Pornography stands as America's most socially and financially costly addiction, wreaking havoc by destroying family life with a hidden, cancerous effect. It is an addiction that one can indulge in without leaving home, and though some claim a small decline in its prevalence, the spread among more sellers may obscure the true scale. Estimates suggest around 22 million Americans are truly addicted, with one in six being women, and every third person accessing such sites being female. Financially, it is a staggering industry, with revenues in the United States reaching $14 billion annually, surpassing the combined earnings of major sports leagues. In 1970, the retail value of hardcore pornography was estimated at $10 million, but with the advent of the Internet, it surged 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, thousands of dollars are spent on it in the United States, and numerous Internet users engage with such content. Child pornography alone accounts for $3 billion of the annual total in America. Major cable companies and hotel chains also profit heavily from adult programming, with a significant portion of their income derived from such services. Socially, the damage is immense, though hard to quantify. It destroys intimacy within marriages, fosters objectification, and turns sex into a self-gratifying act devoid of love, causing profound psychological harm to individuals and society as a whole.

Pornography, along with adultery, fornication, and other perversions, obstructs the holy purpose of marriage that God intends. These sins prevent the sacred union between a husband and wife from reflecting the relationship between Christ and the church, at least until repentance occurs. Such immoral acts cheapen the precious gift of sex, which God designed to be honorable, beautiful, and delightful within the bounds of marriage. When these sins are indulged, they violate the exclusive bond of marriage, tearing apart the one-flesh relationship that God established. Resisting the barrage of sensuality and temptation is crucial to maintaining the sanctity of this divine institution, as God desires marriages to picture the holy union of His Son and His bride made perfect.

In this decadent society, we are increasingly confronted with a barrage of pornography. More and more sexually explicit material is being shown on television. Just about any convenience store, book store, or magazine rack has a row of adult periodicals. Adult book stores, adult clubs, and topless bars attempt to infiltrate local shopping areas. Performance art, often sexual in nature, is a growing medium in the cultural arena. Self-interest groups lobby that pornography is an art form or demand freedom of artistic expression. The origin of the word pornography, derived from the Greek word pornographos meaning the writing of prostitutes, reveals its historical influence. Originally describing prostitutes and their trade, it later came to refer to writings and pictures intended to arouse sexual desire. Pornocracy, recognized as a form of government by prostitutes, exemplifies such influence over people's lives, as seen in the domination of Rome in the early part of the tenth century. Pornography draws to the surface the desires simmering within. In a decadent society, those lusts bear the fruit of horrible sexual crimes such as adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, rape, child molestation, and incest. Pornography degrades that which God created in His image, bringing man down to the level of animals. Lewdness is an affront to God; all that pornography glorifies and promotes is in direct and open violation of God's law. Pornography is an intricate part of false religion, setting up man as the object of worship. It is a modern adaptation of age-old idolatry, the adoration of the human form accompanied by the sinful practices it generates. Soon, righteous judgment will come for those who engage in pornography, as those who practice such things are deemed worthy of death. The advice is to flee sexual immorality, for every sin a man commits is outside the body, but sexual immorality sins against and harms his own body.

Pornography, available through every kind of media, floods the world, contributing to the rampant sexual sins that plague society. This pervasive influence is part of the broader destruction caused by disobedience to God's perfect law concerning adultery and related sins. As a result, the nation faces numerous ills, including unwed mothers, fatherless children, costly welfare payments, and the promotion of safe sex over abstinence in schools. Sexual perversions, divorce due to misconduct, sexually transmissible diseases, and millions of abortions each year further demonstrate the devastating consequences of taking this fire to ourselves as a nation. In His wisdom, God set the standard for human sexuality, intending it as a gift within marriage, while satan, in his hatred, targets the family through sexual corruption to bring humanity down with him.

Over the past 50 years, major cultural issues have often revolved around sex, marriage, and family, pushing boundaries to allow greater sexual freedom. Among these issues, pornography stands out as a significant problem, deeply tied to the broader erosion of moral standards. It is a pervasive evil that captures attention through visual stimulation, exploiting the lust of the eyes. This industry is vast because images and videos of the human body, particularly a woman's, hold a powerful allure, especially for men, though women also make up a substantial portion of the audience, ranging from a quarter to a third of viewers on pornographic websites. Pornography's impact is not limited to the world; it also affects the church, causing deep sadness as it undermines purity. It is comparable to engaging with a harlot, but within one's mind, inflicting harm on both current and future relationships, including the divine connection with God. It robs individuals and their potential spouses of the joys of marital intimacy. The progression of lust often starts in the heart, moves to the eyes through viewing such content, and can lead to physical acts like auto-eroticism, which is equally sinful as it focuses on selfish sexual satisfaction. Jesus Christ's teaching emphasizes the severity of this sin, urging drastic measures to overcome it. If necessary, one must disconnect from the Internet, discard related materials, or even throw away devices that enable access to pornography. Finding new hobbies, engaging in intense physical activities, or seeking counseling are recommended steps to fill the void and redirect focus. The call is clear: repent and seek forgiveness from God, for this wickedness must cease if one desires to enter the Kingdom of God. Though Christ forbids sexual immorality in the strongest terms, His approach is not to condemn quickly but to encourage cessation of sin and a life of purity before Him.

There is a pervasive flood of immorality and lewdness emanating from the entertainment industry, permeating almost every television show and media outlet. This societal decay is evident in the easy access nations around the world have to pornography originating from the United States, exposing the moral bankruptcy of the nation. Our lewdness is laid bare to the entire world, just as God warned it would be. Lewdness, particularly in the form of pornography, provides a potent temptation that draws simmering desires to the surface. In a decadent society, such lusts bear the fruit of horrific sexual crimes, degrading what God created in His image. It reduces humanity, created a little lower than the angels, to the level of animals, standing in direct violation of God's law and serving as an affront to Him. The constant influences from worldly styles and the indecency of pornography challenge men and boys to resist the enticements of a lewd society. This pervasive immorality has led to a loss of any sense of decency, transforming society into one that often resembles prostitutes, pimps, and gang members in appearance and behavior.

The pervasive influence of pornography, with its corrupting reach through the internet, has surpassed even the combined revenue of rock and roll concerts, classical music concerts, and all sporting events, seemingly replacing baseball as the national pastime. This reflects a deep misdirection of appetites among our people, shaped by the world's media, drawing them back into worldly desires. Like our ancient forebears rescued from Egypt, God must reeducate us to turn away from such perverted cravings. Our nation's appetite is overwhelmed by this perversion, poised to reject it as an abomination. When the knowledge of God is discarded, perverted appetites emerge automatically, being trained and cultivated by the world rather than being innate. These misdirected desires, including pornography, can never truly satisfy like natural drives, instead requiring ever greater perversion to address an unreachable longing, ultimately leading to spiritual detriment.

Within the spirit of the seventh commandment lies a range of sexual sins, including pornography, which contributes to the grave social issues plaguing society. The pervasive nature of these sins, hidden in secrecy, makes it impossible to quantify their full impact, yet their destructive force is undeniable. Pornography, alongside other deviancies, fuels a seething pit of evil, deliberately promoted by the twisted mind of satan, leading to broken relationships and societal instability. As opportunities for promiscuity increase with cultural shifts, the curses of broken homes and unstable communities grow, reflecting a deeper national sin of faithlessness that mirrors Israel's spiritual harlotry against God.

The world, designed by satan with powerful influences against God, poses a constant danger to our spiritual lives through its deceptive attractions. Among these, pornography falls within the broad category of the lust of the flesh, as described in I John 2:16, encompassing various sexual sins that begin internally and often manifest outwardly. These sins are initiated frequently through the lust of the eyes, where visual triggers ignite desires that lead to sinful actions. The eye becomes the gateway for temptation, stirring a longing to possess or experience what is seen, drawing one away from God. Such influences are part of the world's system, crafted by satan to foster disloyalty to God, and we must remain vigilant against them. God warns us not to love the world or become attached to it, for attachment to worldly desires conflicts with love for the Father. We are called to resist these temptations, knowing that Jesus Christ protects us, ensuring we are not tempted beyond what we can bear, and guiding us to overcome the world's character within us.

In the context of the pervasive vileness and slavery to sin associated with Jerusalem, representing the broader nation of Israel and extending to Israelite nations like the United States, sexual sins and immorality are rampant. Pornography, as part of this moral decay, has become a massive industry in the United States, surpassing even the combined revenues of baseball, football, basketball, and legitimate movies. Americans spend more at strip clubs than on Broadway, regional theaters, and orchestra performances combined. The industry, which was worth just over $10 million in the 1970s, now leads the world, with about 211 new pornographic films produced every week, primarily in the Los Angeles area, where many involved are otherwise respectable citizens. The Internet has fueled this growth, with the number of porn websites increasing from 22,000 in 1997 to nearly 300,000 today. This flourishing black market, alongside other illicit activities, underscores the deep perversion and hidden corruption within society, fitting the spiritual labels of Sodom and Egypt applied to these nations.