Chapter 7 Part 3

“And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things
which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness,
sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness,
full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they
are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud,
boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving,
unmerciful; who knowing the righteousness judgment of
God, that those who practice such things are deserving
of death, not only do the same but also approve of those
who practice them.”
Romans 1:28-32

The condition described in this passage is of a rebellious generation. A generation who chooses to ignore the knowledge of God and replaces it with their own selfish pleasure. A generation of fornicators has bred another generation of fornicators. Instead of seeking the righteousness of God, you have sought after the temporary pleasures of instant gratification. You have chosen to elevate yourselves over the Living God. Not only is fornication and selfish sexual desires tolerated by this society, they are promoted. If you are not participating in these activities there is something wrong with you. You are not having fun, you are missing out on life. You look at the movies and television and what are they promoting to you our young people? The media is promoting young people having sex with no commitment or concern for the consequences. You have the “so-called celebrities” fornicating with each other and the media is promoting it as if it were some news-making event. You have shows that do nothing but talk about their celebrity lifestyles and present them as the model to imitate. It is no wonder you our young people are confused. The message the world is sending is very misleading. According to the world, God is dead or at least no longer concerned with the lives of men. The world and the devil are liars. God is very much alive and He loves you. The path that the world is leading you to is death and destruction in hell. However, God has called you for something much better than this.

The world tells you that women are only objects for your personal gratification, to be used and discarded like so much trash. Look at the videos, how they glorify the riches of this world and show women as if they were not human. They call them disrespectful names and put them in all manner of undress. It is no wonder why your opinion of women is so low. Your view of women cannot be very good, between the media and what many of you have witnessed from your own mothers, who can blame you.

“Bring charges against your mother, bring charges;
for she is not My wife, nor am I her husband!
Let her put away her harlotries from her sight.”
Hosea 2:2

There are many of our young men who have witnessed things by their mothers they ought not to have seen. They have seen conduct and have had to endure things that have emotionally scared them for life. Because mothers have chosen their lovers over their children, they have become hardened. They have left many of you to raise your siblings as well as yourselves. The truth is that many of you have not been given the best start by fathers or mothers. Many of you are angry and in pain. You have many reasons to be so. However, God says that despite your present circumstances and those of your past you are still special to Him. You are predestined. God has a plan for your lives and He has had one for you from the beginning of time. That plan does not include the life-style many of you are leading now. All life has value to God. Let no one think that they have no worth to God. God created you not for drug dealing, fornicating, and the sinful life, but for His glory. Every person on this earth is a gift from God to this world. The majority of us have selfishly squandered our gifts. How can we look at the current state of the world and continue to be so selfish? I do not know what your gift is, but I know that the world is in desperate need of it. I beg you please give us the gift that God sent you to bring. If you do not know or think that you do not have one, ask God. He is the One who created you. The apostle Paul tells us, “to fan the flame” or the gift from God.[1] When any of us fails to use his or her gift the whole world suffers because of it. The problem for many of us is that we are using our gifts for our own selfish desires. Remember the ruler of this world wants to do two things to you: either to kill you or get you locked up for life. That way you are of little value to the kingdom or to this world. In the past too many of us have fallen into this trap. No matter what your background, you are in the final analysis responsible for what you do. The world today is trying to convince us that no one is responsible for anything that they do. The Bible disagrees.

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[1] 2 Timothy 1:6

Chapter 3 Part 4

6) Lack of respect

“…But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”
Proverbs 29:15

Another problem with fornication is that it causes us to lose respect for ourselves, our bodies, and the other person. You cannot respect others if you do not respect yourself. By fornicating you lose the sanctity of your own body. You profane the temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body becomes a tool against itself. When we can no longer resist our fleshly desires and become slaves to them, we lose respect for ourselves. We become disappointed in ourselves for our failure to withstand the onslaught of the flesh. Over the course of time, we become addicted to our pleasure and lose our identities. We become nothing more than instruments of gratification, losing our God given human dignity. God created us to be more than just sexual organs. We were designed to reflect the image of God on earth. I believe that we were created for a higher purpose than cheap sexual pleasure. Self-respect is gained through accomplishments of a higher level than the number of sexual partners or conquests we have. Men are not immune to this loss of respect. The more sexual partners we have the more of an object we become and the less respect we have for ourselves. When people become objects to us it does not matter who or what they are. It is no longer about them, it becomes about my selfish pleasure and me. There were times when I would be with someone that I not only did not know, but what I did know about her I did not like. That did not prevent me from having a sexual relationship. When our sexual desires become perverted it does not matter whom we are with, it only matters what we want. For some unknown reason many modern Christians believe they are entitled to some sort of exemption from God’s laws and God’s word. I think a lot of them are going to be in for a rude awakening. At some point in my life I came up with the mistaken idea that the rules did not apply to me. The laws of man and nature no longer held me in their limits. I was of course wrong and the results of my life bear witness to my error. I believed that I was smarter, cooler, slicker than everyone else so what happened to you would not happen to me. The laws of God apply to all, there are none who are exempt, none.

7) Deterioration of society

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.”
Isaiah 5:20

The Bible tells us woe to any society that does not obey God’s laws. The insidious nature of fornication is that it perverts God’s plan for the family. Without commitment between a man and a woman there is nothing holding together the fabric of the family or the fabric of society. God’s plan for us is more than momentary pleasure with no thought to the consequences. For a while now we have seen the signs of our society and community deteriorating. Our historical institutions are crumbling under the weight of this sinful epidemic. Crime in our community has reached new levels of savagery. It is no longer safe for children to pay outside or for old people to walk down the streets. Our community and neighborhoods have become war zones. Granted, society as a whole is falling apart, but it seems to be at an accelerated pace for us. The institutions that use to give us stability have not been able or willing to stem this tide of lawlessness. I believe the reason is their failure to address this crisis of fornication. I think that on further investigation many of our “so called” leaders may themselves be participating in this sinful activity. How many times have we heard on the news or read in the newspaper that some leader is confessing to having an illegitimate child from an illicit affair. It would be difficult for them to condemn what they themselves are guilty of committing. We have allowed society to dictate to us what is right and wrong and not relied on the word of God. Many black churches in particular and many modern churches as a whole have chosen their master and it does not appear to be God. If it were, they would not continue to condone through lack of condemnation, this problem. With no clear direction, it is no wonder our children are continuing down this slippery slope to hell. If I have been a fornicator and have not repented, how can I teach others not to do it with any conviction? It is like me telling my kids not to do drugs while puffing on a marijuana cigarette, kind of loses some weight. I do not know if our community can withstand another generation of angry children.