Ashley Madison and ISIS

By Dan Popp

As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins, by national calamities. – George Mason

I was minding my own business, watching a news feature about the situation in Iraq. Yes, it was on Fox News, so you leftists who live inside the protective bubble of the genetic fallacy can quit reading now. The situation in Iraq is, in summary, "not good." Perhaps the most shocking thing about this report was the expert opinion that ISIS could become a threat to the US within months.

Months.

In the middle of this program I saw my first commercial for "Ashley Madison Dot Com." This website's purpose is to facilitate adulterous encounters. Now, the existence of such a site is disturbing in itself – not that adultery is anything new, but men don't even have to lie about their intentions anymore. That's a new low for womankind. There was a time when a man would remove his wedding ring before trolling the bar for vapid, half-drunk sluts. No self-respecting woman would want a "one night stand" back then; and no woman with any character would be a party to destroying a marriage. "Home wrecker" might be the most painful reproach on her conscience. Vapid or not, she would realize that "it could be me" on the other side of that equation.

Back then, even the half-drunk tramps recognized that marriage protected women and children, and we might just want to preserve that. Now, the taboos are gone, and with them common sense. It's just like God said in Romans 1: When human societies reject Him, He withdraws, but He takes His gift of reason with Him. The PhD. in Feminist Studies today knows less than yesterday's inebriated floozy.

But back to our commercial. It featured a man singing about his desire to commit adultery. I couldn't make that up if I wanted to. But the "jingle," if it could be called that, wasn't very catchy. They should've used a popular song from a few decades back called, "Third Rate Romance." Some of the lines are:

They left the bar, they got in his car and they drove away.

They drove to the Family Inn.

She didn't even have to pretend she didn't know what for. – Russell Smith

Mercifully the commercial ended, and we were back to the show about how the 9/11 attacks could be just a preview of coming attractions for America. And I wondered. I wondered how Fox could have aired such a commercial. I wondered why Ashley Madison thought Fox viewers would be a good target audience for their adultery site. But mostly I wondered how many viewers would make the connection between the commercial and the content of the program – the flaunting of sin in public, and the dire security situation for America.

I suppose it's just a coincidence that America's spiritual and moral collapse is happening at the same time as the disintegration of her families, her prolonged economic depression, the crumbling of her once-great Constitutional Republic into tribalism and lawlessness, and her humiliating display of diplomatic incompetence and military impotence. That is some really bad luck.

I'm haunted by this quote from Livy, found in the introduction to his Early History of Rome.

I invite the reader's attention to the much more serious consideration of the kind of lives our ancestors lived, of who were the men, and what the means both in politics and war by which Rome's power was first acquired and subsequently expanded; I would then have him trace the process of our moral decline, to watch, first, the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to lapse, then the rapidly increasing disintegration, then the final collapse of the whole edifice, and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices nor face the remedies needed to cure them.

Livy understood that morality was the foundation of everything related to the life and health of a nation. Anyone who has read the Old Testament prophets should certainly grasp that connection. God often used pagan nations to chastise Israel. Prominent among these scourges was Assyria – a kingdom that included what are now parts of Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Just another coincidence, I'm sure.

Most people still agree that marriage is a foundation-stone of civilization. If that's true, then anything that weakens marriage – from no-fault divorce laws, to mercenary enticements to adultery, to legitimizing marriage counterfeits – is an attack on society. It's an actual War on Women, yes, but it's an attack on the rest of us, too. I have little doubt that Ashley Madison (as a symbol of our depravity) is a much greater threat to America than ISIS. But they're both symptoms of the same disease. This disease, many times in history, has proven fatal.

And [I] saw among the simple, I perceived among the youths, a young man devoid of understanding, passing along the street near her corner; and he took the path to her house in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night. And there a woman met him, with the attire of a harlot, and a crafty heart. She was loud and rebellious, her feet would not stay at home. At times she was outside, at times in the open square, lurking at every corner. So she caught him and kissed him; with an impudent face she said to him: "I have peace offerings with me; today I have paid my vows. So I came out to meet you, diligently to seek your face, and I have found you. I have spread my bed with tapestry, colored coverings of Egyptian linen. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love until morning; let us delight ourselves with love. For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey; he has taken a bag of money with him, and will come home on the appointed day."

With her enticing speech she caused him to yield, with her flattering lips she seduced him. Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks, till an arrow struck his liver. As a bird hastens to the snare, he did not know it would cost his life.

Now therefore, listen to me, my children; pay attention to the words of my mouth: Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, do not stray into her paths; for she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death. (Proverbs 7:7-27, NKJV)

Third-rate romance...

For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread, and an adulteress hunts for the precious life. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is the one who goes in to his neighbor's wife; whoever touches her will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 6:26-29, NAS95)

Low-rent rendezvous.

"This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. Yet you say, 'For what reason?' Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. But not one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth." (Malachi 2:13-15, NAS95)

© Dan Popp