Sodom in Prophecy

Sodom in Prophecy
By Stephen Flurry
August 13, 2010 | From theTrumpet.com
The debate over same-sex “marriage” is merely a symptom of a society that has already cast off moral restraint.

Those who defend same-sex “marriage” often argue that whether homosexuals marry or not has absolutely no impact on traditional families—that is, the rest of society. But they miss the point—as do most opponents of same-sex “marriage”: The homosexual cause has already impacted our society. A debate over homosexual “marriage” would only be possible in a society that has already cast off moral restraint.

The reality is, as I wrote last week, that same-sex “marriage” is even being debated perfectly illustrates how steep our slide into deviant behavior has been. And it’s only getting worse. Ten years ago, for example, 62 percent of Californians were against same-sex “marriage.” Two years ago, with the passage of Proposition 8, it was 52 percent.

Where will we be 10 years from now?

And remember—whether homosexuality is or is not morally right is not up for debate. That matter has already been mostly settled, with a host of laws prohibiting anything that might be construed as discrimination against homosexuals.

Fact is, while “conservative” media pour scorn on Judge Vaughn Walker for his ruling to overturn California’s ban on same-sex unions—for being anti-democratic, anti-intellectual, anti-law, anti-tradition—they are often very quick to defend the rights of homosexuals in general. The horse has long bolted.

When society turns into Sodom and Gomorrah, ultimately, it does impact everyone. A biblical example is instructive in this area.

Ancient Sodom

The word sodomy is derived from a Latin phrase meaning the “sin of Sodom,” which is vividly discussed, as most people know, in the biblical book of Genesis. Ancient Sodom, like its neighboring city Gomorrah, was well-known for its widespread practice and acceptance of homosexuality. Jude 7 says that besides going after “strange flesh,” the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were “giving themselves over to fornication.” Ezekiel tells us that Sodom was a prosperous area, with an abundance of idleness. But it was also full of pride and abominations (Ezekiel 16:49-50).

In the Genesis 19 account, the men of Sodom wanted to sodomize two visitors, actually angels, who had come to see if the city should be spared God’s wrath. While these two angels remained locked inside the home of Lot, an angry mob outside cried out for the new flesh. Inside the home, the angels proceeded to give Lot and his family clear and precise instructions concerning the future welfare of Sodom and neighboring Gomorrah. “Then the men said to Lot, Have you any one else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or any one you have in the city, bring them out of the place; for we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it” (verses 12-13, Revised Standard Version).

Lot relayed this sobering message to the two young men who were to marry his daughters. Now these were two decent men—heterosexuals who had not taken advantage of Lot’s daughters. There had probably been numerous instances where they sat around the table with their future father-in-law decrying the evils and perversions of society. And yet, without realizing it, much of that evil had rubbed off on them! They might have recognized many of the more extreme evils in Sodom, but they had grown accustomed to living there—and actually enjoyed much of it.

How strong society’s pull must have been for these two men, at this most critical hour, to mock God’s warning, as it was delivered through His servant Lot.

Their ridicule even caused a seed of doubt to sprout in Lot’s mind. The next morning, even after the constant prodding from the two angels, Lot began to linger, delaying his departure—so much so that the angels seized Lot and his wife and two daughters by the hands and forcibly led them out of the sinful city! Upon leaving the city, the angels shouted at Lot’s family, Run for your lives! And don’t even stop to look back, lest you be consumed as well!

“Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground” (verses 24-25, rsv).

And yet, we somehow think we are so far superior to these ancient societies and that there is no way universal destruction could ever happen again—even though it’s prophesied.

Even Thus Shall It Be …

The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah compares our peoples to those of Sodom and Gomorrah, describing us as being “sick” from head to toe. He prophesied of our eventual ruin and desolation as a result of our universal sin and rebellion against God’s laws.

The Apostle Peter also issued a grave warning for our present day, drawing on the lesson from Sodom and Gomorrah, saying that God turned them into ashes, “making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly” (2 Peter 2:6).

The epistle of Jude, another New Testament message, speaks of these two cities as suffering the “vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude also wrote that God set them forth as an example for our day.

Jesus Christ described our latter-day society as being exactly like Sodom and Gomorrah—abundantly prosperous, yet exceedingly wicked. “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded” (Luke 17:28). They were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building—right up to the day God destroyed their cities (verse 29). “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed” (verse 30).

Even thus shall it be. History, in other words, is repeating itself. This is why Jesus warned, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:36). •

************

gay

God and the Gays: To Be or Not to Be (Chapter 1)
God and the Gays: All that Glitters isn't Gold (Chapter 2)
God and the Gays: Once Gay, Always Gay? (Chapter 3)

God and the Gays: Of Vice and Men (Chapter 4)

God and the Gays: A Time to Heal (Chapter 5)

Clueless Toledo City Council?

When will "We The People" stand up and condemn "Dr." Martin Luther King and reject his name on our streets, bridges, plazas, etc.? Folks need be educated about the fraud - and help educate others about the myths of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King - that the truth may set us free at last.

I've written our former Toledo Mayor Donna Owens to ask her why she failed to oppose changing the Cherry Street Bridge to the MLK Bridge, and questioned if the entire Toledo City Council was clueless to the character of the fraud. In light of all the documented facts, the Toledo City Council ordinance must be repealed, as well as the MLK holiday. Justice demands it!

Identifying Birthmarks of Israel Today

These are the facts skeptics attempt to ignore or vainly deny, even though the odds of fulfilling a fraction of these distinct prophecies is nil:

The birthmarks of fulfilled biblical prophecies include, as the Jerusalem-based Brit Am Israel organization teaches:

According to the Bible ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel split away (1 Kings 12:19), formed their own kingdom of "Israel" (1 Kings 12:20) and were exiled by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:18). They forget their identity (Hosea 1:9, 7:8; Isaiah 49:21) and became the Lost Ten Tribes. In the future they will re-unite with the Jews (Ezekiel 37; Isaiah 11:13; Jeremiah 3:18) of "Judah", but until then they have a role of their own to fulfill. They were destined to be situated at the continental extremities of the earth such as North America, the British Isles, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa (Deuteronomy 33:13; Isaiah 24:16, 26:15, 41:8-9, 49:6), to be the richest (Genesis 27:28, 49:25; Deuteronomy 33:13-16; Hosea 2:8), and most powerful (Numbers 24:8-7; Micah 5:7-9) nations on earth and to control major international strategic bases (Genesis 22:16-17, 24:60). All of these points together with numerous others show that descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes can only be found amongst Western Nations, especially the English-speaking ones.

Blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob for keeping His Word, for being faithful concerning his promises of RACE - which strengthens our faith concerning his promises of GRACE.

How the Unions Betrayed America

How the Unions Betrayed America
By Robert Morley
August 17, 2010
And why unions are just one tiny part of the problem

The union worker, the chief executive, the capitalist, and all of us are facing the same problem: We stand on the very brink of economic breakdown. Can America come together to fix its problems?

States and cities across the country are on the verge of failure. Some small cities have already gone bankrupt. Government officials are being forced to consider unprecedented actions.

But the times are unprecedented!

In Hawaii, the state has not only furloughed its teachers, it has furloughed its students—instituting a four-day school week. Student classroom time was cut by 20 percent. The state is far from alone, and the New York Times reports that more school districts are considering doing the same.

In Georgia, Clayton County shut down its bus system in a desperate attempt to balance its budget. The hard decision stranded 8,400 daily commuters.

In Colorado Springs, the city switched off one third of its 24,512 streetlamps to conserve cash. It slashed its police force and parks department.

And all the while, one small business after another shutters its doors for good.

It is deindustrialization on a national scale. But it is more than that.

All across America—North Dakota, Michigan, Alabama, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere—states are grinding up asphalt roads and letting them go back to gravel. Some states, like Ohio, can’t even afford the grinding costs and are simply letting the roads erode back to gravel. The arteries, the linkages connecting small-town America with the giant interstate markets, are being chewed up and spit out.

Is it a sign that America is headed “back to the Stone Age”? wonders Purdue University’s John Habermann.

Furloughing children, pawning the city’s buses, street lights going dark, reverting to gravel: All these stories have a common theme: squandered wealth. More specifically, plundered wealth.

Almost without exception, the high cost of unions—and the corrupt officials who allowed states to indenture themselves, their children and their children’s children to the unions—are bankrupting the nation.

Don’t believe it? It is simple math.

On a national level, it is well known that Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are on course to break the nation. The Comptroller General’s Office has estimated that the U.S. government will need $59 trillion to pay for these programs over the coming years. Since the total U.S. budget is only around $3 trillion, the dirty little secret that everyone in Washington knows, but won’t admit, is that these programs are soon to be severely cut or eliminated. America just doesn’t have the money to pay for all these retirement promises.

Social Security is already giving out more in benefits than it collects in premiums. To make up the difference, the federal government borrows money to pay benefits.

This kind of financial irresponsibility can only go on for so long. The system is already breaking and it is primarily due to two gigantic unions. They are called Democrats and Republicans. Both unions pretend to stand for different things, but in the end, they both just want your vote. And in America, you are a card-carrying member of one or the other or your voice gets squashed.

At the more local level, employee unions are doing a fantastic job of sabotaging the economy too. Take the recent state multibillion-dollar bailout just passed by Congress.

On August 10, at a special session, the House voted to give states $26 billion to prevent 300,000 teachers, police and other public employees from being laid off.

But why do the states need a bailout in the first place? Why is it the federal government is now paying the salaries of state employees? Because states are bankrupt. According to the New York Times, states are running a cumulative $3 trillion funding deficit.

Why such a huge deficit? Because they have made unsustainable and extravagant promises to unions.

For example, in Milwaukee, the teachers union is fighting the school board to get taxpayer-funded Viagra back into their health plans. If a judge forces the school board to pay up, based on historical usage it will cost the city an astounding $787,000 per year.

Think about that.

Seven hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars—each and every year—so teachers can get paid access to the passion pill. This is how ridiculous unions have become. With the whole nation mired in a deep recession, with millions of people losing their jobs, this is the union’s priority?

But here is the real kick in the pants for taxpayers.

According to a consultant for the school board, the $787,000 could be instead used to “keep perhaps a dozen first-year teachers employed.”

Did you get that? In other words, the cost to the city for hiring a unionized rookie teacher straight out of college is $65,000 per year (when including benefits). In some school districts, teachers are paid more than $72,000 per year, not including benefits. Benefits like family health care for a family of four can cost around $22,000 per year.

And when public employees retire, they are often entitled to a salary plus benefits equal to their highest wage earned throughout their career. And employees have learned to take advantage of this, engaging in retirement spiking—by working as much overtime as possible during the final year of employment—and then collecting “juiced” pension payments for the rest of their life.

Let’s assume a private-sector employee wanted to retire and receive a $65,000 annual salary. If that person thought he or she would live for 20 years beyond retirement, assuming a generous 7 percent annual return he or she would need to plop down almost $700,000.

How many people have that kind of money at retirement? Unions have done well.

Next question: How many teachers, police, firefighters and other unionized employees are on state payrolls heading for retirement? New Jersey, for example, has 200,000 members in just its teachers union. Can you see why states are going bankrupt? Look how much money will be needed to cover all these teachers’ salaries as they retire.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has been very vocal about the union parasites in his state. In a speech earlier this year he told how each and every teacher is required to pay $730 per year in mandatory dues to the union. And if teachers wants to opt out of the union, that is fine, but they still have to pay $620 per year to the union just for the privilege of opting out. The New Jersey teachers union alone collects around $130 million per year in mandatory dues. According to Christie, it is blood money used to coerce and blackmail politicians into supporting union initiatives.

In Los Angeles, the teachers union is currently trying to blackmail the Los Angeles Times into not reporting on the state of the local school system.

America’s education system is a shambles. Union gangsters care more about preserving their power than helping children.

Teachers unions have become so corrupt that it is virtually impossible to fire bad teachers. Unions won’t even allow teachers “engaging in lewd behavior,” or who make sexual advances to students, to be fired. Some unions have even become child molesters’ best friends, protecting them from losing their jobs and paychecks. Here is a snippet from the Los Angeles Times:
 

Every school day, Kim’s shift begins at 7:50 a.m., with 30 minutes for lunch, and ends when the bell at his old campus rings at 3:20 p.m. He is to take off all breaks, school vacations and holidays, per a district agreement with the teachers union. At no time is he to be given any work by the district or show up at school.

He has never missed a paycheck.

In the jargon of the school district, Kim is being “housed” while his fitness to teach is under review. A special education teacher, he was removed from Grant High School in Van Nuys and assigned to a district office in 2002 after the school board voted to fire him for allegedly harassing teenage students and colleagues. In the meantime, the district has spent more than $2 million on him in salary and legal costs.

Last week, Kim was ordered to continue this daily routine at home. District officials said the offices for “housed” employees were becoming too crowded.

About 160 teachers and other staff sit idly in buildings scattered around the sprawling district, waiting for allegations of misconduct to be resolved.

The housed are accused, among other things, of sexual contact with students, harassment, theft or drug possession. Nearly all are being paid. All told, they collect about $10 million in salaries per year—even as the district is contemplating widespread layoffs of teachers because of a financial shortfall.

“It’s a glaring example of how hard it is to remove someone from the classroom and how the process is tilted toward teachers,” said school board member Marlene Canter, who recently proposed—unsuccessfully—to revamp the disciplinary process.

As sad as that is, it is just one sad example of what unions have become. And teachers unions are only the beginning.

In Oakland, California, 75 percent of the city budget goes toward paying police and firefighters salaries and 10 percent goes to paying interest on city debt. California has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country, and still these unions are not happy with 75 percent of the money.

Writing for the Plain Truth magazine in April 1985, Herbert W. Armstrong highlighted the problem that unions were becoming. He noted how in the past unions had helped the common workers, preventing them from being exploited by unscrupulous employers.

However, as Herbert Armstrong wrote, the labor unions became corrupted: They “went all out to ‘get’ all possible …. A new ‘get’ economic philosophy infiltrated labor unionism. No longer was a single company a ‘team’ where all worked together against rival competition. … But now capital and management became the enemy of labor. …

“Too often a union leader said to an employee, ‘Slow down, there, buddy—or we’ll all have to work as conscientiously as you are!’”

So now America has come to the state where America can no longer afford unions. When 75 percent of city budgets go just toward the salaries of two unions, they have literally gotten just about all that there is to give.

 

Yet when it gets right down to it, are the unions really all that different from what goes on in the rest of America?

There are two ways of life: the give way and the get way. As Herbert Armstrong wrote: “‘Get’ seems to have got us all! The ‘get’ incentive is the root cause of all the world’s troubles and evils! The way of ‘give,’ cooperate, serve, help, share, is the basic spiritual law of our Maker! The world has been trying to beat that law—and is being beaten by it!” (ibid.).

How true. •

Americans left in the dark

The vast majority of Americans do not know who he is, but someone surely does. Someone paid for his travel expenses to Pakistan and Indonesia. Someone engineered legal challenges to all of  his election opponents for the State Senate and had them disqualified. Someone straightened and leveled his path to the U.S. Senate when a Democrat Judge made public the child custody records of his Republican opponent. When he was a candidate for the U.S. Senate, someone arranged for him to speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Someone saw to it that all of his records were sealed, both at home and abroad. Someone assembled the massive organization for his run for the Presidency. Someone knows all about him.
Who?
- Savior or Saboteur? Obama in a Realistic Light

Dump Toxic Obama!

Obama’s death isn’t the solution
To pray or not to pray for Obama?
Obama doesn’t deserve any respect!
President Usurper Obama
Obama’s failure

Savior or Saboteur? Obama in a Realistic Light
Treacherous Obama and DNC comrades
President Barack Obama sound good to you?
Joe Biden and Obama’s Birth Certificate

Sherrod Brown on Obama’s Birth Certificate

Senator Shelby questions Obama eligibility

Obama’s Identity Theft & Terrorism

Demand proof Obama’s a natural born citizen!

If Obama’s the Messiah…

Obama in the flesh

Emperor Obama

Obama’s African Coup in America

Shame on conservative cowards!

Off color inaugural prayer

BLACK DAY IN AMERICA: Obama Wins, America Loses

www.davidbenariel.org

"One shall say, I am the LORD’S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel"

Who and What is a Jew

DavidBenAriel says:

August 15, 2010 at 4:52 pm

pagan man-god myths - Shy Guy

Your stereotypes sadly enslave and blind you. I don't believe Yeshua was divine when he was in the flesh and reject the accursed trinity doctrine.

"The Gentilized Israelites (many Catholics and Protestants) must confess and forsake our baptized paganism, our whitewashed heathen customs that Roman wolves have polluted the world with and misled the masses, and Judaism must reject its Babylonian relics of astrology, amulets, "hell" and other religious lies, as Zechariah proves Judah isn't perfect either. Gentilized Jews, assimilated Jews, must remember their Hebrew roots and biblical responsibilities and act accordingly."
- Israel and Judah Must Get House in Order Before King Messiah Arrives

Hoover

Insecure Jews begrudge I exercised my prerogative to legally change my name to a Hebrew name, while secure Jews respect it and admire it (knowing the list of Jews who have taken "Christian" names is endless). Ironically, I doubt "Yamit" or "Shy Guy" are legal surnames, while they obsess over mine. Regardless, "One shall say, I am the LORD’S; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel" (Isa. 44:5).

As for who and what is a Jew:

Not All Twelve Tribes of Israel are Jewish?

Joseph isn't Jewish!