November 2007 E-News: The Numbing Down of America

November 2007 | Issues XI

November 2007 | Issues XI

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EMB Announcements
Pure Sex Radio Announcements
Purity Spotlight: The Numbing Down of America
Resource Spotlight: 10 Essential Steps to Reclaim Sexual Purity
Real Answers to Real Questions

Every Man's Battle Workshop, led by Jonathan Daugherty, coming to

Dallas, TX December 7-9
Location TBA January 11-13

Learn more at www.everymansbattle.com.

"Training Men, Educating Women"

WIBG LifeRadio 1020 has added Pure Sex Radio to their program schedule. Contact all your friends and family in the suburban Philadelphia area and encourage them to listen to the program. You may also contact the station to thank them for airing our broadcast.
We have added Lee Preston, of Shadow of His Wings Ministry, to our broadcast lineup to discuss same-sex attraction issues every 4th or 5th program. Be looking for the first of these broadcasts to air in January '08.
We have a goal in 2008 to expand the Pure Sex Radio broadcast into 10 additional radio markets. We hope to be broadcast in Austin, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Jacksonville, New York, Boston, Seattle, and Cincinnati. You can help make this a reality by participating in our 50-50-50 Purity Pledge Drive.
Spread the Word! If you like what we're doing, educating people about living a life of sexual purity, then contact your local Christian talk radio station and tell them about the Pure Sex Radio broadcast. Then, email us at tellastation@puresexradio.com and give us the call letters, city, and state of the station you contacted. We will follow up with the station manager to see about adding our program to their schedule.

The Numbing Down of America

by Jonathan Daugherty

"If you tell a lie long enough and loud enough, eventually people believe it to be true.”

-- Joseph Goebbels (chief propagandist for Adolph Hitler)

Pornography is a conspiracy of the devil to destroy and divide Christians. And this conspiracy is reaching new generations with greater force and damage than has been seen throughout all of American history. Not surprisingly, Christians are the primary target of this not-so-underground movement.

America is by far the greatest country on earth. The foundation of freedom, on which this country was established, has provided opportunity for unimagined success, prosperity, and diversity. But, as my father used to say, “With much freedom comes much responsibility.” And this seems to be where we have lost our direction, where we have missed the mark. We have become lazy in appreciating and upholding the great privilege of freedom, with pornography often leading the march against such responsible living.

We have all heard the illustration of the frog in the pot of water. If a frog is dropped into a boiling pot of water, he will immediately jump out, keenly aware of the danger that scalding water represents to his existence. But if you place that same frog in a pot of lukewarm water and only gradually increase the temperature, he will eventually boil to death, unaware of the steady destruction his “comfortable” surroundings brings. Pornography has slowly (and now, not so slowly) been scorching the church in America for decades. Yet, without even realizing it, we have grown comfortable to such surroundings, unaware of the severe damage it is causing.

Let me illustrate how far we have fallen. Take, for instance, any magazine cover of any major “fashion” publication. How much skin is shown on such covers? Has it always been this way? No. As recent as the 1950’s, it was considered inappropriate for a woman’s cleavage to be shown on a magazine cover (at least one bought over the counter where children could see it). Yet, today there are magazines with full nudity (minus the nipples, of course) displayed prominently along grocery check out lines and other public market places without so much as an eye being batted.

The lies of pornography have been told long enough and loud enough in America, and even Christians are believing the lies to be true. Nearly 40% of all pastors in the US have a current struggle with Internet pornography (those willing to admit it, anyway). Almost half (50%) of all Christians say pornography is a major problem in their homes. Sadly, one of the most often reported arenas in which men confess they struggle with lust is at church on Sunday mornings due to the inappropriate dress of the women attending. The lies of porn have devalued women (and men) to a degree that the great gift of sex has been cheapened in our culture to nothing more than a handshake.

We did a radio show recently entitled What Women Need Men to Know. In this broadcast we shared of the devastation that ripped through one family tree due to the repeated infidelities of the husbands. A woman went to her mother in tears to tell of her husband’s indiscretion. Her mother then told her of a time when she went to her mom (the grandmother) to confess that her husband had been unfaithful. The grandmother’s response was, in essence, that sex was like food to a man, and a man must eat. This is the numbing down of America. A man must eat? What kind of value does that place on women, on sex, or on a man’s ability to bridle his sexual urges? They are all cheapened, mocked.

God did not give us the gift of sex so we could drag it through the muddy lies of pornography. His gift is pure, holy, and brings beauty to the union of one man and one woman in the covenant bond of marriage. There truly is nothing else like the wonderful gift of sex! But the gift has a purpose. Its purpose is to reflect the kind of intimate union the Creator God wants mankind to experience with Him: pure, holy, powerful, and beautiful. There is no closer connection that a husband and wife can experience than sex, which is precisely why God designed it that way. This provides a tangible picture of the closeness, the inseparable bond, God desires for us with Him.

Pornography strips away the beauty of God’s gift and replaces it with a cheap, ugly, impersonal illusion of the real thing. This is why porn never satisfies. Never! If porn truly satisfied a person, there would be no compulsion to return to it over and over again. It is empty, devoid of God’s design and provides no real intimacy. But we have become numb to these truths, desensitized to the horrible evil it promotes. Our culture is boiling to death in the scalding waters of porn and illicit sex, yet feeling no pain because our hearts have been seared by decades of gradual acceptance of porn’s lies.

Are you tired of living with the effects of this numbing down of America? Then do something about it. Pull the plug on your TV, limit your time and access to the Internet, write your local government to express concern (or outrage) over any place of business in your community offering porn or other sexually explicit material. Contact your local Christian talk radio stations and encourage them in the work they are doing, maybe even suggest that they plug in our Pure Sex Radio broadcast in their programming lineup. Do something to bring a sense of value and worth back to the great gift of sex God has given. Stand up and be heard, praising those who are fighting with you to protect purity, and challenging any who embrace the lies of pornography.

2 Chronicles 7:14 – If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land. (emphasis mine)

There is good news! God can heal our numbness, our calloused hearts that have grown cold and hard. Let us band together in prayer, turning from the gross distortions of pornography, and cry out to our Father in heaven. He promises to hear and to heal those who honestly seek truth, who seek Him. What a glorious awakening that awaits those whose hearts are touched by God. Will you touch someone today with this message of hope and truth? Who knows, maybe if we tell the truth long enough and loud enough, lives might be transformed…

10 Essential Steps to Reclaim Sexual Purity (brochure)
by Stephen Cervantes

This brochure is designed to assist men who admit to having a sexual struggle. It outlines some practical steps to start a man on the journey back to purity. Most men will admit that managing male biology is a difficult task. As Christians, we are called to hold the highest standard of sexual purity (“not even a hint of sexual immorality”).

Great resource for pastors, counselors and support group leaders to have nearby when men come to them who are new to the recovery process.

ORDER THIS BROCHURE TODAY AND GIVE IT TO YOUR PASTOR

HE NEEDS THIS NEARBY WHEN GUYS COME TO HIM STRUGGLING WITH PORNOGRAPHY OR OTHER SECRET SEXUAL BEHAVIORS.

Click here for a FREE PDF Sample Download

(A full-time pastor working in a church position may copy this brochure for individual church members. All other individuals may purchase the brochure through this website or by calling 1.800.49.PURITY)

Price: $0.50 ea. (minimum of 5)

Buy 0-25 brochures for $0.50 each
Buy 26-50 brochures for $0.40 each
Buy 51-1000 brochures for $0.35 each

Click here for ordering info

Real Question:

Is pornography really that bad?

Real Answer:

This question may seem laughable at first glance, but it is a question that many in our culture are voicing right now. And the fact that we are even asking the question is evidence that our society has become desensitized to the danger and impact of pornography.

The pornography industry in the United States grosses between $12-15 BILLION annually. That is more than professional basketball, football, and baseball combined! Pornography IS mainstream. But does it really have any affect on us? Is there anything wrong with looking at pornography, or participating in pornography? The answer is a resounding YES!

First of all, pornography dehumanizes its participants. Pornographers are not out to create healthy connected relationships in their consumers. Their purpose is to objectify women and men for the momentary pleasure of a "porn high." Once the consumer has gotten their "fix" they discard the magazine, video, or person and move on to the next one. That leads us to another reason why pornography is dangerous.

Pornography is progressive in nature. Consumption of porn will always produce a "need" for more...more graphic, more perverse, more violent, etc. It feeds on our appetite to satisfy our flesh at all costs. Ninety percent of inmates on death row confess to heavy consumption of pornography as having played a part in their deviant behaviors. Porn inevitably, if let loose, will lead to illegal and violent behaviors.

Finally, pornography is only focused on ME, and how I can get what I want, when I want it, and how I want it. Pornography pulls us away from deep, connected relationships into isolation. And in isolation I am left to "satisfy" my every desire through porn. But the problem is...porn never satisfies. If it did, sales of pornographic materials would not increase year after year. But because pornography only creates a thirst and never satisfies that thirst, we are left pursuing it to the point of addiction and compulsion.

If you find yourself living in the damaging effects of pornography, contact us for help.

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Do you have a real question you need answered? If so, email it to us at questions@bebroken.com.

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