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The Sickly Symptom of Pornography
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“Pornography is not the disease but merely a visible symptom,” AFA founder Don Wildmon once wrote in a 1984 article. “It springs from a moral cancer in our society, and it will lead us to destruction if we are unable to stop it.”
In 2026, despite being prevalent in today’s society, the topic of pornography is rarely discussed in an open forum and, when it is, it is rarely discussed by believers. More than 40 years ago, one man, Rev. Donald E. Wildmon, stood above the crowd and addressed the sinful issue of pornography in culture.
In 1984, Wildmon stated that, “Little do we realize that we are in the middle of the battle and that our future, indeed the future of all generations to come after us, depends on the outcome of this conflict which we now ignore.”
In this article, he was referring to how culture is impacted by the disease of sin, and the various issues happening in culture that are opposed to what the Bible teaches. However, one of those sickly symptoms happened to be none other than pornography.
Wildmon founded the National Federation for Decency in 1977, and it is now known as the American Family Association. His reasoning for starting the organization stemmed from the filth he saw on his family’s TV set. As a father and Mississippi pastor, he was discouraged by the violence, profanity, and vulgarity he saw on screen.
He knew that he had to do something about it.
In 1977, he encouraged his local community and church to turn off their television for one week. Instead of giving the broadcasters the viewing numbers, he asked them to spend time with their families and boycott the filth being shown on screen. He also had those same individuals call the network affiliates and explain why they were doing this.
Before he knew it, his little experiment was changing the culture.
In the early days, Wildmon faced a lot of backlash as he pushed against the grain of culture and targeted advertisers, corporations retailing pornographic magazines, and others selling sinful lies. But in the end, regardless of how badly he was disliked, he managed to change culture and help protect both little and grown eyes from the harms of pornography placed on convenience store checkout shelves, television shows, media, and more.
One of the most well-known adversaries that he faced was Playboy Enterprises. In the 1980s, once Wildmon learned that 7-Eleven convenience stores (and others) were selling Playboy’s pornographic magazines in checkout lines, he made it one of his missions to change that. NFD began organizing boycotts of 7-Eleven stores that sold the material. In response, the stores eventually pulled the magazines from those stores.
Wildmon was even mentioned in a secular magazine for his efforts to counter the argument.
“I count it a high honor that Playboy would spend an entire page condemning me for exercising my Christian faith … I thank God that those who have an anti-Christian bias at Playboy would consider me and my ministry important enough to condemn,” Wildmon stated in the October 1984 edition of The NFD Journal.
However, in 2026, we’re past the point of just magazines filled with filth.
Now, one of the very issues that Wildmon fought so hard against has taken new forms and is much more easily accessible. Instead of just magazines on a store shelf, pornography can now be seen on any device with internet access – and through the eyes of any aged individual.
The fight that Wildmon started all of those years ago is far from over.
In fact, the stakes are raised even higher.
Covenant Eyes reported in 2025 that 141,090,053 adults watch pornography to some degree in the United States. They also added that the number is 61% of the U.S. adult population, but adults aren’t the only ones plagued by these dirty pictures. The report also mentioned that 58% of teens have stumbled accidentally on pornography.
With numbers this vast, we desperately need others with the same drive as Bro. Don. Those who are willing to step out of their comfort zones and share the truth, dangers, lies, and heartaches that come from the lures of pornography. The only issue is that this is a topic that many Christ followers would rather avoid than discuss at length.
Why?
Because it’s dirty.
When it comes to the sex industry, it is dirty. It is filled with sins, lies, hurting and scared souls, and immorality of various degrees. Yet, in the eyes of our Father, these sins are no dirtier than the slew of sins we each commit daily. But because of many of these opinions, we are losing the battle for today’s young minds, men, women, and church members by not talking about one of the biggest battles we must continue to fight.
The church must take a stand.
Instead of avoiding this issue, it should be at the forefront. We should be encouraging those affected by these addictions that there is hope in the mighty name of Jesus. And the best way to do that is to be bold.
Just like Bro. Don, we need to take our stands and become aware of the dangers of pornography, but also open our hearts to helping those impacted.
There is hope.
But this symptom must be treated before it spreads.
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