Description
MODERN SEXUALITY SERMON SERIES
THE POISON OF PORNOGRAPHY
ED YOUNG
FEBRUARY 6, 1994
A man who lived way up in the Smokey Mountains walked outside on his porch and as he was standing on this old, rickety structure, he heard the hair-raising, familiar sound of rattlesnakes. I said rattlesnakes, as in plural. He wondered where the sounds were coming from. He began to look around. He discerned the rattlesnakes were under his porch. He got a flashlight, knelt down and looked. Staring back at him were seven sets of beady eyes, a den of rattlesnakes, underneath this guy’s porch! He freaked out! It scared him to death, but this person was an entrepreneur. He was resourceful. So he got a long stick and brought the snakes out. He saw they were tiny. They had just been born. He put on some yard gloves and began to handle the rattlesnakes. They trusted this man and he brought these snakes up to maturity. He fed these rattlesnakes and people would come to his house from miles around to watch this feat. One afternoon, he was handling his largest rattlesnake, the snake was 7 years old, and he was feeding him. After he fed the snake a juicy rat, from his hand, the snake did something unusual. The snake turned and he struck the man and sunk his deadly, poisonous fangs in his neck. The crowd watched in horror as this man died within minutes. Killed by the poison of a rattlesnake.
During this session, I want to talk to you about something that’s much more potent than rattlesnake venom. I want to talk to you about the poison of pornography because pornography is a lot like that rattlesnake. You see it. You begin to flirt with it. You pick it up. You think, “It won’t harm me. I can make a pet out of it. No problem. I can control it”. “Then out of nowhere, out of nowhere, it will turn and sink its deadly fangs into your life, into your family, into your marriage, into your relationships, and oftentimes, the results are deadly.
Five years ago, if you had told me that I would be standing on a stage preaching an entire message on pornography, I would have said, “Are you crazy? I’m going to spend 25 minutes talking about pornography? There are more pressing concerns than removing Plavboy magazine from someone’s hands who periodically purchases it. I mean, there are important things to deal with and that’s not really a major issue”. Yet I would hear people talk about pornography and I would hear them tell about how difficult it is to get it out of bookstores and out of convenience stores and I would sense an urgency in their voices. I’ll be honest with you, when I was in junior high, I looked at a couple of air-brushed centerfolds and it didn’t really mess me up. I have a great marriage, a beautiful wife, two children. But I have to confess something to you. Pornography, as I studied it this past week, is one of the most deadly, devastating, debilitating sicknesses, habits and sins that we can involve ourselves in. Pornography has changed. It has changed. Some of the mild stuff today that you can buy in many convenience stores across candy counters features such acts as sado-masochism, gang rape, defecation, urination, homosexuality, group sex. That is kind of the average, run-of-the-mill stuff.
Pornography is a $10 billion industry. Last year it grossed more than ABC, CBS and NBC combined. Over 240 million pornographic magazines are sold a year in our nation. Twenty million Americans a month buy pornography. And now pornography has infiltrated our homes with cable television. If you have a computer, you can hook up to modems that will show you erotic pictures and in the near future, virtual reality will enable people who have computers to have sexual relations with people thousands and thousands of miles away. How about Dial-A-Porn? It logs 2.8 million calls a year and most of the callers are aged 10 to 16 years. We have a serious problem. There are more pornographic houses than McDonald’s hamburger chains around our nation. Pornography has changed. But you know what we do? We love to take a word like “pornography” and change it. We don’t like to use the word pornography. We like to say “NC17”. We like to say “R” rated. We like to say, “That’s a men’s club. That’s the adult video section”. We disguise it. We change it. But it is pornography.
There are four frightening facts about pornography that you need to know and understand and, in many cases, apply in your lives. If the statistics are true, there are thousands and thousands of people living in Irving, Texas, who are addicted to pornography, and there would be hundreds of you folks here who are flirting with the addiction. Some have gone over the invisible line. Some are right there on the edge while I speak. It’s something you do in private; something very few people know about. Here is the first frightening fact about pornography. The poison of pornography is addicting. The poison of pornography is addicting. Ted Bundy, who killed 28 women and children said and I quote:
“It happened in stages, gradually. It doesn’t necessarily, not to me at least, happen overnight. Basically, I was a normal person. I wasn’t some guy hanging out at bars or a bum. I wasn’t a pervert in the sense that people would look at somebody and say, “I know there’s something wrong with him” and just tell. Those of us who have been so much influenced by violence in the media and particularly pornographic violence, are not some kind of inherent monsters. We are your sons and we are your husbands and we grew up in regular families. Pornography can reach out and snatch a kid out of any house today. I’m no social scientist and I haven’t done a survey. I don’t pretend that I know what John Q Citizen thinks about this, but I’ve lived in prison for a long time now and I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence just like me and, without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography”.
That’s Ted Bundy. As many of you know, I attended Florida State University where he murdered four co-eds in a sorority house. Ted Bundy will tell you it’s addicting. How did Ted Bundy start out? Read about his life. He said he started out with “soft” porn. No one begins getting involved in pornography or drugs or alcohol with addiction in mind. One of my friends is John Lucas, who coaches the San Antonio Spurs. John Lucas was an All Pro point guard for the Houston Rockets for many years. He spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on cocaine. One afternoon I was having lunch with John and I said, “John, you now are clean. You now have a program helping people get off drugs and alcohol. Where did it start for you? Where did the addiction begin?” John said, “Ed, it was when I had my first beer at 14 years of age”. Alcohol is addicting and pornography is addicting. That brings us to God’s Word. Romans 6:19. The Apostle Paul says, “You used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness. So now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness”.
Let’s face the fact, pornography is an industry based on fantasy and masturbation. Sex addiction is lust addiction and the Apostle Paul says that we offer, if we are involved in pornography, the parts of our body in slavery. It’s addicting. Then he says the words “ever increasing”. We offer them to ever-increasing wickedness. Have you realized sexuality is progressive, and especially pornography? Think about when you were dating that special someone. You worked up enough nerve to hold her hand. Wow! It gave you a great thrill. Then maybe a couple of days later you did the arm trick and you had your arm around her. Then from there it progressed. And hopefully, as we talked about last week, you saved yourselves until the marriage bed. Pornography is progressive. What gave the pornographer a thrill today will not give him the same sort of thrill the next day, It must get more bizarre, more weird, and then you have deviant behavior taking place from people who, as Ted Bundy said, are normal.
The pornography industry, if you read the facts and the studies, target males between the ages of 12 to 17. So what should we do? The Bible says in the last part of verse 19, “So now, offer them…” That means our bodies. “… in slavery, not to impurity, but to righteousness leading to holiness”. Leading to holiness. If you’re addicted to pornography, I want to tell you something. God loves you and He wants you to come out of this lifestyle. The only way you’re going to come out of this is by something supernatural. That’s the only way. If you don’t, you’re on a road to destruction. This week, in fact, over the next two weeks, our phone lines will be open here at the Fellowship of Las Colinas, 257-8817. You don’t have to give us your name, address, whatever. We will give you information, phone numbers, support groups, where you can connect so you can get rid of this destructive and debilitating habit. Pornography is addicting. That’s the first frightening fact.
The second frightening fact, pornography destroys the dignity of women. There is the obvious assault on the dignity of women. Pornography says that women walk around twenty-four hours a day, looking for sex. All they think about is their next sexual conquest, and even when they say no to a man’s advances, they really mean yes. Then you have the rape myth, that the woman really wants to be raped. And when a man sees this, when a man feeds on this, he is a walking time bomb. That’s one of the reasons we have so many sexual crimes. Folks, rape is one of the worst things that I can possibly imagine. I’ve talked to women who’ve been raped and they’ll tell you nothing can scar as deeply as forced sex. If you know anything about Jesus Christ, you know that He talked about the dignity of women. Jesus said, Women are not second-class citizens. They are equal image bearers. They are unique. They are made in the image of my Father. They have abilities. They have gifts. And they are right on line with a man. In fact, in Christianity, we play on an even football field. It’s not the man’s up here and the woman’s down here. There is no difference. The second frightening fact is that pornography destroys the dignity of women.
The third frightening fact about pornography is that pornography undermines the sexual aspect of our marriages. About six months ago, some neighbors moved in and they had a beautiful back yard. They had their yard done and it was gorgeous. About three weeks after their yard had been really fixed up with flowers and shrubs and everything, they bought two rottweilers. We could see over their fence from our second-story and I’ve watched these rottweilers, over the last six months, totally undermine and destroy this yard. Just a couple of months ago, it was beautiful! It was the Yard of The Month in Irving. Now it looks horrible. Deep caverns. Land mines everywhere. Toys strewn everywhere. These dogs are maniacs and last night they barked from 2:00 a.m., no exaggeration, until 6:15 a.m.
Pornography in marriage looks so promising, and lots of Christians buy pornography now and then and they watch it together to spice up their sex life. Initially it works. Initially, when the people bought the rottweilers, the yard looked fine. No problem. But after a while! I’ve counseled too many husbands and wives not to see the lethal effect of pornography. As it goes on for a while, a woman feels used and abused. So the man says, “Maybe a new position or maybe a new technique or maybe a new partner would work”. It takes sexuality out of context and it turns it into a biological event or athletic competition and as we’ve learned in this series, sex is not a biological event. It’s not an athletic event. It should reflect the image of God. Sexuality has to flow out of a lifelong commitment in marriage. First there must be love, understanding, forgiveness, acceptance, a mutual respect and then in a tender, loving way, you have the act of sex. Not the lie from pornography. So every time you look at porn, men, you’re destroying the dignity of women in your minds.
The fourth frightening fact is, pornography kills children. Pornography kills children. I want you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of Luke. While you’re turning there, let me note that when parents purchase pornography, it inevitably falls into the hands of children. If I asked for a show of hands of how many of you were exposed to pornography before you graduated from high school, I guarantee you 98% of you would lift your hand and most of the pornography you were exposed to was either from your parents or from another adult. So it inevitably falls into the hands of the little ones. Here is what Jesus says. Luke 17:1 “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come but woe to that person through whom they come”. Now, some of the parents are saying, “Hey, I’m safe on this one. My mind can wander. I can count ceiling tiles or lights now. I don’t have any pornography in my home. I’ve never seen an adult video. I don’t take pornographic magazines”. But think about the cable television. Think about MTV. You’re talking about pornography, parents, if you let your children watch MTV or listen to trash from Snoop Doggy Dog, NWA, Guns and Roses, etc. that is filling their minds full of garbage and full of pornography.
I’ll give you a little assignment if you don’t believe me. You go home this afternoon. You turn on MTV. Turn the volume down. You take out a notebook and take a pen or pencil, and you write down every act you see for one hour. You will see rape. You’ll see murder. You’ll see no respect for authority. I’m talking about music television! That is true of a lot of the music your kids pipe into their brains on the CD players and the Walkmans. Parents, we’ve got to wake up and get involved in their lives. We’ve got to read the lyrics here. Some of you are out to lunch, “What? Who?” You need to know what your child is listening to and if he or she is listening to something that does not glorify God you, parents, buy the music back. Don’t say, “We’re going to take the music and throw it away”. You buy the music back and give them other records, other CDs, other tapes, other shows that glorify God. There is some fabulous Christian music out there. “Well, my son likes rap”. Well, if he likes rap, you ever heard of DC Talk? They make the rest of these guys look like nothing. And there is some great, fast-paced, upbeat music. Ask some of our band members. They can give you a list longer than you can possibly imagine. But Jesus goes on to say in Luke 17: 2, “…it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin”.
Let me tell you something else pornography does, and this is very painful to say. Pornography causes adults to molest children. Do you realize there are over 200 possible pornographic options for the child molester every month? Two hundred different magazines are printed for pedophiles to purchase and these magazines go into detail on how to seduce children! Children! Remember that Jesus said it is better for these people to have a millstone, in fact, they need to have a millstone tied around their necks and thrown into the ocean. I talked to a judge this week and he told me every single case he’s ever tried involving a pedophile, every single case, involves child pornography. Every single one. So Jesus said it’s better that this person be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble. I want you to turn to I Thessalonians 4”3 “lt is God ‘s will that you should be sanctified”. I want you to circle the word “will”. It’s God’s will that Ed Young should be sanctified. It’s God’s will that Dr. Bob Pierce should be sanctified. It’s God’s will that Julie Spray should be sanctified. That’s not something we pray about. That’s not something that Bob and Ed and Julie and I discuss, “Well, I wonder if I should be sanctified? I’ll just pray about that. Lord, should I be sanctified?” That’s a no-brainer. Don’t pray about it. It’s the will of God that I should live a sanctified, a holy, a pure life. Continuing in I Thessalonians 4:3, “…that you should avoid sexual immorality.” You see, the battle for lust is ongoing. It doesn’t stop. It’s one of Satan’s favorite tactics. It doesn’t stop when you get to fifty. It doesn’t stop when you become more educated. It doesn’t stop when you go into the ministry. Lust is out there and you have to deal with it. If you don’t deal with it, it will take you down. We have to deal with it. We have to say that we are not going to do this and that we will stay away from that.
For example, this past week as I studied for this message, I didn’t look at any pornography, zero videos. I wouldn’t even read the report from the government on pornography. Why? Because I know how powerful the stuff is and I don’t even want to associate myself with it. I did read writings by people who had seen it and they commented on what was there and it was enough to make me sick to my stomach. “…we are to avoid sexual immorality”. The word “immorality” in the Greek is “porneia” from which we get the word pornography. It means sex outside the marriage bed. It takes in everything from premarital sex to adultery, bestiality, homosexuality, lesbianism, sado-masochism, the whole package. “…that each of you should learn to control his own body”. In other words, we are to, as the song said, walk on by. We’re to become a student of our own body. If we know that flipping through the channels at that time of night will cause us to stumble or if we know walking by that particular magazine rack will, then we’d better stay away from it. I Thessalonians 4:6 continues, “and that in this manner no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins as we have already told you and warned you”.
This past week someone faxed me an article from the New York Times. I’d like to read a couple of excerpts from this particular article. It says, “X-rated video industry hit hard by the L.A. earthquake”, by William Arnold, film critic, “New York Times”. I quote, “The overwhelming media coverage of last week’s California earthquake failed to mention that the quake’s epicenter is the hub of America’s $3 billion X-rated movie industry. The triangle formed by the San Fernando Valley communities of Chatworth, Northridge and Kanoga Park, tightly circling the epicenter of the powerful quake, contains nearly 70 companies that crank out more than 95 % of the roughly 1,400 pornographic videos made every year in the United States”. I love this quote here, “An executive at World Modeling, a Van Nuys modeling agency that supplies talent to the porn industry, has noticed a distinct lack of motivation from his clients. With all of these after-shocks, everyone is a nervous wreck. Who can get in the mood to be in a pornographic movie, for gosh sakes? Or maybe this thing has just put the fear of God in them. I’m telling you, it’s enough to give you an attack of religion”. You’ve got to wonder about that, don’t you? The epicenter of this earthquake out in California. Ninety-five percent of the companies that produce the videos were damaged, some irreparably. Think about the millstone. Think about the judgement of God. Kind of makes you think, doesn’t it?
Let me close by talking to a few groups about pornography. The first group would be a group of people who have never used pornography. Never used pornography. In fact, the Bible would tell you the following words, Philippians 4:8, “Finally brothers, whatever is true, noble, righteous, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things”. Think about such things. In other words, if someone said, “Ed, over there the place is infested with poisonous snakes, rattlesnakes, and over the last couple of months, we’ve had 15 deaths due to rattlesnake bites”. How many in here would walk along that path barefooted? Would you? I wouldn’t. We need to do what the song said, walk on by. When I say walk on by, I mean don’t even get near it. Walk a long way around the situation. So, those who have never used pornography, dont start. Never start.
The second group I want to talk to you about is the group of you who are periodic users. Maybe you use it to spice up your sex life in marriage or maybe now and then you go to one of the topless clubs. Here’s what the Bible says to you. The Bible says in I Corinthians 10:12, “If you think you’re standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall “. “Oh, I’ve got this. No problem. I can handle this. I can bring these rattlesnakes in. See, they haven’t hurt me for seven years”. What if we could bring the man who lived in the Smokey Mountains back here on the stage right now. What would he tell us about that? If you allow pornography in, it’s a matter of time before it turns and sinks its fangs into you.
The third group are those who have crossed that invisible line and you are struggling with the addiction to pornography. You matter to God. He loves you more than you could possibly imagine and we want to be here to help you. I’m not going to try to broad-brush and kind of skip over the consequences of this sin. You need help. You need to come out of the shadows and call us here this week and we will put you in contact with people who are trained to help you in this area. If you continue, if you continue, do you realize what can happen to you? Do you realize what can happen to you? Get help. Get help and leave the poison of pornography.