I cannot even imagine what Abraham (his new, God given name) must have thought after the Lord God Almighty went up from him (Gen. 17:23) but he got busy that very same day to accomplish what God had told him to do! I suppose when Abraham gathered the males of his clan and told them his intentions a voice, maybe even a chorus of voices, surely shouted; “YOU’RE GOING TO CUT WHAT OFF??? I am sure pupils contracted, eyes squinted, foreheads wrinkled and goose bumps raced!
While he was Abram they had seen him go through a lot and they had seen him become very strong and tough. His jaw was set with determination and his glittering eyes said this cutting of the covenant (circumcision) would be done because; “The Lord God Almighty has decreed it!”
Archaeologists have unearthed numerous prehistoric clay pots and jars containing residue from dozens of different plants, plant seeds, fungi, mushrooms and etc. that are known to be hallucinogenic agents such as henbane, various mushrooms, cannabis- marijuana- called qunubu, Somniferum- poppy- opium and etc. (Gen. 9:21 & 19:32-36) Wine was also available in the prehistoric world (alcohol is also a hallucinogen- Prov. 23:29-30 keywords: “wounds without cause”: message; because it makes a man feel 10ft tall and bullet proof OR in this time period arrow and sword proof; “Hold my beer and watch this!”).
Satan always revels in hallucinogens because they make it easier for him to make fools of men. These agents were obviously used as medicine, in festivals and worship, trade items, were sometimes worshipped as gods and could possibly have been used to dull pain because evidence has also been found from such residue that an herbal healing and numbing ointment containing traces of various hallucinogenic substances was used.
Archaeologists have also found metal sheep shearing knives that are constructed with a crescent shaped blade with a thin rod that protrudes from the middle of the back of the blade up to a curved handle. The thin rod would protrude between the middle finger and the ring finger and the curved handle would fit comfortably into the palm, the hand would then be closed into a fist with the blade sitting across the fingers on the outside of the fist. The other hand would manipulate the wool of an immobilized sheep and the fisted blade would be swiped back and forth to cut away the wool. So far archaeologists have not found any type of scissor shears.
Ultimately we do not know how Abraham accomplished the circumcision of his clan but when you consider the times and primitive conditions one’s imagination does run a bit wild. We do have other scriptures: (Job 1:10-12, 2:3-7 & 3:1-3) Job discovered with God sometimes you just have to take what is dished out and the reward is at the end of your trial (2Sam. 24:10-14 keyword: let me not fall into the hand of man) and King David knew God is much more merciful than man.
When you read these scriptures you will see Satan provoked both men’s problems and you must understand in every situation, then and now, Satan did all he could to destroy people and to derail God’s plans. He always does.
(Gen. 17:23-27) Their imaginations must have run wild before the fact. Surely Satan screamed and shrieked into every brain; “Abraham’s Lord God Almighty wants too much!” Then Satan’s boring in started, over, and over, and over; “The Lord God Almighty didn’t tell you to do anything, Abraham did! You know he lied to Pharaoh, is He lying now?”
I cannot even imagine their writhing and shrinking with dread, their grunts, groans and screams, the blood squirting, the male children’s tears, one by one hobbling, straddle legged away while those who waited their turn squirmed and clutched themselves in imagined agony. “What’s the point in all this? You suffer for nothing!” Then there were the long hours that slowly marched into days of shrinking tenderness after Abraham’s clan was circumcised. “You know Abraham’s a liar.” Satan loves to encourage Christian congregation members to rebel against pastors too.
The circumcision ceremony must have taken a long time because for sure there were 318 male servants plus Abraham and Ishmael. There could have been as many as 500-600 circumcisions or maybe even more, and Satan was screaming into every heart; “Remember when Abraham told the Egyptians Sarah was his sister instead of telling them she was his wife? He’s a liar!” Satan also loves to sow discord among the Christian brethren.
Surely Satan was right there painting ribald pictures in the ladies’ minds and prompting ribald comments from the women of Abraham’s clan. Can you imagine the secret feminine laughter and giggles of derision and even some ribald jokes as the ladies of Abraham’s clan gathered here and there to listen to the tumult when the circumcision was performed? Satan embellished and encouraged ideas the women were already starting to think.
“I can’t wait to get back to the tent and tell him I want sex tonight. It’ll pay him back for all the times he’s demanded it when I didn’t feel like it!” Then another; “I’ll wear my sexiest clothes and use that special scent I’ve been saving and see what happens to him!” And still another; “He likes for me to dance for him, I’ll dance tonight and slowly take my clothes off while I’m dancing. I’ll dance every night for a week!” “Me too.” “Me too.” was the chorus. Satan loves to promote rebellion in families.
Satan encouraged the pre-teens and teenagers; “Daddy why are you doing this to me?” OR secretly thinking; “I’ll find some way to get Daddy back for this!” And to the mothers; “Look at the way the men are making your poor babies and children suffer, here’s how you can make Daddy suffer right back, cooking, sex, attitude, and on and on.
Satan performed spiritual cartwheels in anticipation of the problems and discord he would bring into every family. Satan was perfecting his craft in destroying family structure. When you look at the sin, lust, disharmony, selfishness, rebellion, cruelty and destruction in America’s families today, 2014, you can see he has become wildly successful!
(John 6:44 & 12:32) Thinking back on my own writhing and shrinking of soul and my tears of remorse and sorrow during my drawing when God convicted me of my sins before (Col. 2:11) He performed my spiritual circumcision of the heart made without hands makes me sympathize with Abraham and his clan’s writhing and shrinking before their physical circumcision made with hands and a bloody knife. I did not have an extremely sore wound after I was spiritually circumcised either. I like Jesus’ way better, much better, because afterward all I felt was relief and love! You can read about it on the article About the Writer.
As he lay recuperating Abraham did a lot of thinking about the enormity of what had happened. One particular train of thought; “The fathers handed down the stories and Shem said the clay tablets verify that (Gen. 1:2) in the beginning the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, (John 4:24) so God is a Spirit. That must mean the Almighty God can be invisible.”
He looked around uneasily; “I wonder if He’s here looking at me right now?” God smiled. “God said let us make man in our image. Who is the us?” (Luke 24:39) “A spirit does not have flesh and bones, soooo, where did the fingers come from that formed Adam from the dirt?” Abraham’s thoughts ran to and fro in searching unrest then suddenly coalesced into one word that shouted itself in his brain; “MELCHIZEDEK!”
Abraham thought about that a long time, worrying it like a dog does a bone and he finally arrived at a single Hebrew word conclusion that far into the future the Hebrew Rabbis would use to describe what Moses saw on the mount; “Shekinah” (not a Bible word)! “The Almighty God can appear in His Shekinah glory and that’s what almost caused me to faint when I fell on my face.”
Abraham did not know God had given him a muted, restrained version of His Shekinah appearance (Ex. 33:20-23) because a physical man’s sensory systems would be so overloaded by seeing the magnitude of God’s face the man would die.
As Abraham drifted off to sleep he made a drastic mistake every person who ever went into covenant with God would make (1Cor. 5:21, Heb. 4:15 & 1Pet. 2:21-22 keywords: without sin) except one. Abraham’s last thoughts; “I am in covenant with the Almighty God, I love Him with all my heart, I’ll prove it because I’ll believe everything the Almighty God tells me!” Sarah had already made herself the same promise.
The Chaldeans (Babylonians) had a god for everything imaginable, here are the top seven: #1) Marduk- god and patron deity of Babylon; Nimrod had claimed that title long ago. #2) Nimrod’s wife and son, Semiramis and Enshakushanna, were worshipped as the queen mother of heaven and her child. #3) Nergal- god of the sun. #4) Nanna- god of the moon. #5) Gibil- god of fire. #6) Ishtar- goddess of fertility, love and war. #7) Ereshkigal- goddess of the underworld.
At Satan’s prodding, Nimrod’s astrologers and prophets had read the signs and had predicted Nimrod’s 4 vassal Chaldean kings had met some kind of disaster when they had gone on their expedition to bring the 5 Canaanite kings in the Sodom area back to their tribute status. It was easy for Satan to know this because it had already happened and he had been there to see it!
It was only a few days later when a travel stained and weary soldier prostrated himself before the throne of god Nimrod and Satan and said the magic words; “I know the location of Terah’s son Abram.” He had been correct, he had spoken eight magic words that had indeed made him a rich man by any soldier’s standards!
It was a few months later when a weary trade caravan from Egypt arrived to trade gold for Hittite chariots. A certain Hittite captain attended the festival held to celebrate the trade and heard the story the trader told about how the leader of a clan of people had destroyed 4 Chaldean armies with only 318 armed servants. Pitassa slapped his leg in delight and laughed loud and long.
Then the trader told the story about how the leader of the 318 men had taken every male in his clan and sacrificed their foreskins to his 12 stacked rocks God after the war and Pitassa’s grin faded almost as fast as his scrotum crawled with chills. Then he burst out laughing; “I knew it! I knew there was something (Deut. 14:2) peculiar about my friend Abram!” The trader quickly corrected the Hittite captain by telling him; “Their 12 stacked rocks God they call the Almighty God changed your friend’s name to Abraham (Gen. 14:13 keyword: Hebrew) and people are starting to call that clan the Hebrews.”
Later on during the party Pitassa grew thoughtful; “Abraham and his 318 men slew thousands in open combat; perhaps there is something to this Hebrew Almighty God.” Unseen, the Almighty God was watching Satan as he, also unseen and gyrating furiously, led the dancers in their worship of the fertility goddess Ishtar. (Gen. 12:3) When Almighty God heard Pitassa’s thoughts He thought; “You have blessed Abraham. You have an appointed day. I will bless you, Pitassa.” Do you believe it? Of course you do not, its fiction. Maybe! (Part 26)
Abraham’s clan had not seen any of the appearances of the Almighty God to Abraham. They had not heard any of His conversations with Abraham. They did not know anything about the deity Abraham called the Almighty God. They had obeyed Abraham in the circumcision ceremony because they had to, they didn’t have a choice, he was leader of the clan, he owned them, they were his servants. It might have been easier if they had just seen something, or heard something, just anything. In a few days upon the plain of Jordan they would see and hear something done by the Almighty Lord God they would never forget!
In spite of the constant bombardment of “thoughts” telling Abraham he had disfigured, humiliated and tormented himself with self-inflicted wounds for no reason (Gen. 18:1-8) Abraham sat in the door of his tent dozing and nodding as old men sometimes do after the noon meal in the heat of the day. His last coherent thought as he dozed off (Gen. 14:13) was how glad he was to be back home at Mamre (Gen. 13:18) in Hebron which is in the land of Canaan.
(Gen. 18:2) A Presence suddenly snapped him awake, he raised his head and his eyes widened in surprise because 3 men stood a little way off in front of him and an unuttered word flashed through his thoughts; “Melchizedec!” Abraham had not yet realized the constantly gnawing and worrying thoughts had left him as soon as the 3 men made their appearance. Satan had fled.
(Gen. 18:3-8) Abraham moved with astonishing alacrity as he scrambled to his feet, ran to meet the 3 men and bowed before the center figure; “My Lord“, and the Almighty God was pleased, “if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:” Some of Abraham’s servants were around and they were shocked by Abraham’s actions. The common courtesy of inviting strangers to wash up, rest and eat a meal was one thing but Abraham acted as if a King was visiting him and anyone could see these 3 were just simple shepherds.
They were just as amazed when Abraham bustled about giving orders and selecting the best he had to feed the 3 men and made himself a ready servant to fetch anything they asked for while they ate under the shade tree in Abraham’s yard. (Gen. 18:9-16) One quietly asked; “Where is your wife Sarah.” and Abraham told him she was in the tent. Sarah was glued to the tent door eavesdropping and heard the man say he would give them a son at a certain time just as he had promised.
(Gen. 18:12-15) Sarah instantly pictured herself and Abraham, at their age, attempting to have sex and it was a humorous picture because they were old and could not do what used to be such a pleasure. It was all Sarah could do to not scream with laughter but she managed to hold it in. It did not work because the man read her mind, told what she had thought and Sarah knew it was the Lord.
Then the Lord asked her; “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” and Sarah, petrified with fear, did what comes natural, she lied; “I laughed not.” The Lord cocked His head a bit, His penetrating eyes stared into hers for a few seconds and His quiet, tender voice told her he knew everything in her heart. Sarah was trembling when she mutely nodded agreement and she knew she had violated her oath to believe everything the Lord told her. Have you ever had the Lord pin you down with your sin? Me too.
(Gen. 18:17-33 esp. V.19) As they walked toward Sodom the Lord repeated His promise and complimented Abraham for being the kind of leader he was. Then the Lord said He was going to judge Sodom’s sins. The other 2 men went on but Abraham blocked the Lord’s way and began his much preached and taught about argument presented to the Lord to try to persuade Him to spare Sodom. The whole story of Sodom and Gomorrah had been told and retold so why go over it again?
(Gen. 19:1-38) We all know the story about how the (V.1) two angels disguised as men met Lot, went to his house and how the men of Sodom (bituminous) came and wanted to know the 2 angels. Of course, people being what they are, there is a great argument concerning what these men of Sodom wanted. The argument runs the spectrum from having a cup of tea and getting acquainted to forcing the 2 strangers to engage in homosexual relations with the men of Sodom.
Entering that argument here would be foolishness. If you wish to read what the KJ Holy Bible, God’s Word, has to say about homosexuality in its entirety please go to the Sin in Church commentary scroll down the table of contents and read the article, The Devil: The Deception Principal and you will see how the Devil had been very successful in deceiving and aiding the people of Sodom (Jude 7) do what they wished to do. Do not forget the quasi-religious worship of the gods Pen-Vul, Pen-Pen and Vul-Vul before the flood (Part 9 Methuselah’s sermon).
There are only 3 verses I feel led to explore here and all 3 are lived life prophetic. (Gen. 19:14) It is obvious Lot’s sons in law were in heterosexual or at least in wife swapping or bisexual relationships because they were married to Lot’s unnamed daughters.
#1) (Gen. 19:12-14) Lot went out to his sons in law and advised them to flee the wrath to come. “But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” This is a lived life prophesy of the world’s refusal to hear the Christian Church message to repent and be saved from the wrath to come.
In reality Lot’s sons in law actually mocked him and thus mocked God by their refusal to believe in God or that God was going to destroy them (Gen 18:20 & 32) due to their sins. (1Thess. 5:1-3) That sounds like a bunch of people today. “Be politically correct. Don’t offend me by telling me I’ll go to hell if I don’t repent of my sins and accept Jesus’ offer of salvation! I don’t want to hear it!” BUT:
(Gal. 6:7) “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (2Pet. 3:3-4) “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming?” (Jude 18) “How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.”
These scriptures are coming true today, 12-2-14, as American society and government busies themselves ejecting God and His influence right out of America. (2Thess. 2:9-12 keyword: send) How can God send strong delusions? It is simple. God controls Satan, a nation rejects God and God says; “OK, you do not want Me, here is Satan!” What’s it like in your place? Choices!
#2) (Gen. 19:15-22 esp. V.22) In these verses we see the Lord was speaking to Lot; (V.22) “Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing til thou be come thither.” Paraphrased, the Lord was saying; “I cannot destroy this place until you are gone from it.” (1Thess. 4:13-18) This is a lived life prophesy the Christian Church must be removed before God (2Pet. 3:10 & Rev. 21:1) destroys the earth and all that is in it.
Just like Noah and the ark and Lot and his daughters (Luke 17:26-30) the Church will be taken out of this world by Jesus before its destruction comes. Of course there is a big argument about that too but the main point is the Lord God said He would take it out, it will be done and that is the end of the discussion.
PRESENT DAY CHURCH: (Rev. 7:9-17) The 144,000 Jews had been sealed and there was a great multitude no mere man could number from all nations, cultures, races and languages standing before the throne and Jesus. They were dressed in white robes and had palms in their hands. (V.14) They had come out of great tribulation, they had washed their robes and made them white in the blood of Jesus (signifies purity).
Strangely enough (V.14) also tells us who will not be there. Racists will not be in the group, neither will idolaters nor those from non-Jesus religions. The unsaved will not be there either because they are still in sin. BUT: How did all these people get there before God’s throne?
((Luke 17:28-36 & 1Thess. 4:13-18) A burial service was being held at a cemetery on the edge of town. Suddenly several graves ripped open with great gouts of dirt flying in every direction and living people levitated out and on upward out of sight. Their overturned tombstones had verses of scripture and some had crosses engraved into them. Then 3 of the attendees also disappeared and several lost people who knew what was happening fainted. A backslider started moaning then screamed; “I’ve missed it! I’ve missed it!”
The cemetery was on a slight hill. Those people that remained heard the grinding and crashing as a huge, driverless tractor trailer tore its way blindly through a mass of cars on the highway below them. They would hear later the driver had vanished and when the emergency responders searched through the wreckage of the 21 vehicle pileup a couple of cars were empty and one of them had 3 children’s car seats in it with the buckles still closed. The 2 cars had window stickers that said; “Jesus died for you“.
A hard eyed cop noticed the tractor trailer driver’s Bible in the twisted wreckage, he picked it up, somehow it flipped open to (1Thess. 4:13-18), his eyes widened, goose bumps raced over him; “Dad and Mom just read that to me this morning at breakfast before I left their house.” tears started trickling down his face and his eyes were wide open, tender and terribly, terribly wounded; “Mom? Dad? my little Sister-“.
At his office in town the abortionist carelessly held the baby’s feet to stretch its body out for the partial birth abortion, his nurse professionally slapped the snips into his other hand, he carefully, professionally, one handed, opened them and placed the cutting jaws at the base of the baby’s skull to clip the spine but the baby vanished. They silently looked at each other in horror and she silently mouthed a word; “Rapture!”
Over in town a drunkard was awakened by the noise but his battered and bruised wife was gone. He searched and searched; “I’ll bash her face in for this!” but all he ever found was her necklace, it was the one with the golden cross strung upon it. On the other side of town a deacon’s Church member wife was preparing lunch while her husband used the bathroom. She licked her lips in anticipation; “He has to work tonight and I’ll get to spend a few hours with that wonderful man I met 6 months ago.”
There was a weird sound, she ran to the bathroom but all she found was his Bible he had been reading, it was turned to (Rev. 7:9-17), her blood ran cold, she sagged against the door and whispered brokenly; “Its too late to pray!” At the Catholic Church the little boy’s sobs goaded the priest on and the priest was almost there when the child whimpered; “Oh Jesus, help me.” and the abused little altar boy disappeared! The priest was shocked beyond measure, realization hit him and he screamed; “Oh God! NO!” then he vomited.
A stewardess and went forward to the captain’s cabin, both he and the copilot were gone her eyes fixed on their picture of Jesus on the cockpit wall she loved to poke fun at, she remembered what they said about the rapture, she wheeled and ran back to the passenger compartment screaming; “Is there a pilot aboard? Is there a pilot aboard?” The town folk heard a great whistling roar screaming out of the sky and looked upward. A huge airplane plunged toward them, crashed and exploded in the edge of town and hundreds were incinerated.
Those who had witnessed it breathed a sigh of relief that it had missed them. In the south a Klan member savagely thrust himself into a bound young black woman while his hooded friends goaded him on. She moaned through her tears; “Oh Jesus, help me.”, she vanished, he thrust himself against the hard sharp rocks she had lain upon, he cried out with pain, rolled over and looked at his terrified “brothers”. They had all been raised in churches but had found another god in the Klan.
Over on the east side of town a grease fire on an abandoned stove ignited a kitchen. The fire raced through the house, was soon noticed and when the Fire Department arrived one of the firemen noticed a sign in the yard: VOTE YES TO STOP ABORTION and under it was written; Prov. 6:16-17 God hates those who shed innocent blood! The missing homeowners were never found.
Roger and his friend Albert were fishing in the river just south of town. Roger once more invited Albert to go to Church with him next Sunday and he repeated the words he had told Albert so many times; “Albert, you are as lost as a lost ball in high weeds. Jesus died so you can get saved. One of these days Jesus will come and get His Church—-” and Roger disappeared! Albert’s mouth dropped open, his pipe rolled unnoticed into the water, and he uttered a choked whisper; “OH NO! NO! NO!”
The surgeon remembered their pre surgery conference. The patient had quietly comforted him; “Doc, I’m a Christian and whatever happens is OK. Don’t feel guilty if I die because I’m going to heaven.” These confident Christians really got on his nerves. After he was in the corridor the surgeon laughed, shook his head and snorted; “These stupid Christians, don’t they know I hold the power of life and death?” and went about his rounds.
Later, in the surgery unit the surgeon made the first incision down the man’s chest and his patient disappeared as if he had never been there! He suddenly remembered his elderly Mother’s last telephone call from her assisted living housing, her last words burned into his brain; “Son, please go to Church and get saved. Dad is waiting for us in heaven, I’ll soon go and we want you there with us.” His scalpel clattered to the tile floor from his suddenly nerveless fingers.
A famous “preacher” who never mentioned Jesus was on his usual well oiled, well memorized, racist rant about white oppression but he was thinking how much this current crisis would enlarge his swollen bank account; “Ahh, I’m a minister, its tax free!” His eyes popped out and he almost fainted when some of his audience members disappeared right before his eyes.
A terrorist group with bloodthirsty eyes surrounded some Christian huts in Africa. They charged in the name of Allah but the huts were empty. It was confusing, their cook fire still smoldered and their half empty bowls lay scattered about where they had fearfully squatted while they ate.
(1Thess. 4:1-18) The Church (2Thess. 2:7) and the Holy Spirit are gone. The separation had occurred! Satan was ecstatic; “I finally have my kingdom!” Too many key people have disappeared. All over the world traffic snarled, transportation ground to a halt, communication was jammed and halted, governments ceased to function, stock markets crashed, banking services shut down, economies and tax bases were wrecked, emergency services were almost non-existent, events cascaded until all were affected as tragedy after endless tragedy stacked up until there was worldwide chaos and confusion. Power generation and water plants shut down in many places.
Nuclear power plants exploded in 4 nations. When food delivery and water service ended the riots started. Brush fire wars started as national boundaries were violated to gain desperately needed commodities. The dead were stacked in the streets AND Satan was delighted with the rage, fear, horror, hatred and suffering. (2Thess. 2:2-4; 1John 4:3 & Rev.19:11-19) Then Satan started bringing forth his man that would restore order so he could prepare his forces to declare war on Jesus. That’s how all those people got there before God’s throne! Do you believe it?
You had better believe it, (Rev. 20:10-15 esp. V.10 keywords: cast into the lake of fire—and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever & V.15 keywords: whosoever was not written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. key: you will be you forever) because your eternal life does not depend on it BUT your eternal destination does!
#3) (Gen. 18:20) This lived life prophesy is based on the fact the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was very grievous to the Lord but the Bible is silent concerning their specific sin. SO: (Gen. 19:23-25) What would you write to describe what the residents were doing that would so fill God with anger and wrath that He would destroy (Deut. 29:23) Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim and the whole country about the 4 cities?
History tells us: In Rome, Italy one could go to the coliseum, watch great cats devour Christians, see Christians cooked in oil, bet on gladiatorial fights to the death then go to an orgy, either homosexual, or heterosexual, or a mixture of both, and become drunken on alcohol or drugs or both. In Shanghai, China one could go to one of countless opium dens, escape reality with various hallucinogens and enter the imagination world of whatever one’s sexual fantasies were.
A website, www.askmen.com/top sin cities in the world, is one of the many websites that list the top 10 sin cities in the world. That website listed these in 2014:
#10) Berlin, Germany- sadomasochism, one of the most fetish friendly cities in the world, sex dungeons and legal prostitution.
#9) Macau, China- surpassed Las Vegas, Nevada double for gambling revenue and prostitution is legal.
#8) Manama, Middle East, connected to Saudi Arabia by a causeway- drinking, clubbing, mingle with the opposite sex and illegal but widely available prostitution.
#7) New Orleans, Louisiana, USA- strip clubs, porn shops, bars, illegal but, police look the other way, prostitution and drugs.
#6) Moscow, Russia- every kind of nightclub, strip clubs, prostitution is illegal but one can find prostitutes out in the open at Tochkas (outdoor markets for prostitution) or at the city’s clubs, The Hungry Duck bar features male strippers and vodka is the preferred hallucinogen.
#5) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil- pick any beach to see topless women and legal brothels with a menu of services.
#4) Las Vegas, Nevada, USA- gambling, advertised prostitution, sex shows and strip clubs.
#3) Amsterdam, The Netherlands- cannabis cafes to buy hash and marijuana, live sex shows performing sex acts and prostitutes on display for choosing– all legal.
#2) Tijuana, Mexico- 18 year old drinking age, legal prostitution, strip clubs with hands on policy and abundant prescription and illegal drugs.
#1) Pattaya, Thailand- massage parlors, brothels, bars and cabarets with transsexuals and any variation of sex imaginable is available.
Upon further investigation of these cities and the nations in which they are located it is easily discovered that, just like the rest of the world, they have, either hidden or above ground, gambling, thriving alternative sexual lifestyle and drug cultures. SO: (Ex. 22:19; Lev. 18:22-27; Matt. 19:3-12 esp. V.4-5; Rom. 1:24-28; 1Cor. 6:9-10 & Gal. 5:19-21) God has His own ideas about what constitutes (Matt. 7:17-20; Eph. 4:22; & Rev. 19:2 keyword in all: corrupt) corrupt sex.
(Eccl. 1:9) “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
(John 5:30 & Rev. 15:3) God is just and His judgments are true. (Eccl. 1:9) There are a limited number of ways to commit the sexual act because there is no new thing under the sun. Why single out the people in the Sodom and Gomorrah area to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire? (Jude 7 keywords: “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities 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“: strange is defined as (other, different, altered).
(Gen. 19:4) The vast majority of people (3 escaped) were committing the altered sexual acts (fornication and going after strange flesh) or at least in agreement with and condoning their corrupt sexual culture. (Luke 11:23) If you condone it you are part of it. Their lifestyle was rapidly spreading and God stopped it so He would not have to destroy the earth early and the time (Mark 13:31-32) He had allotted for the world to exist would play out! And it was our example.
Picture your own nation, city, town or countryside. You and I probably have different local, regional or even national cultures and maybe even different languages or regional slang but we are much the same. What do various people and various groups of people do there in your place in the mornings? “Ho hum, just another day to go about my business.” We take life for granted. You do it, I do it, humanity does it, it is our nature. It was that same way the Canaanite people acted there in Sodom’s plain of Jordan; “Just another day in which I do my thing”.
BACK TO ABRAHAM: (Luke 17:28-36) “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;” (Gen. 19:23-24) The sun had risen and was shining upon the earth. (Deut. 2:14) The brook Zared (to be exuberant in shrubbery, willows) runs into the southern tip of the Dead Sea. The Canaanite man had climbed the gentle slope on the north side of the little valley in which the brook Zared flowed east to west from the foothills that gradually rose northward toward Mount Nebo far to the north. In reality he was no more than 150ft. higher than the valley floor.
He could see the whole of the plain of Jordan. He could see the cities on the plain, nearer where objects were more distinct he could see herders and farmers working, even closer he could see men building a house and he could see smoke from chimneys where some families were preparing a meal.
He shook his head in disgust, he did not care about them, he was angry because he had lost 2 sheep from his flock here yesterday and he was afraid some predator had taken them during the night. He had searched until dark, missed the party in Sodom and had quietly gotten drunk at home alone. He had missed the beautiful young man with whom he was supposed to meet at the sex party last night.
Have you really paid attention to how a rain comes? If you are in flat country like the plain of Jordan you can see the actual grey wall of rain coming from far away. Then a drop or two will hit around you. Gradually these first drops become more and more frequent and finally they become a light sprinkle. The sprinkle increases and increases until the actual rain is drumming down and the front edge of the rain with its raindrop or two may be a mile or two beyond you. In this fashion the rain gradually covers your whole countryside.
(Gen. 19:24 keyword: rained) Some faint sound nagged at the Canaanite man’s senses. He stopped to listen. There was an odd noise, he had never heard an explosion, he looked over his left shoulder and could easily see the mountain where Abraham lived in Hebron. He was grateful Abraham had broken the yoke of oppression the Chaldean kings had suffered upon the Canaanite kingdoms.
Then he laughed; “Abraham is a fool, I worship god Pen-Pen and Abraham cut part of his off. He did the same thing to all the other males in his clan too. That old fool must not know it deadens sexual sensations when the foreskin is gone?” The young man would never know circumcision is actually a hidden instruction; “Obedience to God is more important than sex”.
Then he looked over his right shoulder and was astonished! He turned all the way around and stood transfixed with his mouth hanging open. On the south western corner of the Jordan valley, on past the city of Zeboim, intermittent streaks of fire were coming out of the sky and exploding (Gen. 13:10) in the rich green farm and pasture land people said was like that fable, the Garden of Eden.
He could not believe what he was seeing as the meteorites streaked out of the sky and exploded upon impact. He did not know these were very small meteorites. He measured distance by how far a man could walk in a day; he did not know there would be a measurement called miles per hour in the far future. He did not know meteorites travel around 18,000 MPH and they release a huge amount of energy when they strike the earth’s surface.
The very faint booms of the sprinkle of faraway explosions had been what had gotten his attention. He knew one thing for sure, one of his gods was angrily hurling fire out of the sky. He would never live to tell people he was wrong about that assumption too, the God who was hurling fire out of the sky was not his God.
He suddenly cried out; “My house, my flock–” and he started running back down the gentle slope. He slid to a stop and milled around uncertainly. The few pieces of fire from the sky were marching resolutely across the plain right toward him but back where they had started the pieces of fire were literally pouring out of the sky and a continuous very faint roar reverberated on his eardrums. The bituminous beds were on fire.
Then he was horrified to see tiny black forms leave their farms and start running toward him. The vagrant thought trickled through his brain that the animals easily outran the humans. The city of Zeboim disappeared in a horrendous roar of flaming projectiles. Individuals in the fleeing population of Zeboim were sometimes hit by the scattered fireballs in the forefront of the firestorm and they simply disappeared. The roaring firestorm was much louder.
He was shocked nearly insensible but another vagrant thought wound its way through his confused thoughts that this firestorm of flaming missiles from the sky behaved just like rain as it came toward him. Admah City was gone and its population vanished before his eyes. The fleeing animals were being disintegrated just like the people. The awful roar hurt his ears. The first scattered fireballs started hitting Gomorrah but that population was fleeing out the side of town toward him and the population of Sodom was also emptying fast.
The explosions pushed a hot wind ahead of them and it smelled like brimstone (burning sulfur). A sudden picture of his beautiful young man appeared in his brain, he took a few steps toward Sodom and stopped, it was hopeless. Despair filled him, then horror overwhelmed him, then he was filled with white hot hatred for the God who would do this to him. Gomorrah was gone in a thunderous roar of exploding fireballs that shook the ground as the firestorm roared toward him.
He was vaguely aware his ears had stopped hurting, he did not know his eardrums had burst and blood was trickling down the sides of his neck. Sodom disappeared and the population was overtaken. He could feel the intense heat, finally, finally his spell was broken, he realized his own danger and, horrified, he turned to flee but a fireball exploded on up the slope ahead of him, the concussion almost knocked him down and the heat instantly burned huge blisters and his exposed skin sloughed off.
He was very strong, he took the shock without falling and he darted back to his left to escape but a horrendous explosion there knocked him down. Horror upon horror filled him as he slowly got to his feet and his last conscious thought; “They seem aimed right at me.” and he staggered forward but the next explosion disintegrated him with a flash of unbearable pain.
Satan, the god of death, the god of this world, had been busy but he was not too busy to ignore this last casualty of the Almighty Lord God’s judgment upon the Sodomites. The young man realized he had not really known real pain or real horror until Satan fastened his brutal, spiritual talons into the young man’s soul, stared savagely into his eyes and took him. Do you believe it? Of course you do not, its fiction. But, just in case, you might want to read (Gen. 19:24) one more time (2Pet. 3:10) and think about it.
(Gen. 19:27-28) That same morning Abraham’s servants could see him outlined against the smoky sky staring off toward the plain of Jordan. They had all heard the awful roar like some terrible storm and they were curious. They started up the slope toward Abraham and some of his 318 actually carried their weapons. Soon they all stood along the crest looking at what had drawn Abraham to that place. They stood open mouthed with wonder.
The cities were gone, the whole plain of Jordan was a dull red bed of glowing, smoking coals like a red hot blacksmith’s furnace. One of the lieutenants of the 318 murmured; “Thank the Lord God Almighty I am circumcised!” and touched himself there. Others echoed him and the mothers looked at their male children with wide open, thankful, tear filled eyes. There in the plain of Jordan they had finally seen something done by the Almighty Lord God and they would never forget what they saw.