Homosexuality. Boy, oh boy, is that a loaded topic these days. But it shouldn't be. It is clear from the bible that it is a sin, just as greediness, covetousness, lying, or stealing are sins. Jesus came to seek and save the lost from ANY sin, His power and love transcends them all. Any repentant appeal to Jesus will result in deliverance from sins and forgiveness of them, accompanied by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit to resist further sin as a growing Christian.
However, it is also clear from the bible that a society's decline will be parallel to its sexual sins. Morality begins with the body (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Promiscuity, adultery, homosexuality, pedophilia and finally bestiality is a progression that clearly illustrates the sinfulness at root of any culture.
I wrote this week of a situation of rampant and accepted pedophilia reported in Hollywood child acting circles. In that article, I referenced Dr. David Reagan's article on homosexuality being an end times sign. He outlined a progression in the bible of a decline of a culture related to its sexual sins, which in a moment I'll take further, into the end time.
Dr. Reagan wrote: "The description of Noah's society is found in chapter one of Romans. Paul writes that the society was characterized first of all by the rejection of God and the worship of Man (Romans 1:18-25). Because of this stubborn and foolish rejection of their Creator, God "gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity," and there was an outbreak of sexual immorality (Romans 1:24). When they still refused to repent, God "gave them over to degrading passions," and there followed an epidemic of homosexuality in which "women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural" and men likewise "abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another" (Romans 1:26-27). Notice the progression here. Man begins to worship himself, his own knowledge, and cleverness. As Man begins to worship himself, God is set aside, together with His moral laws. The result is an outbreak of sexual immorality. This leads ultimately to an epidemic of homosexuality, one of the final signs of the moral collapse of any society."
I agree with his interpretation of Paul's warnings in Romans. A sign of the soon coming of Jesus is the level of perversion and immorality in the world. How do I know this? Jesus said that the end time will be like the Days of Noah. (Matthew 24:37; Genesis 6:5). Jesus also said that it will be like the Days of Lot. (Luke 17:28). We have this reminder from Peter from 2 Peter 2:6: "he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men..." and Jude 1:7 repeats the same warning: "In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."
The progression is clear. First there is a rejection of God, then immorality, then adultery, then perversion. Because sin never has an end, a bottom, a final disposition, but simply keeps going, perversion will continue to get worse and worse. I'll show you that in a moment. God does not like perversion, and homosexuality is a perversion.
Today I found a page on GotQuestions.org site of the 20 Most Frequently Asked Questions. I think it is interesting that 4 of the 20 are related to sex. They also have a site where the 20 most frequently visited articles are listed. On both lists, the 'frequently asked questions' and 'most visited articles', the question asking if homosexuality is a sin appears on both.
Now, earlier I mentioned the deepening of perversion. Satan can take anything good, like sexual union within marriage, and cheapen and deepen the perversion of it to incredible lengths and depths. Adultery is bad enough. Homosexuality is worse. Pedophilia is a scourge that barely bears thinking on. So what does it say when our American culture repeals the law against sodomy in the military, AND at the same time legalizes bestiality? It happened this week.
"The White House is dodging questions about why a Senate defense authorization bill not only quietly overturned sanctions on sodomy between consenting adults (so as to allow gays to serve openly) but also dropped another provision in the U.S. military's criminal code: prohibitions against bestiality among military personnel."
Of course, the implications of homosexuality's damage to individuals within our culture isn't a problem for organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but PETA is "Bugged over Bestiality". After all, a camel can't give consent like a gay man could.
I truly do not like writing about unsavory topics like earlier this week of the Hollywood pedophilia or today over the bestiality brouhaha. But I feel it is important to remember the warnings from Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Jude about the progression of sexual sin and what it reflects about a culture ... and what that reflection means in terms of imminent judgment.
"Family Research Council President Tony Perkins told CNSNews.com that the move is "all about using the military to advance this administration's radical social agenda." As Genesis 6:5-8 and Gen 6:11-12 shows us it doesn't matter who is promoting a radical agenda, if it is contrary to God's word and it is saturated far enough into the culture and the hearts of men, God will put a stop to it.
Now, the saturation of perversion into society hasn't reached its full expression. It feels like it to mature Christians when we read things in today's news like this, but it hasn't. After the rapture the Holy Spirit will be removed from His restraining ministry (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8) and sin will reach its fullest expression. (Daniel 9:24). At that time, people won't just be reading about it in newspapers. They will be seeing it on the street.
His longsuffering and patience is so beyond our capability to understand it! The Lord is holy most of all, and He will see to it that the ungodly are judged, but even at that, He waits...waits... waits for those whom He has elected to come to repentance, even tolerating the most base and disgusting sin for a time. We serve an amazing God.
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment