ARE WE MODERN-DAY SODOM?

Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore

June16, 2019

Scripture Reading:  Genesis 19:1-3:

1) “And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.

2) And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.

3) And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.”

Thus, begins the story of the destruction of Sodom along with the three other cities that were close by. All four towns were lying in one of the most fertile areas of the world. It has been compared to being close to the fertility of the Garden of Eden.

Two angels came to town while Lot was sitting in the entrance of the city. What did Lot do when he saw them? Did he:

1. Shake their hands?

2. Watch them go by?

3. Bow down to them with his face to the ground and offer them to stay all night in his home?

4. Offer them a place to stay in a local inn?

How did Lot recognize that they were angels? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but it says that when they turned down his proposal, C which is listed above, he made another request for them to go and stay at his home where he would fix them a large, delicious meal. This offer was accepted by the two angels.

But shortly after their feast, before they laid down for the evening, they experienced some tribulation. All the men, (old, middle-aged, and young), of the city of Sodom, (that must have been a large crowd), came to Lot’s house and asked for the men (angels) to come out to them so that they may know them.

Question: What does the phrase “so that they may know them” mean?

Lot went out of his door and shut it with the two angels inside his house. He tried to reason with the men by saying that they should not be so wicked. So the phrase had to do with some wickedness. Then he offered to them his two daughters who were virgins and told them to do to them what was “good in their eyes.” They flatly refused that offer and began to get rough with Lot. It seems that Lot was offering his two virgin daughters in place of the two angels.

The discussion got so heated between Lot and the men of Sodom that the two angels opened the door and pulled Lot into the house and shut the door. The men of Sodom were still outside the door but were now very agitated. They were plotting to break down the door. They were determined to get to the two “men”. But the angels smote the homosexual, perverted men that were at the door with blindness, so they wearied themselves trying to find where the door was located.

Then the angels told Lot that he and his family needed to get out of this city before the night was over. They (the two angels) would destroy the cities in the very early morning. Lot had just enough time to get the remainder of his family out of town before it would be destroyed.

He quickly told his sons-in-law what was about to happen and for them and their wives (his daughters) to join them in the early morning escape, but they felt that Lot was mocking them. So, they and his married daughters remained in the city that was going to be turned into ashes in just a few hours. They were destroyed, along with everyone else who remained.

Shortly before dawn of the next morning, the two angels led Lot, his wife, and his two virgin daughters to safety out of the city. A shower of fire and brimstone came out of the heavens and almost instantly turned the cities and land into nothing more than huge cliffs of remains made up of brimstone and ashes.

Question: Who caused this sudden and unusual destruction? The Bible says:

Genesis 19:24, 25:

24) “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.

25) And He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.”

The Bible says the it was the LORD God who brought the rain upon Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim. It wasn’t an enemy country or a random act of nature; it was the future covenant LORD God who turned the beautiful, fertile plain into a desolate land in a very short time.

The two angels commanded Lot’s family not to look back until they got to the mountains. But Lot negotiated with them (begged) and it was decided that they would go to the small town of Zoar. Thus, Zoar was spared in the major, quick destruction. But his wife broke the commandment to not look back, and she immediately died.

Lot and his uncle Abram had been separated several times during their lives. They were uncle and nephew who had traveled together from Ur to Haran to the land of Canaan and had spent a lot of time together. When Lot was with Abram he became very prosperous. When he left him and went on his own, the opposite happened. He lost everything.

They both were cattle owners. They had so many cattle that the land could not sustain them all, as a strife developed between the two men’s herdsmen. So, Abram gave Lot the choice of whether to stay where they were located or move to the more fertile land near Sodom. Lot chose to move to the area near Sodom. Abram would take what Lot didn’t choose. So, Abram remained in the less fertile land. He did not go near Sodom but was in Hebron (Mamre).

While Lot was living in Sodom, four kings of Shina, Eliasar, and Elam made war against the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar, the five cities that were facing sudden destruction. Abram, with his 318 servants, conquered the four kings and brought back Lot and the inhabitants of the conquered cities and all their goods. In fact, Abram rescued everyone and everything that was taken by the four kings. It was a miracle. It was the LORD God who fought the battle. Abram didn’t lose any men, nor were any wounded. It was a complete victory.

The king of Sodom was so grateful that he told Abram that he could keep the goods to himself and just return all the people who were kidnapped. Abram declined, but said that he would not take anything that what was not his except what the young men had eaten and of the men which went with him, that they would be allowed to take their portion.

Abram was the hero of the cities which were about to be destroyed. Don’t you think that the inhabitants of these five cities were grateful to Abram for his miraculous rescue? He saved their lives from a life of slavery and/or a slow death.

Do you think that Abram would have rescued and saved these wicked people if Lot and his family weren’t also kidnapped? After this great victory, which the LORD God really won; Melchizedek, the king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine and blessed Abram. And after Abram refused any spoils of the victory, God heard Abram’s complaint that he was childless and didn’t have anyone to give his inheritance to. Thus, God instituted His covenant with him.

After the covenant with Abram was made, he was visited by three men (the LORD God and two angels). They told him about what they were going to do about the evilness that was in Sodom and Gomorrah and the three other nearby towns in the valley of the Jordan. Abram knew that his nephew Lot was living in Sodom, and he asked of them, “will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?” What if there were 50 righteous, would you destroy the cities?

They answered that they wouldn’t. Then Abram said, would you destroy the cities if there were 40 righteous? Then 30 righteous? Then 20 righteous? Then, finally 10 righteous?

They agreed, that if there were 10 righteous people in all five cities, that they would not destroy them. So, the LORD went His way, and the two angels went to visit Lot in Sodom. After the major upheaval that occurred in Sodom, there certainly were not even 10 righteous men in the cities; the verdict was that they were to be destroyed.

Who were the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns descended from? They were descended from Canaan (Genesis 10:19), who was the son of Ham, who was the son of Noah. Remember Ham had a sexual relationship with Noah’s wife and the son of this incestuous rape was cursed. Canaan married into the “unholy seed” of the Kenites and was forever cursed. His offspring was guilty of practicing all these wicked ways that caused them to be instantly burnt up.

What was the prevailing sin in these five cities? Sodomy comes from the word, “Sodom”, and gonorrhea comes from the word, “Gomorrah” and this gives us a very good clue. It was full of sexual perversions.

Proponents point to the apparent demand by the men of Sodom for Lot’s strangers to come out of the house, so they can forcibly have homosexual intercourse with them. In other words, the men of Sodom want to rape the men (angels) in Lot’s house.

However, there are so-called scholars who claim that this passage is not referring to rape, or any acts of sexual immorality at all. The sin of Sodom, according to these people, is their inhospitable attitude towards strangers. But that is just an excuse—it was deviate sexual behavior.

But throughout history, Sodom and Gomorrah have been used as metaphors for rape, homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual immorality, race-mixing, transgenderism, and sexual deviance.

Jude 1:7:  “Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cites about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

The four cities in the plain of Jordan were for an example. What example were they? The word “example” means exhibited for warning. It seems like it is an example or warning that the United States should consider, as America is getting very close to what was happening in these wicked cities. "Remember Sodom and Gomorrah" should be our battle cry!

Isaiah 3:9: “The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! For they have rewarded evil unto themselves.”

Sodom didn’t hide their sin. They declared it. They paraded it all around town. Is that what is happening in America? Is America hiding their sin? Are the homosexuals still in the closet, or have they opened the door and are now parading in full view of everyone? Are they hiding with guilt, or are they full of PRIDE as they demand equal rights with the rest of the world?

Look at what one of America’s most popular female singers did as she promoted her new album during PRIDE month.  Taylor Swift got political and reaffirmed her support for the LGBT community onstage at the 2019 iHeartRadio Wango Tango show on Saturday, (June 1) the start of Pride Month.

“Wearing a pastel rainbow-colored outfit, the pop star told the crowd, ‘A lot of my songs are about love and I just feel like who you love, how you identify, you should be able to live your life the way you want to live your life and to have the same exact rights as everybody else.’”

That is exactly the argument that the unholy seed makes. Should you be able to live your life the way that you want to live your life and have the same rights as everybody else, or should you follow what your LORD God commands you is right or wrong? Did the men of Sodom and Gomorrah have the same rights as the people of the LORD God?

Taylor Swift sent a letter to her Republican senator, Lamar Alexander, asking him to support the Equality Act. Does Taylor mean that anyone can live their lives any way that they want, and they would have the same rights? If that were true, then why were Sodom and Gomorrah and the other two cities destroyed as an example or warning to us? What is the warning?

Taylor Swift’s latest song has a new target: homophobes. Coinciding with the announcement of her seventh album, “Lover,” the pop star recently (last week) released a new tune called “You Need to Calm Down”, where she addresses her own haters but also calls out those who attack the LGBTQ community.

At one-point Taylor Swift sings: “And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate,  Cause shade never made anybody less gay.”

At another point she sings: “You need to just stop, Like can you just not step on his gown?”

And another quote from the song, Swift even references the gay rights organization GLAAD, (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), when she sings:  “Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? Sunshine on the street at the parade. But you would rather be in the Dark Ages.   Making that sign must’ve taken all night.”

She’s dedicated a song some fans interpret as a love song to her best friend/secret lover Karlie Kloss (or it is to the pioneering lesbian dancer Loie Fuller?). The uncharitable explanation for all this queer-signaling is that Swift is trying to profit off the intrigue around her sexuality by giving queer fans just enough material to keep them interested while never actually coming out—either because she doesn’t want to hurt her career or because, you know, she’s straight.

So, Taylor Swift is in favor of LGBTQs and disagrees with the LORD God of Israel. Then the next thing that happened, while I was reading a newspaper at work during dinner and I notice an article on the opinion page. I was reading in the June 3, 2019 Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper and I came upon an article written by Amber G. Duke. The title of the article was “1 Weekend in Louisville and 2 Protests, But ‘Hate Did Not Win’”. She wrote that she had spent two hours on the steps of the Main Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library and at the EMW Women’s clinic as part of a counter protest.

A counter protest, I thought. A counter protest of what? Well, “the library was hosting its first Drag Queen Storytime with Vanessa Demornay, and a group of folks started an online campaign to get the event canceled. When that effort failed, they announced a protest at the library on the day of the event.”

She was protesting the protestors. Her job is the Communications Director at the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) of Kentucky. Her organization “joined the Derby City Sisters [group formed to allow members of LGBTQ to not feel inferior] and the Fairness Campaign [until full equality for all is achieved, the Fairness Campaign will continue the fight], for the counter protest so that children would see friendly faces amongst the protestors and police as they walked into the library.”

Remember it was the ACLU, in one of its earliest battles, that recruited a substitute teacher, John T. Scopes, to challenge the law in Tennessee that they had passed banning the teaching of evolution. When Scopes was eventually prosecuted, the ACLU partnered with celebrated attorney Clarence Darrow to defend him. Although Scopes was found guilty (the verdict was later overturned because of a sentencing error), the trial made national headlines and helped the public see that Jewish control of the nation was beginning.

The protestors caught on the video that Duke’s shot found that many were at both the protest at the library and in front of EMW Women’s Clinic, the last remaining abortion clinic in the Commonwealth. Amber wrote that the protestors had set up loud speakers and used megaphones to quote Bible verses. They were quoting Bible verses against aborticide and the LGBT community. The protestors were made up mainly of members of the American Family Association, (she left this information out of her article), and several conservative local pastors and their congregations who peacefully protested the meeting.

Why were protestors shouting and broadcasting Bible verses? Because the Bible tells us that the LORD God hates the way of the heathen. The way that they behave are an abomination to Him. They are following what the father of the “unholy seed” has told them to do. They are the LORD God’s enemy.

You don’t have sex with a cow or a dog or an individual of another race or an individual of the same gender. And how can you marry an individual of the same gender, if you can annul a marriage on the grounds of impotence if one partner refuses to consummate the marriage? No marriage of the same gender can produce children. God hates these relationships.

Then Amber adds, “The people who just hours before were yelling at people entering the clinic, ‘Don’t kill your baby! Don’t commit murder today ma’am!’ were the same people who were yelling at parents walking their children into story time, ‘You hate that child! You are corrupting that child!’”

Amber, who is an individual of color has turned things 180 degrees around. She didn’t say what Bible verses were read at the protest meetings, but the fact that there were Bible verses read against them says something about who is right and who is wrong.

Now, let us look at who Vanessa Demornay is and what the first Drag Queen Storytime was all about.

Vanessa Demornay, whose real name is Milkail Schultz (Ashkenazi Jew?), hosted the first-ever Drag Queen Storytime at the Louisville Free Public Library in PRIDE month (June 2019). They have now approached Cincinnati’s libraries for a similar day. It started a couple of years ago in the city of San Francisco (where else?).

Demorany has earned numerous accolades and titles and is the current Midwest All American Goddess. Patterned after events in other cities, Drag Queen Storytime is designed to celebrate diversity and inclusion and promote self-acceptance.

“I had a sheltered childhood and wasn’t exposed to many things, and it would have been life-changing to have met a drag queen.” Demornay adds: “I want to show children that it’s OK to be exactly who you are, to wear exactly what you want [there are no such clothes that are immodest] and to not be afraid to show the world your true colors.”

So, is she saying that it is okay to wear short pants to a wedding? A tank top to the opera? That it is okay to for a boy or man to dress like a girl or woman? Or vice versa. Were the protestors shouting this Bible verse at the library session?

Deuteronomy 22:5:  “The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do are abomination unto the LORD thy God.”

Would you say that America is following in the mistake of Sodom and Gomorrah and in many ways is surpassing them? Are they ignoring the warning of what happened?

Cincinnati Bell employees this week didn’t use Post-It notes like they usually do. You know, to jot down reminders and stick up at their desks. Instead, in honor of LGBTQ Pride month, more than 100 Cincinnati Bell employees used the sticky notes to create a Pride mural on the north side of the company’s Atrium 2 headquarters. This is what Atrium 2 in Downtown Cincinnati looks like till the end of PRIDE month or June

With the support of the LGBTQ Center and LGBTQ Faculty & Staff Association, the University of Cincinnati (UC) is officially participating in the 2019 Cincinnati Pride parade and festival on Saturday, June 22 [this coming Saturday]. All students, staff, faculty, alumni, friends, and families are invited to register to walk the parade route and join the celebration. The first 100 people to register will receive a free pride T-shirt.

The parade will kick off at the corner of 7th and Central Ave at 11a.m. The festival follows at noon at Sawyer Point. Stop by UC’s booth for giveaways and more.

Joining Cincinnati Pride in an official capacity demonstrates UC’s commitment to the inclusion of everyone, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity, and celebrates the university’s LGBTQ+ community. [It doesn’t matter to us [UC] if they are an abomination to the LORD God of Israel, they are equal with everyone else.]

In the past year, the university has made great strides in LGBTQ+ visibility and inclusion. UC recently received a 4.5 (out of 5) star rating in the Campus Pride Index, the national listing of LGBTQ-friendly colleges and universities.

There is a war going on. It is the seed of the serpent vs. the seed of the woman. It has been over six thousand years and the fighting are coming to a climax. More and more corporations are siding on the wrong side. They are denying what the LORD our God warned us about: “Learn not the way of the heathen.” Which side are you on?

There was a small victory and it happened in the enemy’s backyard. It happened at Oberlin College, which was founded in 1833 by two Presbyterian ministers with the help of Evangelist Charles Finney who said he would only help if the College admitted negroes as students. Finney served as one of its professors and then was offered its presidency in 1851.

Finney was professor of Systematic Theology, even though he had no degree; he had no formal training but apprenticed under theologian George Washington Gale, enough to be licensed by the Presbyterians to preach; though he later rejected much of what he was taught.

He was a lawyer-turned minister/evangelist.  This was “New Light Presbyterianism” which was attempting a liberal replacement.  It was not enough that Finney destroyed the Reformed Faith, but he had to destroy the moral backbone of the nation too.  His was a humanistic, emotional, man-centered, “theology” rejecting the Reformed faith. He encouraged women to help pave the way for the feminist movement and under his influence Oberlin College integrated coloreds and liberated and empowered women.

This was the school that supported the “underground railroad” and that also recently supported three colored students who got into some difficulties at the local bakery. One black student shoplifted wine at a local bakery and used a fake ID and two other blacks aided in an assault. The owner of the store’s son tried to keep the thief at bay until the police arrived, which then led to the vice president/dean of students (a known lesbian) inciting the campus to participate in the smear campaign against the bakery for “racial profiling.” It seems the other college administrators either gave their approval or turned a blind eye to it. During all the trouble the bakery they lost a lot of business. So, they sued…and they won over $11 million.

Oberlin College has a woman rabbi who strives to foster a vibrant Jewish community, meaning that students feel included and energized around their Jewish identity and practice. In addition, Oberlin College’s current president is a black woman who is married to a black Muslim.

Oberlin is also known for its liberal attitude toward sexuality and gender expression. Oberlin has been consistently ranked among the friendliest college campuses for LGBT students. What has happened to this college? It has gone from bad to worse!

“The LGBT community will not stand for a President of the United States who wants to deny them their rights! Show off your undying support for Hillary Clinton with this LGBT, Rainbow, Hillary Clinton mug! Our 15-ounce Mug features large handles for easy gripping and a wrap-around print. These heavy-duty Mugs are both dishwasher and microwave safe. Printed in the USA.”

Which side are you on? Do you believe:

Sodom and Gomorrah and the other three neighboring cities; Taylor Swift; Cincinnati Bell; University of Cincinnati; Oberlin College; Hillary Clinton; etc., that are all following what Alexister Crowley said was his [the most wicked man on the earth] motto: “Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of The Law” or

“Sola Scriptura”, the cry of the Protestant Revolution. What the Word of says is how we are to live our lives. Obey My commands and you shall be blessed.

Deuteronomy 28:1:  “And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth.”

“Truth against the world!”

To be continued.

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.