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They say that the test of a true prophet is whether or not his prophecies come true or not just as He said it would. If that be the case, then there is no doubt that Jesus Christ is and was a true prophet. As far as calling His shots for predicting what would happen in the last days, Jesus is batting a thousand! The Word of God is -- surprise! -- coming to pass just as was proclaimed. Jerusalem has become a "cup of trembling" rather than a peaceful place just as Zechariah proclaimed (Zech 12:2). As Jesus said, we daily hear of "wars and rumors of wars and nations rising against nation, and famines and earthquakes" (Matt 24:6-7). Furthermore we have lived to see the age where most people's love -- whether for each other or for the things of God -- has grown cold, just as Jesus said would happen. The following statistics from a Barna group report caught my eye recently:

In a survey of Americans, they found that 34% of the adult population has not attended any type church service or activity other than weddings or funerals during the past six months. Six out of ten of these unchurched people consider themselves to be "Christian." The "beliefs" held by these "unchurched people" were amazing to me in their inconsistencies:

50% agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.

66% agree that their religious faith is very important in their life today.

64% contend that Satan is not a living being, but is just a symbol for evil.

62% believe that a good person can earn eternal salvation.

51% believe that Jesus Christ sinned while He lived on this earth.

61% say their single, most important purpose in life is to love God with all their heart, mind, strength, and soul.

The love of many is definitely growing colder and colder! And Jesus definitely called His shot, when He described the last days!

Another prediction of Jesus Christ was that those who stood for His name would be persecuted and have much tribulation for it. This year an army chaplain, an independent Baptist named Jonathan Stertzbach, was asked in Iraq to pray a prayer at a brief memorial service for several of his fallen comrades. He was required to write the prayer down and submit it to his divisional chaplain for approval. The divisional chaplain sent it back with the words "Jesus Christ" struck through. Stertzbach went to the company commander who had asked him to pray and said he could not pray if it was not in the name of Jesus Christ where he was told that he would pray and would not use the name of Jesus. Not long afterwards, he was removed from his chaplaincy and was sent home, until some Congressmen got involved. Stertzbach is now back at his position in Iraq pending an investigation of the inspector general. It seems that the world is growing colder and colder towards truth and tribulation is rising and rising.

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One of the more sobering predictions of Jesus of the last days before His return is that of our text in Luke 17:28 where Jesus said:

Jesus said, "just as it was in the days of Lot, so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed!" In recalling the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in the book of Genesis and the story of Lot's plight and escape, Jesus said, "just as it was then, so will it be in the days of my return." I want to call the saints of God to attention today and wake us up to the fact that we are now living in the days where Jesus' words are being fulfilled. I can't help but compare America of 2006 to Sodom of old and admit just as it was, so it is! The lifestyle of Sodom -- long destroyed by God for its great sins -- has arisen from the ashes to become the mainstream society of today.

One characteristic of Sodom and its surrounding towns was the luxuries and ease of life that were to be had there. It is was this more than anything else that drew Lot to camp out in the plains near the city and eventually to move in. The city boasted economic trading and opportunities not available in the primitive Canaan land and for the lure of such success, Lot was willing to compromise in obeying God's commandments. Here, he wouldn't have to worry about dealing with sheep or shepherds and worry about having to trust God for pasture and water. Here, he wouldn't have to wander about at God's every whim and command, but could settle down and have a comfortable, normal life. All accounts of scripture indicate that Lot was an economic success in Sodom, working his way till he sat at the gate as one of the chief elders and prominent business men of the city. Some of his daughters were married to other well-off young men of the city, a sign that Lot was very important. He liked the city because it didn't require as much faith and as much sacrifice as living for Abraham's God. He still worshipped -- don't get me wrong -- but ease of living was much the greater priority!

As it was, so it now is! We live in a society where people that honestly answer a poll that they feel that their duty is to serve God with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength and believe that the Bible is completely true in its teachings, yet never darken the doors of churches except for weddings and funerals? Like Lot, they are still claiming to worship God, but priority in their life is making money, work, careers, obtaining nice things, and the good life. Ask people to be as faithful to the house of God as they are to their work and they think you a freak and way outdated. Being that faithful to God takes too much sacrifice and takes away from their quality of life. It's about having plenty and being successful in this life, right? Priorities today are not the Word of God but as Jesus predicted in "buying and selling" and "planting and building" -- just as it was in the days of Lot and Sodom.

Jesus said that another characteristic of Sodom was that they were continually "eating and drinking." He is not talking about the necessities of food for life, but rather of a life of indulgent partying. With Sodom, life was about having a good time for the moment and getting ahead enough so that like the Rich Fool they could "eat, drink, and be merry." Any teaching or doctrine involving sacrifice and denial of fleshly desires was determined to be as foreign and foolish. Life was for living for the moment and having as much fun as possible before you die. Such was the life of Sodom.

Such is the desired life of the average American. Ask the average young person on the street what life is about and they will repeat every maxim of Sodom that we just stated. Life here is about the "eat and the drink" and the party scene. Never mind what hurts and pains and woes come about, don't think about the future or the past but just live for the moment and whatever feels right, at this point in time, do it! Truly as it was so will it be and now is!

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The chief characteristic of Sodom, was, of course, rampant homosexuality and a society that viewed it not as wickedness and devious behavior but as normality and acceptable. When God answered Abraham's prayers and sent two angels of God to warn Lot to get out of Sodom, we find Lot urgently urged the two men not to spend the night in the town square but to come into his house. In our text, we find the reason why, because when the men of the city found that there was two male strangers, the homosexuals of the city came to demand that Lot deliver out the two angels so that they could rape them. When Lot offered his two virgin daughters instead, they were so deluded with homosexual lust that they refused and begin to try to tear the door down. The Bible says that the angels struck the men of the city with blindness and pulled Lot into the house and even then the men in their blindness wore themselves out groping for the door. Sodom was a society that was ruled by the rights of those living the open lifestyle of homosexuality.

As it was, so it now is. Our society is fast succumbing to the lies of the homosexual agenda and movement. Jesus predicted that the whole world would be like Sodom in the days of the end. At this moment, the countries of Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, and Canada have legalized so-called "same sex marriages." Other countries -- like Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden -- give legal "spousal rights" to gays . America is quickly coming on board: Massachusetts now issues marriage licenses to same-sex couples and California is quickly following. "Civil union status" can now be granted in the states of Vermont and Connecticut. On June 30 of this year, the famous Catholic Charities of Boston shut its doors rather than be forced by the state to serve homosexual couples seeking to adopt children. They had been one of the most successful adoption agencies in the state. As it was so it is now becoming. America is Sodom being reborn.

Most amazing is how many so-called Christians are rationalizing homosexual behavior and deleting its sinfulness from the Bible. Many denominations now have openly gay outreaches and openly gay ministers. Gay preachers now read our text and say that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality to strangers and not actually homosexuality. They say that God destroyed the cities because of their not being more kind to the angels. But my Bible says that the cities were slotted for destruction before the angels were sent to do the job because of the gross sinfulness of the cities. Today the government and educational systems have come in line with this delusion and only the church and scripture oppose the homosexuals and the homosexuals are winning the war of public opinion. Homosexual acceptance is at an all-time high in American culture and only half of Americans oppose gay marriage and 60% are in favor of them serving in the military while openly in the lifestyle.

How did this happen? Not overnight for sure. It started in America in the 1970s with the American Psychiatric Association beginning to change homosexuality from a "disorder" to a "condition" and eventually to a "lifestyle." Some liberal psychologists began to put forth the theory -- which to this day does not have one bit of medical or physical proof to back it up -- that maybe homosexuals are "born that way." In the 1980s a book entitled After the Ball: How America will conquer its fear and hatred of Gays in the '90s came out by the authors Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen. The book laid forth a three-fold plan to winning America over to the homosexual agenda:

1. Muddy the moral waters by getting certain religious groups to accept homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle -- thus the "God made me like this" campaign because who can fight against God?

2. Recasts the homosexuals as victims and not as villains. Playing off the pain of AIDs victims to gain sympathy, this strategy led to the trick of speaking of homosexuals as a "minority" and in a role comparable to ethnic minorities and women's rights.

3. Portray anyone who disagrees with homosexuality as phobic and bigoted. Especially among the young people who will quickly grow into adults -- make it seem "wrong" to stand against homosexuals and ridicule those that do.

In the 90s, the homosexual agenda accomplished its goals and the driving force and charge was led by Hollywood and television. Two women kissed for the first time on primetime on LA Law in 1991, an act repeated on Roseanne in 1992 and 1994. Two men kissed on screen for the first time on Melrose Place in 1994. Two women kissed in Xena: Warrior Princess in 1995. The main character of Ellen admitted lesbianism in 1997. Right now over twenty homosexual characters are on the prime time shows of television. Star actor of Lord of the Rings and Da Vinci Code, Ian McKellen recently bragged of ripping the page containing Leviticus 18:22 from any Gideon Bible found in the hotel rooms where he stays. Leviticus 18:22, of course says:

Or if a more idiomatic version clarifies it:

Let's take a moment and answer the homosexual agenda with what the Word of God says:

Leviticus 18:22 labels homosexuality as an "abomination" which Revelation 21:27 says will not enter the New Heaven, New Earth and the New Jerusalem with streets of gold and gates of pearl. These are joined by many other verses in scripture of which here are a few:

God says that the "effeminate" or "homosexuals" will not inherit the kingdom of God. Homosexuals referring to those who have actually committed a homosexual act and "effeminate" referring to men who act and dress like women and women who act and dress like men. Yet Peter tells us that it is not the will of God for any to perish but rather for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), if that is true then it is extremely clear that the God that created man and woman knows that men and women are not born homosexual but rather choose to make that sin a part of them and become bound to it in the same way they do other sins.

In the beginning, God created male and female and He commanded them to lie together and procreate, something homosexual couples cannot do. Paul referred to this "unnaturalness" of the homosexual act when he wrote in Romans:

Notice verse 27 in particular and how that they who did such things "receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error." Another version puts it this way:

"They suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved" is the scriptural answer for the second point of the homosexual agenda. The very unnaturalness of the lifestyle lends itself to many medical hazards, with HIV and AIDS being only one of them. The scripture says that such things are the natural offshoot of choosing such a sinful lifestyle. And by the way, the Bible continues with this about those in the homosexual lifestyle:

The homosexual agenda is not about equal rights but rather until we become a state where like Sodom, the homosexual way is imposed and acceptance of it is forced upon everyone. Like it was in the days of Lot so will it be and so it is fast becoming!

I do not make disparaging or abusive remarks to homosexuals when I see them or treat them any different than I do any other person that I meet. I am not for "gay bashing" or the abusive violence to which some people have resorted. Furthermore, I do not cast away homosexuals but I do not cow tow to their lifestyle either. I want them to come to this church and be just as comfortable and received as any other sinner is. Listen to this preacher, none of the normal stereotypes homosexuals use work with me: I am educated, well read, and have traveled overseas so you cannot use that against me and say that my view is from a narrow mind set. I believe in women's rights to vote, hold a job, drive, have a career, get an education, preach, worship, and that she is man's equal in every way but that she completes him in a unique role and that the man's and woman's role is distinctly different but equally vital. I am not in the least bit racist so you cannot label me with that convenient label. If my daughter grows up to marry a white, black, brown, yellow, or any color in between I care less as long as he is serving Jesus Christ and filled with the Holy Ghost, living in truth and seeking the perfect will of God for his life. And as long as he is a he! I am not a bigot for stating such things, I just know that God can deliver the homosexual from that lifestyle if they will repent and follow God's ways just as God can deliver man and woman from the clutches of any other sin. I fully believe the scripture:

Such were some of you! But you were washed in the blood of Jesus and sanctified and justified and delivered by the Spirit of God and the name of Jesus! There are hundreds of testimonies from around America of the homosexual being set free from that sin and bondage and having a complete change of lifestyle never to go back to it again! Truly where "sin doth abound, grace doth much more abound!" Truly the blood, spirit, and name of Jesus is stronger than even the homosexual agenda!

But too often like the inhabitants of Sodom, such warnings come across as a joke and as a game and as something to make fun of. That is scriptural too because the sons-in-law of Lot thought it a joke that he would come tell them that God was about to destroy the cities for their sins which included homosexuality. And that fire was about to rain down. They treated it lightly when the men of God gave the warnings of judgment.

Such as it was so is it becoming. As it was in the days of Lot so do most homosexuals treat such warnings of scripture lightly and with great jest. They brush off such impending judgments of God with a laugh and the "you must be a bigot" tag. But I'm not a bigot, I am a called messenger from God, and I want to remind you that Jesus hasn't gotten a prophecy wrong yet. And if it is now like it was in the days of Lot, then we are living in the last days before His return, and after His return we find:

Just as Sodom was destroyed aflame with its sinful inhabitants, so shall this earth be consumed in a tremendous fire! But just as it was so it is and God has sent a messenger to call you to holiness and to separation from this world! You can still escape! But don't hesitate because as it was so is it fast becoming! If you hesitate, you will be lost!

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Just as it was so will it be and snow is! And so I end this message with an appeal to the church of the living God. The Bible calls Lot "righteous" even as he lived among the Sodomites. But the righteous man ended up needing saved from the destruction of Sodom and losing his family to its society! The "righteous man," Lot, wasn't even spiritually in tune enough to know that the destruction was coming and was only warned because of the intercession of Abraham who, while Lot aimed his house toward the well-watered plains of Sodom, had chosen the hillside safely away from the effects and influence of its sinful culture.

Just as it was so it will be. Just as there were two groups of "righteous people" living in Sodom's day, so will there be two types of churches in these last days. There will be the church of Lot, who make every effort to live as closely as possible to the world and even in the world while trying to serve God. The church of Lot will view Biblical warnings about separation and holiness as "old fashioned" and "outdated" and will partake of everything this Sodom-like world dishes out. It will choose the non-sacrificial, easier way of life, just going with the society around them and choosing the well-watered plains of sin. It will freely intermarry and mingle with the young men of Sodom culture. It will even like Lot give its children freely to the sexual perversion of the society just to appease it and fit in. It will regularly set its kids in front of primetime television and movies that feature Sodom-like sinfulness acted out by people who live Sodom-like lives in real life. It will let its entertainment dollars go to support the lives of people such as Sodom has and justify it by saying "well, it's everywhere now." It will allow the media and the hand of Hollywood to dictate the next generation's values! It will, like Sodom, decry the essentiality of attending church and show how much work and other things are so much more important. You will know those of the church of Lot because they will constantly question "is that really all that important?" as they chip away and neglect verse after verse.

A recent study of the major television networks as well as HBO, Lifetime, TNT and the USA Network found that since 1998, sexual content on TV has doubled. Shows that appeal to teens are especially provocative averaging 6.7 sex-related scenes per hour! We are now in a generation where preaching against technology is not the key or ticket. All of the shows that I just mentioned can be watched on the internet, on your cell phone, or your PDA as well as on television. I haven't even got to the sexual content of most magazines and popular songs of today. Don't tell me that what we watch and see and hear does not effect us! No matter what the church of Lot may claim, it very much does!

The most disturbing point to me about our text in Genesis is Lot's willingness to offer up his two virgin daughters to the mob of crazed perverts in Sodom. What was he thinking? In order to save his own skin and appease the crowds, he was willing to sacrifice his children to sexual perversion and uncleanness. But as it was so it is now and parents who refuse to monitor and control what their kids watch and see and hear will find that they have sacrificed their children to appease this sexual, Sodom-like age! And God have mercy on the parents who regularly indulge in such sexual entertainment themselves and thus open their children to all sorts of perversion! But such is the actions of the church of Lot today!

And if you read the story further, you will find that Lot tries to get permission to go to a nearby city not knowing that it is the plan of God to destroy Sodom and the cities that are not necessarily partaking of her sins but who are joined to her! And yet that is what so many Christians today want to do. They will not partake of the homosexual lifestyle themselves and they will not be sexual promiscuous themselves -- at least they start out thinking that way -- but they want to live as close to this world as possible and still be saved! And they do not realize that all of it shall burn up! As it was so it is!

But if it is to be as it was in the days of Lot, then that means that there will be another church arise after the order of Abraham! A group of people that will say "no thanks" to the perversion of Sodom. A group that will retreat to the hills and the mountains where it might take more effort to exist and more trusting in God, but that refuses to place their families anywhere the sinful environments of Sodom! A group that realizes that the promises of God are in their children and refuses to sacrifice them to anything but the things of God! A group who will walk with God and commune with God and daily seek His face. And you can tell this group because -- like Abraham -- they will be the ones warning Lot and the cities of the coming judgment and praying for people to be delivered! They will be the ones to turn to intercession for the cities around them when they come to a realization of the warning and impending judgment about to come.

Consider yourself duly warned. Just as it was, Jesus said, so will it be. and just as it was, it is now fast becoming. Time is short. If that is true, the words of Peter is also:

We are seeing the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecies before our eyes, make sure that you choose the path of faith and separation of Abraham! Because just as it was so will it be and now it is!