Our Sexuality — God’s Gift

 

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Quotations from the Bible are printed in italics

         The sky, the heavens and the earth were formed the first five days of creation.  “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the waters.”  ~  Genesis 1:1-2
         On the sixth day God said,
         "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.  . . .
27     So God created humankind in his image,
         in the image of God he created them;
         male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.”   ~  Genesis 1:26-28
         Without human sexuality, the earth today would be barren.  The first births are recorded in Genesis.   The man (Adam) knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.” . . . Next she bore his brother Abel. . . . Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch. . . .  Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth.  ~ Genesis 4:1-25.
         The story of the Adam and Eve family is in the first five chapters of Genesis.

         The peoples of the earth multiplied rapidly. Evil appeared and soon prevailed in the lives of many.  “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every indication of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.”  ~  Genesis 6:5.
         Sodom and Gomorrah were centers of evil. God was nearby with Abram before these cities were annihilated.. A review of their conversations will give us an understanding of the causes of this great tragedy. A summary of their conversations will follow.

         Abram was unique in the sight of God. His trust in God, and obedience to God were complete. His worship of God was full and undivided.  He was God’s friend and the person to whom the covenant of Israel was given.
         Abram was born and lived his early life in far-off Ur of the Chaldeans, and Haran. God called him to a new life. God said: "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.  2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing."  ~  Genesis 12:1-3
         Shortly after, God visited and spoke to Abram again. "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be. 6 And he believed the Lord; and the Lord  reckoned it to him as righteousness.  ~  Genesis  15:1-6.
         The key to life with God for all humanity is revealed in this last sentence. Righteousness is given by God to those who believe God.
         God later said, I will make my covenant between me and you. . . .  5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you."    ~ Genesis 17:26
     A magnificent, visionary word from the letter to the Hebrews reads as follows: “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.   9 By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised.
         13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.”  ~  Hebrews 11:8-13

         Sodom and Gomorrah were located in the Vale of  Siddem, south of  the Salt Sea, later known as the Dead Sea, and some 30 miles from Hebron, where Abram lived.
        Abraham had moved to Canaan,  the land God had given to him.  “Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. . . . Lot, (Abram’s nephew), also had flocks and herds and tents . . . . Their possessions were so great that they could not live together. . . .  Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. . . . Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right.”  . . . So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan. . . . 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD. . . . Abraham moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the LORD.”   ~  Genesis 13:2-18
         The day before the Lord visited Sodom, “The LORD appeared to Abraham as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He (Abraham) looked up and saw three men standing near him.”  ~  Genesis 18:1-2  The three were received in a gracious manner by Abraham.  At first, Abraham did not recognized his heavenly visitors.
         Later in the day, the two men (identified in Genesis 19:1 as 'angels') said they would leave Abraham’s home and go to Sodom. God and Abraham “went with them to send them on their way.”   Before they parted, GOD said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 21 I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me;and if not, I will know."   ~  Genesis 18:20-21.
         After this, the identity of Abraham’s visitors was known.
         The men (angels) turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the LORD. 23 Then Abraham came near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?" 24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it?. . . Abraham spoke directly to God. God simply said: "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake."
        27 Abraham answered, . . .  Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And he said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." 29 Again he spoke to him, "Suppose forty are found there." He answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it."
         Abraham continued to ask the same question; each time lowering the number of righteous men. The last response from God was, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." 33 And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.  ~  Genesis 18:22-33
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         No one in Sodom or Gomorrah was prepared for the destruction that would fall on them.  It began quietly.
         Genesis 19
    The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 He said, "Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you can rise early and go on your way." They said, "No; we will spend the night in the square." 3 But he urged them strongly; so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; 5 and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them." 6 Lot went out of the door to the men, shut the door after him, 7 and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof." 9 But they replied, "Stand back!" And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and he would play the judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." Then they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near the door to break it down. 10 But the men (angels) inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11 And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door.
         12 Then the men (Angels) said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone you have in the city — bring them out of the place. 13 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." 14 So Lot went out and said to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, "Up, get out of this place; for the LORD is about to destroy the city." But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
         15 When morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get up, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be consumed in the punishment of the city." 16 But he lingered; so the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and left him outside the city. 17 When they had brought them outside, they said, "Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the Plain; flee to the hills, or else you will be consumed."  . . .
        Lot begged that night that he might go to Zoar, a nearby small city. One of the angels said,  "Very well, I grant you this favor, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken. . . . The city was called Zoar. 23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.
         24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.
         27 Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD; 28 and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the Plain and saw the smoke of the land going up like the smoke of a furnace.
         29 So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had settled.  ~  Genesis 19:1-29

         An effort is being made in our time to change the Bible’s story of Sodom and Gomorrah. The word know  (Genesis 19:5) is at the center of this distortion.
         The word appears in Genesis 19:5.  When the angels had been settled in Lot’s house “the men of Sodom, . . .called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”
         The Hebrew word for know is used  in several ways. It is used to say:
“I do not know; ” “how am I to know;” “Know this for certain;” etc.  It is also used to say: “get familiar with” and “have intercourse with.”
         Know is used  5 times in Genesis 5. Each time it refers to sexual intercourse. They are:
- “Now the man (Adam) knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain.”   ~ Genesis 4:1
- “Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch.”  ~ Genesis 4:17
- “Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son & named him Seth.” ~ Genesis 4:25
-  Lot said: “ I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please.”  ~ Genesis 19:8
- “The girl (Rebecca) was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known.  ~ Genesis 24:16
        There are two other scripture passages in which know is used to refer to sexual intercourse.
- “Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. 20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, "I have asked him of the LORD."  ~  1 Samuel 1:19-20
- “King David was old and advanced in years; and although they covered him with clothes, he could not get warm. 2 So his servants said to him, "Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king, and let her wait on the king, and be his attendant; let her lie in your bosom, so that my lord the king may be warm." 3 So they searched for a beautiful girl throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunammite, and brought her to the king. 4 The girl was very beautiful. She became the king's attendant and served him, but the king did not know her sexually.  ~  1 Kings 1:1-4

         Had not the men at Lot's door had licencious intentions, God would not have "rained sulfur and fire from heaven and overthrown those cities;” nor would Jesus have said, "on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them;” nor would Jude, writer of the short book before Revelation, have summarize the S&G story in one brief sentence:  Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, . . . who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.  ~  Jude 1:7

        God is sovereign.
 
 

          Words used in the Scriptures to describe sexual immorality, such as abomination, fornication, avarice,  licentiousnes, etc., are seldom used or known today. Definitions of these words will be given when they appear for the first time.

          Leviticus 20:13
         “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
         Abomination - Foul, Detestable, Shameful, Deceitful, Overwhelmed with desolation

         Semen is given to us to bring  a child into our world.
         In every age semen has been ejected by a man, into the anal channel of a woman, (played by a man), where it is mixed with feces filth and toxic waste. It is then flushed into a sewer. To say the least, it is an abomination.

         Deuteronomy 5:18
        “You shall not commit adultery” is one of the 10 Commandemnts.
         “In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a more shocking thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from wickedness; all of them have become like Sodom to me, and its inhabitants like Gomorrah. 15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: "I am going to make them eat wormwood, and give them poisoned water to drink; for from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land."   ~  Jeremiah 23:14
         Jesus said: “It is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 aldutery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentioousness, evy, slander, pride, folly. 23 Al these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."  ~  Mark 7:22-23
       Adultery - Voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and someone other that his or her lawful spouse. .
       Fornication - Sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other.
       Licentiousness - Sexually unrestrained - lascivious, libertine, lewd, restrained by law or morality,

         Deuteronomy 22:22
“If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.”

         Jeremiah 5:7-9
         God speaks.
7       How can I pardon you?
         Your children have forsaken me,
         and have sworn by those who are no gods.
         When I fed them to the full,
         they committed adultery
         and trooped to the houses of prostitutes.
8       They were well-fed lusty stallions,
         each neighing for his neighbor's wife.
9       Shall I not punish them for these things?
         says the LORD;
         and shall I not bring retribution
         on a nation such as this?

         Deuteronomy 29:21-23
The anger of God at Sodom and Gomorrah, trivialized in our day, was remembered in faith by Moses. In one of his last addresses, he told his people that what had happened to them was like the devastation that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. As we shall see, the Sodom and Gomorrah event was remembered throughout Scripture.
         “ In the next generation, your children who rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who comes from a distant country, will see the devastation of that land and the afflictions with which the LORD has afflicted it—23 all its soil burned out by sulfur and salt, nothing planted, nothing sprouting, unable to support any vegetation, like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah . . . which the LORD destroyed in his fierce anger.

          Judges 19:22-26
The incident described here is similar to that of Genesis 19.
         While they were enjoying themselves, the men of the city, a perverse lot, surrounded the house, and started pounding on the door. They said to the old man, the master of the house, "Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have intercourse with him.

          Isaiah 1:7-17
The fall of Sodom and Gomorrah is part of the vision of Isaiah. The word,
like, is in each of the three quotations from Isaiah.”
7       Your country lies desolate,
         your cities are burned with fire;
         in your very presence
         aliens devour your land;
         it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8       And daughter Zion is left
         like a booth in a vineyard,
         like a shelter in a cucumber field,
         like a besieged city.
9       If the LORD of hosts
         had not left us a few survivors,
         we would have been like Sodom,
         and become like Gomorrah.
10     Hear the word of the LORD,
         you rulers of Sodom!
         Listen to the teaching of our God,
         you people of Gomorrah!
11     What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
         says the LORD;
         I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
         and the fat of fed beasts;
         I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
         or of lambs, or of goats.
12     When you come to appear before me,
         who asked this from your hand?
         Trample my courts no more;
13     bringing offerings is futile;
         incense is an abomination to me.
         New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation —
         I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14     Your new moons and your appointed festivals
         my soul hates;
         they have become a burden to me,
         I am weary of bearing them.
15     When you stretch out your hands,
         I will hide my eyes from you;
         even though you make many prayers,
         I will not listen;
         your hands are full of blood.

         Isaiah 3:8-9
8       For Jerusalem has stumbled
         and Judah has fallen,
         because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD,
         defying his glorious presence.
9       The look on their faces bears witness against them;
         they proclaim their sin like Sodom,
         they do not hide it.
         Woe to them!
         For they have brought evil on themselves.

         Isaiah 13:17-20a
17     See, I am stirring up the Medes (NW Persia) against them,
         who have no regard for silver
         and do not delight in gold.
18     Their bows will slaughter the young men;
         they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
         their eyes will not pity children.
19     And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
         the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,
         will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
         when God overthrew them.
20     It will never be inhabited
         or lived in for all generations.

         Jeremiah 23:13-15
The three verses that follow are a judgment from God against the prophets of Jerusalem in Jeremiah’s day. Their sins are parallel with those of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
13     In the prophets of Samaria
         I saw a disgusting thing:
         they prophesied by Baal
         and led my people Israel astray.
14     But in the prophets of Jerusalem
         I have seen a more shocking thing:
         they commit adultery and walk in lies;
         they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
         so that no one turns from wickedness;
         all of them have become like Sodom to me,
         and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15     Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets:
         "I am going to make them eat wormwood,
         and give them poisoned water to drink;
         for from the prophets of Jerusalem
         ungodliness has spread throughout the land."

         Jeremiah 49:17-18
The disaster that fell on S&G is like the disasters brought against Edom.
Edom shall become an object of horror; everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters. 18 As when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors were overthrown, says the LORD, no one shall live there, nor shall anyone settle in it.

         Lamentations 4:6
Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.
Their punishment is compared to that of Sodom
         For the chastisement of my people has been greater
than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment,
though no hand was laid on it.

         Ezekiel 16:46-52
Samaria and Sodom are thought of, in this passage from Ezekiel, as Jerusalem’s elder sisters. They were destroyed as was Jerusalem. Ezekiel is saying that the evil of Jerusalem was greater than that of Samaria and Sodom; as was the destruction of Jerusalem
         Your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 You not only followed their ways, and acted according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 As I live, says the LORD GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.

         Amos 2:6-8
During Amos' vist to Jerusalem the righteous, the needy, the poor and the afflicted were treated as they are in our coutry, in our day.
6       Thus says the LORD:
         For three transgressions of Israel,
         and for four, I will not revoke the punishment;
         because 1, they sell the righteous for silver,
         and the needy for a pair of sandals —
7       2. they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,
         and push the afflicted out of the way;
         3, father and son go in to the same girl,
         so that my holy name is profaned;
8       4, they lay themselves down beside every altar
         on garments taken in pledge;
         and in the house of their God they drink
         wine bought with fines they imposed.

         Amos 4:11
God was unable to change the life of those who had fallen away from him.
10     I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
         I killed your young men with the sword;
         I carried away your horses;
         and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
         yet you did not return to me,  says the LORD.
11     I overthrew some of you,
         as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
         and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;
         yet you did not return to me, says the LORD.

         Zephaniah 2:8-9
God reassured  his people that they would prevail in their struggle
with Moab and the Ammonites.
8      I have heard the taunts of Moab
       and the revilings of the Ammonites,
       how they have taunted my people
       and made boasts against their territory.
9     Therefore, as I live, says the LORD of hosts,
       the God of Israel,
       Moab shall become like Sodom
       and the Ammonites like Gomorrah,
       a land possessed by nettles and salt pits,
       and a waste forever.
      The remnant of my people shall plunder them,
      and the survivors of my nation shall possess them.

The New Testament

         There are some 500 years between the book of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, and the Gospel of Mark, which is considered to be the first book in the New Testament.

         Matthew 5:27-32
“Adultery” is a big word in the New Testament. It is among the first words spoken  by Jesus.
         Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.

         Matthew 11:20-24
         Some scholars believe we should forget Sodom. Jesus did not forget Sodom.
         Then he (Jesus) began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. 21 "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! .
         For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I tell you that on the day of judgment it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you."
        See Luke 10:1-12; and 17:22-30.

         Mark 7:14-23
         Then he (Jesus) called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."
         17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
        Fornication - Sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons
         or two persons not married to each other.
       Licentiousness - Sexually unrestrained - lascivious, libertine, lewd,
         to restrained by law or morality,

         Luke 10:1-12
 After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. 2 He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' 6 And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. 7 Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; 9 cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'12 I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

         Luke 17:22-30
Jesus said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, 'Look there!' or 'Look here!' Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.25 But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. 26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. 28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29 but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them  30 — it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot's wife. 33 Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35 There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left." 37 Then they asked him, "Where, Lord?" He said to them, "Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."

         John 8:1-11
A television program on CNN every day likes to tell us that Jesus had a girlfriend, (presumably the woman in John 8:1-11), and  that he approved almost every kind of immorality.
     Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4 they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."
         Contrary to present-day television, Jesus opposed adultery. He did not ask the woman to go with him. He called adultery a sin and told the woman to change her ways.  He also told the woman he did not condemn her.
         We will consider these reactions of Jesus—especially, ‘he did not condemn her’—toward the end of this paper.

         Acts 21:25
A word from the Apostle Paul.
         As for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication."

         Romans 1:16-17
         The following two verse have been called  “The theme of the Letter to the Romans.” They are that. It may also be said that these two verses are the theme of the Bible and of Christian life.
         For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "The one who is righteous will live by faith."
         Remember Abram?  “He believed the Lord; and the Lord  reckoned it to him as righteousness.”  ~  Genesis  15:6

         There are three Bible passages in which basic Human Sexuality material is found. They are: Genesis 19, Leviticus 18 and Romans 1:18-32.
         In Genesis 19“the LORD rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.”   ~  Genesis 19:24:25
         In Leviticus 18, a sentence of death is given: “If a man lies with a male as with a woman; they shall be put to death.”
         The Roman 1:18-32 passage tells of God’s response to those who reject the Word of God by misusing the gifts of sexuality.

         Romans 1:18-32
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
         20 Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; 21 for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools; 23 and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.
         24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
         26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, 27 and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the due penalty for their error.
         28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind and to things that should not be done. 29 They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 landerers (scandalmongers), God-haters, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 They know God's decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die — yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.

 Romans 1:18-32   --  Text Restatment

         Note -  The word, exchanged,  occurs 3 times.
       It is an act of the wicked.
        The phrase, God gave them up,  occurs three times.
       It is an act of God.

18 The wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and
     wickedness of those who suppress truth.
     All that is known about God has been shown by God.

20 God’s invisible eternal power and divine nature
     have been understood and seen through the things he has made.
     So the wicked have no excuse. They knew God, yet they did not
     honor or thank God.
     Their thinking became inept and worthless;
     and their senseless minds were darkened.
     Claimng to be wise, they became fools.
     They exchanged God’s glory for images
     resembling a person, a bird, or an animal.

24 God gave them up in the lusts of their mind and heart to impurity.
     That is — they were  isolated by God in their lusts and impurities.
     Then they degraded their bodies with others, and
     they exchanged the truth about God for a lie.
     They worshiped and served the creature instead of the Creator.

26 For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions.
     That is, their grading passions came from God.
     Wicked women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural.
     Wicked men gave up natural intercourse with women; they burned
     with passion for other men and committed shameless acts with men.
     The wicked received the due penalty for their perversions.

28 They did not acknowledge God.
     God gave them up to a debased mind,
     and to things that should not be done.
     The debased mind came from God.
     They were filled with every kind of wickedness, evil and malice.
     They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and craftiness.
     The wicked are gossips, scandalmongers, God-haters, insolent,
     haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, and rebellious toward parents.
     They are foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless.
     They know God's decree — those who practice such things shall die
     The wicked who do these things are applaud by others who practice them.

     A clear picture of God and those who reject God's word is given.
The wrath of God is revealed. God gave them up to impurity and a degraded body.
They gave up the truth of God for every kind of evil. Men and women chose unnatural intercourse.
God no longer lives in their lives.

        Romans 8:1-13
This selection is for those who know the Wrath of God and for those who live in Christ.
        There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law — indeed it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
         9 If  - you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
         12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —  13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

        Isaiah 65:6
Is there no hope for those who have abandoned God??
        Seek the LORD while he may be found,
        call upon him while he is near;
7      let the wicked forsake their way,
        and the unrighteous their thoughts;
        let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them,
        and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8     For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
       nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
9     For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
       so are my ways higher than your ways
       and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10   For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
       and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
       making it bring forth and sprout,
       giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11   so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
       it shall not return to me empty,
       but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
       and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12   For you shall go out in joy,
       and be led back in peace;
       the mountains and the hills before you
       shall burst into song,
       and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13   Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
       instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
       and it shall be to the LORD for a memorial,
       for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.

         Romans 9:27-29
Paul did remember the Sodom and Gomorrah event.
         And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively." 29 And as Isaiah predicted,
         "If the Lord of hosts had not left survivors to us,
         we would have fared like Sodom
         and been made like Gomorrah."

         1 Corinthians 5:11-13
I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother or sister who is sexually immoral or greedy, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber. Do not even eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging those outside? Is it not those who are inside that you are to judge? 13 God will judge those outside. "Drive out the wicked person from among you."

         1 Corinthians 6:9-20
Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, 10 thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers — none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. 11 And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
 12 "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. 13 "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food," and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, "The two shall be one flesh." 17 But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.

         2 Corinthians 12:20-21
For I fear that when I come, I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish; I fear that there may perhaps be quarreling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. 21 I fear that when I come again, my God may humble me before you, and that I may have to mourn over many who previously sinned and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and licentiousness that they have practiced.

         Galatians 5:16-25
Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21 envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
         22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.

         Ephesians 4:17-5:16
Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
         25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
         5:1  Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, 2 and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
         3 But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. 4 Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. 5 Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
         6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. 7 Therefore do not be associated with them. 8 For once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light — 9 for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
         "Sleeper, awake!
         Rise from the dead,
         and Christ will shine on you."
 15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

            Colossians 3:5-17
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. 7 These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. 8 But now you must get rid of all such things — anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices 10 and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. 11 In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!
         12 As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. 13 Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him

           1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; 4 that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one wrong or exploit a brother or sister in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

         1 Timothy 1:8-11
We know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. 9 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

         Hebrews 13:4
Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.

         2 Peter 1:20-2:22
You must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, 21 because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
         2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Even so, many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
         4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment; 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on a world of the ungodly; 6 and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment 10 especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority.
          Bold and willful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgment from the Lord.12 These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed, they also will be destroyed, 13 suffering the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation while they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of doing wrong, 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.
         17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved. 18 For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with licentious desires of the flesh they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error.

            Jude 1-5-7
The book of Jude tells of the intrusion of false teachers into the life of the Church
          1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,
         To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:
2 May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.
         3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
         5 Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgment of the great day. 7 Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
         8 Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones.9 But when the archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a condemnation of slander against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" 10 But these people slander whatever they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that, like irrational animals, they know by instinct. 11 Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam's error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah's rebellion. 12 These are blemishes on your love- feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.
         14 It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "See, the Lord is coming with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him." 16 These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage.
         17 But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; 18 for they said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts." 19 It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. 20 But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith lay in the Holy Spirit; 21 keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on some who are wavering; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.
         24 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

         Revelation
        The book of Revelation gives a brief view of the rule of God over creation.
        God's merciful and just hold of all life is in our world; as it will do in the ages to come, and in the events at the end time.
        The visions given to John are beyond our time; yet they are like visions given to us of God's presence.
        There is a kinship between the Revelation churches and those who live in faith today.

        Revelation 1:4-6
        4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
        Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
        To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7      Look! He is coming with the clouds;
        every eye will see him,
        even those who pierced him;
        and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.
        8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
        9 I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.10 I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, "Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."

         Revelation 2:19-23      Praise — with a warning.
        "I know your works, your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. 20 But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. 22 Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; 23 and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.

         Revelation 9:20-21    Those who did not repent..
         The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.

         Revelation 11:7-10     The Beast from the bottomless pit. Sodom did live and was destroyed.
        When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9 For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; 10 and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.

        Revelation 14:8    An evil city.
        Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."

         Revelation 17:1-4     The harlot and the Kings.
        Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great whore who is seated on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk."

         Revelation 18:3-9     An angel from heaven.
        After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was made bright with his splendor. 2 He called out with a mighty voice,
         "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
         It has become a dwelling place of demons,
         a haunt of every foul spirit,
         a haunt of every foul bird,
         a haunt of every foul and hateful beast.
3       For all the nations have drunk
         of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
         and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,
         and the merchants of the earth have grown rich
         from the power of her luxury."
4       Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
         "Come out of her, my people,
         so that you do not take part in her sins,
         and so that you do not share in her plagues;
5       for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
         and God has remembered her iniquities.
6       Render to her as she herself has rendered,
         and repay her double for her deeds;
         mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed.
7       As she glorified herself and lived luxuriously,
         so give her a like measure of torment and grief.
         Since in her heart she says,
         "I rule as a queen;
         I am no widow,
         and I will never see grief,'
8       therefore her plagues will come in a single day
         pestilence and mourning and famine
         and she will be burned with fire;
         for mighty is the Lord God who judges her."
9      And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived in luxury with her,
        will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning;
        10 they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,
         "Alas, alas, the great city,
         Babylon, the mighty city!
         For in one hour your judgment has come."

         Revelation 19:2-10     Two Hallelujahs for God.
        After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice
        of a great multitude in heaven, saying,
         "Hallelujah!
         Salvation and glory and power to our God,
2       for his judgments are true and just;
         he has judged the great whore
         who corrupted the earth with her fornication,
         and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants."
3       Once more they said,
         "Hallelujah!
         The smoke goes up from her forever and ever."

         Revelation 21:5-8      The new age.
        And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6 Then he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."

         Revelation 22:14-15      The city by the gates.
        Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and fornicators and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.