Out with the “Grey”, In with the “Old”

Undoubtedly, you’ve heard of the self-proclaimed “worldwide phenomenon”, “Fifty Shades of Grey.”  Whether it is in reference to the book series, various off-shoot parodies, re-enactments, productions, products, and so on, or the upcoming film, you’ve heard it.  I wonder, though, how many people actually know what all the hype is about.  If you’re not really up on the details, the facts will likely shock you.

Fifty Shades is, in a brief description, rape porn and BDSM porn.  BDSM, for those who may not know, is an acronym for Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, and Masochism.  This is also known by such names as slave porn, torture porn, domination porn, and so on.  [Any male believing that he is in control of reality, making a good decision, or ‘treating a woman right’ by these sorts of acts is greatly misled.]  Why then, is this series of books and now the upcoming movie (not to mention all of the “adult novelties” for sale based on the books) so popular, especially among women???  It boggles the mind, and clearly shows the broken nature of our world.  Folks are looking for authentic love, yet receiving a drastic counterfeit.

Does this definition sound like a free, total, faithful, fruitful gift of self to another, or something opposite?

I think it’s important to point out that “50” depicts violent porn as glamorous – a lie that most pornographers want the consumer to believe.  It’s ultimately the consumption of the lie of “Cultural Manliness” by women, believing that males like character Christian Grey are what they should be looking for in a man. I assure you, he is not.  “50” wants you to believe that what’s happening in the story (stalking, dominance, rape, and various other forms of dangerous and degrading sad0-masochistic sex) is normal, acceptable, and even beneficial to relationships.  How people believe these lies are beyond me, but obviously they do.

On February 14th, the Feast of St. Valentine, the movie form of “50” will be released in all markets.  I highly encourage all of my readers and supporters to 1. boycott the film and 2. have an open and concerned conversation with others in your life who may go to the film.  Support of this movie is in direct conflict with the Gospel Message.  Exploitation of individuals, especially women, and the degradation of human sexuality is absolutely sinful and should be avoided at all costs.  If you’re looking for an alternative, and want to support mainstream films that uphold human dignity and wholesome entertainment, please consider attending “Old Fashioned – the Movie” instead, also opening in theaters on February 14th.

I was recently invited to privately screen the film, and overall, I enjoyed it.  I made a date night out of the event with my wife, getting some of her favorite movie-foods, and creating a little “home theater” for us.  The film is a depiction of a man who, after turning away from a life of debauchery and exploitation, has chosen to have standards for himself and for any potential mate moving forward, for the goodness of his and her soul.  He is seen by other characters in the film as being “stuffy”, “prudish”, and, well… “old fashioned” (hence, the name of the film.)  I was impressed enough to encourage you to see it especially as an alternative against “50”.  Here’s the trailer:

Additionally, there is a responsibility here, for men to step to the plate and protect humanity.  Personally, should our local community-run theater choose to show this film, which I have already formally requested that they not do, I will likely be forced to take further action.  Let us pray that this does not happen.

For me and mine, we say “Out with the ‘Grey’, and In with the ‘Old’.”

TrueMan up!

If you or someone you know is struggling with an addiction to porn, download my “5 Step Guide to Overcoming an Addiction to Pornography & Masturbation” for free.

My Day(s) in Court

Starting Monday, 1.12.15, I’ll find myself (along with 7 others), on trial in Federal Court.  I’m being sued by an adult store owner (owner of, I believe, 18 or so adult stores in the northeast) for several reasons, including trespassing, public and private nuisance, some anti-commerce claims, as well as coercion, to name a few.  All of the claims are ridiculous.  The case has been going on for some time now (almost 3.5 years) and although I am not worried or concerned – for I didn’t do the things that he claims I did – I would ask for your support and prayers during this time.  The case comes down to a matter of the First Amendment, and my (AND YOUR!) right to free speech and to peaceful assembly.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” – First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America (excerpt)

I peacefully and prayerfully stood as witness to the harm and dangers of pornography.  Personally, I stood there for all the men who are trapped in pornography and also for the women whose lives are negatively affected by those men and their actions.  My favorite sign to hold was “Real Men Don’t Exploit Women.”  Translated… “males who are acting with the proper behavior, who do what they should and not what they shouldn’t, and who uphold the utmost respect for women, don’t USE them!”  I hope that it made a lot of folks stop and think about their actions.  I held this sign, too.

Maybe protesting is crazy.  Maybe it’s ineffective.  Maybe because of the insanity taking place in our country lately, protesting will forever be tainted (maybe it already was.)  But let me put another side to it.  There are people who are caught in the trap of pornography who don’t know that there is another option for them.  They don’t know that there are resources, support groups, counselors, programs, and other people who care about them so that they don’t have to be confined to their addiction.  For many, the addiction to pornography destroys their life, ruining marriages, causing firings from jobs, loss of important family finances, and so on.  Porn can also negatively affect the brain, the ability to perform intimately and sexually, it increases selfishness, and does a serious number on the chemicals in the brain causing dependency and withdrawal symptoms.  Anger can also stem from porn use.  (There’s much more on this in my archives.)

So because of all of this, I stood and peacefully assembled, hoping to help just one person.  And, you know what… on MANY occasions, people told me that it opened their eyes, helped them out, or prevented them from making a decision they knew they would regret.

Being involved in this trial is not something I want to do, but I’m involved and I have to see it through.  True manhood requires it of me.  I will remain calm, I will not be evasive on the stand during questioning, and I will, as always, be honest.  Marks of a TrueMan.  Be steadfast with me and do what you can today to defend the First Amendment.

TrueMan up!

 PS: A HUGE thanks goes out to our lawyers for their help and care in this case, they’ve been great.  Alliance Defending Freedom is the bomb!

“The Club” = Cancelled

With great excitement, I write to tell that NBC’s “The Playboy Club” has been cancelled!  After only three episodes, NBC chose to quietly cancel the show.  It goes to show that those of us with concern for conservative values can still cause good things to happen in this country.  The show was cancelled due to low ratings and lack of sponsorship; sponsors were dropping left and right after receiving lots of feedback from concerned Americans.  They did the right thing and pulled their ads.  Thanks to organizations like The War on Illegal Pornography, headed up by Morality in Media, this is a victory.

I continue to receive lots of criticism for writing about this show and asking for support in helping shut it down.  People have been complaining left and right about it and quite frankly, I couldn’t disagree more with their comments.  This show was garbage and propagated the exploitation of women.  It glamorized clubbing and pornography, casual sex and money.  This show highlighted the “cultural manliness” lifestyle.  Those in support of this show and others like it need to take a long hard look at the garbage they are ingesting.  You are welcome to write more comments to me in favor of this show, where you try to tell me how ridiculous I’m being and so on.  They won’t be approved, so I recommend you don’t waste your time.

You cannot disregard moral issues by simply saying “If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.”  That doesn’t cut it.  That doesn’t answer the problem.  That’s moral relativism to the nines.  We get that kind of feedback when we protest sexually oriented businesses.  In fact, I got it the other day from a lady driving by in a minivan, with children in her backseat.  She said to me from the turning lane, “Are you guys serious?  Haven’t you guys heard of the saying ‘If you don’t like it, don’t watch it?'”

I responded, “Ma’am, do you have kinds in your van?”  She said yes.  I said, “Protect them from pornography, please!”  She asked again, “Why don’t you just not watch it?”  I said, “That’s not enough.  Pornography is an insidious problem, this is real and this is important.  Are you against drugs?”  I asked her.  She responded, “Of course.”  I said, “Then I couldn’t possibly say to you to tell your children, ‘Then just don’t use drugs’.”  They are more problematic than that.  There is no place for them in our society.  (Same with porn and crap like “The Playboy Club”.)  Anyway, she drove off and I yelled out, “Please protect your children from porn!”

And then I prayed for her.

TrueMan up!

Some People Just Don’t Get It

Working for a ministry that has chosen to take on a moral evil, pornography, we find ourselves getting all kinds of responses.  Today, we received an email from, as he put it, “a disgusted individual”.  If after we handle the situation I deem it appropriate to place some of the things he wrote in his “disgusted” email on the site, I will.  For now, however, I will speak to the general tone of pornography and the misunderstood ideology that often accompanies pornography in our country.

Porn is harmful.  The women in the sex industry that have turned their lives away from porn admit this to no end.  (Check out the work former porn actress Shelley Lubben is doing.)  Women are being exploited and MEN SHOULD NEVER EXPLOIT WOMEN, whether they walk into the situation or not.  IT IS NOT OKAY TO EXPLOIT WOMEN!!!

Porn is not a “free expression of sexuality”.  It is a disorder – an intimacy disorder.  The “disgusted individual” assumed that because we were out in front of a sexually oriented business (SOB) with our protest last evening, that we are against sex.  Not the case.  In fact, ALL of the men who were out in front of the SOB last evening are very fond of sex – but only within the context of marriage and chastity within marriage.  We don’t try to suppress sexuality, we want people to know about the right use of sexuality, which is never the use or abuse of an individual.  If sex is performed outside of the marital union, it is abused.  Plain and simple.  There is no way around it.

The “disgusted individual” also commented that we were somehow related to radical Muslim extremists that bombed the World Trade Centers nearly 10 years ago.  Can you believe this guy?!?!  We’re peacefully and prayerfully protesting a business that exploits women, destroys marriages and harms children (not to mention leads to abortion, rape, incest, domestic violence, child abuse, contraception and divorce) NOT blowing up buildings with airplanes.  Nice try, buddy, but that’s not going to fly with us.

And, he mentioned several times in his email that we were “forcing our beliefs down other people’s throats.”  I’ve heard this a lot before.  By standing out in front of this SOB, we are not forcing anything.  We are trying to raise awareness of the danger and evil of pornography by spreading the Truth.

Bob – I hope that you read this and I hope that we can converse some day in person.  You are misguided sir and your argumentation is lacking.  I hope to, in our in person conversation, share with you, with the utmost respect and charity, the reality of what’s going on with the sex industry and how your disdain for those of us who are “do gooders”, as you referred to in the email, are attempting to make our world a better, safer, more moral and healthy place to live.

TrueMan up!

“The Day You Give Birth Is the Day Your…”

“The day you give birth is the day your opinion should matter!” screamed a young female passerby. Really? Is that all this is to you, a bunch of opinions? Really?

This was just one of the many negative comments we received yesterday while praying outside of the Planned Parenthood murder mill here in Colorado Springs. I was out with my buddy Joe, a pro-life giant – faithful to prayer and protest outside of Planned Parenthood EVERY Friday afternoon. On the outside, Joe is mild-mannered, calm and prayerful. Inside, I sense that he’s a raging bull! The fury that rages inside him, because of the injustices against the thousands of innocent unborn babies that are brutally murdered every day in the US (nearly 4,000 babies per day!), is tempered by the Holy Spirit and guided thereby to do much good in our world. He, as we all should be, is a man of action. He puts his ‘money where his mouth is’ and is out there praying every Friday for the end to abortion.

One lady driving by stopped and yelled out her window, “Wait until it’s your wife who is raped!  I’m calling the cops on you guys!”  Another female driver stopped in the middle of the intersection to deliberately give us the finger, the ‘ol Jersey salute.  She stared me down like I was the bad guy, because I was there, on my knees, meditating on the Crucifixion of our Lord and praying for babies.  Absolutely ridiculous.

Listen, if you’re not Pro-Life, you’re Pro-Death.  There’s no other distinction.  Life or Death.  You’ve never heard anybody say “It’s a life or death, or choice, situation.”  Right?  It’s way more than a choice.  Abortion is murder.  And, what’s more, THIS IS NOT SIMPLY A WOMAN’S ISSUE!  Men, this is one of those things that we MUST step up and defend.  We must protect our women and children.  We must stand up for the common good.  We must lead in this fight.  We must stand in opposition to faulty and immoral laws.  We must stand up against evil.  We must stand against our post-abortive culture.  We must stand up and say enough is enough.

On Monday of this past week, I took my family to the Rocky Mountain March for Life.  It took place on Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday.  There was a pastor from Oakland, CA there to speak to the crowd.  (I apologize for not remembering his name.)  He was a black pastor, and spoke heavily about the effects of abortion on the black women (and men, and families, and businesses, and culture and so on) in his “neighborhood”.  One thing he said, that has really troubled me the last many days, is that the vast majority of people sitting in the pews on Sunday in black churches across the country are “post-abortive”.  This means that they have been effected, either directly or indirectly, by abortion.  Meaning as well, that they may be traumatized (although usually in silence) by the negative effects of abortion.  His whole point was that it is incredibly difficult to reach out to this portion of the population, because so many people don’t want to be told that what they’ve done has been wrong, or that they’re wrong in their thinking.  So many people want to keep the status quo, instead of pushing the envelope and challenging what is wrong so that what is right can be brought out and experienced by the masses.

There’s a lot more I could write about this today, but will keep it for additional posts in the future.  For now, please join the pro-life movement in praying for the unborn and for the end to abortion.

TrueMan up!