| Subject: Sister Sodom |
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Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 20:09:22 04/03/14 Thu
Ezekiel 16:49-50 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
Ezekiel has been given a prophecy to bring to the ears of those in Jerusalem and it is a sober warning of their coming judgment. God uses Sodom for His comparison and calls the city of Sodom, Jerusalem's sister. God shows Israel all he saw wrong in Sodom and tells them in no uncertain terms their sins have exceeded even Sodom's.
While the prophecy is aimed at Israel and especially Jerusalem, where all the the religious rulers were, it stands as a warning to all who would follow in Sodom's footsteps.
As we see pride as the first sin mentioned we should look at ourselves and our nation and ask ourselves if we are prideful and is our nation full of false pride. God hates pride and will bring individuals and nations down for the sin of pride. Proverbs 16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Pride glorifies self and has no room for humility. There is no chance of salvation until a man humbles himself before God. Daniel 4:30-33 The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? 31 While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 32 And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will. 33 The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.
The second thing mentioned is "fulness of bread". Abundance of food and things causes man to forget that he needs God. The more wealth the less need to cry out to God for needs. Many has been the wealthy man who was brought to poverty because of misuse of his wealth. This was a major flaw in the life of the rich farmer in Luke 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. God had other ideas for this wealthy but foolish man. Luke 12:20-21 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
"Abundance of idleness" is next in the list. Laziness, slothfulness are two descriptive words we are familiar with. "Couch Potato" is also a common term. A good indication as to how lazy we have become as a nation we need only to look at figures from the U.S. Census Survey of Income and Program Participation of 2011. It lists the number at 108,000,000 people receiving some sort of govt. handout. Social Security and Medicare are not listed while Medicaid is. This is roughly 1/3 of the population. If you add Social Security and Medicare you will have roughly half of the population of the U.S. being supported by those still working. We are nation that has an "abundance of idleness". One of the statements most often made to excuse illegal immigration is that they just come here to do the jobs Americans won't do. There may be some truth to that but if you take away a totally healthy persons welfare and food stamps you might see quite a change in that individual who won't work. 2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
"Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." This one comes in fourth in the list. Compassion and charity are godly attributes. When it is lacking in a society you can mark it down that society is on it's way down. America has been a nation that has reached out to her own as well as other nations. Greed and selfishness were not greatly manifest among her citizens. I am afraid as more and more people turn to the government for their sustenance you will see compassion and charity decrease accordingly. I would venture to say we are already seeing this as we read about charitable contributions decreasing across the board. May God's people never be found guilty of this. Give when there is truly a need but beware of those who would line their own pockets under the guise of collecting and then distributing to the needy.
Fifth is haughty. From Webster's 1828 Dictionary: "Proud and disdainful; having a high opinion of one's self, with some contempt for others; lofty and arrogant; supercilious." In individuals or countries it is the trait that says "the world revolves around me". It is very dangerous to have this attitude. This is the mark of sinful pride and God hates it and will bring down the individual, group of people or nation that persists in this attitude. We currently have a president that is the epitome of this condition.
They "Committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good." Sixth and last in the list but the most despicable in the sight of God. Abomination in the Bible can be several things but it should not be lost on us that the subject here is the "sister" city to Jerusalem spiritually. The major sin of Sodom was homosexuality. Read the story in Genesis and you will see it was accompanied by great violence. God warned from the beginning it would not be tolerated and the penalty was death. Every nation that has come under the spell of this wickedness has been brought low. I strongly believe one of the main reasons for the flood was the sexual perversion that had reached extreme levels. In Genesis 6:12 God said "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth." This corruption included bestiality. When God gave commandment against it He said in Leviticus 18:22-26 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. 23 Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. 24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. 26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: (see also Lev. 20:13, Gen. 19:5, Judges 19:22, 1 Kings 14:24, Rom. 1:26-7, 1 Cor. 6:9, 1 Tim. 1:10, Jude 1:7 ) I would hope you would read all these references along with the context they are given in and you will see what God thinks about these very great abominations.
I think it would also be safe to say that God would set abortion on demand and as a means of birth control as an abomination. With the abominations committed in this nation at this hour in our history I would venture to say that America is in very deep trouble with God. If you read the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah you will see that God promised to spare the cities if only 10 righteous people were found in the city. (Gen. 18:26-32) Also in Genesis 19:22 it is written that the destroying angel could not do any thing to Sodom and Gomorrah until Lot and his family were out of harms way. At this moment I believe that the true Christians are the only thing standing between the world and God's wrath being poured out just as Lot was when Sodom was destroyed.. When God takes the Church out then judgment will fall. I think it will be soon.
Compare the U.S. with the six things in the verses in Ezekiel. Where do you think we stand?
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