Porn to the Rescue?

Talk about a perverse response. Talk about the exact opposite of what we need to be doing during a pandemic. Talk about feeding the flesh when we should be nurturing our spirits. Talk about giving ourselves to carnality when we should be crying out for mercy.

As things stand today, normal life has been totally upended. Families are suffering. Companies are going out of business. Health care systems are being stretched beyond the limit. Italy cannot bury its dead. Yet it is a pornography website that comes to the rescue. I kid you not.

As the headline on PC Mag announced, “Pornhub Premium to the Rescue: France, Spain to Get Free Access, Too.”

Yes, “Italy won’t be the only country to get free access to Pornhub’s premium service in the wake of the coronavirus.

“The adult website is now expanding the same offer to users in France and Spain, which have also been experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases. Residents in both countries are now facing lockdowns, forcing them to stay at home. In response, Pornhub will give the country’s users free access to the premium service for the next month.”

Thanks, but no thanks, Pornhub.

The last thing we need is more porn.

Of course, we can readily question the altruism of Pornhub. This is just another cynical attempt to get more people hooked on porn, leading to more subscriptions.

Yet even without this ploy, more people are accessing porn. As reported by Adweek on March 13, “Pornhub Reports an Increase in Traffic as More People Self-Quarantine. The adult site believes this spike is from users working from home.”

Such is the way of the human race.

But even if Pornhub decided to give away free porn for life, there’s nothing good about it. Porn leads to shame. To pollution. To degradation. To perversion. To death.

The last thing we need during an international health crisis is more porn. Really!

To be sure, we don’t know exactly what sparked the current crisis, be it the cause of human, divine or natural. And we can hardly say that, in every nation around the world, the virus is an act of divine judgment.

But we can say that we desperately need divine intervention.

We can say that this is a time for prayer and fasting rather than a time for partying and feasting.

We can say that this is no time to be increasing our intake of porn.

More than 2,500 years ago, in the midst of a national crisis, the prophet Isaiah delivered this message: “In that day the Lord God of Hosts called you to weeping and mourning, and to tear your hair and wear sackcloth. Yet, there is joy and gladness, slaying of oxen and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking wine: ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die'” (Isa. 22:12-13).

Does this sound familiar? The Lord’s response was severe: “It was revealed in my hearing by the Lord of Hosts: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord God of Hosts” (Isa. 22:14).

So it is today that, with Italy in crisis and with France and Spain in great danger too, Pornhub is saying, “Have a month free on us! Get hooked at our expense! Watch explicit videos containing every imaginable (and unimaginable) sex act! This is what you do when your country is falling apart. This is how you pass your time.”

What madness. What absolute and utter madness. And what a picture of our world today. We have lost our moral bearings. We have lost our spiritual foundations. We have lost our fear of God.

Even here in America, as our elderly lay dying, our young people are partying. While hospitals search for ventilators, college-age kids get wasted and sleep around. After all, it’s spring break!

We have lost both our minds and our souls.

But all is not lost. And not all of us are lost.

Many are seeking God earnestly.

Many are praying for mercy.

Many are sobering up.

Many are changing their ways.

Many are hearing the divine wake-up call.

Many are examining their lives. Their priorities. Their standards. Their values. The Lord is getting our attention.

Now is the time to turn from uncleanness. To turn from sin. From selfishness. From greed. From complacency. From porn.

Now is the time to turn to God so that we learn the holy lessons of the moment.

It is prayer, not porn, to the rescue.

God have mercy.