Study the Word

Guest (Male): Today on Study the Word from Pastor Thom Keller.

Pastor Thom Keller: Should we accept homosexuals in the church that are struggling? Absolutely. Should we accept homosexuals in the church that are defiant and saying you accept me this way or you're wrong? Absolutely not. Would we accept people in the church that are living in adultery and say you accept me under these terms or I don't come? Absolutely not. Imagine being in a church of 500 and you find that out of the 500 people you're in the church with, 43% of them have had sex with everyone else in the church. Would you want to belong to a church like that?

Guest (Male): What's right and what's wrong? And how do you come to that determination? As you may have noticed, that's being greatly debated today. Some say it's up to us to determine that. The same thing happened during the time of the judges and the consequences for doing this are disastrous.

Today on Study the Word, Pastor Thom Keller takes us to Judges 19 and 20 where the nation of Israel resembles modern-day America. Moral depravity was on the rise and the nation had sunk low. Here's Thom to tell us how dangerous it is to replace God's definitions of right and wrong with our own.

Pastor Thom Keller: So the old man, the servant, the woman, the concubine, his wife are in this house. These men of the city are beating on the door. They're pounding on the door making demands. They want this man.

Verse 23, the old man stepped outside to talk to them. "No, my brothers. Don't do such an evil thing. For this man is my guest and such a thing would be shameful. Here, take my virgin daughter and this man's concubine. I will bring them out to you. You can do whatever you like to them, but don't do such a shameful thing to this man."

But they wouldn't listen to him. Then the Levite took his concubine and pushed her out the door. The men of the town abused her all night, taking turns raping her until morning. Finally at dawn, they let her go. At daybreak, the woman returned to the house where her husband was staying. She collapsed at the door of the house and lay there until it was light.

This old man pleads with them. "Please, don't do this wicked deed." He offers his virgin daughter and this man's concubine. Isn't it interesting when you think about it that this man, in this community, that this daughter would not have ever been raped by these men? When these men are so insistent to have this man, he's a guest one night, they see him in the corner. Can you imagine what this man and his concubine and the slave felt like being in that town square as these men of the city walked by them, looking at them?

Don't you think those looks would have been evident to them as they were in the square? Those kind of evil looks from people. As the sun's going down, have you ever been in a place where you felt safe at daylight, but you knew as the sun went down, you had better get out of there? How many have ever been in a setting like that? You know what I'm talking about. And I think that's what they were sensing. In this town square, the looks were just evil. How could they not be with men with these kinds of things in their heart? To such a degree of violence.

Now this man offers his virgin daughter and he also offers this man's concubine. He has no right to prostitute his daughter or this man's wife. There's no legal precedence. There's not a single thing you can turn to and say, "Well, because of this, he did that." In all probability, he was terrified. He was scared. He's trying to come up with something to spare this man's life. Women held less of a standing in culture and society and it was to some degree to this man a lesser crime to have his daughter violated. He offers them, but it was not what should have been done obviously.

You know, one can see why this concubine may have left her husband in the first place. Think about it. He sacrificed her to save his own skin. He pushes her out the door and these men of the city, almost I think as just a way of showing disgust and hatred and anger at this man's refusal to give them the male guest, they abuse this woman until she dies. Also it appears through the Hebrew that the men of the city were involved. It was not just a lewd minority. It would look like it was the men of the city.

The term that they "knew" her, in the Bible "to know someone" means many times to have sex. Where Adam knew his wife, they had sexual relations. They knew her and they abused her in a shockingly violent manner, one after another all night long until morning appeared. One translation says that at the break of day when light dawned, they let her go. Commentator Gill says there's being works of darkness it would not bear the light. And when the light came to the day, they left her go.

Her husband opens the door to find his wife at the threshold of the door dead. One translation says that her fingernails were dug into the threshold of the door and she lay there dead. Can you imagine the sounds of her crying at night? Can you imagine starting with screams and then as her body breaks down to lesser screams, to where in the early morning just a sad whimper?

Josephus says this about her death, partly through grief at what she had suffered, partly through shame not daring to come into the sight of her husband, but chiefly talking about her cause of death, but chiefly through the injuries done to her by the number of persons that had lain with her. So it is reported of the Thessalonians when they took Phocis, a city, many women were destroyed through the abundance of rapes committed upon them. Abarbanel, a commentator, adds the cold night being without clothes or anything else to cover her. She dies.

Verse 27, the end of 26. She collapsed at the door of the house and lay there until it was light. When her husband opened the door to leave, he found her there. She was lying face down with her hands on the threshold. He said, "Get up, let's go." But there was no answer.

So he put her body on his donkey and took her home. When he got home, he took a knife and cut his concubine's body into 12 pieces. Then he sent one piece to each tribe of Israel. Everyone who saw it said such a horrible crime has not been committed since Israel left Egypt. "Shouldn't we speak up and do something about this?"

Now rather than going to the tabernacle in Shiloh, he returns home to the hill country of Ephraim. He sends out a call to the entire nation, to all 12 tribes. He explains to the messengers carrying those pieces of her body exactly what happened in Gibeah that night and says, "Are we going to do nothing? Is there some justice for me? Is there some justice for my concubine against these people?" And as one voice they unite, as we're going to see in chapter 20. And they take a stand against the Benjamites.

As I said before, whenever I hear people say about things that are in the newspaper, things that are done, mass murders, all those kinds of things, and they look at me and they say, "You know, things can't get any worse." I always think of this story because we're not there yet. Or are we? Are we?

In 90 stories taken from US newspapers of children who were killed, just killed. I mean where they were killed. No other commentary, no other standard applied except that they were killed. There were 217 victims in these 90 stories. Out of the 217 victims, 68% were victimized by homosexual perpetrators. 67% of these were boys. So when out of 90 stories taken at random of children being killed, 67% of those were victimized by homosexuals prior to being killed.

When all other cases of child molestation are added, remove the death and we're just going to look at child molestation. When all other cases of child molestation are added to these 90 stories, there were 5,630 underage victims. 61% of those 5,630 victims were victimized by individuals who engaged themselves in homosexual forced sex. That 61%, 3,386 victims were boys and were abused sexually by a gay homosexual male. There were 60 girls, by the way. 3,386 boys and 60 girls.

Can things get worse? Where are we as a culture? Where is the sickness of the mind today of people that are committing these atrocities? It's in the same vein. It's this sick seeking after deviant sex. In all cases involving eating or torturing the victims, they were all committed by homosexual practitioners.

In another AP story was related an army officer from Florida, maybe some of you heard of this, who would give the date rape drug GHB to men at the bar that he was interested in having sex with. He would then take them home to his house and have sex with them. So are we there yet as a society?

This story appeared, the serial rapist robber began his attacks in East Harris County in April and his assaults have occurred every 30 to 60 days. But what makes this case so unusual is that women are not the target. So far the five victims have all been young white males in their late teens or early 20s. Mostly students still living in their parents' homes. Victims were always accosted in their parents' homes, sometimes he confronted them in the driveway or yard and then usually forced them to go inside. Sometimes he would simply surprise them by breaking into the home.

Sound familiar with the story we just read? Breaking into the home. The National Crime Victimization Study of 2003 says that 1 in 10 rape victims are male. Would you have thought that? Although many studies say the number of male rape victims is probably widely underreported and you can see why.

In a study done of homosexuals and homosexual behavior, listen to this. 24.2% of homosexuals said that they had coerced another man into having physical relationships with them. 24%. The study then looks to a 1998 study where 11.2% of women said that they had been held down physically by a man to force them into sexual intercourse. While only 2.6% of male respondents ever admitted to having held down a woman to have sexual intercourse. Do you understand the difference?

The victims report a true number. Only 20% of the men who actually did it ever said they did because of the stigma, the danger, the fear maybe of being reported to the police by even admitting that. The point being that only 20% of the men who ever forcibly raped a woman ever admitted to having done it. If so, the point being the point they're trying to make is that if 24% of male homosexuals admitted to having entered into a level of sexual coercion which met the legal definition of rape, if 24% admitted to that, what do you think the real percentage is? The percentage on top of that where they did but didn't admit it.

In 1947, Dr. Carle Zimmerman wrote a book entitled "Family and Civilization". He studied the decline of a multitude of multiple civilizations and found eight patterns of domestic behavior that signaled the decline of a civilization. Listen to what he says. First, marriage loses its sacredness, is frequently broken by divorce. Second, traditional meaning of marriage ceremony is lost. Third, the feminist movements abound. Fourth, increased public disrespect for parents and authority in general. Five, acceleration of juvenile delinquency, promiscuity and rebellion. Sixth, refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibilities, walking away. Seven, growing desire for and the acceptance of adultery. Watch TV lately? And eight and finally, an increase in interest in and spread of sexual perversions and sex-related crimes. Are we there yet?

In 1970, David Wilkerson wrote a book. David Wilkerson, as you know, wrote the book "The Cross and the Switchblade" and was a founder of Teen Challenge. In 1974, he narrates a detailed vision of calamities that he says was a vision given to him by God. Now whether he had this vision from God or not is not my point. Just listen to what he said 1974. He says the sin of Sodom will again be repeated in our generation. Of all the sins Sodom was guilty of, the most grievous of all were the homosexual attacks by angry sodomite mobs attempting to molest innocent people.

Mass murder sprees have become so frequent that they are now almost taken for granted. The world is no longer shocked by these tragedies in the past. The Bible says as it was in the days of Lot, so it also will be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. David says, "I have seen things in my vision which make me fear for the future of our children. I speak of wild roving mobs of homosexual men publicly assaulting innocent people in parks and streets in secret places. These attacks by sodomite mobs are certain to come and although they may not be publicized as such, those in law enforcement circles will know the full extent of what is happening."

"Believe me when I tell you," still David Wilkerson, "believe me when I tell you the time is not far off that you will pick up your local newspaper and read sordid accounts of innocent children being attacked by wild homosexual mobs in parks and on city streets. The homosexual community will become so militant and brazen that they will flaunt their sin on television and talk shows very shortly." 1974. "Very clearly I see homosexuals coming out in mass numbers and deviant sex crimes becoming more numerous and vicious." I was two years out of high school in 1974 and I'll tell you the homosexual agenda was still very, very, very much under wraps.

David Noble in his book "The Homosexual Revolution" says this. "Scripture makes it clear, exceedingly clear, that homosexuality is a mark of social decline. History records that the Greek, Roman, Persian, Mayan, Venice, Weimar Germany and Muslim civilizations declined as homosexuality became more prevalent within those cultures. Homosexuals have a tendency to turn against their parent society if it does not succumb or give in to homosexuality. They will subvert their own nation if they consider it too moral or anti-homosexual."

California congressman William Dannemeyer said this in the late 80s. "In the greatest of civilizations, there is usually a common thread at the end. A corruption of spirit that leads to selfishness and preoccupations with pleasure, eventually to the exclusion of what is usual and normal. At this point, excess and perversion come into fashion and after that, catastrophe. There are numerous examples of such decadence and at the end of great civilizations, you almost always find homosexuality widespread, energetic, enormously proud of itself."

I covered this topic back in when we talked in Leviticus 18 about God's laws regarding sexual morality. Just a couple points to remember. Sexuality is a sin. It's no more difficult for God to forgive homosexuality than any other sin. Let's keep that in mind. And every homosexual is someone that God loves and wants to come into relationship with and is no more difficult to forgive than what he's forgiven you for, what he's forgiven me for. Don't ever forget that. They're people that need Jesus.

But the sin itself the Bible calls an abomination. Vine's Dictionary says when using the term abomination in reference to God, it describes people, things, acts, relationships that are detestable to God because they are contrary to his nature. Stealing a car is not being contrary to his nature. Speeding is not being contrary to his nature. In fact, he's very fast. So there's a little justification there in my mind. But homosexuality is contrary to his nature. One man, one woman for the raising of child. I remember I forget where in the Bible it says he says to parents and what does God want out of your relationship? To raise up godly children. This strikes at the very core of God's plan. It's against his very nature.

We're told today that the pictures that you see and doing the research in this I saw a picture of two homosexual men with their adopted son. Big smiles, the son a big smile. And the picture they would portray is that these are all monogamous relationships. One man, one man, faithful for for life. Isn't that the picture you're given? Isn't that what you see? Isn't that how it's portrayed?

Did you know that 43% of all homosexuals, men, say that they have had over 500 partners? 500. Did you know that only 1% of male homosexuals have had four or less partners? Only 1%. Should we accept homosexuals in the church that are struggling? Absolutely. Should we accept homosexuals in the church that are defiant and saying you accept me this way or you're wrong? Absolutely not. Would we accept people in the church that are living in adultery and say you accept me under these terms or I don't come? Absolutely not.

Imagine being in a church of 500 and you find that out of the 500 people you're in the church with, 43% of them have had sex with everyone else in the church. And that only 1% of the people in the church, out of 500, I mean only five people have had four or less adulterous affairs. Would you want to belong to a church like that? The picture that's being portrayed by the gay right activists of these faithful monogamous relationships, it doesn't exist. It's a purposeful creation of a life that does not exist.

So how close are we to the end? In 1973, up until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association had labeled homosexuality a disorder. It had a definition, a diagnosis as a disorder. In 1973, the Gay and Lesbian Task Force funded the lobbying of and then the taking of a poll outside of their association of these psychiatrists, their opinion on whether it was or was no longer a disorder. The vote was 5,834 to 3,810 that it was not to be a disorder any longer. And as a result of that poll, shortly after the American Psychological Association then passed that within their own framework. But that was brought about by a lobbying of the gay right caucus.

Well, how close are we? Chapter 20. Then all the Israelites from Dan to Beersheba and from the land of Gilead came together in one large assembly and stood in the presence of the Lord at Mizpah. They stood at Mizpah and the leaders of all the people in all the tribes of Israel, 400,000 warriors armed with swords, took their position in the assembly of the people of God. And they're about to go to war. They're about to do battle.

Guest (Male): You're listening to a message in Judges on Study the Word with Pastor Thom Keller. This is actually our final message in the series. To hear it again, come by ccleb.com and look for Judges 19 and 20. You can hear this study again by going to ccleb.com. Visit ccleb.com and have a look under resources. There you'll find our teaching archives or call and request a CD copy at 717-507-7862. That's 717-507-7862.

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