Sodom And Gomorrah & Lawlessness in America

I know that sounds like a sensational and overdramatized title for today's post, but let me share some information with you and see if you might not agree that it is appropriate. Our little Home Church group has been studying Genesis and considering all the resources throughout history that give us a broader picture of what was going on in this pivotal Book of the Bible. 

So much history of the world [and man's relationship with God] is packed into these 50 chapters and sadly, much of it is ignored, skipped over, or disavowed by the modern [and make that Western] Church, that I fear we don't see the comparisons with our current generation. Not only is the average citizen unaware that Satan planned to corrupt mankind's God-created DNA in Genesis 6, but they don't see that that perversion mirrors all the present-day scientific experiments with vaccines, gene editing, DNA sequencing, and human-animal hybrid experiments -- and neither do Christians see it!

So, our little Home Church just finished getting into the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18 and 19. To be honest with you, the Bible gives very little detail about what made these two cities so evil in the eyes of the Lord. What we do know from Scripture is this: The Lord Jesus, accompanied by two "men" appears to Abraham, sitting outside his tent. Abraham runs to them and bows down to the ground, indicating that these are no ordinary men, but actually this is Jesus and two of His angels. who have come to announce to Abraham the promise of an heir from God. Remember, Abraham is familiar with God's voice. If you are a student of ancient texts such as the Book of Jasher, then you know that Abram studied at the feet of his Eight-Times Great-Grandfather Noah, so he knew all about YHWH, and heard His voice call him out of the land of Ur to go to Canaan. So by the time Abraham is 99 years old in Genesis 18, he's pretty familiar with the Lord!

After this amazing promise of an heir, Genesis says the Lord and His angels "got up and looked towards Sodom". It seems that their visitation to earth had a two-fold purpose. The Lord says that the outcry of the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was so great, and their sin so grave that He was going to see for Himself if they had acted as vile and wicked as the cries coming to Him indicated (Genesis 18:20-21).  It is hard for us to imagine just how wicked because there is little detail given in Scripture to describe the lengths that the citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah went to in their rebellion and perversion.

But, the ancient Book of Jasher (referenced in Joshua 10:13; 2 Samuel 1:18; and 2 Timothy 3:8) leaves no doubt as to why the Lord and His angels came in answer to the cries that had ascended to Heaven! For those who shy away from this historical reference material because it was not included in the Canon, the fact that God chose to reference it in the Bible tells me that it carries some credibility with Him. I use it for historical perspective and have found that it aligns with Scripture; it just gives us more details that expand our understanding of what the Bible reveals. 

That being said, here is just a portion of what was understood by the ancient Israelites regarding the abominations of wickedness in Sodom and Gomorrah:  And by desire of their four judges the people of Sodom and Gomorrah had beds erected in the streets of the cities, and if a man came to these places they laid hold of him and brought him to one of their beds, and by force made him to lie in them. And as he lay down, three men would stand at his head and three at his feet, and measure him by the length of the bed, and if the man was less than the bed these six men would stretch him at each end, and when he cried out to them they would not answer him. And if he was longer than the bed they would draw together the two sides of the bed at each end, until the man had reached the gates of death. (Jasher 19:3-5)

And when a poor man came to their land they would give him silver and gold, and cause a proclamation in the whole city not to give him a morsel of bread to eat, and if the stranger should remain there some days, and die from hunger, not having been able to obtain a morsel of bread, then at his death all the people of the city would come and take their silver and gold which they had given to him. (Jasher 19:8)

Then the Book of Jasher reveals that Lot, who lived in the city of Sodom, is blessed with a daughter named Paltith. Her soul was moved with pity for a man who lay in the center of town, starving from hunger... she fed him secretly with bread for many days, and the soul of this man was revived. For when she went forth to fetch water she would put the bread in the water pitcher, and when she came to the place where the poor man was, she took the bread from the pitcher and gave it him to eat; so she did many days. And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah wondered how this man could bear starvation for so many days (Jasher 19:27-29). It wasn't long before the townspeople became suspicious. Why wasn't this man dying? So three men hid to watch and see who was feeding the stranger in their midst. They discovered it was Paltith and took her before the judges and asked what her punishment should be. Jasher 19:35 reveals her fate: And the people of Sodom and Gomorrah assembled and kindled a fire in the street of the city, and they took the woman and cast her into the fire and she was burned to ashes. 

Paltith wasn't the only one who suffered because of her righteousness. A young woman in the nearby sister city of Admah also defied the wickedness of her city and gave bread and water to a sojourner. When it was discovered that she transgressed their law, the judges also sentenced her to death ... The people of those cities assembled and brought out the young woman, and anointed her with honey from head to foot, as the judge had decreed, and they placed her before a swarm of bees which were then in their hives, and the bees flew upon her and stung her that her whole body was swelled. And the young woman cried out on account of the bees, but no one took notice of her or pitied her, and her cries ascended to heaven. And the Lord was provoked at this and at all the works of the cities of Sodom, for they had abundance of food, and had tranquility amongst them, and still would not sustain the poor and the needy, and in those days their evil doings and sins became great before the Lord.  (Jasher 19:36-44)

The rest of Jasher 19 coincides with what the Bible reveals ... the Lord sends the two angels to Sodom to destroy it because not one is found righteous among all the inhabitants. Not only have they been starving the poor and oppressed, but they demand that Lot send the angels out so that they might have sex with them (Genesis 19:4-5). Haven't heard that in your Church? Here is what the Amplified version of the Bible says: "the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house, all the men from every quarter; and they called out to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may know them [intimately].” The Complete Jewish Bible (an English translation of the Hebrew Tanakh) actually says, "Bring them out to us. We want to have sex with them"! So, here we have a suggestion of sex between angels and men that mirrors what happened in Genesis 6 when Fallen Angels came down and had sex with earthly women. We saw how that ended! God chose to flood the world!

 As if all this is not enough to show us just how evil and wicked Sodom and Gomorrah had become, Jasher also reveals this ... In those days all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of the whole five cities, were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord and they provoked the Lord with their abominations, and they strengthened in aging abominably and scornfully before the Lord, and their wickedness and crimes were in those days great before the Lord. And they had in their land a very extensive valley, about half a day's walk, and in it there were fountains of water and a great deal of herbage surrounding the water. And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrah went there four times in the year, with their wives and children and all belonging to them, and they rejoiced there with timbrels and dances. And in the time of rejoicing they would all rise and lay hold of their neighbor's wives, and some, the virgin daughters of their neighbors, and they enjoyed them, and each man saw his wife and daughter in the hands of his neighbor and did not say a word. And they did so from morning to night, and they afterward returned home each man to his house and each woman to her tent; so they always did four times in the year.

I share all this with you to ask you to pray for our nation. If the events I have described in ancient Sodom and Gomorrah resulted in the Lord deciding to destroy it, what can we expect from the rising lawlessness in America? Although we have slowed down the abortion rate, it is still allowed in some states. I do not doubt that the cries of the victims of Child pornography and human trafficking have reached the heart of Jesus in Heaven. And everyday, there is another horrifying video on the nightly news of some wickedness done against an innocent person ... a mother pushing her child in a baby carriage is run over by a hit and run driver; a celebrated athlete is nearly blinded by a pipe thrown at her head by a homeless man as she simply walks down the street; a pedestrian is run over by a car, and the passengers jump out and rob the victim as he lies motionless on the street; our highest judges in the land receive death threats, while our government leaders appear to line their own pockets as they sell us down the river to foreign entities. And I don't know if you remember actress Lucy Lui appearing on Oprah and sharing that she has sex with angels. Sure looks to me as if Sodom and Gomorah have nothing on us! It is now becoming commonplace to see articles like the one written by Nick Burns, titled Savagery in America is a Symptom of an Increasingly Disordered World, and another one by Abraham Blondeau, in which he states, "Violent Crime is Consuming America."

So, as our Home Church discussed the evilness in the Bible of Sodom and Gomorrah, it was mentioned by someone, "I sure hope we aren't that bad, yet". I'm not so sure. The way we are headed certainly seems as evil to me. Abraham asked God to relent from His plan to destroy the wicked cities if He was able to identify 5 righteous people. I think God readily agreed because He already knew that no one was righteous and He would be carrying through on His threat. Now, I know we still have righteous people in our nation and we are all certainly praying and repenting. But there are times it seems that the wickedness is outrunning us. So, I just want to keep encouraging everyone that we walk as the Ekklesia and we must never acquiesce or concede our role! The world may know and embrace lawlessness, but we know the Law of Heaven and the Judge of Righteousness! We will never bow or yield to anyone but Him!

2 Peter 2:8 ...  (for that just man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by what he saw and heard of their lawless acts),        

  

These Are The Days of Difficulty and Lawlessness

 

This is going to be a very emotional blog post from me today. As I sat and watched the funeral of NYPD Office Jason Rivera, I was overcome with emotion and crying out to the Lord. This 22-year-old police officer, who was living his childhood dream of becoming "a cop", was senselessly gunned down when he and his partner answered a domestic disturbance call. This is personal to me because I have three nephews, all brothers, who serve their communities as law enforcement officers. This post is not meant to be a social commentary on the failing of law and order in this country, the soaring crime and murder statistics, or "soft-on-crime" district attorneys -- although it's time that all these topics become the focus of serious discussion among all Americans. No, I cried out to the Lord because I am witnessing the raw reality and the consequences of my country's slide into Biblical lawlessness.

And I deliberately use the phrase "Biblical lawlessness" because my worldview is based on the tenets, principles, and moral laws of the God of the Bible, and I can clearly see the road we are headed down, based on God's Truth in the Bible. My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, prophesies in Matthew 24:12, "And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold". We can certainly see hearts growing colder as the number of deaths by violence continues to grow. But what is the origin of this lawlessness? We aren't born cold and heartless! We must face the truth that lawless nations don't just happen in a vacuum. We must come to the knowledge that our nation's sins have given birth to a lawless generation. And that happens when people reject the righteous laws of God; when they decide to do what is right in their own eyes [because it brings them profit and power -- and is convenient], rather than acting according to the moral law of God.

I know some will see this post as "religious" and not in the interest of the masses. It may be seen by those who do not know God as sanctimonious, preachy, or holier-than-thou. It will be rejected because it leaves no room for personal opinion. But that will come from people who don't understand the importance of boundaries when it comes to keeping an orderly and productive society. But there is a greater knowledge that we all must come to understand: It is important for all people to keep the commandments of God because that is how He is going to judge the nations. 

But we also need to understand the complexity and totality of God's laws. In a decent society, it is about more than obeying traffic signs, not stealing, or murdering. It is about how we treat each other; how we help the underprivileged and the widows and orphans. It's about teaching our children to value every individual, and to govern their own lives in fruitful ways. It's as simple as good behavior. When a society abandons these Godly principles, it only leads to crime, disorder, and chaos... men living according to the desires of their flesh. 

Another way to think about it is this ... There is an absolute Truth by which we are to live in this world (see previous post). That Truth comes from God and His laws. He created them when He created the world. For lack of a better way to say it, they were "baked into the creation" from the beginning, and we don't get to say whether they are right or wrong, and we don't get to try to change them. And if we decide to go against these moral and absolute laws, then we will pay the consequences. We need to understand that there is a limit to how much God will withstand our rebellion before His restraint against evil is taken out of the way.

That's why I am deeply saddened in my spirit as I see the growing number of innocent people dying in our streets. And I see far too many good men [who have dedicated their lives to holding back the evil] being targeted for the color of their uniform. I know it grieves the Father's heart! If we don't have a national change of heart and abandon our sinful ways, I'm afraid we will find this nation judged as in in the words of Isaiah: The grave is licking its lips in anticipation, opening its mouth wide. The great and the lowly and all the drunken mob will be swallowed up.  Humanity will be destroyed, and people brought down; even the arrogant will lower their eyes in humiliation. But the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will be exalted by His justice. The holiness of God will be displayed by His righteousness.

It is crucial that we recognize that the spirit of Antichrist is fomenting a spirit of lawlessness in these difficult days. This spirit is nothing new in the history of mankind. It has been present since the Garden. I am not yet ready to say that the person who will embody this Anti-Christ spirit is present on the earth at this time -- we still have people to reach for both salvation and knowledge of their kingdom assignments. But, we, as the Ekklesia, who are charged with carrying out the government of Heaven here on earth, must guard against the seduction and deception of thinking "the Church" is going to get raptured out of here, thereby escaping any participation in "the time of Jacob's trouble". We still have a role to play in the restoration of Israel. I want to borrow a quote from writer Emily Bernardi of the Adventures in God website: "Do you think God waited all of these years for us to learn our authority, only to "Rapture" us out when the going gets tough?" 

It's time that we who have matured into that knowledge of our power and authority in Christ turn back the tide of lawlessness in our nation and the world. We need to personify God's nature and walk in His laws. We need to make ourselves visible and heard. The Lord is our banner, willing to lead us into battle against lawlessness; but let us not leave Him wondering if we have the courage to follow Him. Let the world see Him [and acknowledge Him] speaking and acting through us. Let us not be witness to any more heartbreaking funerals of innocent citizens or guardians of society's law and order.

It pained me to see Officer Rivera's young widow, in all her justifiable anger, grief, and tears as she recounted that last morning with her husband. The regret and pain was almost unbearable. It is my prayer that we will do as Mrs. Rivera did at the end of her eulogy for her husband .... stiffen our spines, throw back our shoulders, and lift our eyes to Heaven, declaring that "we will take the watch from here". Lord Jesus, we commit to partnering with You to uproot all sin and law-breakers out of Your kingdom on earth. We will no longer be silent in the midst of lawlessness; we will no longer cower in the face of tyrants. We will stand for Your rule of law in all the heavenly realms. Amen!

Matthew 13:41-43   The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!