THE WORLD TODAY .....WORSE THAN SODOM & GOMORRAH!

48"As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.49"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50"Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it (Ezekiel 16:48-50).
The Great Billy Graham recounted that his wife Ruth had just gone through the draft of one of his books when the revelation of the enormity of our sin - as a people - hit her and Ruth told Billy the following: "“If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” This quote was made in 1965!

If you look at the events of the early 1960's we see that the United States Supreme Court had just done the unthinkable - removed any mention of God from schools and banned official school prayer. In less than two years since that occurred (1963), the filth and degradation of the 1960's sexual and moral decline of America and the rest of the world begun to accelerate.

We are at a point in human history at the present time, where the will and wanton lust of mankind are speeding towards a collision with the Holiness and Hands of God, Who will always bring sin into Judgment. In fact the sin of this modern age, in the 21st century, parallels that of Genesis 6 when God regretted creating man and proceeded to send the Great Flood to cleanse the earth. However, in some sense, the sin of the West and the pagan religions of the East is even more vile. This is so since we have the Record of the Truth as recorded in the New Testament, and the Knowledge of the Sacrifice of the Son of God - the Lord Jesus, at the Cross.

Jesus Himself warned against what will happen to those in the modern era, who rejects Him, the Truth and the Gospel. There is a harsher penalty and judgment coming for those in the modern era - since the Resurrection in 33 AD - who reject the Gospel and Christ than the final judgment STILL awaiting Sodom and Gomorrah and its residents who await the second death in the Lake of Fire!

Jesus said in Matthew 10:14-16 "And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves."

Jesus was NOT talking about tolerance or hospitality but about the acceptance of the Preaching of the Gospel! Read all of Matthew 10 here. But why would the Lord warn about a harsher judgment against the most corrupt and evil cities in ancient history? To comprehend this we must look at the underlying cause of man's sinfulness - PRIDE.

We know from Genesis 18 part of the story of the destruction of Sodom where Jesus told Abraham that the "sin...and outcry against Sodom was grave". Sexual perversion and the attempted gang rape of two Heavenly Angels by morally degenerate men was only a symptom of that area's evil! We know from Scripture, there were actually five cities involved in total, in addition to Sodom and Gomorrah, which lay by the Dead Sea. The five cities "on the plain" are fleshed out in Archaeology here.

God revealed in the Ezekiel 16 passage and verse 49 that their sins were the following in order of magnitude: Arrogance; Abundant Food and Abhorrent Apathy and comfort. Arrogance is the original sin of Lucifer, Satan or the devil - the fallen worship leader of Heaven, who introduced evil and death into the world. The description of his sin in Isaiah 14:12-17 is identical to the Arrogance of 21st Century man. Nothing has changed except the year.

Man has not just shaken his collective fists at and spit in the Righteous Eyes of God, but modern corrupt man has taken on to him and herself, the mantle of committing the unpardonable sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit! How so, you ask? The Holy Spirit is the Author, Interpreter and Restrainer of Scripture or the Bible. There are explicit warnings about rewriting, reconfiguring and changing the Word of God to fit the political and societal agendas of a violent world, which is diametrically opposed to the Will and Word of God.

It is not just the rewriting of the definition of Biblical Marriage which God ordained in Genesis 2:24 and which Jesus reaffirmed in Matthew 19:4-6. It is the corruption of the Moral Code and Natural Law, where wrong is now right; the Gospel is being corrupted by huckters and prosperity gospel purveyors and worse! The unborn and innocent are being sacrificed to Molech as "unviable tissue masses" and under the banner of "reproductive rights" while children are being horribly misled/corrupted/brainwashed as early as Kindergarten by evil in the name of sexual identity or whatever the phrase is these days. There is no thought to the Judgment coming to these adults who are corrupting and misleading God's children with their own ungodly agendas in schools across the west and the culture. 

There is a specific warning against those kinds of people here from Matthew 18:6-7 "But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for the causes of sin. These stumbling blocks must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!"

So in the final analysis, what does this all mean? How is this relevant to a Christian in the 21st century or just anyone who is concerned about these things? It matters a whole lot because God will bring every single action and more into Judgment on this day.  We know what caused the divine destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and it was not just sexual perversion. It was supreme arrogance, wealth and corruption which led a large sector of this forever demolished cities to think they could violate God’s Holy Angels when they came to rescue Lot.  

There is a strain of thought among secularists and so-called bible scholars and theologians that all of this is allegory.  As an aside here – whenever we hear the word “scholar”, think skeptic…in most cases. There have been amazing archaeological finds under 4000 years of silt and dirt where Sodom and Gomorrah existed by the Dead Sea, and the finds are even worse than the nuclear fallout of Hiroshima! There is no weapon on Planet Earth that can equal the Wrath of a Holy, Righteous and Angry God…as the unsaved world will discover during the Tribulation period which precedes the White Horse of Christ cutting through the Eastern Sky!

With all of this doom and gloom and scary news daily of some unholy outrage against God and His Holy Word and the coming Judgment against the world, what can the righteous, the saved, the redeemed and the good people who are seeking rescue do? 
- First of all, we must examine ourselves with the stark light of the Truth to see if there is anything in us which is not in alignment with God.  
- Secondly if there is some hidden sin, it HAS to be corrected immediately and dealt with through repentance, reconciliation and restoration. 
- Third, we must be fully aware of not just what the Bible says and means, but how God wants us to apply it to every aspect of our lives. If we have no clue on the Application of Scripture, we will not comprehend the times, the timeline of events and the events themselves….thereby knowing that these are the signs of a rapid advance to the end of days. 
- Fourth, in these times of approaching armageddon, significant natural disasters and a universe clamoring for the Savior, we have to be God’s alarm clock. If we do not spread the Gospel, the Road to Salvation and heaven and the Love of God to as many people as possible, we would have failed as Christians.
- Finally, we must trust fully in the Sovereignty of God. He is in charge of all things. He is the Judge of all things. He rules forever. He is merciful, longsuffering and compassionate. But His tolerance for evil and the stench of sin has an expiration date, which is quickly approaching. He will do as He says in the Book of Revelation and if we do not wish to be caught up in fire and brimstone 100 times worse than the nuclear-type blast which hit Sodom and Gomorrah, at the Second  Coming, repent now, believe the Gospel and put your complete Faith and Trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Master of your life.

MUST SEE VIDEOS ON THE RUINS OF SODOM & GOMORRAH

(Photo Credit Here)

PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF GENESIS #6

PERSIST IN PRAYER

23 Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Genesis 18:23-25)

The first ever intercessory prayer was made by a man who was standing right next to Jesus when he brought his requests to the Lord! The pre-incarnate Yahweh had come down from Heaven on one of his many recorded appearances in Scripture on a mission. He had visited Abraham on the plains of Mamre to prophesy to Sarah and Abraham that they were going to have a son/heir and then had planned to move on to Sodom and Gomorrah to take care of some really pressing business.

Sodom and Gomorrah were like modern day western civilization: rich, powerful, prideful and full of moral degenerates. They became a walking testimony of what happens to a people who exemplifies the Total Depravity of Man, as described in Romans 1:18-32 (click to read). Here is how God Himself described Sodom in Ezekiel 16:48 "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49"Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy. 50"Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it."

The pride and the idolatry and the perverted, unnatural sexual abominations and worse....they all rose up in a massive stink to Heavens. Sodom was destroyed in less than a day by fire and brimstone and the same Judgment await modern corrupt man. The Lord is gracious, merciful and compassion and the only thing restraining His Hand is His Grace, Mercy and Long-suffering and hope that not many perish.

Abraham saw this coming as he stood side by side with Jesus overlooking the soon-to-be destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. His nephew Lot and Lot's wife and two daughters lived there. How Abraham prayed is an example of our intercessory prayers for our villages, cities, states and nations. Abraham knew the corruption and sexual perversion of Sodom. He didn't even try to pretend there were many righteous people there. He started with asking the Lord to not destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people, then 45-40-30-10. In the end, God only rescued four people - the Lot family and one was quickly taken out for looking back and longing for the past - Lot's wife. But look at the words, in part, that Lot uses while interceding and standing in the Gap for a paradigm of past and future judgment which we do not comprehend.
Abraham said:
- Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? (verse 23)....here we pray for the last, following his example as well for our Christian brethren to stand strong in persecution.
-  Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked.... (verse 24).....here we continually and persistently prevail for God to stay His pending doom on our civilization so just, oh just a few more can be saved and brought to a knowledge of Christ. We know it is bad, but God is Good.
- And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes...(verse 27)....it should dawn on us just to Whom we are speaking and making seemingly outlandish requests. Pray in humility but also let us pray in gratitude that the Creator and Judge of all the Earth is even speaking with, and listening to us! This is an amazing fact, truth and blessing!
 - Read the rest of Genesis 18 up to verse 33 and see how Abraham just bargains and bargains and then read and see Jesus just be patient and kind and just as gracious as He can be.

The Lord is patient with us the same way. Abraham sought mercy from the eventual divine destruction of a demonic destiny - Sodom. We know what the end of all things will be from the prophets and the Book of Revelation. However our calling, as Christians, the people of God, is to pray with the same passion for the lost, the hurting, the prideful and misguided. Our position in Christ, while interceding in prayer is to be like Abraham in this prayer, just like Moses was when God wanted to destroy Israel during the Exodus for dancing around that golden calf that Aaron made. We are to be persistent in prayer, believing the attributes and accuracy of the Sovereign God He is and to do so in humility.

In the end, the end will come, but not before our prayers reach Heaven alongside the foul odor of sin. In that way, God will save, whom He will rescue, just as He rescued Lot and his family.

(Photo credit here)

INTERESTED IN FAMILY TREES? (A Look at the Most Famous Tree of All)

Genealogy is a BIG business  these days. At any one time, it is estimated that a third of the western world (mostly in North America) is trying to trace own roots and build a family tree, based on those findings. There are a host of solid and reputable ancestry companies out there like Ancestry.com and my personal favorite – 23andMe.com, which I have actually used. They use DNA lab tests to match the amazing structure of the Genome in order to trace roots back thousands of years! I have discovered long-distance relatives from Europe and South East Asia to the Americas and all over and back. There is nothing surprising about any of this, including some of my roots back to so-called Neanderthal man! There are other people who discovered pirates, Vikings and other such "upstanding" members of the outlaw community to their embarrassment. However this is the chance one takes when you look at "where did I come from".

Speaking of that, in the end, we, who are called by His Name, believe fully in the Origins of the Species also known as the Book of Genesis. We are ALL related through the first sinner - Adam - and ultimately his descendant Noah. Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives were the only survivors of the Great Flood which cleansed the earth after God wiped out the entire corrupt world population and rebooted. Noah's three sons were told to go forth and multiply across the fruited plain, which eventually happened. Most of us are either directly descended from Ham (the darker peoples of Africa etc.) or Shem (the Semetic people of the Middle East etc.) and Japheth (the father of the Europeans and Indians). That is all there is and any doubters should take their doubt up with the Creator, Whose earthly genealogy we will now examine.

The Jews (descendants of Shem) were an exclusive people by calling and finally by sinful/prideful nature. Matthew (the first listed Gospel, since the Gospel of Mark is the earliest written one) writes his Gospel to the Jewish people. He knew they were all sticklers for records and who belonged to which of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  He knew the Pharisees kept the ancient genealogical records of the Jews who had come back from the Babylonian exile and often made up what they could not prove. So Matthew wanted to set the record straight about the genealogy of Jesus Christ to a people who based their entire existence, and unfortunately - their salvation - on only being descendants of Abraham.  

Some of the ancient records of the tribes which made it out of Jerusalem before Nebuchanezzar torched Solomon's Temple down to the ground, so God could finally cleanse Solomon pagan indulgences and its blowback, survived ONLY until 70 AD. This is the year when the Roman General Titus fulfilled Jesus' prophesy from Matthew 24 and so completely destroyed the Temple that the Roman soldiers were scraping melted gold off the huge rubble. All tribal records, from the Twelve Tribes were destroyed forever, except in the Books of God which will be opened one day for Judgment before the Great White Throne.

The only surviving record, therefore, is the one which the Lord Himself wanted preserved for this Age. It is found in Matthew 1 and here are the first six of 17 verses: 
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king. David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah....(Verses 1-6)
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL AND ONLY REMAINING GENEALOGY OF THE GREATEST JEW OF ALL TIME - JESUS.

Each of those sentences and names in these six verses are lifetimes and episodes which are rich in Faith and a lot of sin. Matthew held back no punches. We just have to look at the inclusion of Tamar here, from whence the Tribe of Judah came. Judah was tricked into having immoral relations with her after some graphic text in Genesis involving Onan and his brothers who passed away. And what about Rahab, the pagan prostitute? Well, how did she end up int the bloodline of the Savior Jesus Christ?

She believed in the God Who had delivered Israel from Eygpt and led them through the Wilderness for forty years. In days where there was no mass media and telegrams, word had gotten out of the Power of that God Who parted the Red Sea and other wonders. Rahab ran a brothel in pagan territories yet believed that same God instead of the pagan gods of Canaan and Jericho. She rescued Joshua and Caleb and later on was the mother of Boaz,  the husband of another woman who was a pagan- Ruth, from pagan Moab! Who was Moab? Moab was the offspring of the daughter of Lot, who had immoral relations with her own father after getting him drunk in a cave, after Christ destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and saved only Lot and his family.

You see where this is heading. The average self-righteous pharisee/priest or intellectual lost-to-perdition pinhead in those days quickly brushed over these findings in their genealogy. We would too. In fact, we were all pagans and rebels and lost ourselves, until God in His Mercy saved us by His Grace and nothing we did, less we should boast. You and I have more in common with Rahab, the former harlot and Judah who besmirched God's name than the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son. He represented the pharisees. 

Then there in the final verse above, we see Verse 6: "David the King begot Solomon by her, who had been the wife of Uriah"! David's sin of adultery, stealing another man's wife (when he already had more than two himself) and THEN setting up Uriah the converted and saved Hittite to be killed, made it into the genealogy of Christ too! There was no sugar coating, no double entendre, no nothing - David had a son, who was King Solomon by another man's wife. So when my friends trace their lineage back to plundering Vikings and even unsavory sorts, remember this - it is NOT where you CAME from but WHERE YOU ARE GOING!

This brief look at the lineage of Christ from where Joseph and Mary came perfectly aligns with Scripture which reveals that Jesus is the Son of David and can thus claim the Throne. We know that Joseph is just the faithful step-father of the Lord, even though he would later go on to have children of his own with Mary. The most famous of Joseph's real children are James and Jude, whose books are at the end of the New Testament.  Mary is also in the lineage, which authenticates everything. The study of this entire passage of 17 verses will take more than a short blog post and there is a reason I stopped here at King David and his abominable sin with Bathsheba and against Uriah and God. The reason is - we are all full of sin and deserve eternal punishment from dragging the Name of God through the filth and mud.

However, if we all surrender our lives in the total realization of our complete helpless, total depravity and worthlessness before Holy God, repent and seek forgiveness from all of that and accept Master, Creator, Lord and King Jesus Christ as our Savior, we too will inherit the blessings which came from such flawed human beginnings. America is the place of new beginnings. In fact the entire western hemisphere offers this to anyone, like nowhere else ever in history. On this continent, men and women can start anew and build respectable and prosperous lives. But there is only one way to build a life and legacy that counts and that is if Jesus, the Son of David, the Son of God, is YOUR Advocate, YOUR Savior, YOUR Lord. Amen.