Yesterday a seeker oriented church in my town gave its Sunday morning platform to unrepentant porn star Ron Jeremy. The ploy seemed to work, as the story landed the church on the front page of the Grand Rapids Press and as a lead story on the evening news. Jeremy told the 2,000 member audience that most porn stars believe in God, there is nothing wrong with “recreational sex,” and all good people go to heaven. If one of the marks of the church is the preaching of the Word, then I have to ask whether this assembly has relinquished its right to be called a church.
I wonder how the pastor of this gathering plans on helping those in his group who are struggling with pornography. They saw him give his “pulpit” (actually a stool with a microphone) to an actively working porn actor, so they might reasonably wonder if porn is really all that bad.
And that would be a tragedy, because according to a book I recently received, When Your Husband Is Addicted to Pornography, such “recreational sex” is ripping apart many of our Christian marriages. Vicki Tiede’s excellent book would be good for husbands to read, if for no other reason than to realize that viewing porn online is not a victim-less sin. Their selfish and futile attempts to satisfy their sexual desires are devastating to the self-image and trust of their wives. Husbands need to ask what viewing porn says about their wives, and if they don’t intend on sending this message then maybe they should stop.
But When Your Husband Is Addicted to Pornography is actually written directly to women. I don’t know my way around the genre, but the book contains many of the elements that draw women in—emotional stories, first person quotes, exegesis of Bible passages, and workbook-like space to write in your answers. Its format is what I think a Beth Moore book would be like, if I could only remember what that’s like. At any rate, I suspect that women will love this book and benefit greatly from it. They will especially appreciate hearing from someone who has been where they are and understands the agony they are suffering.
I suspect this book will become quite popular, not only because it’s well done but tragically because it will be more and more needed. Especially at the church that just hosted Ron Jeremy.
Mike Wittmer 
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