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It may be next to impossible but Apple is trying to deny developers from making applications that are pornagraphic. Just recently Apple banned an iPhone application for reportedly featuring explicit pictures of a 15-year-old girl.

The "BeautyMeter" enables iPhone and iPod Touch owners to view user-submitted photos and rate them based on various body parts and clothing. The program shows pictures of women and men in various states of undress. Before it was pulled from the App Store last Thursday, it featured a picture of a topless 15-year-old female.

Just over a week ago, Wired.com reported on an application called "Hottest Girls", which released an update to include topless photos of women. Apple pulled it hours later, saying porn is not allowed.

"Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store," an Apple spokesman said regarding Hottest Girls on June 25.

Adult material infiltrates every technical modality of our life, and to rely on corporate America to police it for us we are missing the main point, and that is for our hearts to be guarded.

What is your most prized possession?   Is it an autographed baseball from a hero of the past?  Maybe it’s an heirloom from your father and mother.  An antique you have had all your life?   Those are the kind of images that we immediately think of when we are asked about those things that we cherish the most.  Unfortunately we seldom think of our children’s and families hearts!  Amazingly as we exit our home, so many of us punch in the code that enables our security system so that thieves won’t have access to our “stuff”. Yet, we go thru our daily lives thinking that we all have this “internal” security system that stops the infiltration in our lives that rob us, such as the millions of websites that offer us fantasy but in reality offer separation and darkness. 

Enter, “the firewall”.

This small device installed right up front with your high speed internet has features (if purchased) that will deny the ability of every single member of your family (including yourself) of the opportunity to graze websites that you deem destructive to the heart.  Unlike software that protects only a single device, the firewall with the optional “plug in” will eliminate the opportunity to view websites that you deem destructive in your entire house.  You can pick and choose those items you wish to eliminate.  Maybe it’s just pornography sites.  Perhaps it’s that along with intimate apparel sites.  Maybe it’s gambling, hate speech sites, etc.  You choose the level of protection in your home, and every computer is covered.  The best part is it is constantly updated in real time daily.  As the list of detrimental sites grows, so does the “denial” list.

It is yet one more item in your tool belt that can protect the most valuable thing in your life.  Your family!

There is one more important aspect of the firewall that will seal the deal.  It also prevents PS3 consoles and PSP handheld devices from accessing those same websites.  What good is it if you buy something for your kid’s desktop computer, but they wind up surfing the internet on their game system?  (A lot of people don’t know they have that capability.) 

It’s been said that a person is only 3 clicks away from becoming an addict.  If we safeguard our family from these sites, 1 click will be impossibility.

Man of the Flesh to Man of the Cloth Story by SHARON WAXMAN

SOME people have their midlife crisis in reverse, like Ronald Boyer, who for most of his professional life has been better known as a star of pornographic films, Rod Fontana.

After 30 years of sowing the wildest of oats, Mr. Boyer, 54, has searched his soul and chosen, to the surprise of family and colleagues, to seek a priesthood in the Episcopal Church.

More children and teens are being exposed to online pornography, mostly by accidentally viewing sexually explicit web sites while surfing the internet.  This is a story that has been revealed by CBS News.  (see full story by clicking the link below) 42% of internet users aged 10 to 17 surveyed said they had seen online pornography in a recent 12 month span.  Of those 66% said they did not want to view the images and had not sought them out.  We at Leafoutreach believe that if you were a parent of a child and they came in contact with a drug pusher, would you intervene?  If you as a parent knew that could come in contact with a sexual predator, would you try to intervene?  So, in light of the constant bombardment of soft and hard core pornography over the internet, why don’t more parents intervene and do what they can to stop this kind of perversion?  Please search for on-line filters that weed out pornography and centrally locate the computer that your child has access to.

CLICK HERE for News Story and Video from CBS.

If you have not yet seen the movie Fireproof, it is a must see for anyone wishing to enhance their marriage to those that are facing challenging storms.  It’s a story about a heroic fireman locked in a failing marriage that accepts his father's challenge to take part in a 40-day experiment designed to teach both husband and wife the true meaning of commitment and love in a faith-based marriage. To no surprise one of the reasons behind the division between the couple was his involvement with internet pornography.  This addiction takes it toll on a very high percentage of married couples and leads to disaster.  After you watch it, you will be inspired to buy the book “The Love Dare” currently available at most book stores. Each day of the book outlines a dare that you must follow.  If you follow the book as it is written, you will find yourself becoming less consumed with who you were, and becoming of the Christian God intended you to be.  Look for the DVD of Fireproof to be release sometime in January.  Here is a link to the official website and trailer.

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com

With the hundreds of thousands of web sites dedicated to the pornography industry already, the big players behind the industry want you to have access to it regardless of where you are.  Enter the iPhone.  Apples newest and heavily sought after phone can access pornography from the big players.  Vivid entertainment now says that 50% of it’s mobile browser traffic comes from iPhones.  They have also created a “supersite” to capitalize on the iPhone, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in the project.  Penthouse is investing tens of millions in digital research and development, with the iPhone being a beautiful medium according to Marc Bell CEO of Penthouse.  Digital Playground and Pink Visual, also huge pornography companies are doing the same.  Cellular phones are woven into the fabric of our lives, and the lure of pornography is now available anywhere.  One unnamed source of ours that works for Kindercare say’s that he has seen a child as young as 4 years old with an iPhone.   While youth is not specifically targeted it is well known that if they can “get them young” they will be addicted all their life.

Source: Time Magazine

At a Senate hearing a few years back, medical experts testified about some new technology that allows doctors to look inside addicts' brains to determine just how damaging pornography is. The witnesses described research showing the similarity of porn addiction to cocaine addiction. Further, because images are stored in the brain and can be recalled at any moment, these experts believe that a porn addiction may be harder to break than a heroin addiction.

Somehow the pornography industry has convinced a large segment of the population that viewing porn is not just harmless fun, but is also a fundamental right.

By not calling pornography what it is - highly addictive and destructive material - we are heading for troubled times. Dr. Patrick Carnes, a leading researcher on sex addiction, estimates that 3 to 6 percent of Americans are sexually addicted. That’s as many as 20 million people. (That was 6 years ago, imagine what it is today)

This epidemic isn’t confined to individuals, however. Pornography is one of the leading causes of family breakdown today.

Remember when you were a child and found out that life had an ending? You discovered that someone you loved would no longer be a part of your life anymore. You didn’t understand why it happened, and the rawness that ensued when you were separated forevermore from that person?