Sodom! The very word is anathema to thousands of people who rightfully relate that inglorious city with everything that is base and evil. Its reputation as the capital city of sin has endured for over forty centuries. Though it hasn't existed in all those years, its spirit lives on in the hearts of millions of its citizens who even today carry its banner unashamedly throughout the world. Its stigma lay in its culture, a culture defined by the Creator God as an abomination that was both unnatural and arrogant. Its inhabitants adamantly opposed God's ordained manner of marriage between opposite sexes, and instead defied the Almighty with their heinous perversion, which became known by the name of their city - sodomy.

Sodom was an up-and-coming metropolis in its heyday. Built upon the rich, alluvial plains near the Jordan River, it enjoyed the prosperity that came its way through inter-nation commerce and trade. They evidently catered to the wealthy and the elite with their fancy restaurants and pleasure palaces. "They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded." (Luke 17:28) In fact, it isn't difficult to see an amazing resemblance of that great city with the United States of America. The parallel is startling, to say the least! Every one of those circumstances abounds to an outrageous degree today: here we see gluttony, drunkenness, materialism, hedonism, and profiteering, money-mongering and excessive affluence. It is obvious that the Sodomites had no time for the living God. The pursuit of their own selfish desires was the driving force which caused the arteries of the city to pulsate with energy.

Time On Their Hands

"Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister, Sodom, pride, fullness 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)

1. Pride

2. Fullness of bread

3. Idleness

4. Poor and needy neglected

5. Haughty

6. Abomination (homosexuality)

A description of the USA? Precisely, but also of most of the rest of the world. The very sins for which God poured out His wrath upon ancient Sodom are relentlessly and surely overpowering the countries and societies of the world, and indeed are being encouraged and abetted by many national governments, including this one.

Pride: It's chic, it's savvy, it's the way to go. The doctrine of self-esteem is nothing less than the nurturing of pride in oneself. As a nation we are proud of our accomplishments, proud of our heritage, proud of our military might, our trip to the moon and back, etc., etc. The Good Book is very plain about the results of pride and self-esteem. Humility and self-denial are the virtues God looks for. Pride fosters hatred, animosity, rivalry, independence, competition and arrogance. It will destroy all those who give themselves over to its power.

Fullness of Bread: This could refer to many things, prosperity, opulence, self-sufficiency, wealth, self-indulgence, control of trade and commerce, or a super-state in which agriculture bas become a successful fine art.

Abundance of Idleness: "Nothing to do. Bored." This is the state of affairs in much of the world today. People are without goals, having no purpose in life. Living for God is certainly not a priority for many folks today.

Perhaps the surplus idleness in Sodom contributed to their experimenting with perverted sex. With nothing constructive toward which to steer one's life, a person is vulnerable to every kind of temptation imaginable. The Sodomites established sexual deviation as a way of life; they became the very embodiment and personification of corruption and substitution, substituting the male anus for the female organ. This is one of the dangers of having nothing to do. A Christian should never be idle; there is so much to be done toward the furtherance of the gospel and the kingdom of God. Prayer is a vital necessity for a deep walk with God; study of God's word is a must; David said a blessed man is one who meditates in the law of God day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2) Today's Christian manages to fill a large portion of his/her time watching entertainment. Idleness has taken on a new meaning in this part of the 20th century. Modern movies and TV programs are produced to appeal to the tastes of sensual, worldly, and ungodly people, not to saints. The "abundance of idleness" among professing Christians is slowly but surely draining the spiritual life-blood from countless millions who should know better.

Neglect Of The Poor and Needy: Since Jesus stated that conditions in the world in the last days would be similar to those in Sodom, we need only to view the present circumstances to have a view of what life was like for the poor and needy in Sodom.

Evidently the aged and infirm were considered burdensome to the younger generation who shipped their parents off to a "nursing home" or a "poor house" where they were left to the caprices of their caretakers. Tight-knit families were a rarity; in fact, the word "family" was given a new definition: it applied to any kind of a group of people who huddled under the same roof! The idea of a husband, a wife, and children was passé. The old was out and the new wave was in. Poor and needy were considered unwanted extra baggage. Handouts were offered but not with the idea of helping the poor to become self supporting; just enough to keep them coming back for more so that they became totally dependent upon the authorities for their existence. The Sodomites did not "strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." Their programs were designed to keep the poor, poor. The wealthy became richer, and the poor remained poor!

Haughty: What a horrible word! Haughtiness and pride complement each other. Most proud people are also haughty, that is, they look down on other people with great disdain. Their feelings of superiority are keenly apparent. How many times have we heard that the US is the greatest nation on earth, that our abundance of wealth and resources gives us the right of leadership for the rest of the world? Now we can also boast that we have one of the most corrupt societies on the face of the earth. As Sodom of old, we officially accept homosexuality as a legal, responsible, and viable way of life, and we are proud of it!

Haughtiness in Sodom was on vivid display the night two angels visited the Lot family to warn them to flee the city before judgment fell. The non-gay crowd demanded access to these two "men" and were ready to tear Lot's house down so they could "know them." How haughty a show that was. It reminds us of the infamous march on Washington on April 24,1993, of several hundred thousand non-gays and lesbians who demonstrated just how haughty/naughty humanity can become without God. The goings-on were so despicable as to be unmentionable. Not only was there a show of defiance against straight society, the unruly crowd defied the God of heaven; it was as if they dared the living God to intervene and put a stop to their demon-inspired shenanigans.

Abomination: "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners exceedingly." (Gen. 12:13) The extremely filthy practice of Sodomy is, in the eyes of God, an abomination (disgusting, an abhorrence). God created the human body to function as a complete unit with the various parts for specific purposes.

He specified that a man should be bound to his wife and that they were to be "one flesh." A wife by definition can only be a woman, not another man. God created the husband and wife with the means of having a joyous and pleasurable relationship with the capability of reproduction. He made the anus for but one purpose: the repository and elimination of waste products from the digestive system. There is no other legitimate purpose than this. Sodomy involves the use of the anus by a man (whether the person so used is a man or a woman). God says it's wrong, that it's an abomination. In addition to sodomy, there are many other practices that homosexuals succumb to, and God is against them all. They are all practiced in defiance of God's standards and laws. Paul plainly describes these evil practices in Romans 1:24-32, and he ends this by saying "that they which commit such things are worthy of death." Pretty strong stuff for this man of God.

Paul also stated that homosexuals cannot be saved. (1 Cor. 6:9, 10) "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God" NKJV. There is only one hope for them, and that is for them to repent from their wickedness and be converted. The fact that this can be done (and has been done) is undeniable proof that homosexuality is not inherited nor a result of queer genes. Homo's are homo's because they choose to be. Homosexuality, along with all the other characteristics native to Sodom, is on the ascendancy. It is gaining in acceptance and popularity, and is so highly approved by the federal government.

Sodom, as a city, was destroyed over four thousand years ago, but its descendants are alive and doing fine today, except for those several thousand who have been destroyed by AIDS. From all appearances, the US is on a rapid, downward slide toward a moral abyss from which it is not likely to recover. If God destroyed Sodom, Gomorrha, and a few other "cities" of the plains (Gen. 1 9:24,25), will He not also destroy other nations that have followed the same course? The answer, of course, is, yes! The question we are all asking is, "when?" When will judgment begin to overtake this once-great nation whose motto was "In God We Trust?" Only God knows for sure, but there are signs along the way which indicate that circumstances are heading toward a great and tumultuous crisis from which there will be no escape. This is the time to make our calling and election sure. This is the time to set our affections on things above and make God our highest priority.

REMEMBER LOT'S WIFE!

(Reprinted from Number 363, February 1994 issue of "The Testimony of Truth" with permission from "People of the Living God")

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