Preface to the study
of Genesis 19
I
In teaching this
subject there is a list of things desired to be accomplished; the first is to
present the truth. Nowhere on the list of purposes is the desire to present my
self as self righteous, that I have everything together. I am still “working
out my own salvation with fear and trembling” and have a long way to go.
Neither do I know everything; I am fully persuaded that when those who are
going to heaven arrive, God is going to straighten us out in many matters that
are clearly revealed in His word. Though no one has a corner on God’s Word, His
Word promises that those who “study to shew themselves approved unto God,” can
be less ashamed and more accurate in knowing and living the Word (2 Timothy
2:15).
Just like
everyone else I am desperately in need of God’s salvation, and everything that
includes; healing, deliverance, safety, preservation, soundness, forgiveness,
mercy, justification and love. Just as any born again believer, I have the
supreme advantage of Christ living in me and I have a way of escape from every
temptation. When I don’t take that escape route I sin against God and have to
repent and ask God to forgive me.
|
To those who want a way out of homosexuality I declare in the
authority of the name of Jesus, that Jesus loves you desperately and HE IS your
way out! The gospel of Jesus Christ “is the power of God unto salvation to
everyone that believeth”. Jesus said in Luke 4:18, 19 “The Spirit of the Lord
is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath
sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to
preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
Jesus desires to
give everyone deliverance from captivity; to set all at liberty and to heal all
the brokenhearted. Homosexuality is a captivity from which Jesus wants to
deliver you, just as any other sin; it is a life of broken heartedness of which
Jesus wants to heal you. He loves you and desires you to be blessed and whole
in this life and live eternally with Him after you die. But you must be born
again.
Unless you have
committed the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, no one
reading this book is beyond redemption, no matter if you believe this
destructive heresy or teach it, but you need to be born again. When Jesus says
to us “repent” and “believe the gospel”, in Mark 1:15, it isn’t a suggestion.
We are commanded to “believe the gospel.” When we decide to repent and “believe
the gospel”, we make a decision to begin believing what the Bible is saying as
Truth and the final authority in our lives regardless of our own ideas. We
BELIEVE the gospel and we “unbelieve” our thoughts that go against it. The
“fight of faith” begins at that moment. It was the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter
5:8-10, who warned us under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost that resisting
our enemy was no picnic.
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast
in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your
brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us
unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered awhile, make you
perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
What Peter is
saying here is resisting the devil in faith at the beginning of the battle is
an affliction and has suffering, but the suffering will only be for “a while”.
As we continue to resist the devil in faith, and grow in our relationship to
Jesus, we will be perfected, established, strengthened and settled. We will be
absolutely victorious over that sin, whatever it was and it is no longer an
affliction to resist it nor does it involve suffering. Halleluiah! Then we move
on. During the course of the fight, if we sin, we repent, ask God to forgive us
and we pick up where we left off, knowing that the sin is gone, forgiven and
forgotten, God’s righteousness is our righteousness, and we stand in his
presence as if we never sinned.
I received Christ as my Savior on
November 10th of 1976. I developed my present view of what the Bible says about
homosexuality the same way I do toward any issue, by studying the Bible. If my
natural opinion is different from what the Scriptures say, I make a quality
decision to reject my natural opinion and accept God’s word as the final
authority about that issue. I do that because Jesus is my life, my Lord and
Master, and I am in Covenant relationship with Him.
Right around the time I got saved,
I began to notice articles beginning to appear in the local paper reporting how
the old mainline denominations starting in Europe and followed in the United
States were struggling over the issue of homosexuality. Article after article
would report how they were compromising more and more. I would wonder, “What is going on? Don’t they
know what the Bible says?” Well knowing what the Bible says and believing what
the Bible says are two different things, and the over riding factor in these
denominations struggle over homosexuality is they as a denomination and as
individuals do not have a Biblical view of Scripture. What I mean by that is
they do not believe what the Bible says about itself. The Bible declares itself
to be the word of Almighty God and the final authority in a Christians life,
but because these people do not believe that, they fall prey to many other
traps of the devil. They open the door to the devil to plague them in these
areas because they do not take advantage of the one weapon, the one gift that
God has given his people to protect themselves against the erroneous philosophy
of man, His Word. An erroneous philosophy tied to this sin will be discussed
tonight.
I have studied
extensively about homosexuality, at least as much as I have about abortion. The
reason for my extensive studies in these behaviors is because infiltration of
these behaviors into our culture is a prophetic landmark in our nation’s
history. They are prophetic in the sense that Jesus said they would happen
before he returns, and they are landmarks in the sense that behavior boundaries
are being removed. They also are both Canaanite practices that began to fill
the void in our culture created when judicial decry forced God and his
acknowledgement out of our culture. These aren’t the only Cannanite practices
that have become common in our culture. America is slipping into barbarianism, because
as God is forced out of our culture, the void is being filled with Canaanite
behaviors.
II
The
Word of God and the Born-again Believer
One of the
foundational basics in Covenant relationship with Christ is our attitude toward
God’s word. It must be a vital part in that relationship. In a vibrant healthy
relationship with God we must consider His view of things in our life as most
important. We need to develop our opinion of topics and subjects by finding out
what the Bible says about them. It is the same with sin, we study to find out
what God’s word says about it and we believe it. If our opinion is different
from what the Bible says, we need make a quality decision to reject any natural opinion and accept God’s word as
the final authority about that issue in life. We are to do that because Jesus
is our life, our Master, and we are in Covenant relationship with Him. Whatever
He says is right. This process may sound to some like brainwashing, and in one
sense they are correct; it is brainwashing. As Christians we need to have our
brains cleansed from the way the natural man thinks. Scripturally, it is a
process called “renewing” the mind, in Romans 12:2.
“And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…”
The bottom line is
God doesn’t think like us and we, as natural human beings, don’t think like
Him. Isaiah 55:8, 9 reveals that quite clearly.
“For my thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
For as the heavens
are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my
thoughts than your thoughts.”
In order for us to
find out what God thinks about something, we need to look in His Word, and then
change our thoughts to match His.
The Scriptural reasons for this are abundant.
Psalm 119:128 says, “Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things
to be right;…” Most people don’t see what that verse is saying. Most will look
at that verse and say, “What ever God’s word says about anything is right.”
Although that is true, that is not what this verse is saying. What the writer is saying is, “I ESTEEM all
thy precepts concerning all things to be right.” The writer is telling us his
GODLY, SUBMISSIVE, and COVENANTAL ATTITUDE toward God’s word. Folks, as
Christians, in Covenant relationship with God, we need to accept God’s word as,
“Forever…settled in heaven”, Psalm 119:89. It’s true whether we believe it or
not. One of the foundational elements in faith is that it will produce a
confidence in the reliability of God’s word.
In light of that, a true Bible believer will believe God’s precepts
concerning homosexuality are right, because that believer is being covenentally
submissive.
Another verse that
applies in this line of thought is Isaiah 8:20.
“To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this
word it is because they have no light in them.” Comparing the wisdom in Isaiah
to the present argument, if someone says something different about
homosexuality than what God’s word says it is because they have no light in
them. God’s word has to be first place
in our thinking and living. A New Testament witness of this principle is Romans
3:3, 4, “For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith
of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar;
as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest
overcome when thou art judged.” Translation: when someone judges that what
God’s word says is not true I am to let that man be a liar.
There are
denominations within the Body of Christ that have that view of Scripture, i.e.,
God’s word is the final authority. For example, when the Southern Baptist
Convention or the Assemblies of God get together to have their meetings they
don’t have debates about
homosexuality. Why? Because in their denominations’ view of Scripture, they
know God has already spoken on the matter in His word so there is no need to
debate. God said it, that settles it and they believe it!
There are other denominations within the Body
of Christ that do not have a godly view of Scripture, and because of the lack
of a godly attitude towards the Word of God, they are plagued with problems
from which they seemingly have no solution to. Therefore, they have long and
very contentious debates about homosexuality when they get together in their
conventions. Why? Because the official view of Scripture within that particular
denomination is not the same. In their view, occasionally the authority of
Scripture is trumped by such things as personal experience, science, or
culture. Sometimes, though, it’s just a “more knowledgeable than thou” attitude
towards the inspired writers of Scripture, and because of that view they have
endless debates about whether homosexuality is sin or not. Some of them have
queers in their pulpits.
III
The
Lying Vanity of Sexual Orientation
|
The first time I heard about the term “sexual orientation”, I
was at a library in the early 80’s doing research on homosexuality. I remember
reading that homosexuals were trying to say that they were born homosexual, and
to try to be heterosexual was impossible because they were homosexual, they were
wired up that way, it was their “sexual orientation”. I remember laughing out
loud, and thinking, “Who in the world would believe this garbage?” Well, I’m no
longer laughing, because this garbage, this myth, this lying vanity has been
swallowed by a lot of people.
The American Psychological Association gives
this definition: “…an enduring emotional, romantic, sexual or affectional [sic]
attraction to another person” . A
political definition was given in H.R. 4636, from the House of Representatives,
103rd Congress on June 23, 1994: “The term sexual orientation means
lesbian, gay, bisexual or heterosexual orientation, real or perceived as
manifested by identity, acts, statements or associations.”[i] A
legal definition is given by Judge Arthur S. Spiegel, in his August 9, 1994
ruling granting a permanent injunction prohibiting Cincinnati’s Issue Three
from becoming effective. “Sexual orientation is a deeply rooted complex
combination of factors including a predisposition towards affiliation,
affection or bonding with members of the opposite and or same gender.” The
American Psychological Association gives this definition: “…an enduring
emotional, romantic, sexual or affectional [sic] attraction to another person” . A religious definition but certainly not Biblical
is given by the Episcopal Church in a Study called, Continuing the Dialogue A Pastoral Study
Document of the House of Bishops to the Church as the Church Considers Issues
of Human Sexuality. Their definition says, “…the homosexually oriented
person is one who is consistently attracted affectionately, romantically, and
erotically to persons of the same sex. Persistent patterns of homosexual
attraction, enduring experience of intimacy, and continuing manifestations of
devoted love are the most trustworthy signs of sexual orientation, not simply
genital activity.”[ii]
Now I would say that all the people who came
up with those definitions are in some ways very intelligent and very worldly
wise, but what they are saying about homosexual desire and conduct is in direct
opposition to the Bible, God’s word. It was Isaiah who said in Isaiah 8:20 “To
the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is
because there is no light in them.” What the previously mentioned groups and
individuals are saying reveals they have no light in them, on this matter,
because what they are saying is darkness. For the so called Christians in this
group, it is far more serious, because they are calling God a liar, they know
what God’s word says and they choose to say differently.
Make no mistake
about it, Biblically, man and woman were created heterosexual. This is
established in Matthew 19:4-6. “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not
read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And
said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to
his wife: and they shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but
one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”
The sexual
behaviors of men with men and women with women are not sexual orientations;
they are, according to Romans 1:26, “vile affections”. And they “defile the
flesh” according to Jude 8. The Apostle Paul described their feelings this way
in Romans 1:27, these men “burned in their lust one toward another”. The Greek
word for “burned” is ekkaio and
according to Zodhiates Word Study Dictionary it means “to burn, light, set fire
to, to cause to burn or flame up, to kindle”. In the Septuagint, the Greek Old
Testament it is used of an actual fire in Exodus 22:6 and Judges 15:5. It is
also used metaphorically for the anger of the LORD in Deuteronomy 29:20; Psalm
2:12 and Jeremiah 4:4.[iii]
The Greek word for “lust” is orexis
and according to Zodhiates, it means, “to desire…appetite, lust or
concupiscence. It is always the reaching out after an object with the purpose
of drawing it to oneself and appropriating it.”[iv]
Paul goes on to say in Romans 1:27, “…men with men working that which is
unseemly.” The Greek word for “working” according to Zodhiates is katergazomai and it means “to work, to
bring about, to carry out a task until it’s finished”.[v]
The phrase, “that which is unseemly” is the Greek word aschemosune and it means “indecently, obscenity, nakedness”. In the
Septuagint it is used in Exodus 20:26 and Leviticus 18:6, 7 to mean the sexual
private parts of male and female.[vi]
The complete phrase, “men with men working that which is unseemly” is a
discreet way of saying, “men engaging in actions with the sexual private parts
of another man.” When all the grammar and definitions of Romans 1:27 are put
together this is the sum, “the enflamed desire and appetite and lust of a man
to appropriate or seize upon and engage in actions with the private sexual
parts of other men.” What a reprobate calls ‘homosexual orientation’, Paul
calls a “vile affection”.
On two separate
occasions the Apostle Paul warned us not to be deceived about homosexual
behavior. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10, of which I will comment on more in a later
chapter, Paul writes, “…Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous,
nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, shall inherit the kingdom of God”
(NASV). And again in Ephesians 5:5, 6 “For this ye know, that no whoremonger,
nor unclean person, nor covetous man…has any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God. Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these
things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience” (KJV). The
Greek word for “whoremonger” is ‘pornos’.
It is #4205 in the Strong’s numbering system. I consulted 4 different Greek
dictionaries and found the following: Strong’s: male prostitute; Thayer: male
prostitute; Zodiates: male prostitute; Bullinger: sodomite.[vii]
So there is no doubt that this is referring to homosexual behavior.
|
According to
Paul’s God breathed warning, all the arguments defending homosexuality are
nothing but “vain words” we are not to be deceived by, including all the
deception of sexual orientation. Concerning the phrase vain words, there is an
interesting verse in Jonah 2:8 that I believe can be applied here. “They that
observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy”. By clinging to the lying
vanity of sexual orientation many are forsaking the mercy in Jesus Christ that
could not only forgive them but also set them free.
In spite of
this, the proponents of same sex lust believe they have a trump card, i.e., the
ignorance of the writers of Scripture. In one accord they declare that the
writers of Scripture were ignorant of the science of human sexuality and the
many sexual orientations which comprise it. So because we are more
knowledgeable than they were, we can ignore what they wrote about
homosexuality. Some go so far as to say all the verses prohibiting
homosexuality should be removed from the canon of Scripture.
The lying vanity
of sexual orientation blinds the minds of those who believe it from the Gospel
truth of freedom and forgiveness in Christ, whether they are in bondage to same
sex lust, or a friend or family member of those in bondage. The lies supporting
sexual orientation say to those in bondage to homosexuality, “You do not need
freedom, you are not doing anything wrong and it is impossible to change.” It
also calls God a liar.
[1] 103rd Congress, House Of Representatives,
June 23, 1994, H.R. 4636.
[1] Continuing the Dialogue, Definition of homosexual
orientation, p.39, Lines 266-271.
[1] Spiros Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary of
the New Testament, # 1572.
[1] Ibid. # 3715.
[1] Ibid. #2716.
[1] Ibid. #808.
[1] Joseph H. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New
Testament. #4205.
Spiros Zodhiates
Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, # 4205.
The New Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, #4205.
Ethelbert W. Bullinger,
A Critical Lexicon & Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament.
IV
It is fitting that a Biblical
teaching about homosexuality should begin with the Biblical record of the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Such a teaching should focus on what the
whole Bible says, not just Genesis 19. I believe “the cities of the plain” were
destroyed by God because they were “wicked sinners before the LORD
exceedingly”, Gen.13:13. Though underneath that fact is a list of sins and
characteristics that are not mentioned by Moses in Genesis, but are mentioned
by other Biblical writers such as Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Peter, Jude and others.
The whole counsel of God must be taken into account to get the whole picture
that God wants to show us.
The first time
Sodom is mentioned in Scripture is Genesis 3:10-13.
“And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld
all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the LORD
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of
Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan;
and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain,
and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners
before the LORD exceedingly.”
Luke writes in
Luke 17:28 that Jesus said, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they
did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded.”
Moses writes
that in the fields surrounding the cities of the plain they grew vineyards for
producing wine.
Deuteronomy 32:32-34 “For their vine is of the
vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall,
their clusters are bitter:
Their wine is the poison of dragons,
and the cruel venom of asps.
Is not this laid up in store with me,
and sealed up among my treasures?”
These
descriptions from Genesis 13:10, Deuteronomy 32:32-34 and Luke 17:28 show that
the area before its destruction was a thriving area, a stark contrast to what
it is now, the Dead Sea, surrounded by a very barren and dry wilderness. Verse
13 describes the moral character of the inhabitants of Sodom in clear terms.
“But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.” It
is significant that the Bible includes this in its first mention of Sodom.
The second time
Sodom is mentioned is Genesis 14 and the plundering of all 5 cities of the
plain by the kings of Mesopotamia. After Abram returned from a successful
rescue of Lot, there is an interesting dialogue between Abram and the King of
Sodom in Genesis 14:21-23.
“And the king of Sodom said unto Abram,
Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I
have lift up my hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven
and earth,
That I will not take from a thread even
to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou
shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:”
There is a hint
of contempt in Abram’s response that is unmistakable and can be explained by
the knowledge that the cities of the plain already had a reputation of being
“wicked”.
The third time
Sodom is mentioned is Genesis 18:20, 21, where the LORD God himself says,
“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.”
This third time that Sodom is mentioned is extremely important because it gives
us a definite mile marker in the timeline of when the destruction of the cities
of the plain occurred. During this visit of Abraham by the Lord and two angels,
it is promised that Isaac would be born a year later and this was the day
previous to the destruction of the cities.
All of these
passages lead up to the famous verses in Genesis 19 where the Biblical record
of the destruction of Sodom is located.
The Bible And Homosexual Practice,
Robert A. J. Gagnon. “One reason why proponents of same-sex intercourse often
think they can enlist Jesus in their cause is that they labor under a popular
imisconception; namely, that Jesus was far more tolerant on sexual matters than
his Jewish contemporaries. The reverse conclusion is likely to be closer to the
truth. On matters to sexual ethics Jeus often adopted stricter, not more
lenient, demands than most other Jews of his time. In other words, his
expectations regarding sexual purity, in some respects at least exceeded the
expectations both of the Torah and of traditions prevailing in Jesus’ day.”
Matthew 5:27, 28 Ye have heard
that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
5:28 But I say unto you, That
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart.
[i] 103rd
Congress, House Of Representatives, June 23, 1994, H.R. 4636.
[ii]
Continuing the Dialogue, Definition of homosexual orientation, p.39, Lines
266-271.
[iii] Spiros
Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary of the New Testament, # 1572.
[iv] Ibid. #
3715.
[v] Ibid.
#2716.
[vi] Ibid.
#808.
[vii] Joseph
H. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. #4205.
Spiros Zodhiates Complete Word Study Dictionary of the
New Testament, # 4205.
The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible,
#4205.
Ethelbert W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon &
Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament.
No comments:
Post a Comment