads to sexual arousal.
It’s time for Church girls to stop trying to fit in w/ every style and realize we ought to obey God rather than men…and the Bible teaches modesty, innocence, and saving that unveiling for your wedding night. It’s time for girls to realize that males will look if you’ll show it, and that he’ll take off the rest of your clothes w/ an eyeball undressing if only you hint at what else is under there!
Ill.—you’re advertising…you’d better be ready and willing to deliver the merchandise on your billboard…and if you won’t freely give it to him, he’ll take it w/ the imagination you’ve sparked in his mind!
those who’ve been addicted are victims…
B. Those who have been harmed are victims.
One woman's story:"My husband began using porn as
a teenager. What was once an adolescent hobby became the 'other woman' in our
marriage. At first it was our intimacy that suffered. Then, his pastime grew
into an addiction which then started to include more serious forms of
'adultery.' He was going to strip bars and sleeping with prostitutes. He was
often late, with poor excuses. I noticed our money disappearing and never
suspected he was spending nearly $500 a week to feed his addiction.
Me? I felt responsible, ugly, ashamed, alone and hopeless. Why would he look at
another woman unless I wasn't pretty or sexy enough? Friends rejected my idea
that his porn use was ruining our relationship. They told me to be sexier, more
sexually responsive and available so that he wouldn't look elsewhere. I tried
all these things only to find they didn't work. I ended up feeling like a
failure, as a wife and a lover. Now I know it wasn't me.
When we got help I found out his pornography use began before our marriage, as
far back as his youth. Not only was it not my fault -- it had nothing to do with
me at all. After much counseling, we both understand that he entered our
marriage thinking I would cure all his sex problems. No wonder he was so
disappointed and angry.
We're still together. We are living proof that a pornography or sex addiction
does not have to mean the end of your relationship."
Families, wives and children, are directly affected. Women who have been raped and sexually abused are impacted forever. Babies are born with sexually transmitted diseases. Young people are scarred for life. Marriages are broken beyond repair. The dignity of women is degraded as they are viewed as mere animals, pets, bunnies! Teens are warped into never knowing what real love is, and never experiencing true intimacy w/out emptiness!
III. What action can we as believers take…to turn the tide of pornography in our country?
The First Amendment refers to freedom of speech,
not "freedom of speech for obscenity, pornography, or indecency." You can apply
the same to consumer fraud, conspiracy, libel, slander or false shouting "fire"
in a crowded theatre. None of these are protected by the First Amendment.
In 1973, the US Supreme Court ruled in Miller vs. California that "this much has
been categorically settled by the court, that obscene material is unprotected by
the First Amendment." That’s the same court that voted in favor of Roe!
We should speak out at every opportunity! There must not be many speaking out!
A. We are to take a stand on our knees.
Since this is a spiritual battle the war must be waged through prayer first and foremost (Ephesians 6:10-18).
B. The parable of the good samaritan provides our marching orders.
We need to be the ones who minister the healing balm in the lives of pornography victims (Luke 10:27-37).
C. We need to be salt and light in our culture (Matthew 5:13-14).
D. We need accountability, and to make sure the problem doesn’t exist in our own household!
The Internet has brought an interstate highway of pornography into every community, with exit ramps at every terminal or personal computer, including those at school, or, God forbid, in their own bedroom.
You need to know how to check on where a pc has been taken on the net, what’s more, you need an internet filter for yourself even, as so much you can stumble upon unintentionally!
And the same goes for the TV and magazines! Accountability is the key! It’s not just about whether you need help in this area, it’s about being above reproach in a world in which the stats do not lie!
Tools to help Fight Pornography in YOUR home
[Contact one of the Pastors if you need help deciding or implementing any of these]
Internet Filters
i. Works on up to 3 computers for only $10 p/year
ii. Tracks where you have been on the internet
Internet Timers
Key Loggers
Safe Search Engines
