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What “Wuthering Heights” and the SI Swimsuit Edition have in common · The Daily Article

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: Greetings on this Monday, February 16th, 2026.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Denison Forum's daily article podcast.
• 0:07
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm Chris Elkins, new rating today's daily article, authored by our CEO and co-founder, Dr. Jim Denison.
• 0:16
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's a sign of our times when a movie is so sexually immoral that even reading reviews of it can veer toward the pornographic, but such as the case with weathering heights, the film adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel that was released Friday to a very mixed reception.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: One reviewer calls the film an abomination, another calls it an insult to the novel's characters and describes it's sex scenes as, quote, truly exhausting.
• 0:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: The New Yorker portrays some of these scenes in ways I will not reproduce here and hope you won't read.
• 0:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: to switch, quote unquote, art forms.
• 0:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: The latest sports illustrated swim suit edition is out.
• 0:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: The magazine has been doing this since 1964, sometimes in nearly pornographic ways.
• 1:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: This year's edition does something new, however, it features six wives and girlfriends of prominent NFL players.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_00]: Among them is Brittany Mahomes, whose husband is an iconic superstar, widely considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.
• 1:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: As with weathering heights, I will neither link to the images nor view them myself.
• 1:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: One reason is obvious.
• 1:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus warned us in May 5, 28, that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are therefore told in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 18, 2, flee from sexual immorality, a command I intend to obey.
• 1:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: But another reason is less obvious and constitutes the theme of my article today.
• 1:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: Last Thursday, I referred to the LGBTQ advocacy strategy I have been describing for years in books and articles.
• 1:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Normalize unbiblical immorality.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: legalize it, stigmatize those who disagree, and criminalize such disagreements.
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: I read a responded by pointing me to a similar way of describing the strategy that I had not seen.
• 2:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: In re-inventing liberal Christianity, the British theologian Theohobson describes the three marks of a revolution.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: One, what was universally condemned is now celebrated to what was universally
• 2:30
  [SPEAKER_00]: 3.
• 2:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: Those who refuse to celebrate are condemned.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a means to advancing such a revolution, the first step is to normalize what was universally condemned.
• 2:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are reticent to celebrate what we consider aberrant, so we must be convinced that what we thought was aberrant is actually normal.
• 2:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: With regard to sexual immorality, the enemy does this in two ways.
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: The first is modeled by women, modeling very revealing swimwear in sports illustrated.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: In the past, athletes, actresses, and professional models have typically been the subject of the annual publication.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: This year, however, the magazine shows wives and girlfriends of athletes, some of whom are known for their public roles as wives and mothers.
• 3:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: result is the supposition that if normal people engage in activities we would have considered immoral, it must be normal for us to do the same.
• 3:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: The second way immorality is normalized is illustrated by weathering heights and it's extremely aberrant sex scenes.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: even reading the reviews.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is clear to me that these are activities quote unquote normal people would not even consider.
• 3:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: My concern is not that those who see the movie are now more likely to do what the characters did.
• 3:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is that they will think if people do things like this, my more normal sins must not be as sinful as I thought.
• 3:54
  [SPEAKER_00]: And when any activity becomes normalized in society, we can expect society to want it to be legalized.
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: We saw this with marijuana legislation, which the New York Times strongly advocated, but now admits has, quote, caused a rise in addiction and other problems, in quote, with widespread hospitalizations and chronic psychotic disorders.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nonetheless, it is natural for us to want to legalize what we consider normal behavior, then to stigmatize those who disagree and even to criminalize such disagreement.
• 4:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: as Hubsan noted in his third stage of a revolution, those who refused to celebrate, are condemned.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_00]: Given the extreme pervasiveness of sexualized images and behavior in contemporary culture, spanning the gamut from advertising to music, to television, to movies, to Super Bowl halftime shows, and again, I won't link to any examples.
• 4:49
  [SPEAKER_00]: How are Christ followers to respond?
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: First, we should see all temptations as a step from what seems normal and innocuous into what will become disastrous and deadly.
• 5:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus warned us that everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin in John 8, verse 34, and James 1, verse 15 reveals, sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: less becomes adultery, which becomes the destruction of our family and the ruin of our public witness and ministry.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: As I heard a pastor say, and I often quote, "'Sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay."
• 5:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you think you're exempt from this Satanic strategy, you of all people are most susceptible to it.
• 5:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: Our second response is Christians, is to turn to the only source of true victory announced in Galatians 516, walked by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
• 5:50
  [SPEAKER_00]: Jesus taught us through John 6x63, it is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help at all.
• 5:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: Paul was blunt in Romans 8 verse 8, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Clearly, we cannot rely on our sinful nature to defeat our sinful nature.
• 6:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: How then do we walk in the Spirit?
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_00]: From Ephesians 5, we begin the day by submitting our lives to Him, reading God's Word, so that the Spirit can use it to shape our minds and guide our steps.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_00]: According to Hebrews 4, verse 12, and drawing close to Christ in worship, so He can make us like Himself as we learn in 2 Corinthians 3, verse 18.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: We walk through the day by practicing his presence, by praying about all we encounter as taught in 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 17, and turn every temptation immediately to him for his strength and help.
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we fall, first John 1 9 teaches us to immediately seek his forgiveness and restoration.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: When we walk in the light as he is in the light from 1 John 1 verse 7, we experience our father's best in every dimension of our lives according to Galatians 6.
• 7:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: As the biblical scholar Spirus Zodiades noted, Peace of Heart is the natural outcome of purity of heart.
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  [SPEAKER_00]: Will you experience such peace today?