05/07/2024
WHEN THE CHURCH SOUNDS LIKE S***M
Genesis 19:9-11 NKJV] 9 And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to stay [here], and HE KEEPS ACTING AS A JUDGE; (Emphasis added) now we will deal worse with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. 10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck the men who [were] at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary [trying] to find the door.
The mantra that has been crammed down our throats is to not be judgmental. S***m said, “He keeps acting as a judge.” To speak out with conviction about anything nowadays is called being judgmental. Even my facial reaction to something was called judgmental recently. When I was reading this passage today It was like a NEON LIGHT flashing and jumping off the page.
Lot was not going to allow the men of S***m to so****ze some angels who had come to be his guests. In the verses just prior to this Lot had even offered for them to have his virgin daughters. That makes me sick. Lot had been in S***m long enough to lose his moral compass and get to a place where he feared the men of S***m, more than he feared God. There was at least enough of the fear of God in him to have some boundary worth fighting for. He seemed to have enough fear of God and character to want to protect the angels.
The people of S***m considered judging to be a transgression, punishable offense that would require violent sexual violation. Can you see how twisted this is? Their punishment was to do to Lot the very thing they felt judged about. The thing they loved and wanted to hold onto was also a form of torture to be done to others. I have heard the stories of an untold number who share about their violation and sexual abuse. Men and women and none of them, even those who became perpetrators remember the first time fondly.
I knew that the kind of sin so pervasive in S***m existed before but now it has so rapidly become mainstream and the church sounds like Lot. Afraid to be considered judgmental, losing her moral compass and conforming to the standards of the world. She stands out just enough to feel ok about herself, but so far from the truth and so far from making an impact.
The battle against the crime of being judgmental was intensifying. The men of S***m decided to break down the door to Lots house because of how judgmental he was.
THE ANGELS
Nowadays many “believers” would judge the angels. How could they have struck these men with blindness? That is mean and cruel. God is not like that. He does not judge or do harsh things to people. The blindness served a purpose. These men were going to break down the doors and so****ze lot and his daughters and the angels if they could. God love even the morally wayward lot enough to rescue him from this horrific, criminal, violation. The angels, sent by God, on His assignment were rescuing Lot and his family from an even worse fate that this morally depraved city was about to suffer, righteously.
Lord, forgive us for sounding more like Lot and S***m and not walking in the fullness of our authority like the angels did. Help us to judge rightly and not be afraid to be judged, even by those who are sounding like S***m.
