BUSINESS AS USUAL-The Days of Lot

'BUSINESS AS USUAL'

(The Days of Lot)

     The Lord Jesus Christ's prophecy concerning the Days of Noah in Luke 17 was immediately followed by this statement:

"Likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed."(Luke 17:28-30)

     Here, again, the Lord foretells the 'Business as Usual' attitude of the unbeliever during the time right before He comes to rapture His church.  His description of that day shows that the normal activities of the average person will go on as though nothing out of the ordinary is about to happen revealing the 'thief in the night' (I Thessalonians 5:2) is also testimony to the fact of the indifference and hardness of heart of this wicked generation that will continue on it's merry way in the face of vile and heinous sins being performed on every side without protest!

     Additional information on the days of Lot is found in Genesis 18, 19. The Lord reveals to Abraham (Lot's uncle) 'the cry of Sodom (Lot's hometown) and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous' (Genesis 18:20).  Just as ‘the blood of Abel cried to God from the ground (Genesis 4:10) causing God to take action against Cain, Abel's murderer, the 'cry of Sodom and Gomorrah' came up to heaven into the ears of God because of their grievous sin.

     The Lord, with two of His angels, visits Abraham and his wife Sarah, and after Abraham successfully intercedes with God on behalf of his nephew Lot, the two angels proceed to carry out the rescue of Lot and his family from the coming destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah caused by God's fiery judgment.

     The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah become evident when the angels, who are met by Lot and taken to his home, are sought out 'by the men of the city, even the men of Sodom' (Genesis 19:4) who wanted to 'know them.' (Genesis 19:5) This word 'know' refers to the desire for the perverted sexual relations these men wanted to engage in with the two angels.

     The Sodomites openly approached Lot concerning these complete strangers, the two angels, and boldly, under no uncertain terms, let their perverted homosexual intentions be known. They violently tried to enter Lot's home coming 'near to break the door' (19:9), and although they were supernaturally blinded by the angels, their lustful desires drove them to continue to try 'to find the door' (19:11) of Lot's house in an attempt to satisfy their inordinate, wicked  passions!

     Although Lot, his wife and two daughters escaped the next morning, Lot's attempt to save his daughter's husbands was in vain due to his lack of credibility in the eyes of his sons in law. Lot had no authority with them and they died with the multitudes when 'the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.' (19:25)

    The Days of Lot demonstrate the following conditions: 
                                                                            1. God's people deeply involved in politics (Genesis 19:1)

                                                                            2. Streets of the cities unsafe (19:2, 3)

                                                                            3. Sodomy widespread among all people (19:4)

                                                                            4. God's people identify with sinners (19:7)

                                                                            5. God's people willing to sacrifice family (19:8)

                                                                            6. Sodomites demonstrate violence (19:9-11)

                                                                            7. God's people without credibility (19:14)

      All of these ungodly conditions described above are prevalent in our society at this very moment! The extent of their prevalence might not be at quite the same magnitude as in Lot’s day, but, it is obvious, by the 'Business as Usual' attitude of the lost and saved alike, that we are very close to the execution of God's judgment, which is the Day of the Lord! 

     However, we, the born-again the Bible way believers, the saints, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been promised deliverance from this time of fiery destruction (I Thessalonians 5:9)! Just the way Lot and his family, and Noah and his family, were supernaturally rescued from danger the same day judgment fell, so too we will be taken out of the sphere of danger by ‘the blessed hope’ (Titus 2:13), which is the Rapture of God's people!

     This 'Business as Usual' attitude which says everything is fine, this widespread unawareness of the impending danger of God's judgment will be prevalent and will contaminate the thinking of the lost  people and the religious alike.  Jesus said when these conditions prevail His Coming to Rapture the saints and same day, 'Day of the Lord' judgment is near!  Just as it was in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot 'so shall it also be in the days of the Son of man.'

Chaplain LEWolfe  www.btmi.org  I-85 Exit 35 SC   McPilot    Stop in, and please pray for our ministry!

BUSINESS AS USUAL-The Days of Noah

"BUSINESS AS USUAL"

(The Days of Noah)

"As it was in the Days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all." (Luke 17:26) 

     It was 'Business as Usual' in the days of Noah.  Everything went on normally, as though nothing unusual was about to happen, even though Noah, a 'preacher of righteousness' (II Peter3:5), 'a just man and perfect in his generations [who] walked with God' (Genesis 6:9), warned the ungodly generation of that day.

     The hearts of men revealing their 'Business as Usual' attitude described by the Lord Jesus, is what it will be like 'in the days of the Son of man', referring to those days just before the Lord comes to rapture His church and begin the judgment described in the book of the Revelation! The religious unbelievers of that day will scoff and say: 'Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same Word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.'

(II Peter 3:4-7)

     These ungodly scoffers displaying their 'Business as Usual' attitude will question whether the Lord really is going to return and point out that there have been no changes since the beginning of time displaying their arrogant, dark-minded denial of God's Word and His working in the past.  Peter's response uncovers their ignorance and outlines the supernatural judgment of God in the past through the universal flood, and His plan for the future Day of the Lord judgment of the world.

     Yes, God's response to the ungodly scoffers and the wickedness of man will be the same as it was in the days of Noah, because He will judge the world for it's wickedness through His fiery, devastating and destructive Day of the Lord judgments the same day He rescues His church by rapture! The only difference is He used the flood in Noah's day, and He will use fire during the Day of the Lord!

     Genesis chapters 4-6 provide us with a clear picture of what the world was like in Noah's day detailing various prevailing conditions of that time:  The first and one of the most crucial conditions was Religious Apostasy. In (4:3) Cain becomes what many preachers call the first modernist. 

     His obvious departure from offering what was required by God could also be described as the actions of one who subscribes to neo-orthodoxy. Whatever we call it, it is clear God did not accept Cain's new idea of offering  'the fruit of the ground'  which was rejected by the Lord.

     We must assume that Cain knew what was acceptable in the eyes of God and instead of bringing the acceptable blood sacrifice like his brother Abel. He decided to offer the result of his own works described as the 'way of Cain' (Jude 11). Every other false 'religion' tries to make its mistaken approach to God through works.

     But, there is one, and only one, 'true religion', and that is the one of faith in the shed Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary!  Religious Apostasy was openly evident in the 'days of Noah' and it is openly evident in our own day, which could well be described as the 'days of the Son of man' for it is clearly evident that we are living in the last days.

     The second condition prevalent in Noah's day was the gathering together of population through City Building. (Genesis 4:17)  Population centers in our day are multiplying and growing at a phenomenal pace and for the most part are the sin/and crime capitals of our time.  In the USA 85% of the population lived on farms during the year 1850.

      This number has drastically been reduced as cities, crime and corruption have skyrocketed. One man rightly said 'God made the country, and man made the city' referring to the man created corruption and ungodliness that gathers in the city. Although city building in itself is not ungodly, it certainly was a common occurrence in both the days of Noah and in the present day.

     Polygamy was practiced in the days of Noah as illustrated in (Genesis 4:19).  Although God allowed this to go on it was not His will as He created only one Eve for Adam with no apparent spare(s) in sight!  The words of the Lord Jesus Christ: 'For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they twain (duo) shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain (duo) but one flesh.' (Matthew 19:5, 6) are clear, and He certainly did not intend for us to have more that one wife/husband. Although our age is not plagued with the sin of polygamy, the multiple wives/husbands taken by many people today is certainly very similar to and as damaging to our social structure as polygamy was in Noah's day.

     Genesis 4:21 records the first mention of Musical Instruments which occurred seven generations from Adam. While the type of music is not known, the descendants of Cain were responsible for creating these instruments, who are considered to be the ungodly line and therefore the music composed by these people could well have been ungodly in its effect similar to the scourge we are witnessing in our present day from rock and roll and its multiple offshoots. What we do know is that this generation in Noah's day did not 'call upon the name of the Lord' (Genesis 4:26) as did the line of Seth, Adam and Eve's third son.

     Metalworking and the science of metallurgy was also practiced in these early stages of the history of man, when 'Tubal-cain, an instructor of every artificer (forger of cutting instruments) in brass and iron' (Genesis 4:22) practiced his profession. A 'mere' 7,000 years have passed and man is continuing to mine the earth, working metals to serve his purposes of advancing civilization.

     The civilization of Noah's day was much further advanced than usually thought, proving that the industrial characteristics of then and now were similar. Although metalworking in itself is not considered a negative, the point being demonstrated is the similarity of Noah's day and our present day.

     The final and maybe the most obvious of all conditions in Noah's day was the great Wickedness of Man.

"God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth"(Genesis 6:5).

     This statement by the Lord reveals His heart, His intention, and also His purpose for the judgment He brought upon the world through the universal flood! This great Wickedness of Man is extremely prevalent in our day and when it reaches God's limit it will bring His final judgment which will completely purge the heavens and the earth by fire.

   The slaughter of the unborn, the practice and acceptance of homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle and the resulting epidemic of AIDS, the degrees of open nakedness/nudity exhibited by the multitudes, and the widespread acceptance of the sex sins of those in high places of authority demonstrate the present-day Wickedness of Man and the nearness of God's wrath which  is His Day of the Lord  judgment ‘For the  great  day of  His wrath is [about to] come’ (Revelation 6:17). 

Chaplain LEWolfe  www.btmi.org  I-85 Exit 35 SC   McPilot    Stop in, and please pray for our ministry!