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Lot's life is a fascinating narrative: The story of Lot is a fascinating one, with lots of twists and turns. First off the story of Lot begins with his disobedient ancestors and their obsessive practice of idolatry. Idolatry is about substituting a belief, interest or value in the place of the one true God, Yahweh. Idols are false images or substitutes for God. They are lies. They are false information about who God is and what God is about. The story of Lot begins in the Garden of Eden. There the serpent deceived the woman into believing he knew things about God that the woman and her husband Adam were not privileged to know. The truth is that the knowledge Satan wished to impart was not a privileged knowledge at all. The knowledge of evil is a burden and a torment. Only the knowledge of good is a blessing and a joy. God withheld nothing from man that would be beneficial to him. God is good and He has always imparted to man, through His Spirit, all the good that He has and is. The devil on the other hand is evil. He has created a new knowledge that is no knowledge at all. He is the father of lies. The devil is the evil one who has destructively added to God’s truth his own newly constructed Torah of Death. God in no way is the author of evil: I believe the devil received the knowledge of God's goodness when he was created and ordained as an "anointed cherub that guards" the glory and the divine presence of God. Sometime later he decided to ascend to a higher station than God had ordained for him. Lucifer decided at that time to be a Teacher like God. He became a teacher in his own right by adding his own delusional thoughts, feelings and independent will to God's perfect wisdom. Lucifer betrayed God's trust by using the wisdom, knowledge and authority God gave him to devise and sell his own unique brand of teaching and doctrine. Caught up in his own thirst for self-glory he deluded himself into believing he could somehow improve God's teaching by applying to it his own imagination and creativity. Lucifer, the son of the Dawn, full of God's wisdom and beauty, infected himself and God's wisdom with pride and rebellion. He became the "author of evil:" "You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering: the ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God. You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. By the abundance of your trade you were internally filled with violence and you sinned. Therefore, I have cast you as profane from the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I cast you to the ground. I put you before kings that they may see you. By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries. Therefore, I have brought fire from the midst of you. It has consumed you and I have turned you to ashes on the earth in the eyes of all who see you. All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you. You have become terrified and you will cease to be forever" (Ezekiel 28:13-19). The rise of Rabbi Satan and his synagogue: Lucifer became Rabbi Satan. He perverted God's Torah with his great lies. Satan's Torah was supposed to bring glory to his own name but it has only brought death to himself and all who have followed him. Satan has become the Master Teacher of a new domain the rule of sin and death. His kingdom is a parasite on God's original created order. Everything Satan has created in some way is a perversion of God's goodness. Satan whose name means "accuser," is the author of evil. He is the evil one. God alone is the author of all that is good. Satan became a liar and a murder. This happened at the moment he began to rebel against God's Teaching, His Word. God unlike the evil one only speaks the truth. The Eternal One alone is the author of all that is true: "Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on, show regard for (nabat) iniquity" (Habakkuk 1:13). God's eyes are too "pure" to behold, view with respect, be interested in or value in any way what is evil. In 1 John 1:5 we read: "God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all!" Satan fell when he became a Teacher like God: After Adam's fall the human race was infected with the terminal disease of Satan's false Torah of Death. In antiquity one of the forms of idolatry Satan has sponsored is that of Moon worship. Moon god cultism originated in the Mesopotamian region of Iraq. By the time of Abraham, around 2000 B.C., worship of the Moon god Zu-en (Sin) had reached its zenith in Ur. The Moon god worship in Ur was really an imaginative way of worshipping Satan. The symbols of the Mesopotamian Moon god Sin (Zu-en) were the Crescent Moon, an illuminated lampstand and a figure of a Man who was depicted in such a manner as to symbolize personified "wisdom." Wisdom was originally depicted in the ancient world to be what issued out of the divine power that rules over the stars and the heavens; as illustrated in the practice of astrology. The House of Great Light and the House of Joys: Ur means "flame" (radiant illumination). The worship center of Moon worship in Ur was called the "House of the Great Light" (E-gish-shir-gal). Another principal sanctuary of the Moon god was in Harran, meaning "Activity on the Mountain;" the temple mount ascending to the north. The temple name of this northern place of idolatrous worship was the "House of Joys" (E-khul-kuhl). The Moon god Satan was worshipped in Babylonia in the highly exalted place in the North, at Harran. The Moon god cult is a tool for teaching Satan's Torah: "God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He made the stars also" (Genesis 1:16). The Moon god cult is upside down cake. Instead of the moon being depicted as a lesser light than the greater light of the sun, the moon is recast as the father of the sun and therefore the moon is the greater of the two luminaries. In Rabbi Satan's biblical narrative the Ruler of the Night is greater than the Ruler of the Day. Priority is given to the ruler of darkness. The ruler of the day is depicted as insignificant in comparison. Furthermore, Satan the Moon god is depicted as wisdom personified, a house of radiant illumination, a sanctuary of exaltation and multiplied joys. In Satan's temple there is even a lampstand that symbolizes his claim that he possesses a divine knowledge, wisdom and understanding that is beyond that possessed by any other being, divine or otherwise. This of course is all a lie. Satan's Torah is a complete lie: "I know all the things you do--your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. But I have this complaint against you. You are permitting that woman--that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet--to lead my servants astray. She is encouraging them to worship idols, eat food offered to idols, and commit sexual sin. I gave her time to repent, but she would not turn away from her immorality. Therefore, I will throw her upon a sickbed, and she will suffer greatly with all who commit adultery with her, unless they turn away from all their evil deeds. I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out the thoughts and intentions of every person. And I will give to each of you whatever you deserve. But I also have a message for the rest of you in Thyatira who have not followed this false teaching (`deeper truths,' as they call them--depths of Satan, really). I will ask nothing more of you except that you hold tightly to what you have until I come” (Revelation 2: 19-25). These promises of secret knowledge and ecstatic experiences are really the Serpent’s poisonous knowledge of evil, mixed in with the truly life-giving knowledge of God’s goodness. In other words in the claims of the Moon god we see a rehash of the biblical depiction of the two trees (Genesis 3:1-6). Yahweh's tree gives forth only good fruit symbolized by the Tree of Life. The evil one gives forth fruit that mixes evil with good symbolized by the Tree of Death (more information about the two trees is found in the article, "Messiah in Sukkot III"). Haran means the World is your House of Joy and not God: Lot's great grandfather Nahor's name means loud or "labored breathing" like an aggressive snorting horse. Nahor was a Moon god worshipper. Terah was the son of Nahor. Terah's name means "delay." Terah loved his moon god worship so much that he named his third son Haran after the location of the northern sanctuary in Harran. Harran was where the Moon god temple was located, the "House of Joys." There is no need to describe what kind of cultic joys Nahor, Terah and Haran enjoyed in their worship of the Moon god. Haran was Lot's father. The ruler of darkness claims to be the Exalted Father: Similar to Haran, Terah named his son Abram after the Moon god Sin. The god Sin was called the "Exalted Father" (the meaning of Abram's name) because he was reported to be senior in rank to all the other gods. Sin was the Father of the Sun (Utu). Therefore, the sun or ruling luminary over the day was subservient to the Moon god Sin. Since the sun in the book of Malachi is a symbol for the Messiah who is the Eternal One in human form, "the Sun of Righteousness who rises with healing in His wings," this means the Moon god Satan claims to be superior to the Messiah. The Moon god claims superiority over the Sun of Righteousness in both his origin, his claim to be the Exalted Father and in his glory, his claim to be the god of both the House of Great Light and the House of Multiplied Joys; the lord of the heavens and the earth. Lot's family was composed of Moon god worshippers: These sacred symbols and images are imbued with doctrinal meaning. The moon is nothing by itself. It has no life or glory of its own. Like man at his best the moon exists only to reflect the radiance of the sun, or in man's case, to reflect the radiance of God's image; as Israel and Leah humbly do in Joseph's messianic dream about the true family of God (Genesis 37:9). In the Bible there is a sneaky character who is the grandson of Nahor II (Nahor II was Terah's first born son). This sneaky, deceitful character is a Moon worshipper par excellance. His name means Bright, Glorious, "Full Moon" (Moon in all its radiant glory). Laban is the one whose name means the Moon in all its radiant glory . No more delay: True to the meaning of his great grandfather Nahor’s name, Laban is always trying to "delay" others from leaving him so he can continue profiting from them by making them fall prey to his ingenious schemes and unending deceits. Laban is a type of Satan's religious system (administration). The evil regime of Laban seems to be capable of delaying without end the "Rule of God"on earth. In contrast the Hebrew name Israel means, "Rule of God." Satan's delay of God's rule on earth will end soon: In Revelation 10:6, an exuberant angel triumphantly proclaims: "No More Delay!" In the biblical account we discover our friend Lot after being orphaned, is fortunately adopted by his uncle Abram and his aunt Sarai (Princess). In Genesis chapter 12 the exalted father and his bride leave the false god of Ur and after a delay in Haran due to Terah, finally arrive in the land of Yahweh's choosing. World governance will rest upon Messiah's shoulders: There in the place of Yahweh's choosing, Abram and his nephew Lot--no longer orphaned but saved by the father of the doctrine of faith--now enter together into Shechem. At Shechem Abram makes an offering to God near the oak tree grove at the Valley of Moreh. Shechem means Shoulder and speaks of Governance. The governance of God's kingdom rests on the shoulders of the Messiah: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the Government shall be upon His shoulder: and his Name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Shalem was purchased by the Messiah: The Messiah purchased our peace (Shalem) through His blood (100 silver pieces). Silver in the Scriptures is the precious metal of redemption. Redemption comes through the shedding of blood. This was foreshadowed in the Valley of Moreh, in the testimony of Abraham's sacrifice in the valley of oak trees located just outside Shechem. This valley filled with oak trees speaks of the Messiah's sacrifice for our sin on the accursed tree; located just outside the gates of Jerusalem two thousand years ago. Abraham's faith led to the purchase of our redemption: Acts 7:16 states Abraham's grandson Israel (Rule of God) purchased Shalem (Peace) in Abraham's name. This was appropriate because it was by Abraham's faith that the entire posterity of God's blessing has come to Israel and the whole world (Romans 4). In other words it was Abraham's faith that led to the purchase of our redemption through the Messiah's sacrifice of His life on the cross. Shalem was purchased by the blood of the Lamb: "And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padanaram; and pitched his tent before the city. And he bought a parcel of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for an hundred pieces of money [Pieces in Hebrew 'qesiytah,' means ancient silver coins stamped with the figure of a lamb!]. And he erected there an altar, and called it (Elelohe-Israel) the Mighty God of Israel" (Genesis 33:18-20). For more information about the area encompassing Shalem in the north, to Yerushalem in the south read our articles, "Rosh Hashanah II" and "Return to Shiloh." God's immature flock is made righteous by His grace: Lot is a type of the immature believer who does not grow up as he should. Lot like so many young believers seeks to be affluent only to end up impoverished. Lot is like the one who passes through the fire without bearing any truly lasting treasure. His life was typified by works of wood, hay and stubble: "Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, 'He catches the wise in their own craftiness'; and again, 'The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.' Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come--all are yours. And you are Messiah's, and Messiah is God's" (1 Corinthians 3:12-23). Burning destruction will one day come upon the world: Five cities once dotted the Plain of Jordan that today is a desolate wasteland at the southern end of the Dead Sea (Genesis 14:2, 8). These five cities were: 1. Sodom (meaning Burning); 2. Gomorrah;
3. Admah; 4. Zeboiim; 5. Bela (meaning Destruction).
Bela later was called Zoar meaning, "to be made little." In this Plain of Burning Destruction, the Scriptures report Sodom and Gomorrah were the two chief cities among the five. These five cities were situated in a beautiful, verdant valley, "Like the garden of the Yahweh, like the land of Egypt as you go toward Zoar" (Genesis 13:10). Lot chose to settle in this fertile plain after he had separated from his uncle Abraham even though he knew "the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against Yahweh" (verse 13). Years later God visited Abraham and revealed His intention to destroy the cities of the plain because their sin had grown "very grievous" to Him (Genesis 18:20). As had happened before in the lifetime of Noah, God knew that these corrupt people had become so evil that He had no choice but to destroy them. Abraham pleaded for the lives of Lot and his family and God graciously agreed to spare Sodom if only ten righteous men were there (verse 32). Lot was righteous by faith and not by good works: Lot being a righteous man recognized the angels whom God had sent and offered them his hospitality and protection (2 Peter 2:7). Lot knew how dangerous it was for strangers to be in public in Sodom once the sun went down. Lot's fears were justified. The perverted men of the city surrounded his house and demanded that Lot surrender the two angels to them so they could have sex with them (Genesis 19:4-5). Their cultural depravity ran so deep that both old and young, rich and poor, participated in this perverse activity. Lot was a moral failure: In a moment of moral failure Lot tried to appease the mob by offering his daughters to them but this appeasement only escalated the crowd’s insistence that the men immediately be turned over to them. When they became physically violent the angels safely pulled Lot inside his home and struck the Sodomites with blindness. After futilely searching for the door to Lot's house, the blind crowd dispersed (verses 6-11). He delayed in leaving Sodom: After witnessing Sodom's depravity firsthand the angels told Lot to take his entire family out of the city: "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Yahweh, and the Yahweh has sent us to destroy it" (verse 13). However, Lot was delayed in leaving when his repeated attempts to convince his sons-in-law to leave failed (verse 14). He did not understand the urgency of his situation: Lot apparently did not understand the urgency of his situation and the angels literally had to take him, his wife and two daughters out of Sodom by force (verse 16). Still hesitant Lot convinced the angels to allow his family to flee to Zoar rather than the nearby mountains because he was afraid "some evil" would befall him (verses 19-22). Lot was thereafter directed to obey two commands: "Do not look behind you;" and do not "stay anywhere in the plain" (verse 17). Zoar speaks of the destruction of our independent Self-life: When Lot entered Zoar,"the Yahweh rained burning rock and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Yahweh out of the heavens" (verse 24). All the cities of the plain were destroyed except Zoar (verse 25). Fleeing to Zoar speaks of the destruction of our independent, selfish, rebellious Self-life. Bela was the previous name of the small village of Zoar and its name means Destruction. Ironically we find true safety in the Lord only after we agree to commit our self-life to destruction and humbly submit ourselves to His will (Zoar literally means to become “Little”). God “gives grace to the humble but opposes the proud.” Yet just before Lot's wife reached Zoar, the place of safety, she disobeyed the angel's command and looked back: "She became a pillar of salt" (verse 26). Remember Lot's wife: In Luke 17:32, while teaching about the end of the age, Rabbi Yeshua tells His disciples to "Remember Lot’s wife." Why did she look back? The context indicates that Lot's wife looked back because she loved the things of the world. Lot's wife is a type of the love of the world. Believers carry within their bodies an entity that loves sin and not God, the sin nature that is called the flesh. The sin nature in the believer is not our true nature. It is like a parasite, a tumor that lives off the host organism. The new nature, our true self that God gives to every believer hates the ways of the world. Our new nature hates sin and loves what is good. Spirit of the World: Lot's unnamed wife represents the spirit of Sodom, the World, that loves evil and hates good. This spirit will not rule in God's millennial kingdom but will be turned to salt. When the Messiah comes (a second time) to judge the earth He will swiftly and fearfully bring an end to the corrupt administration of evil in the world. His terrible and harsh judgments will leave a purifying impression upon the righteous remnant that will survive the Great Tribulation and the Second Coming of our Lord. Memorial of Purification: These judgments will serve as a Memorial of Purification, a perpetual testimony throughout the thousand-year reign of the Messiah that the love of sin and evil will no longer be tolerated and will bring only swift and terrible judgment from God. Among those of us who are mature in the Spirit of God this unrelenting demand for holiness and whole hearted devotion to God begins now: "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (I John 2:15-17). Lot is a type of believers in the Last Days: Lot is an eschatological (end-time) figure. His association with Sodom and Gomorrah prophetically speaks of the final judgment of God (2 Peter 2:1-11). Three judgments are illustrated by the apostle Peter as proof positive that God indeed has judged sin in the past and will continue to judge sin in the future. First, the angels have in times past been judged for their misconduct (Genesis 6; Jude). Second, humanity was judged in the global flood for its misconduct. Third, in a final future judgment (foreshadowed in the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah), the entire universe will be destroyed in a complete conflagration of fire: "The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10). Therefore, I believe Lot's escape from the fiery judgment is also a foreshadowing of escape from ultimate judgment, removal from God's presence and permanent exile into what the Scriptures call the eternal "Lake of Fire" (Revelation 20:10).
Lot's name means "Veiled:" Lot's name tragically means "Veiled." Lot was born from above and was adopted into the family of God. By Faith Lot was a righteous man. Yet, because he did not outwardly live in accord with his inner life with God there was very little outward behavioral evidence of his true identity and inner righteousness. Lot chose to be a person of largesse in the world. He sought wealth and became impoverished. He sought fame and became a failure. Lot sought refuge in the splendor of the world, yet his only place of real safety was in a village called Zoar whose place name means "Small." Lot unlike Abram had yet to learn how to walk humbly with the Lord his God. He had not learned how to bow to God's will instead of his own. Take an inside look at Lot's spiritual predicament, "God rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a good man who was sick of all the immorality and wickedness around him. Yes, he was a righteous man who was distressed by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day." Ask yourself if the following passages of Scripture from 2 Peter 2: 1-9 pertain to you in any way. Is the World's present influence upon you keeping you from living a fruitful life for God? The Danger of False Teaching: "But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach their destructive heresies about God and even turn against their Master who bought them. Theirs will be a swift and terrible end. Many will follow their evil teaching and shameful immorality. And because of them, Messiah and His true way will be slandered. In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way" (2 Peter 2:1-3). Lot was self-deceived by his own pride and seduced by the world's promise of unending material wealth and pleasure. Peter warns us about false prophets and teachers who teach that pandering to one's self-life is the true road to salvation. False teaching is always about replacing humility and obedience to God with pride and self-indulgence. Ultimately all false teaching turns against the Messiah (Christ). You cannot serve your self-life as if it were God and at the same time succeed in serving the Messiah. Eventually the worship of one's own self wins out, then the false believer aggressively turns against the true Master of us all. You see this today in a lot of the cultural icons of our western society: politicians, highly successful business-persons, musicians, entertainers, actors, Hollywood execs, media personalities, professional athletes, talk show hosts, scholars, fashion experts and even religious leaders. Man will try to make God in his own image: In the twenty-first century it appears the Moon god's "House of Joys" and "House of Radiant Illumination" still are very much open for business. People are still obsessively climbing the Mountain of self-pleasure (Harran) and seeking their own brand of salvation through self-enlightenment (Ur): "In their greed they will make up clever lies to get hold of your money. But God condemned them long ago, and their destruction is on the way." Nothing is more evil than seducing people into false teaching while promising them true salvation through acquisition of personal power and wealth (Deuteronomy 13:1-18; 18:20; Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 13; Matthew 7:15; 23:1-36; 24:4,5; Romans 16:17; 2 Corinthians 11:13-14; Galatians 3:1,2; 2 Timothy 4:3,4). The real reason why Lot's immoral neighbors put up with him as long as they did was because he was wealthy. The citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah allowed Lot a certain degree of respect just as long as he was able to share with them a steady stream of material blessings. Peter is warning believers today, "Look out, the secular society will try to seduce you and there will be spiritual and intellectual rock stars who will attempt to lead you away from the true teaching of the Messiah Yeshua. They will ruin your life for their own selfish gain. Get street-wise, don't be fooled!" Sodom is about loving the things of the World: "For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; he threw them into hell, in gloomy caves and darkness until the judgment day. And God did not spare the ancient world-except for Noah and his family of seven. Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. Then God destroyed the whole world of ungodly people with a vast flood. Later, he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into heaps of ashes and swept them off the face of the earth. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But at the same time, God rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a good man who was sick of all the immorality and wickedness around him. Yes, he was a righteous man who was distressed by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day" (2 Peter 2:4-8). People are not the only ones who God has judged. He judges the angels too. Just like there are false prophets and teachers who misrepresent God's ways and truth, so are there false ministering spirits. If anyone thinks God is too caring and loving to judge those who rebel against Him, think again: "For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; he threw them into hell, in gloomy caves and darkness until the judgment day." Peter is referring to an incident where angels, "did not keep their proper domain" (Jude 6). Angels entered men for the express purpose of promiscuously experiencing cohabitation with women. This strange occurrence is alluded to in the introduction to the Flood narrative of Noah, found in Genesis 6. God will judge the fallen angels: "Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Yahweh said, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.' There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown. Then the Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Yahweh was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Yahweh said, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Yahweh" (Genesis 6:1-8). Here in Genesis 6, it is reported that humanity reached new heights of sin after fallen mankind and the fallen angels became spiritually united in their joint quest for new and more exciting ways of experiencing life. The renown of the mighty men that emerged on the world scene at that time was not for excellence in righteousness but renown for individual self-attainments of strength, power, rule, wealth and sensuality. Worship in the New Age promised salvation through ever escalating self-aggrandizement and self-satisfaction. Immorality became the New Morality. Men and women worshipped together with the fallen angels. True worship of God tragically had all but completely ceased. So egregious was humanity’s mismanagement of God's gift of life that He: "Was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and was grieved in His heart." Worship in the New Age is worship of Self and not God: Peter states the fallen angels were cast into Tartarus (Hell) for their misconduct. This is a different word than other words used for hell. Tartarus in Greek mythology was a lower place than Hades. It was reserved for the most evil human beings, demons and gods. The Jews used this term as a word description of the place where the fallen angels were sent. Unlike the Moon god's promise of a great place to be, a place of radiant glory and multiplied joys, the Jews knew the truth about what kind of a House the fallen angels would ultimately end up in, a place of terrible torture and deepest suffering. In truth the demons fear going there. During His ministry on earth, the demons begged Rabbi Yeshua not to send them there (Matthew 8:29; Luke 8:31). Not all demons are bound. Many are free to roam the heavens and the earth (Revelation 12: 7-9). Some are temporarily bound. Others are permanently bound awaiting judgment: "For God did not spare even the angels when they sinned; he threw them into hell, in gloomy caves and darkness until the judgment day." Ur is about dwelling forever in a "House of Fire:" Tartarus prophetically speaks of those fallen angels who are permanently incarcerated and awaiting sentencing. On the Day of Judgment these wicked angels will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Satan and his fallen angels' covert inducements for humanity to experience multiplied joys in this life are all lies to delay their inevitable Day of Judgment and to convince foolish humanity to join them in their "House of Fire" (Ur literally means, Fiery). Abraham left Ur and took Lot and several other souls with him. Abraham is still, through his Torah of justification by faith, leading a lost humanity to be adopted into a new life within the household of God. Have you left the world's lies and followed God's truth? Are you living in conformity to God's Teaching and not your own foolish will? If you need help following God's way through faith in His Messiah, contact us. We would be glad to help you in your quest to love, honor, serve and obey God. The World prefers self-gratification to the truth: "And God did not spare the ancient world--except for Noah and his family of seven. Noah warned the world of God's righteous judgment. Then God destroyed the whole world of ungodly people with a vast flood" (2 Peter 2:5). The world-wide flood during the days of Noah is a second illustration that God will always judge sin (Genesis 6-8). After Noah entered the ark (a symbol of faith in the Messiah) the entire human race was reduced down to only eight people (1 Peter 3:20). Noah gave the people plenty of warning about the righteousness of God and about the impending judgment. However, his pleas for repentance were ignored. The world populace preferred to listen to the self-gratifying teaching (lies) of the fallen angels, rather than to listen to God's truth. Noah was a preacher (keryka, "herald") of righteousness, who spoke out against the status quo of his day. Do people today think they can escape God's judgment? When righteousness is preached today is it mocked, ridiculed, unheeded? To underscore the lessons of the Flood, Peter refers to it three times (1 Peter 3:20; 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6). Peter reminds us that God has judged evil even when it has had to be on a world-wide scale (judging the entire human race: save eight people). Peter further warns us that God's judgment can come swiftly and unexpectedly. Due to the delusional nature of the people, God's judgment came very suddenly. The Greek word epaxas, "bringing on" (passive participle of epago, to bring on) indicates the people only realized the horrible predicament they were in at the moment of disaster when it was to late to do anything about it. Peter uses this same verbal word picture when he speaks of the false teachers who, by their secretly bringing in destructive heresies, were "bringing" swift destruction upon themselves (2 Peter 2:1). God will rescue His people from immorality and wickedness: "Later, he turned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into heaps of ashes and swept them off the face of the earth. He made them an example of what will happen to ungodly people. But at the same time, God rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a good man who was oppressed by all the immorality and wickedness around him. Yes, he was a righteous man who was tormented by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day. So you see, the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their temptations, even while punishing the wicked right up until the Day of Judgment" (2 Peter 2:6-9). Recently scientists have discovered evidence of a natural event that may explain the manner in which Sodom and Gomorrah was incinerated. A recently translated clay tablet that has baffled scientists for 150 years is thought to be an account of how Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. The research findings of Dr. Hempsall and Alan Bond are published in their book, "A Sumerian Observation of the Köfels Impact Event." They believe a large asteroid, reported by an ancient astronomer, clipped the Alps, headed in the direction of the Middle East (at a low eight degree angle) and then incinerated the area where Sodom and Gomorrah used to be, in the Dead Sea region. A "Fiery City" suddenly descended from heaven: The clay cuneiform Planisphere Tablet (an ancient, round clay star chart) the researchers translated, indicates the asteroid was more than half a mile across. The Sumerian astronomer (ancient eye-witness) reporting the event, described the asteroid as appearing to be a "white stone bowl approaching" and recorded it as being "vigorously swept along," traveling at a very high speed. If the twin cities were destroyed in the manner stated, the inbound fiery object would have seemed like a fiery city brilliantly coming down from heaven, descending upon the affected area and turning its entire lush, green region, described as being like the garden of Eden and the Egyptian Nile, into a radiant, bright burst of inapproachable light. Following the impact event the beautiful garden area would have been transformed into a smoke-filled, dead, ashen-grey, wasteland. Contrast the horrible fate of these inhabitants of the city of fire in Genesis 21 (and Revelation 20:11-15) with the wonderful fate of the righteous inhabitants who dwell in the New Jerusalem, in Revelation 21. Whether Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by an asteroid or by some other means is unimportant. What is important is the graphic illustration of God's judgment of sin. It is important that we see how these wicked, sophisticated, materially blessed people were sadly brought to such a tragic, swift, violent end. God has sent a clear message that all wickedness will ultimately be responded to with a fiery, swift, inescapable judgment. Lot was declared righteous by his "faith" in the one true God. Righteousness was imputed to Lot by grace through faith, just as it was to Abraham (Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:3, 11, 22, 23). Like all of God's children, Lot was "adopted" into God's family (as a son of Abraham) through his belief in the promises of God. Lot's inclusion in the family of God was through no meritorious works of his own, as evidenced by: 1. His selfishness (Genesis 13:5-11); 2. His friendship with the wicked (Genesis 19:6, 9); 3. His immoral decision-making (Genesis 19:8); 4. His drunkenness (Genesis 19:33-35).
Lot was principally preoccupied with amassing great power and wealth for himself in Sodom (Genesis 19:16). Yet he did hate the sins of his culture and sincerely attempted to protect God's heavenly representatives, His angels, from harm. Lot obeyed the Lord in not looking back at Sodom (Genesis 19). Righteous Lot was tormented by what he saw and heard: Peter points out in both of his illustrations of humanity's judgment (destruction by flood and by fire) that God's people were rescued. The Greek word for oppressed (basanizo) implies that Lot was troubled deeply and tortured (the meaning of tormented) with the gross immoral conduct of the people living in and around Sodom and Gomorrah. Tragically, one must ask, are believers in the twenty-first century as deeply troubled as Lot about the gross immorality we see today proliferating our own time? In both the circumstances of Noah and Lot we see God delivering His people out of their temptations. The Greek word for temptations (peirasmos) can mean "an attack with intent to destroy" (cf. Mark 8:11; Luke 4:12; 22:28; Acts 20:29; Revelation 3:10). Therefore, Peter is referring to deliverance from severe judgment. The divine pattern is for God to rescue the godly before His judgment falls on the wicked. The wicked, however, are treated like prisoners in a temporary holding facility (Hades), awaiting sentencing that will permanently send them to their eternal prison (the Lake of Fire). The final judgment of the wicked is called the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). The ungodly of all ages will one day be resurrected, stand before God in final judgment and be cast into the Lake of Fire. The torturous liberation that leads to Peace: Before ending this article, it is important to point out that all of us start out our developmental journey as Lot. Initially, as immature believers, our true self is hidden (veiled) underneath (the flax of) our social conditioning. Just because we have been converted and are indwelt with the Holy Spirit does not mean our conscious self is automatically purified or developed. On the contrary, our new authentic nature creates a conflagrating conflict with our old sin nature. On the battlefield of our mind our old inauthentic self rules over us for a time (regretfully, far too long). It mocks and persecutes our true self like Goliath mocked David. In time we do mature; normatively after a great, torturous, fiery ordeal within has occured. Thereafter, like the mature David, whose name means Beloved, our true self finally overthrows the headship of our false self. This defining moment is when we consciously and behaviorally rid ourselves of our socially conditioned addiction to the World's domineering intellect, will, emotion, behavior, and relational life. This happens at a time of God's own choosing, when the Life of God (the Holy Spirit) violently breaks out of His voluntary imprisonment in the believer's underdeveloped soul, to ascend to His proper place of rule over the believer's mind, body and behavior. This is a time of torturous liberation, for great personal sacrifices are required for sin's usurping dominance to be successfully overthrown. After this fiery ordeal (the traumatic destruction of our false self), our inner and outer lives finally work together in harmony and peace. We thereafter are privileged to pass from the developmentally tragic narrative of Lot into the blessed narrative of Abraham, who in the full bloom of his maturity is called God's friend. |
Teaching 
