Chapter 7 Part 9 & Chapter 8 Part 1 The Church

Children need our direction and our support. More than anything, they should have our time and our experiences. We should spend more time with them sharing how they might avoid our mistakes. We should have those who have fallen to come and share their consequences with the younger ones. Simply to show them that you can choose what you want, but these are the consequences. All we should do is present them with the truth and let them decide. No scare tactics or false promises, just give them the facts. I believe that if given the facts, the truth, our children will make the right decisions. The problem is that we hide those who have fallen and present a false sense of reality. People fall, we all do. Let the children see and talk to pregnant unwed mothers and talk to single parents. Let them see the struggles and hear first hand what awaits the choices they make. Let them see the results of fornication without moralizing, but in its pure form. It is funny how we use these techniques for the symptoms (drug/alcohol abuse, crime, and anger) but not for the true cause; fornication. We should be willing to try new approaches to break this cycle. The old ways are obviously not working.

CHAPTER 8

The Church*

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because
you have rejected knowledge. I also reject you from
being a priest for Me; Because you have forgotten
the law of your God. I also will forget your children.”
Hosea 4:6

I would be remiss if I did not make mention of what I believe has been one of the enablers of this epidemic of fornication. Unfortunately, it is the institution that should have helped to curb its effects. The church because of its failure to condemn sin has allowed the problem to escalate. Due to its public silence on this issue, many have taken that silence to mean there has been a change in God’s laws. In its efforts to embrace the world, some churches have forsaken the Word and the laws of God. The church was suppose to give the people knowledge of God and His commandments, instead the modern church has developed this doctrine of complete grace. In other words, they preach only part of the Gospel. They preach that Christ is savior, but not Lord. Yes, Christ died for our sins, but we must also obey Him. This complete grace is not the Gospel of Christ. The gospel of the early Church spoke of the Kingdom of God, that Kingdom has laws like every other kingdom. As citizens of this or any kingdom, we must obey its laws. It is that simple. Anyone preaching anything other than this should beware. Many of today’s mainstream churches preach this grace only gospel. It is easy and sounds nice. It is this preaching that allows this country to claim 90% believers in God, yet lead the world in all the sinful categories. We preach the dying, but not the living. The Bible says we serve the God of the living.[1] The church should set the example for the world, not the other way around. The modern church follows the lead of the world. True Christianity is not based on opinion polls or political correctness, it is based on the risen Christ. Is there any doubt that Jesus Christ left us with commandments? If so, why are we not teaching and obeying them? Has God suddenly for this age changed His mind after thousands of years? Has there been some new revelation that now discounts the commandments of God? The Bible that I read says, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.[2] The church has allowed itself to be corrupted by the world.

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* The term church is used to describe the mainstream church, there are many churches who are trying to follow the true teachings of Christ.

[1] Matthew 22:32

[2] Hebrews 13:8

Chapter 3 Part 2

2) Violation of God’s law

“Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship
with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants
to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
James 4:4

The Bible says that those who practice sexual immorality are at war with God. Those who practice such are friends of the world, but not friends of God. God’s laws according to the Bible were given to serve two purposes. The first was to protect us from the world and from ourselves. The second reason was to drive us to Him. Because of God’s never ending love for us, He has always wanted the best for us. We believe that we know better than God what is best for us, but time and again, we choose the wrong thing. How many times do we say I have to have this thing or that person only to later regret choosing it. We do not know what is best for ourselves. God has the ability to know the future, to know what I am going to need and to provide it. In our modern society we have lost our fear of God. The psalmist’s tells us that there is no fear of God before their eyes. To violate God’s laws means nothing to us. However, the Bible tells us that God will not be mocked, whatever a man sows that he will also reap. God tells us that the guilty will not go unpunished. How long will we continue to ignore God’s laws? We ourselves cannot keep God’s laws. If it were possible, there would have been no reason for the death of Christ. However, when I surrender to God I am given the power to overcome sin. The Bible says that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. That means all things! That includes stopping our fornication and all other sins I may be committing. If God has the power to create the heavens and the earth and raise the dead, does He not also have the power to stop me from sinning? I do not have the power within myself to obey God’s laws. I never have and I never will on my own power. I must submit to God before I am able even to begin to overcome sin. I must get back under the authority of God.

3) Illegitimate children

“For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and
the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise
your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.”

1 Corinthians 7:14

According to the Bible, children born out of wedlock are unclean. I know it sounds harsh, but that is what it says. For too long now we have been sugar coating the Word of God. It is time to get real and to get serious about God and His Word. Our future and our very souls depend on it. We are placing the shame of our sin on our children. It is amazing how we try to cover it up with these clever names: baby’s momma or baby’s daddy. No, you are both harlots! You are sinners and you need to repent today! It is even more amazing how so few of our “so called” religious leaders are speaking out on this epidemic. We should remove this obstacle and stop this now. We must break the cycle. It is only getting worse, as it always does. There is no reason why our young women are having multiple illegitimate children. What are we as parents, as a community, and as religious leaders doing to stem this problem? We should begin to ask ourselves some tough questions as a people. Why are we allowing this to go on unchecked? In addition, it is not just the impoverished, but young men and women with college degrees from middle class, upper middle class backgrounds. What does this say about us as a people? Where is our moral fiber? We have to do better. We can do better when we surrender our will to God’s will. Instead of treating these women as victims and martyrs, we need to acknowledge the fact of their sinfulness. If we continue to do what we know is sin, then we are practicing sin. Practicing sin is like practicing anything else, the more we practice the better we get. We all sin, but we all do not practice sin. Sin should not be something we want to get good at. Why do we practice anything? To get better at it of course. When I was a child and wanted to become a better basketball player, I would practice and eventually I got pretty good. So even a child knows what the purpose of practice is. Do I want to do that with sin?

Chapter 2 Part 3

Another epidemic caused by fornication is the abortion epidemic. This is becoming for some women a form of birth control. In the same sense that we have multiple illegitimate children, we have women having multiple abortions. How many times must I make the same mistake? It is an affluent answer to the results of fornication, the unwanted child. So rather, than stop the fornication, we will just kill the results. Well, I’m here to tell you the results are human lives that we are killing. God’s word says He knew us before we were formed in the womb. To me that says that I was a life before my being conceived in the sexual act. I do not condone blowing up abortion clinics or the like, but I do think that abortion is wrong. Because God gives us each free will to choose, I do not have the right to choose what is right or wrong for anyone else’s body. When the day of judgment comes we will appear before God alone . There will be no witnesses. I will stand or fall on my own actions.

Another epidemic of fornication is distance from God. The bible says that my sin separates me from God. God and sin can not be in the same place. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned, they had to be removed from the presence of God. Every year we have polls stating that over 90% of Americans believe in the existence of God. With all of our mega churches and religious polls we still lead the world in pornography, drug and alcohol addiction, percentage of population in prison, and abortions. How can this be? We have substituted a false religiousness in place of Godliness. The bible states that we will forget true holiness and replace it with our own perverted holiness. The bible states that all my righteousness is as filthy rags to God. With every passing day we are moving further and further from God. I am not talking about the public displays of religion that the false religious people love to tout. Placing the ten commandments on public display and making school children recite prayer in public schools. Would these things help our society? Maybe, but what would help more is our following these things privately, before we attempt to take them public. These things are just to make us feel like we are following God. God says don’t display them, follow them. Don’t pray in school, pray in your home in the closet. The bible says we are to publicly pronounce God, but privately we deny Him by our actions. If we did more praying at home and less in the public eye, we might make some progress in this war we fight.

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your
sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear you.”
Isaiah 59:2

“They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being
abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.”
Titus 1:16

Chapter 2 Part 2

How many times have we seen movie stars, athletes, and other worldly entertainers leave the wives of their youths for the newest flavor of the month? We have to understand that our children see this unhealthy behavior and incorporate it for themselves. They think that it is ok to exchange women as if they were video games. The average marriage today lasts about seven years. That is of course out of those who even bother to get married. About fifty percent of all blacks from 24 – 44 are living in cohabitation arrangements and not marriage. Is it because marriage has changed? I don’t think so. It is because we have become a disposable society. If it is not making me happy, replace it. The bible talks often about joy and rarely about happiness. Why? Because happiness is a passing emotion. If I catch the light on my way to work I am happy, if I do not I am not happy. God says have joy, not happiness. Happiness is transient, but joy is eternal. In spite of our circumstances, we can have joy, not because of them.

“…weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
Psalm 30:5

God wants us to have joy in His blessings not to pervert them.


“Therefore put to death your members which are on
the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion,
evil desires, and covetousness which is idolatry.”
Colossians 3:5

“..you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and
forth generations of those who hate me.”
Exodus 20:5

The bible teaches that those who pursue idolatry (fornication) provoke God’s wrath because they are elevating something before God. God states over and over that He is a jealous God and will not tolerate anything that is placed before Him. We become preoccupied with our own selfish pleasure and ignore the long-term damage we do to ourselves. Idolatry may be strong language for some people, but we should look closely at what fornication says about those who practice it.

Today we are beginning to see the results of this epidemic of fornication. Instead of placing God’s laws and righteousness at the head of our lives, we have chosen our own selfish pleasure. This has created multiple victims from an act that is supposed to be victimless. How can this be you ask? Unfortunately, most practioners of fornication do not practice protected sex so we have an epidemic of new and more deadly strains of sexually transmitted diseases. We have an epidemic of illegitimate children. The term illegitimate is not even used anymore. We have replaced it with this new terminology of “baby’s momma” or “baby’s daddy. We treat illegitimacy as legitimacy. The bible says beware when you call evil good and good evil. I am not advocating ignoring or even punishing the fruit of these illicit relationships. I am saying love the sinner, but hate the sin. We should learn to hate sin the way God hates sin. He hated sin so much that only the sacrifice of His own Son could satisfy His disdain for sin. Today in our churches in an effort to keep or to gain members, we ignore this issue. Ministers do not speak out on it and so in keeping silent they are practicing sin by omission. Giving this lifestyle a green light. I have seen pastors having ceremonies to anoint these children. Again, we should love these innocent children, but acknowledge the wrong being done. Before forgiveness, is confession of sin. In most cases it is children having children. Everyone makes mistakes, but if I am a pastor with a congregation full of women that continue to have illegitimate children, maybe my message is not being made clear enough.

Chapter 1 What is Fornication?

CHAPTER 1

What Is Fornication?


The Greek word translated "sexual immorality" is porneia. The Hebrew word for fornication is “zanah”. It is used to describe many forms of sexual misconduct. The term fornication is also used to encompass many types of unhealthy sexual relationships outside of marriage. It can include premarital sexual relationships, homosexual acts, incest, prostitution, lust, rape, and bestiality. It can also be used in a metaphoric sense in the Bible to mean a forsaking of God.

The Princeton wordnet internet dictionary defines fornication as voluntary sexual intercourse between persons not married. It also includes adultery in its definition as extramarital sex that willfully and maliciously interferes with marriage relations.

"If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her,
he shall surely pay the bride price for her to be his wife."
Exodus 22:16

The Bible says that when a man takes (has sex with) a virgin he has to pay a price and marry her. Moreover, he cannot divorce her for as long as he lives. The Bible says that he has “humbled” her. In other words, he has humiliated her and caused her to feel shame. How many of our young women today feel “humiliated” by their virginity being taken? The family and the bridegroom were supposed to present the bride as pure before God and the community. When she has been violated, the violator has not only taken her honor but the honor of her family as well. These ideas may seem trivial in our modern day world, but they are still relevant. The reason they are relevant is that a man values purity even though he is the very one trying to defile it. We have many instances where men upon getting knowledge of a female loved one being violated cannot face the loved one. Most people believe that it is because he feels shame for the loved one, but actually, it is the opposite. The man feels ashamed because he could not protect the loved one; I speak from personal experience. Even in a lot of cases where the loved one was a willing participant many men still feel a sense of shame and blame the man for “enticing the female.

"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to
his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Genesis 2:24

For the purpose of this book, we are going to use the definition of sexual relationships outside of marriage for fornication. As we see, indiscriminate sex was never God’s plan for us. God's Divine Plan throughout the scriptures has involved a man and a woman in matrimony. We see that from the beginning of time it was that way and continues to today. Some will say that times have changed. That was thousands of years ago. It does not matter; according to God; His Word always remains the same. Unlike our frequently changing society, God remains the same.

"Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Words
will by no means pass away."
Matthew 24:35

Marriage was given to a man and a woman to raise a family. Nowhere is a family presented as a single male or female except in the case of death. A family in the sight of God has always been and always will be a male and a female parent raising children. Now does that mean God will not bless single parents? Of course not! However, we should remember it is we, who have perverted God's plan, not God changing His plans. There have been a number of outstanding single parent households, but let us understand this was not God's design. God has taken a bad situation and used it for His glory. However, make no mistake this in no way changes or modifies God original plan. We should not continue to believe that God will allow us to blatantly defy His revealed Word simply because it does not fit into our current lifestyles and mores. God was not created in our image, as many would have us to believe, we were created in His image. How can the clay dictate to the potter what vessel should be made? Does not the potter have power over the clay to create whatever He chooses with the clay?

I look forward to your comments...