Gates of the City

That’s what God’s word tells us.  But many today aren’t “fleeing” from it, rather for all intents and purposes, the masses are contrarily running madly towards it. For some insane reason people are literally eager to expose and open themselves up to anything and everything sexual, no matter how deviant or abnormal, as if somehow it is going to be the answer to their loneliness, or boredom, or their oppressive sense of rejection and insignificance. It has become so maddening that even some who only call themselves friends are frequently engaging in sexual relations, and some will often make or accept challenges to do the most profane things with as many partners they can, only to see if they can outdo others. This is not only societal madness; this is literally as close as a society can get to committing mass suicide. Yes, you read it right, mass suicide.

But wait you say, that’s not me, I’m not just playing games or sleeping around.  I’m truly attracted to  and interested in the people I sleep with, and I’m looking for a possible life partner, a true soulmate. Well, if that is what you think, you’re going about it completely wrong and will never truly find what you think you want.

Proverbs 18:22 – Whosoever finds a [godly] wife, finds a good thing, and obtains favour of the LORD.

Proverbs 19:14 – Houses and riches are the inheritance of fathers, and a godly wife is from the LORD.

Proverbs 31:10 – Who can find a woman of virtue? For her value is far above rubies. 11 The heart of her husband trusts safely in her.

Maybe it is all simply because the churches have failed to rightly teach God’s word that people are just ignorant, or perhaps they are willfully ignorant, or possibly just insecure, having grown up in such a time in the midst of a self-centered generation where almost everyone seems infatuated with seeking their own gratification, possessing little or no concern of the expense of whoever or whatever. The awareness almost no longer shocks some people that there are people out there who are literally drugging their supposed “dates” and then raping them, as well as allowing others to rape them as well.

These human beasts are literally doing this openly amongst their select group of perverted friends in a celebratory fashion. Packs of humanity, who outwardly look like everyone else, are regularly behaving like wild animals actively preying on others, and we’re not even off the subject of “straight sex!”

There are others who seem far above all this, people in positions with significant power and authority, who are in ministry, big business, law enforcement, or government, who have meticulously sought to establish themselves as decent and respectable in the community. However, the truth is they are so slavishly engrossed in their own sexual decadence that they cannot but run to every opportunity of self-gratification, regardless of the risk to their families and careers. They place everything at risk, all for a brief moment of unrestrained indulgence that only promises to send their world crashing once they are exposed.

Nonetheless, even though we continually witness the damage and shame brought to society, families, and individuals everywhere, all this continues everywhere 24 hours a day and people are behaving none the wiser. It seems even when they have been openly exposed, people have no shame, and that these are truly the days that God said “they  could not blush.”

Jeremiah 6:15 – “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor could they blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall, for at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down,” says the LORD. 16  So says the LORD, “Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it, and there you shall find rest for your souls.” But they said, “We will not walk in it.”

So, I ask, do you really think these people started off this enslaved and wicked? Or were they people just like you who simply experimented or yielded to temptation and their desires. If this is touching you, then please listen, because God’s word reasons with us and ask as plainly as it can, “Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk upon hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes into his neighbor’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.” Man cannot indulge in sexual sins and not do serious harm to his own self, physically (STD’s), emotionally and spiritually.

It is alarming to see just how many people, from religious leaders to politicians, close friends, and family members, who thoughtlessly allow their lives to be engulfed by this sin and have their whole family brutally impacted, if not completely destroyed by the certain consequences which always follow. Lives are regularly being forever changed, marriages broken, opportunities lost, and regrets abounding that will be carried to the grave.

Just look at the undeniable damage to society, the incredible unwed mother rate in America, four out of ten children born out of wedlock, up to 72% in some ethnic groups, the staggering growing fifty million-plus aborted lives of innocence all sacrificed on the altars of self-worship, personal convenience and self-gratification. When a society gets to this place of openly rejecting the sanctity of their own bodies, of marriage and human life, blatant worship of the creature instead of their Creator, how can a holy and just God allow such abounding wickedness to continue unpunished? Where is the terror of the Lord? How is it there is no fear? Do they really think God does not see? Oh, He does . . . God does see.

The word of God tells us to “Flee!” That means we are to recognize sexual immorality and fornication as a strong enemy that cannot be successfully engaged or defeated by any other means than removing ourselves from temptation’s seductive poison as fast as possible before it defiles our hearts and minds. We must flee before we stupidly believe the lie that we can eat and will not die, lest we imprudently sell ourselves to it as slaves unto death.

America’s morality has fallen so far from virtue and godliness that there appears to be no escaping the voracious nature of sexual immorality today. For if you desire to be celibate, you are then stalked as a prize waiting to be conquered, and seized upon, and then having been morally misused, are then casually discarded as longer desirable. How do people fail to see the devilish scheme to defile the pure and bring shame to the innocent? How is it that people are so blind and unaware of the tragedies that sexual sins are sure to bring into their lives, as well as damage the generations to come?

Perhaps, it is all because it has become so normal and acceptable to reject God and deny Him any place in our homes, schools, courthouses, and personal lives.  Yet even the few who will sheepishly acknowledge a God, often do so only in the most dismissing fashion, as if God is only a concept, or one who really doesn’t hear or actually care. But nothing could be further from the truth.

We have made two major blunders in our families and society. First, we have either forgotten or rejected that we were created in the image of God. Secondly, if and when society acknowledges there is a God, they perceive such a “god” to be like unto their own selves. People, friends, children, please hear me out, God created us in His own image for His own purpose and glory. God cares about us and we exist primarily for fellowship with Him, and not only for fellowship, but also for a glorious union whereby God intended to indwell us with His Spirit, uniting His with our very own.

It seems the entire world is like a drunkard running madly towards sexual immorality as if it were the answer to that void deep within every person, a void which will never be filled by any other than the One who customized its creation for His own indwelling. This is every member of humanity’s purpose for existing, your purpose for existing. How often the cry is heard, “What is my purpose, why am I here?” People, God is not like us, He cannot and will not ignore such sin nor excuse it.

God created us in His own image, but have you ever really tried to wrap your mind around that, or to understand it, “us” in His own image? We must diligently cry out to God if we are to have any hope of laying hold of this glorious truth, and give it opportunity to divinely transform us. You must lay hold of this truth if you wish to truly know God. Because your being made in that “image” transcends having a head, a torso, two arms and two legs; it is your having a soul and an eternal spirit needing to be recreated in holiness as well. For God created man in His own image so that we could have all the means whereby we could be reflections of His glory and understand God’s heart and desire for His people, including the great affection where with He loves us, and oh yes, yes, how He loves us.

God made Adam to be a righteous and holy being, but God also revealed it wasn’t good that man should be alone, so God created woman from the man, for the man. This infinite wisdom and royal design of God for man and woman was flawless for the woman was made the perfect mate for man, so much so that man could literally come into her and impart his seed and miraculously bring forth more life.  This is why men are told to love their wives as Christ loved the Church and women to honor and submit to their husbands.

The design of humanity, as male and female, was created such that as complementing genders capable of intimate union, so that in a proper and righteous relationship with their counterpart, together could adorn the doctrine of God our Savior, that man was created in the image of God to be the glory of God. Likewise, woman was created from substance taken from man, and made to be the glory of the man.

1 Corinthians 11:7 – For this reason a man should not cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but woman is the glory of man. 8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man. 9 Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.

Titus 2:1-5, 10 – But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine so that the older men might be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience. Likewise, the older women, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, so that they may admonish the young women to also love their husbands, to love their children, and to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. …Not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

It is only when a man and woman are in the holy covenant relationship of marriage with each other that we can see that blessed type whereby we can truly see that blessed relationship God desires, as well as mutually experience the uniqueness of His covenant love. For only in the covenant of holy marriage can we grasp the depth of intimacy God intended through His Son coming to us, and in us, and so imparting His Holy Seed of Life in us (Christ in us), that we can be divinely empowered to live the very life He earnestly desires all to have through Him and with Him, life full of joy and peace.

Ephesians 5:22 – Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought husbands to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church. 30 For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. 31 “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

It is here in marriage where we uncover and begin to see with illuminated clarity the great love wherewith God so loved the world and the very reason He sent the promised Son, who humbly came down and clothed Himself in the frailty of our humanity with the intention that He would free from sin all those of fallen humanity who  would receive a love in this truth and rejoice in Him. It is also here where we discover the severity for His wrath in rejecting Him, through the choosing of darkness over light, and sin over righteousness.

2 Thess. 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; Because They Received Not the Love of The Truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie, 12 and that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Jesus Christ willingly shed His redemptive blood to satisfy the unrelenting demand of death that our sins brought against us by providing the only acceptable, pure, and holy blood atonement whereby He alone can wash the guiltiest of sinners clean. All this wonderful and necessary atoning and cleansing work of Calvary’s cross was planned in heaven from eternity’s past and executed here on earth through Christ, so the Spirit of the Holy One can come in us and dwell in these fleshly temples made clean again by God alone.

So, look again at God’s word for you,

Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God. (1 Cor. 6:18-20)

Take heed, for to thoughtlessly give oneself to sexual immorality is not only to sin against God, but against yourself as well. For our bodies were intended to be temples for God’s Spirit, as a place for His dwelling in united harmony with our own spirits. This is why Jesus paid the price of your redemption, so that you can be forgiven, washed clean, indwelt, and thereby empowered to be godly, holy and glorifying to God “in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

Please, for the love of God, because of the mercy He is desiring to show unto the repentant, because of the many exceedingly wonderful and great promises He has for those who will come to Him and diligently seek Him, please, please, flee sexual immorality and run to God. All who seek will find and all who call upon Him will He answer . . . while there is still time, turn away from sin and come back to your Father who loves you.

May you find His peace.

That’s what God’s word tells us.  But many today aren’t “fleeing” from it, rather they for all intents and purposes are running madly to it and embracing all sorts of sexual perversion. Nowadays, for some insane reason people are literally racing to expose and open themselves up to anything and everything sexual, as if somehow it is going to be the answer to their loneliness or boredom or their oppressive sense of rejection and insignificance. It has become so maddening that even so-called “friends” now frequently engage in sexual immorality and openly make and accept challenges to do the most profane things with as many partners to see who can outperform the other. This is not only madness; this is as close as a society can get to mass suicide. Yes, you read it right, mass suicide.

Perhaps it is because people are just so willfully ignorant of God’s word, or maybe so insecure after having grown up in such a self-centered generation. It seems almost everyone is infatuated with seeking their own gratification regardless the expense of whoever and/or whatever. The thought of it almost no longer shocks some people that there are those who are literally drugging their supposed “dates” and raping them and then allowing others to rape them as well. These human beasts are literally doing this openly among their select group of perverted friends in a celebratory fashion. Packs of humanity who outwardly look like everyone else yet actively prey sexually upon others, and we’re not even off the subject of “straight sex!” All the while there are others in more acceptable positions that have established themselves as “respectable” in the community that are literally so slavishly engrossed in their own sexual decadence that they cannot stop themselves from running into every opportunity of fornication, regardless the risk to their families and careers. All for a brief moment of unbridled indulgence that promises nothing more than to send their world crashing to the ground all around them while the whole world sees and continues to be none the wiser. Do you really think these people started off this enslaved and wicked?

If this is touching you then please listen, God’s word tells us as plainly as it can, “Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk upon hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.” Man cannot indulge in sexual sins and not do serious harm to his own self, physically (STD’s), emotionally and spiritually.

(more…)

That’s what God’s word tells us.  But many today aren’t “fleeing” from it, rather they are for all intents and purposes running madly to it. For some insane reason people are literally racing to expose and open themselves up to everything and anything sexual, as if somehow it is going to be the answer to their loneliness or boredom or their oppressive sense of rejection and insignificance. It has become so maddening that even some so called friends frequently engage in sexual immorality and openly make and accept challenges to do the most profane things with as many partners to see who can outperform the other. This is not only madness; this is as close as a society can get to mass suicide. Yes, you read it right, mass suicide.

Perhaps it is because people are just so willfully ignorant of God’s word or so insecure having grown up in such a self-centered generation where almost everyone seems infatuated with seeking their own gratification at the expense of whoever and/or whatever. The thought of it almost no longer shocks some people that there are those who are literally drugging their supposed “dates” and then raping them and then allowing others to rape them as well. These human beasts are literally doing this openly amongst their select group of perverted friends in a celebratory fashion. Packs of humanity who outwardly look like everyone else while actively preying sexually on others, and we’re not even off the subject of “straight sex!” All the while there are others in more acceptable positions that have established themselves as “respectable” in the community who are so slavishly engrossed in their own sexual decadence that they cannot but run to every opportunity of fornication regardless the risk to their families and careers . . . all for a moment of unbridled indulgence that promises only to send their world crashing to the ground all around them while the whole world sees and continues to be none the wiser. Do you really think these people started off this enslaved and wicked?

If this is touching you then please listen, God’s word tells us as plainly as it can, “Can a man carry fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Or can one walk upon hot coals and his feet not be scorched? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; none who touches her will go unpunished.” Man cannot indulge in sexual sins and not do serious harm to his own self, physically (STD’s), emotionally and spiritually.

(more…)