The Real Problem with Acceptable Pornography

Summary

---

The Wake-Up Call

Episode: The Real Problem with Acceptable Pornography

Host: J.D. (John David) Walt
Date: May 7, 2026

---

Episode Overview

This episode of The Wake-Up Call dives deeply into the topic of pornography and its effects within Christian life and community. J.D. Walt challenges listeners to rethink cultural norms surrounding "acceptable" pornography, drawing from Ephesians 5:3-5. He explores how sexual immorality attacks core identity, distorts God’s intent for sexuality, and how the church should address these issues without falling into legalistic "purity culture." The episode balances scriptural reflection with personal exhortation, a prayer for freedom and wisdom, and a set of reflective questions.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Scriptural Foundation and Context

• Scripture Reading: Ephesians 5:3-5 (03:20)
  • Emphasizes Paul’s urging that sexual immorality, impurity, and covetousness must “not even be named among you” as is appropriate for God’s people.

2. Cultural Context of Pornography

• J.D. notes how American society—and the church—have adopted a scale of what’s considered “acceptable pornography,” drawing a direct line from First Amendment debates on obscenity in law school to cultural desensitization (04:45).
  • Quote: “We started drawing lines between acceptable pornography and unacceptable pornography. And do you see what oh so subtly happened when I combined the two words, acceptable and pornography into the conversation? That, my friends, is our big problem.” (05:30)
• References the Greco-Roman context of the early church, observing that sensuality and sexuality were rampant then as now.

3. Why Sexual Sin is Uniquely Devastating

• Asserts that sexual sin impacts people at the core of their identity—the image of God—unlike other kinds of sin (08:10).
  • Quote: “Something about sexual sin breaks people more than any other kinds of sin. Why? Because it cuts to the core of our identity, which is the image of God, and threatens to disintegrate us at the level of our personhood.” (08:20)
• Notes the shift in culture from biblical classifications of male and female to numerous gender options, many centered on sexual preference.

4. Redefining Pornography

• Calls listeners to redefine pornography not just as explicit material but as any distortion of human sensuality designed to arouse and misdirect desire (11:00; repeated for impact 11:42).
  • Memorable Definition:
    • “Pursuing purity in a pornographic culture begins by redefining pornography as a distortion of human sensuality designed to arouse sexual interest with the purpose of misdirecting desire, misappropriating the gift of human sexuality, and misusing the image bearers of God.” (11:05, 11:45)
• Emphatic closing on the topic: “All pornography. All pornography is unacceptable.” (12:28)

5. Rejecting Legalistic Purity Culture

• Warns against overcorrecting with rigid, rules-based “purity culture,” emphasizing the need for good boundaries without creating an environment of shame or rebellion (13:40).
  • Quote: “The answer is not to go for what I would call purity culture, which is very super legalistic, it's rules oriented ... All these things that create another distortion… If the cliff is right here, you do need some guard rails...but don't put the fence five miles away from the cliff.” (14:05)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” (02:05)
• “As sensuality increases, so does desensitization, which causes sensuality to increase more. Sound familiar?” (06:25)
• “A sinner is a sinner. But unfortunately, some sins are more devastating in their consequences than others. Sexual sin is sin of another order because of the way it breaks down and fragments our core identity and does damage to the image of God in us.” (09:55)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:20] – Ephesians 5:3-5 Reading
• [04:45] – Reflections on American legal and cultural treatment of pornography
• [06:25] – Parallels between early church and current culture
• [08:20] – Why sexual sin uniquely affects identity
• [10:30] – Christians’ focus on sexual sin; are all sins equal?
• [11:00 & 11:45] – Definition and dangers of pornography
• [13:40] – Warning against legalistic purity culture
• [14:05] – Guardrails analogy
• [12:28] – "All pornography is unacceptable"
• [12:50] – Prayer for wisdom and freedom

---

Reflective Application

• Questions for Listeners (13:10)

  1. To what degree are you desensitized to the over-sensualized culture all around us? Do you see it as a problem?
  2. How does this tolerance for sexual immorality become more than another legalistic approach to not watching R-rated movies?
  3. What do you make of this connection between sexual brokenness and sexual immorality and the distortion of our identity?

• Prayer:

  • Thanks God for Jesus, freedom from shame, and asks for attunement to God’s word and wisdom in navigating sexual purity (12:50).

---

Ending Notes

• Encourages parents and grandparents: your example matters, but Jesus leads through you—“the pressure's on Jesus” (15:28).
• Closing worship: Sings “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” with J.D.'s father (16:40).
• Reminds listeners to “wake up to Jesus every day,” emphasizes the communal aspect, and invites listeners to share/support the Wake-Up Call ministry.

---

Overall Tone: Honest, compassionate, candid, and biblically grounded; blending conviction with pastoral warmth and reflective invitation.

Transcript

[A]

Foreign.

[B]

Wakey eggs and bakey. Good morning, Sower Nation. It is Thursday, May 7th, in the year of our Lord 2026. I'm John David Walt, and this is your wake up call. Maybe you need to go get that second cup of coffee, guys, because we're going in deep. We're coming in hot today. This is going to be another. There's a lot going on in today's entry, so it's time. Jesus is here, okay? He's not near. He's here. He's right there with you. He's right here with me and he's with us, bringing us together to meet with him in the word of God. What a holy thing we're getting to do together today. So wake up, sleeper. Rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you. Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you. And we're praying in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today's entry is entitled the Real Prayer Problem with Acceptable Pornography. Okay, don't say I didn't warn you. Our text, Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 3 through 5. Now, I'm not going to put a parental warning on today's entry, but you might need to spend some time with your kids explaining, maybe some of this, but I don't know. I think we've reached a point where I don't know if a kid can be too young, given the Internet and what it is in this culture. To begin this conversation appropriately, of course, I'm praying for you. Now consider, oh now, here, now, the word of the Lord. Ephesians 5. This is what we got to go with. Ephesians 5, 3, 5. Hear now the Word of the Lord. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking which are out of place. But instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous, that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. The Word of the Lord. Now consider this. We live in a pornographic culture. In law school, the conversation around pornography. Pornography circled around the First Amendment and what was considered to be protected speech. As I remember it, the test centered around whether the particular pornography at issue could be deemed obscene or not. Of course, obscenity can be a subjective standard, making for a constantly moving target. For instance, are we asking June Cleaver or Miley Cyrus? We started drawing lines between acceptable pornography and unacceptable pornography. And do you see what oh so subtly happened when I combined the two words, acceptable and pornography into the conversation? That, my friends, is our big problem. The Ephesians, like the Corinthians and so many societies in the Greco Roman world, lived in a pornographic culture. Sensuality, along with her twin brother, sexuality, roamed the streets and no one really had much of an issue with it. As sensuality increases, so does desensitization, which causes sensuality to increase more. Sound familiar? In this context? The apostle writes, but sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you as is proper among saints. You see, Jews expected this. Gentiles not so much. Paul issues not a gentle warning, but a no tolerance policy. What is Paul's problem? God made the human body, right? What's wrong with admiring such beauty? People were made for sexual engagement, right? Whose business is it to tell anyone else what is or is not okay when it comes to the exercise of their sexuality? This is not about moralizing and rules. Remember, Paul is addressing us in the context of talking about the transformation of human beings from broken into beautiful. Again, something about sexual sin breaks people more than any other kinds of sin. Why? Because it cuts to the core of our identity, which is the image of God, and threatens to disintegrate us at the level of our personhood. As an example, consider how human sexuality these days has departed the domain of desire and threatens to take over the realm of identity. Genesis 1:27 famously reveals. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female. He created the them. In the short span of a decade, we have gone from the revealed biblical classifications of male and female to 71 gender options on Facebook alone, many of which revolve around sexual preference. People often ask, why do Christians make such a big deal out of sexual sin and sexuality? Aren't all sins created and treated equal? Well, yes and no. A sinner is a sinner. But unfortunately, some sins are more devastating in their consequences than others. Sexual sin is sin of another order because of the way it breaks down and fragments our core identity and does damage to the image of God in us. So what does all of this have to do with pornography? This is why Paul warns us that not to walk away, but to run. That's 1 Corinthians 6:18. He says, Run from sexual immorality. This is why pornography is so dangerous. Pursuing purity in a pornographic culture begins by redefining pornography as a distortion of human sensuality designed to arouse sexual interest with the purpose of misdirecting desire, misappropriating the gift of human sexuality, and misusing the image bearers of God. That was a lot to say. I'm going to say it again. Pursuing purity in a pornographic culture begins by redefining pornography as a distortion of human sensuality designed to arouse sexual interest with the purpose of misdirecting desire, misappropriating the gift of human sexuality, and misusing the image bearers of God. Okay, one more thing. All pornography. All pornography is unacceptable. Let's pray. Abba. Father, we thank you for your son Jesus, who taught us that sexual sin begins not beyond us or outside of us, but within us, and that our eyes are the lamp of our bodies. Free us from the shame that comes from moralizing that our minds might be attuned to your word and our hearts turned toward your wisdom. Praying in Jesus name, amen. Our journal prompts today, to what degree are you desensitized to the over sensualized culture all around us? Do you see it as a problem? Two, how does this tolerance for sexual immorality become more than another legalistic approach to not watching R rated movies? Though that may not be a bad idea. And three, what do you make of this connection between sexual brokenness and sexual immorality and the distortion of our identity? This is some deep, deep stuff. It's probably too deep to, to be rolling out on a morning devotion. But I mean, the text, okay, the text took us there. I did not decide to go here today. Ephesians decided, Paul decided, the Holy Spirit decided, okay, Jesus decided and we did it. So. I don't know what else to say. It's challenging. I mean, it's challenging how to deal with this. Our, our culture is way, way, way, way over the line. And I think the answer is not to go for what I would call purity culture, okay? Purity culture, which is very super legalistic, it's rules oriented, it's like, you know, stop this, don't do that. All these things that create another distortion, they sort of set Hedges way back around human sensuality and human sexuality, both of which are gifts and they're trying to sort of, you know, if the cliff is right here, you do need some guard rails, you need a fence there, but don't put the fence five miles away. From the cliff. That's what makes people want to cross over the fence and see what's five miles away at the cliff. And then there's no fence and they fall over. I think you get my point. I think I should just stop now. I think I need to quit while maybe I'm not too far behind. How about we hand off here to my great dad, and he and I are going to lead us in a song.

[A]

Mount of thy reading. All right.

[B]

Well, you hear our worship leader practicing, getting it ready. He's getting ready for qp. What's that stand for?

[A]

Choir practice.

[B]

Your dad would always come on Wednesday. He'd come home early from the farm. He's like, I got to go to QP Choir practice. He didn't do well in spelling.

[A]

Sure didn't. That ain't all.

[B]

But you know what? He did well in life because he put his faith in Jesus. Right, Dan?

[A]

Amen.

[B]

And that's.

[A]

Amen.

[B]

That's. That's how I learned to put my faith in Jesus. My. My parents and I, I would say a word to you all out there who've got children, grandchildren. They're. Wait, they're paying attention. They're watching. They're looking to you for leadership. And they're following you. So you can feel like, oh, gosh, the pressure's on. But guess what? The pressure's not on you. It's on Jesus. He will lead them through your life. All you have to do is follow him. And that's why we do the wake up call.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

We try to help you every day.

[A]

Get started.

[B]

Get started. Win the morning. Wake up to Jesus every day. And I'd love to invite you to share the wake up call with others. That's how other people find out about it. We're. We're not great marketers. We're not advertising too much.

[A]

We're not selling anything.

[B]

We're not even selling it. Okay. We're giving it away. So what are we singing today on the Wake Up Call? Dad.

[A]

Come thy fount of every blessing.

[B]

That's the one. What's the number?

[A]

It's 37.

[B]

And what's in. What book are we looking in?

[A]

We're in the. Our Great Redeemer's Praise.

[B]

Our Great Redeemer's praise. Number 37. We're gonna sing all three verses. This is a familiar one. And you'll. You'll know it.

[A]

Come, thou fount of every blessing. Tune my heart to sing thy grace. Streams of mercy never CE seen Call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues of love. Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it. Mount of my redeeming love Tears I raise my Ebenezer hither By thy help uncomm and I hope by thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God Please rescue me from danger Interpose his precious blood Last verse. Oh, to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be Let thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to thee Prone to wonder, I can feel it Prone to leave the God I love. Take and seal it Seal it where thy court's above let's sing it again. Here's my heart, mouth. Take and seal it Seal it for thy courts above. Yep.

[B]

You know who I think likes our singing?

[A]

Who?

[B]

Jesus.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

I think he likes our singing, and he especially likes it when he hears words like that. Here's my heart. Take and see Take and seal it. That's what he likes to hear. That's why we're meeting with him every morning. That's why we're singing. We're singing for Jesus. And there's something about singing that just changes the atmosphere.

[A]

It's a good way to start today.

[B]

And for most of my life, that's not how I started the day. But now that we're singing, other people feel like they can do it too, because we're doing it together.

[A]

Right.

[B]

And we just want to appreciate you for singing with us. And. And I just. We're still in the midst of this sewing campaign. I want to keep inviting you to. To pray about sponsoring a day of the wake up call. There's anywhere from $10. I saw that. Anywhere. Are you getting tired? Anywhere from $10 to sponsor a new reader, we send them a book. To sponsoring the podcasts, the YouTube, the email. It's all in the. In the email. It's in the. The link today in the PS and in the show notes on the other podcast platforms. But pray about it. This is how we do this together.

[A]

We're all.

[B]

Dad, are you going to sponsor a day?

[A]

Yeah, I will.

[B]

How many? How many days?

[A]

How many you need?

[B]

Okay, there it is. You know, one. One year. Dad, I put in the ps. I said, I just have a sense that there's somebody out there that would want to match the whole thing and sponsor every day. And things gotten more expensive since then. But do you know what? There was a lady heard that and she said, that's me.

[A]

Is that right?

[B]

And she sent us a check for well over a hundred thousand dollars.

[A]

Goodness.

[B]

She. We couldn't believe it. And where was she from? She was from down in Texas. It's become one of our glory stories.

[A]

Yeah, because. Do you still hear from her?

[B]

Oh, yes. We're still good friends. She wouldn't want me to name her on here, but she wants to keep. Keep hidden in the Lord. And she knows who she is and her husband and what a blessing they have it is.

[A]

It is absolutely.

[B]

That just put unheard of wind in our sails.

[A]

It put. It put goosebumps on me, I'm telling you.

[B]

But you know what? Any amount matters, every gift matters. And it helps, it encourages us and it moves this thing forward because we're trying to help more and more people wake up to Jesus every day. All right, well, we'll see you on the field for The Awakening. I'm J.D. walt.

[A]

And I'm David. Walt.

[B]

And where we going to see him, dad.

[A]

See you on the field.