On the issue of stem cell usage

I remember when the issue of stem cell research  first came to public attention around 1998. I was living in Scotland then and followed debates on the issue. There are indeed just causes for people to be concerned about stem cell usage. Some of them are of an ethical and moral nature.  While I myself see  the value of the use of stem cells in treating diseases such as Parkinson’s, I share many of the concerns surrounding their usage and acquisition.

Late in 2006, I met Chief Prince  Michael and we had a vigorous discussion about stem cell usage. Well, at least, I did. He listened to me quite calmly then said that stem cells could be used to treat fourth degree burns. I could see that.

Until then.

God’s economic stimulus package

I awoke about 1 am thereabouts on Tuesday January 20th and heard the words, “God’s economic stimulus package”. I immediately responded with my viewpoint. Instead, I heard, “bang the bottom of the barrel”.   I answered, “who is this?” and heard the reply, “Gabriel the LORD”.

I drew a barrel in the air above me and started to bang the sides, but heard, “you have to turn it upside down”. I immediately did so and started to bang the bottom. I asked for the meaning of the statement, but heard instead, “I will tell you later”.

I went back to sleep and awoke at about 4.05 am to hear the words, “keep giving”. 
The miracle of the barrel is found in 1 Kings 17. Here is a link

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Ki&c=17&v=1&t=KJV

A tale of two sodomites

This is a rather strange topic, but one on which I was instructed to write. Many years ago, a certain political administration was deposed because of a prominent sodomite. God tole me He would do this to them. Another one was found dead. The young man who killed him  entered the court room holding a bible in his hand.  I am in no way justifying the murder of any individual, but was this divine justice?

Whether or not you want to believe the scriptures, they say that righteousness exalts a nation and sin brings a reproach to any people. Which would you choose?

Blessings and have a great day!

An inside peek at God’s reaction to Sodom and Gomorrah

On December 6th, 2008 at 6.10 p.m, I was sitting in a fast food joint when the Lord spoke to me about Sodom and Gomorrah. This is what I heard:

The two members of the God family entered the city, saying, “come and get it”. Sheesh! Lot interrupted the plan. Ok! Let’s make their iniquity full. The men of the city bombard the house, demanding the “right” to   rape innocent victims. The God family fumed inwardly and waited to see what Lot would do.

Lot was in imminent danger because he defended them, so they blinded the men of the city. They could not wait until morning to get Lot out and wipe out the city. They told me that the men of the city needed to feel some pain so they rained fire and hot stones down on them like they did to Joshua’s enemies.  They left no trace of them forever. No one wants to visit a ruins of  saltpits and nettles (Yuk).

The God family held their  peace  on the matter. They did not even say a word to Abraham, but told Moses, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Isaiah and Amos, their good friends.

That made me wonder why Jericho and Ai were totally destroyed. Were they also sodomites?
Blessings and have a great day

The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not inhospitality

I recently tried to search for historical information on Sodom and Gomorrah and discovered a host of sites which claimed that its sin was not homosexuality but was related to inhospitality, pride, lack of humanity to the poor to name a few. However, inhospitality was not the issue that faced the two members of the God family who actually entered the city to investigate its condition. First, they had planned to spend the night in the streets because obviously they had wanted an open confrontation with the wicked men of the city. Secondly, the claims that inhospitality was the major issue must be dismissed because Lot sat in the gates waiting to house unwary strangers who would enter the city. No one in his right mind would enter the gates of that city, once they knew its reputation.

This truth just dropped into my spirit. We can accuse Adam and Eve of being inhospitable when they hid from God as He came to visit them in the garden of Eden. However, they fell from grace, not because they hid, but because they had disobeyed. There is no such thing as a greater or lesser sin, really, but we would be blind to overlook the fact the discourse of Genesis 19: 1-9 points to an attempted rape. This was obviously a customary thing for the men of the city of Sodom. Any one housing a male guest knew that his own safety was at risk if he did not comply with the threats.

By the way, can you imagine the anger and the wrath that the two members of the God family experienced in the debacle of Genesis 19? How would you have responded if placed in this kind of situation? They did not share their thoughts on the matter except to blind the men of the city and to tell Lot that the city would be destroyed.

God later used several biblical writers to report on Sodom and Gomorrah. We then further discover His thoughts on the matter:

• Apostle Moses said that these cities were overthrown in God’s anger and wrath (Deut 29: 33; Isa 13: 9; Jer 49: 18; 50: 40; Amos 4: 11).
• Moses also said that the sin of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah was widespread and produced fruit that was venemous and bitter (Deut 32: 32). This is not a community of gay people, but venemous and bitter ones.
• Prophet Isaiah said that the people were shameless and did not hide their sin, even to God (Isa 3:9).
• God called them liars, evildoers and reprobate (Jer 23: 14)
• God made the cities a place of perpetual desolation where no one would dwell forever, much like the city of Jericho (Jer 49: 18; 50: 40). The remains became  “the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation” (Zeph 2: 9):
• God was so angry with the sin of the city that He overthrew it “… in a moment, and no hands stayed on her” (Lam 4: 6). The NIV interprets this so we understand that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were  ” … overthrown in a moment without a hand turned to help her”. This reminds me of the destruction of the Tsunami in Indonesia – quick, sudden and disastrous.
• Prophet Ezekiel said in 16: 49 – “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy”. Left in isolation, this verse seems to imply that the sin was one of pride and wealth. However, Prophet Ezekiel continued in 16: 50 with the words – “And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw [good].
• What was the abomination that the people committed right in the face of the Lord? The Hebrew word shows that it was a disgusting act, the wickedness that we first read about in Genesis 13. It was not an act of inhospitality, because they were safely housed in Lot’s house. Genesis 19: 1-9 clearly shows the abomination.

This is a long post, so I will end here. Next time, I will share the New Testament writings on the sin Sodom and Gomorrah. Blessings and have a great day!

The nature of the spirit of homosexuality

Biblical accounts clearly show that the sin of homosexuality is associated with:

• great sorrow to the degree that it causes a cry in the earth. I will not discuss any real life events, but can you picture the “intended rape” of the two members of the God family by a large community of men?   This is a merciless and heartless spirit that will take what it wants without remorse or consideration for the rights of others. If these were humans, they would have been mauled and eventually would have died in the onslaught.
•  it is a perverse spirit. Genesis 19 shows that Lot pleaded with the men of the city to spare the men and to take his virgin daughters. These men were so depraved that they threatened to  rape Lot after they had finished with the men. Paul describes them aptly in Romans 1.
• It is a spirit of terror. In the events of Gen 19, we see threats issued that will strike fear into any heart. The men of Sodom intended to do harm to strangers who had entered their city.
• It is a spirit of blindness. The men of the city were so disrespectful to other humans that they did not even recognize the presence of the Creator. This is why they were struck with literal blindness. They brought eternal and sure damnation upon themselves as a result of their sins

Next posts – other biblical  writers on the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah show that their sin was sexual and not just a disregard for hospitality as some writers claim. Blessings

God devoted four chapters to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah

The Lord pointed out to me that more than one chapter was devoted to the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. There is a clear progression in scriptures, beginning in Gen 13: 10-13. The cities were wealthy, well watered and prosperous. However, there was a great stain – the men were described as  “wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly” (Gen 13: 13).  No mention was made about their sin, sin God was trying in a figurative sense to cover our eyes and to arouse our curiosity. However, we meet the cities again in Genesis 14.

Genesis 14 clearly revealed God’s disdain for the people of Sodom and this is reflected in His attitude to the king of Sodom. The Lord’s disdain and disgust are reflected in the instruction that He gave to Abraham:

“…I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, That I will not [take] from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that [is] thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich” (Gen 14: 22, 23).

It is instructive to hear the direct words of the Lord God on Sodom and Gomorrah:

“And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous. I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know” (Gen 18: 20,21).

The sin of homosexuality is a great one and very grievous to God, causing a cry in the earth from those who become its victims. Do you remember that God told Cain that the blood of his brother cried out from the earth?

Do you realize that God spoke in Gen 18: 20, 21 as if He did not know what was the nature of the sin? He was going down personally to investigate, in order to give them the benefit of the doubt and a chance, perhaps, to repent. We know, however, through the discussion with Abraham, that the members of the God family knew that they would not find even ten righteous persons living in the city.

Listen to the words spoken by the God family to Lot after their personal encounter with the men of the city - For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it (Gen 19: 13). This time, there was no forgiveness, because this was no longer the cry of the city rising to heaven, but sin committed directly in God’s face.

Next time, I will write about the spirit of Sodom and Gomorrah. Have a blessed day!

God could not wait to destroy Sodom

This is seen in Genesis 20. the two members of the God family who went to investigate the state of the city really had planned to execute the plan that very night. They had planned to spend the night in the streets but changed those plans because of  Lot who pressed them to enter his house for the night. He knew the kind of treatment that unwary strangers received from the men of the city:

And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing [them] rose up to meet them;

And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.d he bowed himself with his face toward the ground;

And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

But before they lay down, the men of the city, [even] the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarterAnd they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where [are] the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.

This is an outrageous event. Is it a scene from some modern day event? God surely demonstrated His hatred for this kind of lifestyle.

I tried to imagine the scene that could have ensued if the two members of the God family had stayed in the streets that night. The men of Sodom would have  attempted rape and they would have been destroyed maybe by some kind of plague. As it was, God spared us from seeing the extremes to which reprobate men would go to fulfill their lusts.

May God help us to walk in the paths of righteousness.

God used Abraham to warn the King of Sodom

This is found in Genesis 14 after Abraham returned from the battle in which he rescued Lot who had been taken captive by the Kings who overthrew the cities of the plain. He had not only rescued Lot, but the people taken captive from the city, as well as the spoils of the battle.

Jesus appeared to him and made him swear that he would not take anything from the King of Sodom (Gen 14:18-23):

And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that [were] with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which [is] the king’s dale.

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he [was] the priest of the most high God

And he blessed him, and said, Blessed [be] Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth.

And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

That I will not [take] from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that [is] thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:

If you read between the lines, you would realize that the Lord forestalled the King of Sodom by speaking to Abraham about the king’s intention to give him the spoils of the battle in exchange for the people. Abraham’s response also showed that the Lord had also instructed him how to respond.

Abraham spoke  disdainfully  to the king, telling him that he and his possessions were nothing in comparison to his allegiance to the Most High God who owed the heavens and the earth. The disdain of the Lord and of His designate in the earth is also reflected in the words, “ I will not [take] from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that [is] thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:” 

 It seems that the Lord is being ridiculous or maybe even ironic in making the point that His servant would not be allowed to take items as minuscule as a thread or a shoe lace, because the king of Sodom was a braggart who would brazenly claim that he had made Abraham rich. The Lord’s hatred for all the things of Sodom was therefore clearly transmitted to the King.

Did the king know about the existence of God? The text seems to imply this is the case. Moreover, God’s values were transmitted in the text.

Well, have a great day and God bless.

God dispersed the people of Sodom (Genesis 14)

The dispersion of Sodom is found in the sometimes overlooked account found in Genesis 14. I showed previously that God had alerted us about the nations of the plains, which included Sodom, by telling us that they were exceedingly wicked sinners in His eyes.

I do not have time to fully give the details of Genesis 14, but God planned the dispersion to eradicate their sin from the region and from their lives. Biblical experiences show that a dispersed people lose their cultural identity since they have to learn the ways of their captors and may be even scattered from each other.

Next time I will show you that the King of Sodom was warned directly by Abraham about his sin. You will find this in Genesis 14. Blessings and have a great day!