VENOMOUS by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC
Introduction: Bites of a prairie rattlesnake are rarely fatal for an adult, but they can make one really sick. However, this is not the case for children. They can die from the snake bite. So also, the serpent, Satan, has been trying to inject poison in God’s plan for marriage ever since the Garden of Eden. Unfortunately, this is especially true in our culture now. As adults, we can withstand the poison, but this is not the case for our children. Daily they are being attacked by values that directly contradict God’s word. This is fatal for them, spiritually speaking. Just like on the matter of abortion, many churches are silent, so also on the matter of marriage and sexuality, the church is very silent. In our series on the book of Judges, we come to the section that describes the growing up years of Samson and how the Spirit of God moved upon him and guarded him from the venomous one. That is the title of our message: VENOMOUS.
Judges 13 24 “So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25 And the Spirit of the LORD began to move upon him at Mahaneh Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol.”
Context: Last weekend, I explained to you how the birth of Samson was a type leading up to the virginal conception of Jesus. It was part of the promise that God had made to Adam and Eve and all humanity in his curse against the serpent. Listen to Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Since Satan knew that, he has always wanted to eliminate children. This became very apparent when Jesus was born and how Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus. Abortion is simply the Enemy’s old hatred against children coming through.
Something else – The growth of the child was also very important to the Enemy. If the Enemy could not eliminate a baby, he did whatever he could to get the child in the formative years. It was important for the child not only to be born but also to have a good upbringing. We find this mentioned regarding Samson – Judges 13:24 “So the woman bore a son and called his name Samson; and the child grew, and the LORD blessed him.” A similar construction is found before Samson and after Samson:
- Genesis 21:8 “So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.”
- Exodus 2:10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
- 2 Kings 4:18 “And the child (Shunammite woman’s child) grew…”
- Isaiah 53:2 “For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant…”
- Luke 1:80 “So the child (John the Baptist) grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.”
- Luke 2:40 And the Child (Jesus) grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.
Those early years of a child are critical for their lives and the Enemy knows that, and he tries actively to corrupt them. One big way he does that is by sexualizing children. This comes in the form of sexual abuse, but it can also come in the form corrupting their minds regarding sex.
People think that sexual distortion, especially towards children, is just a twentieth century movement. That’s just not true. I don’t have time to go through the history of sexual distortion especially towards children and talk about the Mesopotamians or other civilizations, but for the next few moments, I want to focus on just before and after the coming of Christ.
Did you know that same-sex relation was practiced among the ancient Greeks and the Romans? In Greece, pederasty was “well known and widely practiced” (Preston Sprinkle). Pederasty means “love for boys.” This was quite prevalent in Athens, Sparta, and Crete. Socrates was a pedophile. Plato in his work Symposium spoke positively about it, but, in a later work called Laws, he deemed it as “unnatural.” Of course, consensual same-sex relation between men was also present among the ancient Greeks. So also, consensual same-sex relation between women. Plato refers to them as unnatural as well.
How about Rome? It was there as well, albeit it was connected to social hierarchy. As long as a freeborn person or a citizen was not the passive partner, it was okay. There were exceptions like the Roman Emperor Nero who dressed up as a bride and was married to a man. Since Christians were opposed to such things, is it any wonder that he hated Christians. Same-sex marriage were even found among women.
There were those among the Romans who considered same-sex relations to be unnatural – Stoics, Seneca (4BC – AD 65), Plutarch (AD 50-129), and Dio Chrysostom (AD40-115). Laws were passed in both the Republic and Imperial periods to stop same-sex relations.
The people who categorically opposed same-sex relations were the Jewish people. “The Jewish opinion of same-sex relations during the biblical and post-biblical period is unanimous, clear and unequivocal: all types of homosexual relations were considered sinful” (Preston Sprinkle in DDLBPBA). They based their view on 2 main commandments in the Old Testament: Right after the injunction not to let your kids pass through fire was this one – Leviticus 18:22 “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.” Also,Leviticus 20:13 “If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.”The Hebrew word for “Abomination is “toeba,” which means detestable or offensive thing. The same word is also found in Deuteronomy 22:5 “A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the LORD your God.” Keep in mind that these things were being done by the Canaanites.
There are others as well that have been debated: Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. This is because of how Ezekiel refers to the sin of Sodom in Ezekiel 16 49 “Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. But listen to the very next verse – 50 And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit. The word for abomination is “toeba,” the same word in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
This was carried over into the New Testament. Here are some references:
- Romans 1 26 “For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. 27 Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”
- 1 Corinthians 6 9 “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 homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.”
- 1 Timothy 1 9 “knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, 10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine,”
The early church continued the same convictions:
Didache (Teaching of the Twelve Apostles) from around AD100: “Thou shalt not commit murder, thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not commit pederasty (corrupt boys), thou shalt not commit fornication.”
Epistle of Barnabas (ca. AD100): “Thou shalt not be found a corrupter of boys (Gk. paidophthoros), nor shalt thou become like such persons.”
Aristides in Apology (ca AD125): “The Greeks, then, O king, because they practice foul things in sleeping with males, and with mother and sister and daughter, turn the ridicule of their foulness upon the Christians.”
Athenagoras in Apology (ca. AD177): For those who have set up a market for fornication, and established infamous resorts for the young for every kind of vile pleasure, —who do not abstain even from males, males with males committing shocking abominations, outraging all the noblest and comeliest bodies in all sorts of ways, so dishonoring the fair workmanship of God (for beauty on earth is not self-made, but sent hither by the hand and will of God), these men, I say, revile us for the very things which they are conscious of themselves, and ascribe to their own gods, boasting of them as noble deeds, and worthy of the gods.
These adulterers and pederasts defame the eunuchs and the once-married (while they themselves live like fishes; for these gulp down whatever falls in their way, and the stronger chases the weaker: and, in fact, this is to feed upon human flesh, to do violence in contravention of the very laws which you and your ancestors, with due care of all that is fair and right, have enacted).
Clement of Alexandria in The Instructor (ca. AD 200):
To such an extent, then, has luxury advanced, that not only are the female sex deranged about this frivolous pursuit, but men also are infected with the disease. For not being free of the love of finery, they are not in health; but inclining to voluptuousness, they become effeminate, cutting their hair in an ungentlemanlike and meretricious way, clothed in fine and transparent garments, chewing mastich, smelling of perfume. What can one say on seeing them? Like one who judges people by their foreheads, he will divine them to be adulterers and effeminate, addicted to both kinds of venery, haters of hair, destitute of hair, detesting the bloom of manliness, and adorning their locks like women… and boys, taught to deny their sex, act the part of women….
Men play the part of women, and women that of men, contrary to nature; women are at once wives and husbands: no passage is closed against libidinousness; and their promiscuous lechery is a public institution, and luxury is domesticated. O miserable spectacle! horrible conduct! Such are the trophies of your social licentiousness which are exhibited: the evidence of these deeds are the prostitutes.
I can go on and on. The church leaders spoke boldly and clearly on this matter to warn their people to stand against this sin of same-sex relations in whatever form you find them. Why are pastors and churches afraid to talk about it? What will we say to God when we stand before him? Our children are facing a tough battle in the days ahead. Are we preparing them for it? Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This includes bringing them to church, Blaze Sunday School, and Awana. This also includes declining to go to a wedding or a family get together which does not line up with God’s word.
Listen to what Jesus had to say in this matter: Matthew 18 1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. 6 Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”
Where do you stand on this matter? Are you saved?