What happened to that gay city Sodom?
Before God destroyed Sodom, the Dead Sea region was a fertile plain (Genesis 13:10). Because their sin was very grave (Genesis 18:20) the Lord rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding plain, destroying the cities, the inhabitants and all vegetation (Genesis 19:24,25).
It became a land of sulfur, salt and burning. "It is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there" (Deuteronomy 29:23). It was "overrun with weeds and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation" (Zephaniah 2:9). Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them "having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7).
God explained why He destroyed Sodom: "Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; 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 fit" (Ezekiel 16:49,50).
In the time of Ezekiel, God condemned Jerusalem for having a tolerant attitude toward Sodom: "For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride" (Ezekiel 16:56).
Because of their "filthy conduct" and "lawless deeds" God, "turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those who afterward would live ungodly" (2 Peter 2:6-8).
Holland legalized same-sex marriages in 2001, Belgium in 2003, supposedly implementing a clause in the European Union's Treaty of Amsterdam which forbids discrimination on the basis of 'sexual orientation', a vague term used to encompass homosexual and lesbian relationships, but which arguably could also be made to include pedophilia and bestiality. I say 'supposedly' because it is not discrimination to make allowances for biological realities or to respect moral and religious convictions which are also protected by the treaty.
Perverted sexual relationships may be called marriages by governments of this world, but they are not recognized by the High Court of Heaven. Same-sex relationships are condemned by God in both the Old and the New Testaments.
They are perversions of the beautiful and pure relationship God has given husbands and wives within the bonds of matrimony. Jesus said: "Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female', and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate" (Matthew 19:4-6). "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge" (Hebrews 13:4). Same-sex relationships are a form of fornication (sexual immorality).
The Law of Moses pronounced the death sentence on those who engaged in homosexual relationships. "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22). "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them" (Leviticus 20:13).
The condemnation of the New Testament is also severe: homosexuals and lesbians are worthy of death, but they are called to repentance and offered forgiveness. God will help them live pure lives if they repent, turn away from their sins, and accept His offer of salvation through Christ.
"Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due" (Romans 1:24-27), "who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them" (Romans 1:32).
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
The Greek word translated 'homosexuals' here is MALAKOS, defined in this passage by Thayer as "effeminate, of a catamite, a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness" and by Arndt & Gingrich as "effeminate, esp. of catamites, men and boys who allow themselves to be misused homosexually."
The Greek word translated 'sodomites' is ARSENOKOITEES (a combination of the words for 'male' and 'bed'), defined in this passage by Thayer as "one who lies with a male as with a female, a sodomite" and by Arndt & Gingrich as "a male homosexual, pederast, sodomite." This word is also found in 1 Timothy 1:10 where it is stated that the law is 'for sodomites'. The English word 'sodomy' means 'carnal copulation with a member of the same sex or with an animal or unnatural copulation with a member of the opposite sex' (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary).
The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is a warning for those committing abomination in our time.
We do not know all the cosmic or geological mechanisms involved when God devastated the Dead Sea area with sulfurous meteorites. The region is now below sea level and is on a major fault in the earth's crust.
San Francisco and Amsterdam are the gay capitals of the modern world. Both cities are suspended by a thread in the hand of God. Forty percent of Holland is below sea level and San Francisco is on a major earthquake fault. At any moment, an earthquake or a storm could destroy these wicked cities. The accusation against them is great and their sin is very grave. God may delay judgment for the sake of the righteous who live there.
In the end, however, there will be no escape: "The Judge is standing at the door!" (James 5:9). The day is coming when the whole universe will be dissolved by fire: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?" (2 Peter 3:10-12). "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad" (2 Corinthians 5:10).
This warning is not only for homosexuals and lesbians. All must repent to be saved. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). On the day of judgment all sinners will stand condemned unless they have repented and accepted the gift of salvation offered by grace through the blood of Christ. "If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (1 Peter 4:18).
Roy Davison
The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.
Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)
(http://www.oldpaths.com)
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