Porn in the church

Recently while working on an article I came across a very disturbing and thought-provoking statistics on pornography from two perspectives; society and the church. How did we allow this evil to so much overtake our generation?

It might not have been so sad if this cancer is only detected among the people of the world who have rejected Christ and His mercy, but how do we get comfort if it has found its way into the church and right to the leadership of our churches. What is the implication of these statistics?

• 40 million adult Americans give themselves regular visits to pornographic websites and spend at least 6mins 29 seconds viewing the filth.
• The devil has made porn so easily accessible and inexpensive with about 42 million pornographic websites and 370 million web pages dishing out this bowl of iniquity.
• The evil has increased infidelity by 300% and is the root cause of 47% of marital problems.
• Children are victims as early as age 11 and 94% would have seen porn at 14.
• The obsession with pornography has been said to be the cause of 56% of divorces in America.

This first part of the statistics is at the general society level, but what happens if:

• 70% of youth pastors have at least one teenager in 12 months admitting 3to being caught in the web of pornography.
• 68% of church-going men and over 50% of pastors view pornography on regular basis.
• 76% of young Christian adults between the age of 18 and 24 actively search for porn.
• 59% of men seek pastoral help on the use of porn.
• 33% of women aged 25 and under searches for porn at least once a month.
• Only 13% of self-identified Christian women claim never fo have watched porn, leaving 87% who have.
• 55% of married men and 25% of married women say they watch porn at least once a month.
• 55% of pastors say that porn addiction is the most dangerous issue in their congregation.
• 69% say porn has adversely impacted the church.

So sad are these figures though they are by no means exhaustive. How do we explain 33.5 billion visits to a pornographic site in 2018 and 35% of total internet downloads being porn related?

We have seen the damage and the ruin porn is doing our society today. Rape is on the high, with 121 million unwanted pregnancies relating to 73.3 million abortions yearly. The filthy and immoral society we have today is because of the terrible impact of porn. Sexual orientation has been badly damaged and sexual gratification has been so exalted, pushing many of our young people into dangerous perverted lifestyles.

Today the abomination of Sodom has crept into the household of the Christian faith, and the cankerworm has gripped even the men of the pulpit. Who then is clean? If half of the pastors are victims, how many of their members are victors? The church is the true reflection of the inner life of the preacher, which means the majority in our churches are infected with the evil of pornography.

Who then are the fathers, the priests in the homes of 68% of church-going men who are bound by pornography? If the minds of these many dads are ruined by pornography, how sorry would the families be? No wonder the divorce rate in the church is as high as they are in the world today; maybe not even.

Who then is clean? Are the church people not meant to be pure and holy people? Men who by their holy lifestyle condemn a sinful world? How have they become filthy as the world? How do we recover from this embarrassment and be restored unto righteousness?

There is a need for a revolution of holiness and repentance. We must repent and hope that the merciful God will pity our situation and forgive us. So many spiritual giants have been crippled by pornography. We need the Spirit of Christ to move upon the church and give us a revival. It’s either God saves us or we would lose more.

Are you unclean and defiled with this evil? Have you tried to come out of its chain? Run to the cross and wash in the blood. Plead for mercy – our God is rich in mercy. He will abundantly pardon. Nothing is impossible with the power of Jesus.

It’s time to rise in prayer and be delivered so as to deliver others. Oh God, raise for us clean men and women who will honour You in their bodies, souls, and spirits in Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Statistics are from an article written by Mission Frontiers and other Internet sources.