Christians 'Strike' Porn Landmark with Prayer
Christians launched a spiritual "strike" against one of the most well-known symbols of the sex industry on Saturday.
Dozens of mostly young believers in the Los Angeles area marched while praying around a building owned by one of the world's leading men's magazines (the name of which is withheld at the request of the organizer).
Strike LA, the group that organized the gathering, described the event as one of its biggest in terms of targets. Over the last few years, the group said it has held about 30 so-called strikes, which involve participants fasting and praying for God to intervene and release the city of Los Angeles from the bondage of the "enemy." Each strike event culminates in a prayerful march at a specific location that represents a sector that needs God's intervention, such as education, Hollywood, the courts, sports, and the marketplace.
"The primary reason [for Saturday's strike] is that we want to deal with the spirit of perversion that has pervaded over our culture and our generation – specifically as it relates to the issue of pornography," said Jonathan Ngai, director of Strike LA, to The Christian Post.
Pornography is not only a big problem in the secular world but also inside the church, Ngai pointed out. Nearly half (47 percent) of Christians say pornography is a major problem in their home, and 56 percent of divorce cases involve one partner having an obsessive interest in pornography, he said.
"We believe the reason this issue has become a giant in the land is because, 'What is unacceptable in the eyes of God has become acceptable in the eyes of man,'" Ngai said. "This is what we are here to reverse on this prayer Strike – that the stronghold and the power of this spirit, and also the veil of deception would be rooted out from a whole generation – beginning with the church!"
The Strike purposely was set to coincide on the anniversary of the magazine's first publication. The magazine, according to Strike LA, has promoted a culture of lust, sensuality, pornography and "all sorts of sexual perversion."
Past Strike LA events included ones at L.A.'s Korea town (human trafficking), UCLA (education), Staples Center (sports), the federal building and courthouse (government and courts), and at the Kodak Theatre (Hollywood).