Tag: Angels

Lot was a Righteous Man -P/3

Path Without End

angelwings “Therefore, angels are only servants – spirits sent to care for people who will inherit salvation.”

(Hebrews 1:14 NLT)

As people more and more living in a post-Christian nation, and more and more surrounded by a Sodom and Gomorrah atmosphere, we need to think more about our angels God has given. Have you thought about it?

When you go to work, what are you surrounded by? I was a truck driver, and believe me, the workplace was not Christian. I was a lone light shining in a dark place. All my job experiences were pretty much that way. In America today, even those who claim to be Christian are strangely silent in the workplace. Even on subjects such as abortion. I don’t mean you go looking for fights, but if people know you are a Christian and they ask you what you believe on any number of subjects, such as homosexuality, we need to speak truth in kindness. But we do need to speak it.

In today’s America many people have lost jobs and been attacked simply because they believe the Bible. Everyone believes in some books. If you believe in evolution, then you believe those books. We are all believers in something! But I’m not going to try and destroy someone’s livelihood because they believe in evolution. Who are the haters?

Anyway, you get my point. When God rescued Lot, angels were heavily involved. Might that story be meant to reveal something to us? I love Hebrews 1:14 as it not only speaks of God’s gift of salvation to us, but also we have been given angels as ministering spirits! WOW! How cool is that?

Angels are very active and involved on planet earth. God’s Word even says we may entertain them unaware. I suspect the higher the level of demonic activity, the higher the level of angel activity, as the story of Lot seems to also indicate. The spiritual condition of a country can be measured in various ways, such as love of money, materialism, lack of prayer, churches that preach a humble Savior but practice materialistic ways, the rise in homosexuality, the murder rate of babies, violent crimes, etc etc.

As sheep to the slaughter we live in a world of predators. Hollywood constantly promotes a predator society. Even many Churches have become predatorial in the way they seek money and cling to their particular “members”. The New Testament does not even teach a tithing law on the born-again, only on the Jews still under the law, before Christ died on the cross, and yet most churches still put us under that law. A law related to MONEY. How very revealing. Let there be light!

Anyway, we need to learn from Lot and his wife, who looked back at her worldly possessions and became judged with Sodom. We need to be aware of the time we live in, and walk in the wisdom of God as revealed to us in His Word. Let His revelations not be wasted on us.

I didn’t realize it, but long ago I got inspired to memorize the whole chapter of Psalms 91. It took me a long time. Eventually I got good at quoting it. Then I was surprised to find I could pray it! It started becoming a part of my prayer life. And as I began doing that, I did not even realize I was praying for angel involvement in my life!

“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust:…”

“For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.”

Our Lord was strengthened of angels when he needed it; therefore, evidently they can strengthen us! Way cool! So these three articles have been written to shine light on the time we live, and to enlighten us to be more aware of our opportunity with the angels. We may be sheep living in a world of wolves, but we have an awesome Shepherd, and angels do his bidding! Amen!

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This concludes our series on “Lot” and the angels. We will continue our story of “Yinney the Sloth who needed to Poo”. The story of Yinney walks softly, but carries a big stick. It’s simple, but also deep. Please check it out. Simply scroll back to chapter one. You can’t miss it.

“Lot” Part II

Path Without End

20180728_145905 So… II Peter 2:7 declares that Lot was a righteous man in spite of his soul being tormented every day by what he saw and heard as he lived just outside of Sodom, and as he was involved with that predator city full of predator people. What drew Lot to live in such an area? Was it the money?

I’ve pondered so many times why his wife was turned into a pillar of salt, of all things? I thought salt was a good thing, symbolically speaking. Are we not called to be the salt of the earth? And so when his wife looks back at Sodom being judged, which she was strictly told not to do, why did she turn into a pillar of salt? Why not pig dung, or catch fire or something? What is the Bible trying to tell us?

“But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” (Gen. 19:26)

I welcome any theories on this, but the best I’ve come up with is that salt was also a form of money in those days. It had value. In desert areas where you sweat a lot, it could be used to pay for other things. Also where the phrase, “Are you worth your salt?” came from.

So she just can’t help herself. In spite of the warning, she looks back at everything she is losing. All her earthly stuff. And whamo! She turned into a statue depicting a form of money. Jesus warns us also; when speaking of the last days, judgement, and possibly rapture, he tells us to “Remember Lot’s wife!” (Luke 17:32)

As an American, how hard is it going to be for me not to look back at my earthly goods with some kind of longing? I think that was the real problem with her looking back. She was too attached to her material things. Are my affections set on things above?

In the account of Lot’s rescue by the two angels, which is in detail in Genesis 19, the word angel is used 7 times! That’s kind of a lot. Angels were heavily involved in the rescue of Lot, his wife, and two daughters. Those angels were likely there because of the interceding of Lot’s Uncle Abraham. I want to look closer at angel involvement in the last days in Part 3, but for this article, I want to consider something else. I want to examine where the angels told Lot and his family to flee. They told them to escape to the mountains! But Lot said that was too hard. They would die there. And he begged for another place.

Gen. 19:17> “When they were safely out of the city, one of the angels ordered, ‘Run for your lives! And don’t look back or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be swept away!”

(VRS 18) “Oh my Lord!”

Lot begins begging to be allowed to go to a small town called Zoar. He cries that they will die in the mountains, and the angel grants his request. But what does the mountains represent? A separation to our Lord, the high places, spirit life, the eagle, all the good things of God, the very life we are supposed to desire as the born-again, but Lot dreaded the thought of it! And the angels suffered his pleading. They allowed him to settle. But what ended up happening? We find out in verse 30.

After everything that happened, something began happening in Lot. Another fear began to invade him. After seeing such destruction and judgement, then it says he began to fear the people in Zoar! And he ends up going to the mountains after all! And some bad things happened there too, but… a new fear overcame Lot’s fear of the mountains. He was terrified of them before. He begged not to go there. But ended up going of his own free will, because of the evil he now saw in other people. Hhmmm.

We should not fear the high places of living in Christ, separating ourself to the love of God. We have nothing to fear in those high places, and everything to be gained.

“Afterward Lot left Zoar because he was afraid of the people there, and he went to live in a cave in the mountains with his two daughters.”

Obviously Lot had some issues after what he had been through, but it was his own selfish heart that caused him to take the bountiful looking land while he left his uncle with the desert. Then he decides to mingle with Sodom, and for what? Money? Was it worth it? I think not. But how careful are we not to be doing the same thing? Could we end up with a destroyed family and so full of fear we run to a cave? Don’t be too quick to say that will never happen to me.

Why should we learn from Lot? I suspect we each have our own Sodom we’re contending with? Are we living too close? If so, why? What is the motivation? Are we calling on the angels God has made available to us? More on that in Part 3, but for now, we would do well to take heed of the words of our Lord. A very simple 3 word recommendation, or is it a command? “Remember Lot’s wife.” 3 simple words.

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After Part 3 of “Lot”, the story of “Yinney the Sloth who needed to Poo” will continue.

 

“Lot was a Righteous Man”

Path Without End

20171202_173614 The story of “Yinney the Sloth who needed to Poo” is going great and will continue, but I have felt led of the Lord to take a small break and share some thoughts I’ve had relating to the Yinney story, Predator Cities, and Predator People.

The nephew of Abraham, Lot, has always intrigued me. By his own choice he found himself living just outside the gates of a predator city, and he was very involved with that city, even choosing to sit at the gates. Which was a strategic place to be, where the powerful and rich usually had some kind of presence, keeping tabs on what was coming in and out of the city, and political power.

Lot had a very questionable history of walking with the Lord. When Abraham, his uncle, who had been good to him in so many ways, gave Lot a choice of which land to take, he took the best for himself and left his older uncle with the worst! Hardly seems like the Christian thing to do.

Soon we find he has made his home outside the gates of a very wicked city called Sodom, as in Sodom and Gomorrah, and he sits at the city gate. When two angels show up to see how bad the city has become, he persuades them to stay at his house and not enter the city. Sodom and Gomorrah were definitely predator cities full of the kind of people who want to eat you! (I’m not talking cannibalism, but murder, rape, thievery, and sin of every kind was rampant.)

He even ends up offering his two virgin daughters to the angry mob who confronts his home desiring the visitors be handed over. Things were different back then, but I do find it somewhat surprising when II Peter 2:7 says: “But God also rescued Lot out of Sodom because he was a righteous man who was sick of the shameful immorality of the wicked people around him. Yes, Lot was a righteous man …”

II Peter 2:9 tells us he was tormented in his soul by the wickedness he heard and saw day after day. Now I hate to say it, but I have experienced the same thing here in America. Perhaps the whole world is becoming this way. Lot chose to live near Sodom. He had a choice, but do we? Or are we stuck in this Lot situation with little choice in the matter? Admittedly, it’s very hard.

This is one reason I’m so interested in Lot, his story, and the details of his rescue. I am convinced we are more and more surrounded by a world turning into Sodom and Gomorrah. Are there things for us to learn from Lot? Important things? Jesus speaks of Lot when speaking of the last days. (Luke 17:28) We do know that angels were very heavily involved in the rescue of Lot and his family. Are we mindful of our angels?

So we see that Lot was surrounded by wickedness, even by his own choice, and his soul was tormented by what he heard and saw every day, and yet somehow he remained a righteous man in the eyes of God. So I guess we can too! That’s encouraging.

The other night I went to a video store looking to rent a good movie. This is a perfect example. I could choose not to watch movies or TV, but I have not and I entered this gate of my own choice, just like Lot?

If you want an example of how far the mind of man can sink into depravity, just look at the awful movies some people are making and a certain percentage of our society love to watch. Hate, violence, sex, violence, murder, sex, gore, violence, dark grossness, sorcery, violence, revenge, stealing, sex, nudity, violence, gore, darkness, wickedness, sickness, depravity, and more violence.

Now folks, even if you’re not a religious person, it’s pretty scary to think of a growing population of people out there, who love things of that nature. Perhaps you are not a predator. You just want to live and let live. You’re a wonderful person who simply wants to go on a date with the person you love, have a nice meal out, see a good movie, but we have to be aware all these other people are out there too, and who knows what they might do? Even if we don’t believe in God, is that the kind of world we want to live in? But without God, how can we even say what is wrong? How can we say there is a normal, or a standard? And if society as a whole sinks far enough, eventually anything becomes your truth, your right, your delight.

This is also the story of Yinney. Every seven days he needs to leave his tree, go to the ground and poo! All he wants to do is poo in peace! But there are predators down there. It is the most dangerous thing he does.

I ended up renting a movie called “The Bookshop”. That movie would probably bore a lot of people to sleep, but I found it most interesting and left me with much to think about. I love a movie that leaves me thinking. But it was slow moving; the hopes, dreams, and interaction between characters was the glue that held you. Nobody was murdered, but there were predators, and a dream did get murdered. We can be attacked and die in many ways.

This one old lady and her husband, but she wore the pants in the family, they were definite predators, but they used money, manipulation, politics, and power to get what they wanted. Unfortunately for this one peace-loving lady with a beautiful dream, she got in their way. Her lovely dream got in their way.

This paragraph: spoiler alert! This lady was brave and fought back, but she did not have the teeth and claws they had. She became their victim. She loses everything! (But her life.) And as she is sailing away in sadness, the movie projects forward something beautiful is still born out of the sacrifice she made. We just never know.

So let me say this, predators may not know it, but they never win in the end. All us God-fearing and God-loving people? WE DO WIN! And it can be seen even in the present, not just one day in heaven. The predators will never admit it, but theirs is a very sad and empty life. LOVE really is the only way to live and be happy. We win every day. I was so happy I actually found a good movie that strengthened my spirit man, rather than attacking it. That movie was a win in my book.

In “Part 2” of this article I want to look more at the details of Lot’s rescue. I’ve seen the trailers of movies I can’t believe anyone would want to make or watch. Those people are out there! They are a growing population! If the Church don’t get her act together, we will be in the days of Lot as prophesied! It won’t be pretty! Only the predators will be loving it until they realize, that those who eat others, eventually get eaten themselves, and it is a horrible way to die, that is the sting of death! Think about it.

But if I am right about the last days growing all around us, then Lot is someone we would do well to consider. His story has much to offer if we are the kind of person who like being “prepared”. It may not be pretty, but God does know how to deliver his people. That is what God’s word says. But do we know?

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