It says in Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” This truth is perhaps no clearer today than in the country of Italy where Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi owns 95 percent of the television market and exercises high-level influence in government. Talk about culture-making, there are few people in the world with as much power to shape the values and priorities of society than he.
Evidently, a slave to his unbridled lusts, Berlusconi continues to outdo himself in descending to deeper levels of shameless womanizing. The following Newsweek article presents the latest installment. The article uses the metaphor of “rot” to describe the “endless tale of teenage models, paid escorts, and Moroccan belly dancers cavorting with [the] 74-year-old Prime Minister, [while] the media makes it clear that men are men, and women are window dressing.” The metaphor certainly rings true as you travel through Italy’s cities and behold the visible manifestation of perversion on billboards and street corners. It’s appropriate to think of mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters as the ones who are in the crosshairs of this evil charm, not to mention future generations of Italians.
After reading the article, two ideas came to mind. First, we must pray for Italy. God answers prayer! So let’s storm the gates of heaven pleading on behalf of Italian souls and families who are bludgeoned by the idol of sex. Pray that God would offer gracious insight into the truth that Jesus alone provides supreme satisfaction to the human heart, not belly dancers. Second, let’s be on the lookout for what you might call the Berlusconi in us—our own propensity to look at women as objects of pleasure, pandering to the lusts of our sinful hearts. If we’re honest, and we must be, the temptation assaults all of us at some point. Thankfully, Jesus rose from the grave, reigns with the Father, and has poured out his Spirit to provide us with liberation. Indeed, may the Italian people, even Berlusconi, see this power and give their affection to Jesus.
