RUSHING
TOWARDS SODOM
By
Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
“And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom
and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will
go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to
the cry of it, which is come unto Me, and if not I will know. And the
men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom; but
Abraham stood yet before the Lord.”
(Genesis 18: 20-22)
JUDGE ROBERT BORK
who was nominated to the US Supreme Court by President
Ronald Reagan and rejected by
the Liberal Democratic Congress,
is considered the most honest, intelligent and conservative Judge in
recent times!
Robert Bork wrote
the book 'Slouching Towards Gomorrah'
in which he documents the downward escalation of the degenerative,
corrupting and perverted morals in America. It
is an excellent
book and not only catalogues the fallacy of liberalism and the sick
liberal mind, but also issues a stern warning of the dire
consequences of such perversion!
The
Holy Bible records the destruction of SODOM and GOMORRAH because of
the wickedness of their sins. So vile were the sins of Sodom
and Gomorrah
that the cries of those who were wounded and harmed by the
perversion, had reached heaven itself.
PREDATORS
had been sexually abusing little boys, causing pain, heartbreak and
anger and turned those tormented young men into sexual predators
also. It was a
known fact that it was lawful to gang rape any newcomer to Sodom.
(Gen. 19: 4-9).
The
ancient Jewish
Babylonian Talmud
states that the horrible, filthy SIN of homosexuality was not only
condoned but had become a legal, normal lifestyle, until God's mercy
ran out and He decided to wipe those cities off the face of the
earth.
UNDER
THE JUDGMENT OF GOD!
It is a TRAGEDY
that in this generation, for the first time since the destruction of
Sodom and Gomorrah, a number of nations have legalized 'man-on-man'
same-sex marriage. How sad that this has happened! For the first time
in 5,000 years, since God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, Christian
nations actually flaunt and boast about about their corruption by
publicly thumbing their noses at Almighty God's laws!
And
even as perverted as Sodom and Gomorrah were, God gave Abraham the
privilege to plead for their lives. Almighty God's love, mercy and
grace shone through as He patiently listened to Abraham's
intercession on their behalf. The Bible states: “And
Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous
with the wicked?” (Gen.
18: 23)
We
know that the ANSWER to that QUESTION is NO! Here, we learn the art
of INTERCESSION: The Righteous interceding for the Wicked! Abraham
started by asking the Almighty if He would spare SODOM if there
were FIFTY righteous people in the city. The
Lord answered that He would NOT destroy Sodom if there were fifty
righteous living there.
ABRAHAM continued interceding and each time he lowered the bar in order to
spare the city his request was granted, proving the mercy of God!
Here is his final
request:
“And he said, Oh,
let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once:
Peradventure TEN shall be found there.
And He (the Lord) said, I WILL NOT DESTROY IT FOR TEN'S SAKE. And the
Lord went His way, as soon as He had left communing with Abraham.”
(Gen. 18: 24-33)
ABRAHAM
WANTED TO SAVE LOT'S FAMILY!
The sad truth
is that there were not ten righteous people in Sodom. Two angels
brought Lot, his wife and two daughters out of the city before the
judgment of God destroyed Sodom, Gomorrah and the cities of the
plains. The angels warned them not to look back, but Lot's wife
turned to look back and became a pillar of salt.
“And
Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his
daughters, and said, Up,
get you out of this place: for the Lord will destroy this city.
But he seemed as
one that mocked unto his sons in laws.
And when the morning arose, the the angels hastened Lot, saying,
Arise, take thy wife and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou
be consumed in the iniquity (punishment) of the city.
“And while he
lingered, the men (angels) laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand
of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the Lord BEING
MERCIFUL unto him; and they brought him forth and set him without the
city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad,
that he said, Escape for thy life; LOOK NOT BEHIND THEE...
“Then the Lord
rained upon SODOM and GOMORRAH brimstone and fire from heaven; And He
overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of
the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
“But
his WIFE LOOKED
BACK
and became a pillar of salt.” (Gen.19: 7, 22-29) Her heart was in
the city. She had children and other relatives there. She made a
fatal mistake by disobeying the Angel of God, by looking back to
Sodom. And Jesus Christ warned: “Remember
Lot's Wife!”
(Luke 17:32)
What
is the lesson for us today? We must not look back or go back into the
filthy sins from which we have escaped through the mercy of God and
the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
In His condemnation of Jerusalem, God equated their sins with that of Sodom. He stated that Jerusalem's SINS were twice as grievous as those of Samaria. The Holy Bible states:
“Behold,
this was the iniquity of thy sister SODOM: pride, fulness of bread,
and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither
did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were
haughty, and committed abomination before Me, therefore I took them
away as I saw good.”
(Ezekiel 16:49-50)
THE FIVE
SINS OF SODOM!
God
is merciful, good and kind. He doesn't judge sinners immediately, but
gives everyone the grace to turn back to Him. They had a haughty spirit,
making their own rules. They were not thankful, neither did they give
God the honour, worship and praise He is entitled to. Tragically,
people often backslide and fall into sin gradually.
In
his powerful letter to the Romans, who had earlier come out of pagan
worship to serve the Living God,
St. Paul enumerated the
steps people often take in this regard; Here
is how many fall away and why God has to judge them so severely:
“For the
wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be KNOWN of God is manifest in them; for God
hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the
things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead so that they
are without excuse:
“Because
that, when they KNEW GOD, they glorified Him not as God, neither were
thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise they became FOOLS, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God itto an image made like to corruptible
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
“Wherefore God
also GAVE THEM UP to uncleanness through the lusts of their own
hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed
the TRUTH OF GOD INTO A LIE, and worshipped and served the creature
more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
“For this
cause God gave them up unto vile affections; for even their WOMEN
did change the NATURAL USE into that which is against nature:
“And
likewise also the MEN, leaving the NATURAL
USE OF THE
WOMAN, burned in their LUST one toward another, men with men working
that which is unseemly (grossly
improper), and receiving
in themselves that recompense of their ERROR which was meet (due
penalty of their error).
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, GOD
GAVE THEM OVER to a REPROBATE MIND to do those things which are not
convenient (not
appropriate). Here
is the downward progression that can take a person to lowest depth of
perversion and demon possession:
No.
1: They Knew God – Almighty
God had revealed Himself to them through His creation. He had shown
them the truth, but they had rejected the truth and did not glorify
Him as God and were not thankful. They became vain (empty) in their
imaginations.
No,
2: Their Foolish hearts were darkened – Professing
themselves to be wise they became fools. The forsook the light of
God's Word and rejected their Creator, believing they knew more than
He.
No.
3: They Began worshipping created things -They
exchanged the glory of the Living God for an image of created things and
began worshipping the creature instead of the Creator. Rather than
worship the Creator, they worshipped animals and creeping things, as
well as their own bodies!
No.
4: They Became Perverted in their minds –
They dishonoured their bodies through unnatural and perverted sex;
men on men and women on women, bringing God's judgment upon
themselves!
THE NUMBER ONE
SIN WAS PRIDE!
They
considered themselves so great, powerful and intelligent that they
were ABOVE THE LAW. They would make their own laws, which led to
perversion! The second
sin was fulness of bread!
They were so prosperous that they had too much of everything.
They had their fun and games and FEASTS with revellings and
drunkenness!
SIN
number THREE was an
abundance of idleness. They
were getting handouts from their perverted leaders to spend more time
pursuing PLEASURES! More time to spend at the CASINO, in the bars and
bath houses and doing their violence and thuggery!
The
FOURTH SIN was
a lack of compassion for the poor and needy!
No time for anyone but themselves. Selfishness, jealousy, envy,
hatred, lying, stealing, killing, gambling and raping. A City given
over to deceit and corruption with no thought about those that they hurt
and neglected!
Finally,
they spiralled out of control and wallowed in the sin of sexual
perversion! And God said: “Game is Over. It is time Pay for your
sins, Sodom and Gomorrah!”
JUDGE
ROBERT BORK wrote about America, 'Slouching Toward
Gomorrah'. If he were alive
today, I'm sure he would agree with me that the world is, 'Rushing
Towards Sodom'. May God
help us to turn our faces to the wall like King Hezekiah and
cry
out for Mercy and forgiveness for ourselves, our neighbours and our Nation before it is everlastingly too late!
Amen.
