The Watchman’s Call

Guest (Male): Standing at the intersection of the word and the world, there is a clear sound for uncertain times. Welcome to the Watchman's Call. Join us as we stand on the ramparts of scripture to examine the intersection of biblical prophecy and modern culture. The headlines are changing, but the blueprint has already been written. Listen as Pastor Andy Woods uncovers the prophetic significance of the world we live in. The Watchman's Call starts now.

Dr. Andy Woods: And we want to welcome you back to the Watchman's broadcast where we are actually in part three of a mini series that we are involved in entitled The Days of Lot. And the reason we're looking at this subject from the Bible is Jesus was very clear in Luke 17 verses 28 and 30 when he was queried about the end of the age. He just gives a really terse answer and he says as it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of Man. And so we feel it's a legitimate inquiry to go into the Bible and look at some of the trends happening in the days of Lot, meaning the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and compare it to our culture, our world, our society today as sort of a barometer for ascertaining whether we indeed are in the climate associated with the return of Christ.

In other words, are the trends happening in Sodom and Gomorrah happening today? We are arguing yes. First, we noted that in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah uh there was an insensitivity towards God. We clearly see that today. Number two, there was a great material prosperity. We see that today as well. But there is a problem with prosperity. There's a curse associated with prosperity. We have a tendency when we become prosperous to forget the things of God and we have greater opportunities to explore the desires of the sin nature. And that takes us to number three.

In the days of Lot, there was a mainstreaming of sexual deviance. And in our last show together, we described that that mainstreaming is happening today. And the whole name of the game today in the LGBTQIA plus movement is to take sexual perversion and equate it to the level of a legitimate civil rights status. And once you can do that, you can change the civil rights laws of the United States and you can go to law fair to war legally against churches or organizations that hold to a traditional view of marriage. And this is the very thing that's happening today.

We noted in our last show together that if you go back into our history, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there were actually criteria that were used to figure out when a group deserves civil rights protection. The group had to be sizable. They had to have an attribute about themselves that was immutable. They had to demonstrate a pattern of historical discrimination against them. And the attribute that they were discriminated uh against on account of had to be an harmless attribute. And certainly a race uh black, Asian, Hispanic, Caucasian, whatever the issue is or the race is or the ethnicity is fits those four criteria.

But what about homosexuality? Does that does does that fit into these four criteria? Our answer is no because let's just look at these one by one. Number one, is the homosexual community a sizable population? I would say the answer to that is no. What we've been told ever since I believe the 1940s with a study done by Alfred Kinsey that 10% of the American population is homosexual. But when you look at the details of that study, the study is very questionable. For example, Kinsey's sample set consisted of those in bars, gay bars and prisons where the homosexual population has a disproportionate numerical influence.

And so it's from those corrupted sample sets that he said the whole population in America is homosexual. Subsequent more legitimate studies have said no, the number is more like somewhere between 2% to 1.5%. But as the saying goes, if you repeat a lie long enough, people will believe it's true. And so we've heard this figure repeated so many times. We really think that 10% of the population is homosexuality, but that is not true. Number two, is homosexuality an immutable lifestyle? Is it is it an unchangeable characteristic? And the answer to that is no because I don't know anyone that used to be black, but I know many people that used to be homosexuals.

So what they're doing is they're equating a behavior based sinful lifestyle with an immutable characteristic. Now let's just allow the word of God to speak on this issue. Paul in the first Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11 is very clear. He says, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor the effeminate nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God such as some of you were. 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.

So notice here Paul equates homosexuality with any other sin. It's akin to fornication, idolatry, adultery, being covetous, being a drunkard, being a reviler, being a swindler, being a thief. And then Paul says such as some of you were. In other words, a homosexual just like any of these other categories mentioned by Paul can indeed change their spots, so to speak. The leopard can change his spots. The zebra can change his stripes under the power of the of the Holy Spirit. So that verse in and of itself proves that homosexuality is a behavior. Being black, being Hispanic, being Asian, being Caucasian is obviously very different because that's an immutable, unchangeable characteristic that you're born with.

Looking further at these criteria, is there actually a pattern of discrimination against homosexuals? I would argue that that pattern really does not exist. Homosexuals are amongst the most prosperous members of our society. Here's some of the reasons. Unlike American blacks, homosexuals can demonstrate no long-standing pattern of discrimination against them based on their homosexuality. In fact, homosexuals are among the wealthiest members of American society. Such influence relates to the fact that a homosexual marriage frequently involves two males. Men traditionally have had a higher earning power than women. Also a homosexual has greater disposable income due to its complete lack of dependence.

Since homosexuals cannot reproduce, such a lack of dependence saves money typically spent on diapers, education, food, etc. In fact, according to USA Today, quote, homosexuals who live together may be wealthier than their heterosexual living couples. An analysis of new census numbers suggests gay male couples appear to be particularly affluent, out earning even married couples. Gay couples had a $56,863 a year household income. Married couples only $47,012 a year. Heterosexual unmarried couples had an income of $37,602 a year. So what you're seeing with this article from USA Today is homosexuals as a couple enjoy a greater income than their heterosexual counterparts.

According to more recent studies, quote, median LGBT household income is $61,500 a year versus $50,000 a year for the average American household. LGBT households supporting a child reported a median income of $71,100 a year. Close quote. So if these numbers are correct, then this pattern of discrimination against homosexuals simply does not exist. And then how about this fourth category here? Is is homosexuality really you know just like being black or just like being Asian or just like being Hispanic? Is it really an innocuous attribute? The homosexual lifestyle is not innocuous, but rather harmful. While representing a small fraction of the population, homosexuals represent a disproportionate share of those victimized by sexually transmitted diseases, health problems, and premature deaths.

According to one study, quote, up to 55% of homosexual men experienced anorectal complaints. They have and have gonorrhea. 80% of the patients with syphilis are homosexuals. Chlamydia is found in 15% of asymptomatic homosexual men. And up to 1/3 of homosexuals have active anorectal herpes simplex virus. In addition, a host of parasites, bacterial, viral, and protozoan are all rampant in the homosexual population. Close quote. That quote coming from a standard peer review medical journal. So this argument that being homosexual is no different than being a racial minority fails on all four accounts. It's not a sizable population.

The pattern is not immutable. There's no pattern of discrimination against homosexuality. And homosexuality is not innocuous. But you see once the civil rights laws change, then you can begin to purge or as the 1987 article says that we quoted in our last show, overhaul straight America. And this is how homosexuality is being mainstreamed in our culture. It's not just the legal system that's changing on this issue. It's the church of Jesus Christ itself. Here I'm looking at a newspaper clipping talking about a very popular Christian artist. And it talks about how she is hosting a same sex wedding.

I'm looking here at another newspaper article. It's entitled Embracing the Journey. The unconditional conference and the whole premise of this conference is to mainstream homosexuality within Christian circles. I'm looking here at another newspaper article. It's a very popular preacher within our evangelical circles. And he has been using his pulpit to mainstream homosexuality. And he's actually being called out for it. It talks about when this individual speaks out from the pulpit after controversial LGBTQ conference remarks, critics are pushing back and responding that this type of sermon is unchristian. In fact, one popular broadcaster was asked recently about the whole subject of a transsexual wedding.

Should I attend a transsexual wedding if one of the people being married is one of my children? And this particular broadcaster replied not only should you attend, but you should bring a gift. And at this point, we have to ask ourselves why are Christians tripping over themselves to condone something that God considers an abomination? And the answer is we're living in the days of Lot or the there's a mainstreaming of perverse lifestyles both in our legal system and even within the church. I'm reminded very much of the prophet Isaiah who said this in chapter 5 verse 20.

He said, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Are we living in the days of Lot? I would say we are. Number one, there's a great insensitivity towards the things of God as existed in Lot's time. Number two, there was a great material prosperity in Sodom and Gomorrah. We clearly see that today. And number three, people were taking advantage of their prosperity by sort of channeling the sin nature into areas that are inappropriate. And they were number three mainstreaming sexual deviance.

You see that in the days of Lot amongst the old and the young. And you see that happening today as well. This takes us to our fourth of seven characteristics. What else was happening in the days of Lot? Number four, there was a militant sexual perversion taking place. In other words, they weren't just mainstreaming perversion. They were in your face about it. They were loud. They were belligerent about it. They were bellicose about it. They were pushing it to the point of causing fear and intimidation upon those that wanted to stand up against it. So this was a lot more than just mainstreaming.

There was uh an aggressive nature associated with it. Here's an example of the type of militancy that was happening in that time period. Notice Genesis 19 verses 6 through 8. It says, but Lot went out to them at the doorway. Now these would be the men that showed up young and old at Lot's door demanding that he release his two guests for sexual purposes. It says, but Lot went out to them at the doorway and shut the door behind them and said, please my brothers, do not act wickedly. Now behold, I have two daughters who have not had relations with a man.

Please let me bring them out to you and do to them whatever you like. Only do nothing to these men and as in as much as they have come under the shelter of my roof. So Lot in a fit of desperation, walking out of fellowship with God, wanted to release his two daughters to this Sodomite crowd. And they upon that hearing that suggestion were incensed by that. This is what they said. Notice the militancy here. But they said, stand aside. Furthermore, they said this one came in as an alien and already he is acting like a judge.

Now we will treat you worse than them. So they pressed hard against Lot and came near to break down the door. See the militancy? First of all, they said he came here like a judge. Does that sound familiar? Don't judge us. Don't judge our lifestyle. Because you see the moment Lot said I have two daughters, take them, he was saying there's something wrong with your sexuality. You should be practicing heterosexuality. Instead, you're practicing this militant homosexuality. And they immediately took that as an offense. Who are you to judge us? And this is the kind of reaction you get today when you say anything counter or contrary to the LGBTQIA plus lifestyle, you get this argument, who are you to judge us?

And you get this militant response. Stand aside. They were going to break down the door. And they actually told Lot, we're going to treat you worse than we're going to treat those guests that we want released from your house for sexual purposes. So you see this was not just the mainstreaming of a perversion. There was a militancy associated with it. And I would very sadly say this, there is a militancy amongst the LGBTQIA plus movement today. Look no further than the ordeal that has been pushed on a man named Jack Phillips from the state of Colorado.

He is a cake decorator. He is a member of the creative industry. And some homosexuals came into his place of business and said, we want you to make a cake for a same sex wedding. And he very politely told them, there are many cake decorators I could recommend to you, but I myself can't do that because I believe that homosexual marriage is a sin. And if you're going to force me to use my God-given abilities to condone something that God condemns, I cannot allow that. I can't allow myself to be used that way because it would violate my Bible-based Christian convictions and conscience.

And so because of that, this man has been dragged through the legal system for years. And he gets a victory. And then another group comes in and says, you know we're transsexuals. Uh we want you to make a cake for a transsexual wedding. And he says no. He's dragged through the legal system again. All of the emotion being dragged through the legal system, all of the finances being dragged through the legal system. Now in some cases, he's been exonerated. The highest courts of the land have ruled in his favor. But the thing to understand is the punishment is the process.

It's not so much the final victory. It's look what we can do to people. Look at the emotional and financial strain that we can put on people on their livelihood and their business if they don't uh cooperate with the LGBTQIA lifestyle. This is something called law fair. Kind of uh flip the script a little bit and put the shoe on the other foot and you can see what Jack Phillips has gone through. You know this would be the equivalent of coming to the establishment of someone who is a Holocaust survivor or maybe they have Holocaust survivors in their family tree.

And let's say they're cake decorators and you go in and you demand that they make a cake for a Nazi event. And if the legal system says they have to do it, think of what you're doing to that person. You are using the legal system to coerce them against their conscience. That in essence is what uh Jack Phillips was experiencing. He was simply standing for what Christians for the last 2,000 years have embraced. Love the sinner, hate the sin. And I'm very grateful that he had the courage to say no and endured the ridicule and the pain in the process.

But this is a clear parallel between our day and Lot's day. Fortunately, we have had some good Supreme Court rulings in this regard. I'm looking at a newspaper article that says Supreme Court rules in favor of a Colorado graphic designer who refused to create same sex wedding websites. Same issue, but with uh website designer. Make us a homosexual website. I'm sorry, I can't do that. Here's other people that will. I can't because I can't use my God-given abilities to build something that God considers sinful. And the Supreme Court ruled in the favor of the website designer.

We quite frankly need a lot more rulings like this or we're going to find ourselves under great persecution in this country. But I bring these to your attention just to show you the type of militancy that we face in even in our own country concerning this homosexual agenda. I'm looking here at a book cover of a book. This was written in the early 1990s. The title of it is When the Wicked Sees a City. The subtitle is a grim look at the future and a warning to the church. It's written by Chuck and Donna MacAlhaney.

They were Presbyterian ministers that were pastoring a church in San Francisco. At that time, they began to speak up against many of the city ordinances that were being passed that would take homosexuality and make it a some kind of a civil rights issue. And they were successful in derailing some of those city ordinances from eventually getting passed into ordinances. And this book is a description of what they went through. It describes here about how crowds would surround their church, wouldn't let them out, would graffiti the church, would disrupt services, would torment the worshipers with threats.

And this is the type of militancy that is happening in our country. And so this becomes another indicator that we are living in the days of Lot. We'll develop some more trends in our next show together. God bless you.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to The Watchman's Call, exploring the intersection of prophecy and culture. This program is a ministry of Sugar Land Bible Church, a place where the Bible is taught and the times are discerned. Visit this Sunday in person or connect with them anytime at slbc.org. That's slbc.org. Until next time, may the Lord give you a spirit of discernment in the week ahead.