We receive cable T.V.. A couple of weeks ago the cable company broadcast a free HBO premium channel package for about a week. This week, they followed with a few days of Showtime and their associated channels. My wife and I have come to an agreement years ago that we would not have such services in our home. The reason is that there is pornography and profanity on these channels and we don't wish to support these things in any way.

I know someone might be reading this and reacting with a large guffaw right now, but that's what comes from having perceptions of these things which have been dulled and desensitized with overexposure to them.

While we got the free broadcasts, there were a couple of movies we wanted to see that we knew had been released, but there was no program schedule provided. That left us with the option of scrolling the menu to see if they might be on. Sheesh. It has gotten so much worse than the last time they had one of these a couple of years ago. I mean, you could not even advance through the channels quickly enough to read the entries and avoid seeing somebody performing intimate acts on the screen. The only way to avoid it is to use the information button on our digital remote, but that obscures the next entry. It is all set up in a way so as to force you to be exposed to the trash that the channel owners hope will attract you to subscribing to their regular service. It is not unlike the tactics employed by the average drug pusher. Supply your market area with enough samples of your product until a percentage of your 'target' group forms a habit of using it. Then, they're 'hooked', and nothing short of a personal meltdown or revelation will motivate them to make a choice to stop using the 'product.'

The Premium channel companies appear to be pretty unabashed about announcing their upcoming broadcasts. Lesbianism seems now to be the filth of choice, and they make no bones about promoting it with sly winks of the eye as 'adult' programming. The absurdity of that statement would be laughable if it weren't so gross in its insidiousness. Anybody who thinks that things in the area of pornography aren't getting worse with time must be living on another planet. Look at regular broadcast television, let alone cable. In the last ten years we have followed the example of many countries in Europe and have allowed nudity and profanity to creep into broadcast T.V.. It gets worse every year. The first major example I remember of that was when a furor arose over NYPD Blue, in 1993. ABC garnered tons of free publicity in the media by announcing that there would be nudity and profanity on the initial broadcast and implying that it would be a regular feature in that program. Despite being dropped by a few affiliate stations if I remember correctly, the show survived and has had a very successful run by television standards. I've never watched an episode.

My mother is a nice older lady. She is in some ways much more conservative than I am, which is why I was surprised to fine out that it was one of her favorite shows for a while. This is the same lady who quit going to movies in 1970, after seeing MASH, directed by Robert Altman. She said it was a filthy movie. Look at the change there over time.

It's been said that 'time heals all wounds'. Time doesn't heal anything. Time is just a framework. The only way to have any wound healed is to take it to the Cross of Jesus. It was there that He made the provision for our healing, and the sin of pornography is one of the things He was crucified for. It is an old sin that is getting more widespread. It has far reaching effects that leave many scarred people in its path.

Husbands trash their marriages and their wives lives, their kids lives. Women are drawn into it with their husbands in fruitless attempts to stabilize their torn marriages. Many serial killers and rapists have detailed to FBI profilers that pornography was an integral part of the process which developed them, and a tool they used to maintain their levels of interest and excitement.

Somebody might say, " The cat is already out of the bag, so what can we possibly do about all of this?"We can certainly pray for those about us that we know to have made a habit of this sin. We can certainly vote for any legislation that limits pornography. We can certainly donate our money to those organizations which lobby against it. We can personally easily boycott those T.V. programs that promote it and those advertisers who support it.

Another thing that I have done, is to talk to men with this sin problem and express to them in a kindly way that the women whose bodies they are lusting after are somebody's daughter, or somebody's sister. I have told them that for whatever the reason these women are involved in pornography, they have taken a path that diminishes them and demeans them, and that what they do in ogling these women serves to contribute to that. This tends to level the playing field, so to speak. Like any sin, a person usually tries consciously or unconsciously to convince themselves at some point that there is nothing wrong with what they're doing.

If you can help somebody to realize that sin has consequences and put a face on those consequences it may help them to take a step toward righteousness and toward the healing power of the Lord.

Eph 5:10-11 11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.