There are so many teachings on the 'End Times'. As a part of my studies, I've been researching the different teachings online.
During one of my searches, I came across this reading and found it quite interesting how homosexuality continued beyond Sodom and Gormorrah. This is basically a timeline of homosexuality from the Bible.
I have to be honest, the devil is surely persistent in his attempts to deceive and to destroy the beauty of God's creation...humanity; however he shall never prevail.
Here's the reading:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://daniel11truth.com/end-times-and-gay-marriage.htm
Homosexuality in the Old Testament
The oldest reference I find to homosexuality, in the Bible, is Job 36:14, which mentions “male prostitutes of the shrine”. That would pre-date Abraham by a few generations.
In Abraham’s time, it had become such a problem in Sodom and Gomorrah that God eliminated them.
Gen 19:4-5
All the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old-- surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
Gen 19:24; 27-28
Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. …
Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
Homosexuality was diminished but not eliminated. In the time of the Judges, it had spread to the Benjamites, from Ephraim, because they engaged in a similar activity to Sodom and Gomorrah.
*The man in this story was a Levite, not an angel. Judges 19:22 Some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him." *The Tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out because they would not hand the wicked men over. War ensued and homosexuality was dealt another set-back. After that, Israel became a kingdom and there is no mention of homosexuality during the first three kings. However, during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, the “male shrine prostitutes” had returned to Judah.
1 Kings 14: 22; 24 Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. … There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
Just a few generations later, they were driven out by Kings Asa and Jehoshaphat, the 3rd & 4th kings of Judah (after the split).
1 Kings 15:11-12 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his father had made.
“End Times” and Same Sex Marriage
1 Kings 22:46-47 [Jehoshaphat] rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa.
About 200 years later, the “male shrine prostitutes” had gotten sneaky and moved their operations inside the Temple. When King Josiah ordered that the Temple be cleaned and repaired, they were discovered and expelled.
2 Kings 23:7 [Josiah] also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah.
*Josiah even traveled north to Samaria and destroyed all the idols, including the two calves that Jeroboam had built at Bethel and Dan.
Josiah also killed every priest of Baal that Jehu had not killed. Thus, God exercised His own brand of “cleansing” just before the four-century silence (between the testaments). nation (year legalized)
nation (year legalized)
Homosexuality in the New Testament
The Pharisees had plenty of faults but there’s no indication of any “male shrine prostitutes”. If there had been, I’m sure Jesus would have spoken against them.
But if homosexuality was not present in the immediate region or people traveling from the surrounding areas, then why would Jesus put sinful ideas in their head? He wouldn’t.
Yet, some people use the fact that Jesus did not address homosexuality directly to question Paul’s preaching. The difference is that Paul was writing to large cities such as Rome and Corinth (next to Athens), where homosexuality was present.
In Paul’s opening summary to the Romans, he says that homosexuality was the direct result of man’s worship of idols. That would agree with the Old Testament because male shrine prostitutes were often mentioned in times of idol worship. In the following example, Paul uses at least five adjectives (in bold) and none of them are good.
Rom 1:22-24; 26-27
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. (26) Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Paul gets even more specific when writing to the Corinthians: I Corinthians 6:9-10
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men .
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Conclusion
It’s obvious from the Bible that God never considered homosexuality “okay” so there’s no legitimate reason to think that He would ever change His mind. However, many say He has. Some claim that homosexuality must be “okay” because they were "born" that way. However, scientists from Germany have now discovered that psychopaths are born with something in their brain that gives them a predisposition to murder (left).
Since psychopaths were “born that way”, is it okay for them to kill? In the same way, are kleptomaniacs innocent because they were born with a predisposition to steal? No, they have to resist like everyone else.
In fact, we are all born with a predisposition to sin, in some way, but we resist because it’s the right thing to do and “Heaven” is the reward for obeying God.
The article (left) also points out that people can overcome the inherent urge to violence with the right influences at an early age (< 25).
The same could be said for curbing homosexuality but if society teaches that it’s “okay”, then people will stop resisting. I think that has contributed to the increase in homosexuality during the last couple of decades. I remember when Ellen was shunned, at first, and later accepted like a hero.
There has been a sharp turn-around in a short period of time.
Homosexuals like to compare themselves to the civil rights activists of the 1960’s but skin color and sexual preference have no relation.
Nevertheless, acceptance is growing exponentially and “same sex marriage” is the ultimate sign of approval.
That’s why Jesus referred to “marrying and giving in marriage” when speaking of His return..
---------------------------
End of Article:
During one of my searches, I came across this reading and found it quite interesting how homosexuality continued beyond Sodom and Gormorrah. This is basically a timeline of homosexuality from the Bible.
I have to be honest, the devil is surely persistent in his attempts to deceive and to destroy the beauty of God's creation...humanity; however he shall never prevail.
Here's the reading:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://daniel11truth.com/end-times-and-gay-marriage.htm
Homosexuality in the Old Testament
The oldest reference I find to homosexuality, in the Bible, is Job 36:14, which mentions “male prostitutes of the shrine”. That would pre-date Abraham by a few generations.
In Abraham’s time, it had become such a problem in Sodom and Gomorrah that God eliminated them.
Gen 19:4-5
All the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old-- surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
Gen 19:24; 27-28
Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah--from the LORD out of the heavens. …
Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
Homosexuality was diminished but not eliminated. In the time of the Judges, it had spread to the Benjamites, from Ephraim, because they engaged in a similar activity to Sodom and Gomorrah.
*The man in this story was a Levite, not an angel. Judges 19:22 Some of the wicked men of the city surrounded the house. Pounding on the door, they shouted to the old man who owned the house, "Bring out the man who came to your house so we can have sex with him." *The Tribe of Benjamin was almost wiped out because they would not hand the wicked men over. War ensued and homosexuality was dealt another set-back. After that, Israel became a kingdom and there is no mention of homosexuality during the first three kings. However, during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, the “male shrine prostitutes” had returned to Judah.
1 Kings 14: 22; 24 Judah did evil in the eyes of the LORD. … There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land; the people engaged in all the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
Just a few generations later, they were driven out by Kings Asa and Jehoshaphat, the 3rd & 4th kings of Judah (after the split).
1 Kings 15:11-12 Asa did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done. He expelled the male shrine prostitutes from the land and got rid of all the idols his father had made.
“End Times” and Same Sex Marriage
1 Kings 22:46-47 [Jehoshaphat] rid the land of the rest of the male shrine prostitutes who remained there even after the reign of his father Asa.
About 200 years later, the “male shrine prostitutes” had gotten sneaky and moved their operations inside the Temple. When King Josiah ordered that the Temple be cleaned and repaired, they were discovered and expelled.
2 Kings 23:7 [Josiah] also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes, which were in the temple of the LORD and where women did weaving for Asherah.
*Josiah even traveled north to Samaria and destroyed all the idols, including the two calves that Jeroboam had built at Bethel and Dan.
Josiah also killed every priest of Baal that Jehu had not killed. Thus, God exercised His own brand of “cleansing” just before the four-century silence (between the testaments). nation (year legalized)
nation (year legalized)
Homosexuality in the New Testament
The Pharisees had plenty of faults but there’s no indication of any “male shrine prostitutes”. If there had been, I’m sure Jesus would have spoken against them.
But if homosexuality was not present in the immediate region or people traveling from the surrounding areas, then why would Jesus put sinful ideas in their head? He wouldn’t.
Yet, some people use the fact that Jesus did not address homosexuality directly to question Paul’s preaching. The difference is that Paul was writing to large cities such as Rome and Corinth (next to Athens), where homosexuality was present.
In Paul’s opening summary to the Romans, he says that homosexuality was the direct result of man’s worship of idols. That would agree with the Old Testament because male shrine prostitutes were often mentioned in times of idol worship. In the following example, Paul uses at least five adjectives (in bold) and none of them are good.
Rom 1:22-24; 26-27
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. (26) Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
Paul gets even more specific when writing to the Corinthians: I Corinthians 6:9-10
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men .
10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Conclusion
It’s obvious from the Bible that God never considered homosexuality “okay” so there’s no legitimate reason to think that He would ever change His mind. However, many say He has. Some claim that homosexuality must be “okay” because they were "born" that way. However, scientists from Germany have now discovered that psychopaths are born with something in their brain that gives them a predisposition to murder (left).
Since psychopaths were “born that way”, is it okay for them to kill? In the same way, are kleptomaniacs innocent because they were born with a predisposition to steal? No, they have to resist like everyone else.
In fact, we are all born with a predisposition to sin, in some way, but we resist because it’s the right thing to do and “Heaven” is the reward for obeying God.
The article (left) also points out that people can overcome the inherent urge to violence with the right influences at an early age (< 25).
The same could be said for curbing homosexuality but if society teaches that it’s “okay”, then people will stop resisting. I think that has contributed to the increase in homosexuality during the last couple of decades. I remember when Ellen was shunned, at first, and later accepted like a hero.
There has been a sharp turn-around in a short period of time.
Homosexuals like to compare themselves to the civil rights activists of the 1960’s but skin color and sexual preference have no relation.
Nevertheless, acceptance is growing exponentially and “same sex marriage” is the ultimate sign of approval.
That’s why Jesus referred to “marrying and giving in marriage” when speaking of His return..
---------------------------
End of Article:
