AIDS

(Acquired Inattentive Dullness Syndrome)

Romans 1:26,27

 

Introduction

            AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a physical disease in which the body’s immune system fails to operate correctly.  This disease is brought on mostly by the misuse of the body by homosexual acts, and by using non-sterilized needles in intravenous drug usage.  There are a few cases of AIDS that have been caused by heterosexual acts with a practicing homosexual or bisexual, blood transfusions, or to children born to mothers with AIDS.  The majority of cases can be traced directly to some illicit act of sin against the body God gave us.

 

ORIGIN OF AIDS

 

            Rolling Stone magazine recently said the AIDS epidemic was sparked 30 years ago by a polio vaccine, which was accidentally contaminated with a monkey virus.  The 3/30 USN&WR says most scientists dismiss this idea, but say African monkeys are almost certainly the source of the deadly virus.  The 1/20 Christian News said: "AIDS was brought to America by homosexuals.  They are the ones who spread it.  It was a disease that at first was almost totally confined to homosexuals.  Now it is spread to heterosexuals, transfusion recipients, and druggies.  Its original name was GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency).  That name put the blame right where it belonged." -- CC  (Copied from the May, 1992 Baptist Challenge.)[1]

 

            I need to say that a homosexual is not saved, even though he may cry loudly that he is saved.  Paul states in I Cor. 6:9-11, that some of the Corinthians were "abusers of themselves with mankind".  This means they were Sodomites, a sin which was common among the heathen - and is still common among the heathens of this day!  I personally have no sympathy for the earthly plight of these unfortunate people, because they have grievously sinned against God, his fellowmen, and his own body.  We need to remember that they can be forgiven and eternally saved by the marvelous grace of God.  When God saves them, they will stop their wickedness and even preach against what they formerly enjoyed.  They will, however, still have to pay the earthly consequences of their evil ways.

 

            The physical plague of AIDS is a symbol of the spiritual plague of AIDS (Acquired Inattentive Dullness Syndrome) that has filled our land.  The "Christian" no longer knows what sin is because most preachers don't preach against sin, tickling their listeners ears instead.  These same "Christians" fail to spend daily time in the scriptures and prayers, leaving that duty to the "clergy" or paid helpers in the "church".  All over our land, television and radio spews out filth and wickedness in the form of humor and entertainment, while gullible people unthinkingly sit and drink in its filth by the hour.  Because their minds are dull to the Word of God, their minds also become dull to sin, and its consequences.  When the truth of God's Holy Word is proclaimed, many of the listeners can't understand what is being said because they have Acquired Inattentive Dullness Syndrome.

 

I.    A definition of Acquired Inattentive Dullness Syndrome.

Acquired - A saved person must obtain this spiritual deafness.  It does not come "naturally" to the saved person.  The newborn babe desires the sincere milk of the word that he may grow thereby.  This shows us two elements to this spiritually deficient "Christian".

Inattentive.  They have come to the place that they are incapable of hearing the truth of God's Word, and applying that truth to their own lives.

Dullness.  This causes them to be completely deficient of spiritual values, while being proficient in the ways of the world.

 

A.  They have shunned their own spiritual nature, just like the homosexual has shunned his own physical nature.

1.   In Acts 2:41-47, people were saved, baptized, added to the church and continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.  In others words, they developed (grew up) spiritually.  They were not content to remain babes in Christ.

2.      Acts 17:11 - The saints at Berea were more noble than those at Thessalonica because they not only heard the Word of God, but searched the scriptures daily, determining for themselves the truthfulness of what they heard.

3.   A sign of following a sinful nature is church members and pastors having to change churches every couple of years (if they last that long).  Instead of working through their problems and coming to a closer walk with Christ, they simply change churches where the membership doesn't know their shortcomings.  When the present church realizes their shortcomings, instead of admitting, confessing, and repenting, they leave for "greener pastures."

B.   This condition comes on slowly - so slowly that most of the time, it is not recognized.  Notice in the following verses that it is sometimes difficult to tell the lost from the saved.

1.      Matt. 13:15 - Their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes, ears, and heart.  (These are lost people.)

2.      Hebrews 5:11 - Paul would teach more doctrine, but the Hebrews were dull of hearing.  (These are saved people that have grown dull of hearing.)

3.      Luke 12:56 - These hypocrites could discern the face of the sky, but couldn't discern the time.  (These are lost people who cannot see what is in front of them.)

4.      John 8:43 - Jesus wasn't understood because the people couldn't understand what he was talking about.  (These are lost people who say they believe in Christ.  Notice in the latter part of this chapter, the lost people who say they believe take up stones in an attempt to kill Jesus.)

5.   II Tim. 3:7 - Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.  (This is a sign of the end times.  Lost people will never learn the truth because truth comes from Christ, not from education.  Saved people will come to the place where they will not endure sound doctrine, but will heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and will turn from the truth to fables.)

C.   The condition of Israel.

1.      Deut. 32:28 - They have become a nation void of counsel.

2.   Ps. 106:7 - A look at past generations shows that the fathers didn't understand what God was doing.

3.      Isaiah 1:3 - The ox knows his master, but Israel doesn't know their God, neither do they consider.

4.      Jeremiah 4:22 - Israel knows how to do evil, but not good.

 

II.   Luke 17:32 - Remember Lot's Wife

 

            Luke 17:32 isn't a very long verse, but it contains a warning to saved people lest they be like Lot's wife.

            First of all, this verse began when Jesus answered a question from the Pharisees.  In verse 20, they had asked when the Kingdom of God should come.  Jesus told them that the kingdom didn't come with observation, but that the kingdom was within them.  In verse 22, Jesus began to explain to the disciples (apparently the Pharisees had left) that there would come a day when they would desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but they wouldn't see it.  He told them of a time when many deceivers would come into the world, professing that the kingdom was in this place or that place.  Jesus told them not to believe these deceivers, but to understand that He would first be rejected by that generation, and there would come a time of great wickedness.  The wickedness would be like it was in the days of Noah.  People would be eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the very day that Noah entered into the ark, then destruction would come upon them.  It would be like it was in the days of Lot.  The wickedness in that day would continue until the very day Lot was taken out of the city and the city destroyed.  In verse 31, Jesus warns the disciples that in that day, every true follower of God must be ready.  The return of the Lord will leave no time for anybody to prepare.  Next, come the verse before us, "Remember Lot's wife".

            There is no doubt in my mind that we are living in the last part of the last days.  The return of the Lord is very close, even at the door.  It is at this time that the warning, "Remember Lot's wife", is given to us.

            Why should we remember Lot's wife?  What about her is to be a lesson for us today?

1.   She belonged to an excellent family.  As far as I know, there is no way of knowing exactly when she and Lot were married.  It seems Lot was not married in Genesis 11:31 when Terah, Abraham, Sarai, and Lot left Ur of the Chaldees and went to Haran. In Genesis 12:5, Abraham, Sarai, Lot and the souls they had gotten at Haran left to travel to the land of Canaan.  there are two reasons I believe Lot married at Haran or shortly thereafter.  (1)  He had at least four grown daughters when he lived at Sodom.  At least two daughters had married and two were unmarried.  Gen. 19:14, Lot spoke to his sons in law who married his daughters.  He didn't speak to his sons, probably because he didn't have any sons.  These plural words mean Lot had at least two married daughters.  Gen. 19:8 states that Lot had two unmarried daughters.  This gives Mr. and Mrs. Lot at least four daughters and no sons.  All of his daughters were old enough to bear children.  Two were already married and two bore children by Lot while they were in the mountain.  (2)  Now notice the time period involved.  When Abraham left Haran, he was 75 years old, Gen. 12:4.  He was 100 years old when the promised child was born, Gen. 17:17.  This makes 25 years between the time Lot left Haran with Abraham and the destruction of Sodom in Gen. 19.  For Lot to have four grown daughters in this twenty five year period means he probably married while at Haran, or very shortly thereafter.

      All of this may seem very complicated and unnecessary until we realize that Jesus said we ought to remember Mrs. Lot.  Apparently He wanted us to learn all we could about her.

2.   Mrs. lot had seen many blessings from God.  She knew Abraham, had probably eaten at his table and heard devotions, for she was well acquainted with this holy family God had called to become the great nation of Israel.  But in spite of this closeness with Abraham, she failed to understand the true meaning of faith.

3.   There came a day when Lot and his wife made a decision that would affect their entire family.  They looked on the well watered plains of Sodom.  They probably knew the wickedness of the city, but because of riches, the comfort of a lovely home, and social prestige they moved into a city known for its shameless, incontinent, impious, vile, rotten, immoral behavior.  She decided to raise her children in the midst of this exceeding wicked city.  Do you suppose she thought her children wouldn't be exposed to its sin?  Do you suppose she thought her children wouldn't fall into the sin they mixed with every day?  Lot and his family moved into the city, but it wasn't long before the city moved into their hearts.

4.   Mrs. Lot was warned.  Abraham faithfully prayed that God would spare the city, even if there were only 10 righteous souls in it.  The angels entered the city and showed their power by striking blind the homosexuals that surrounded the house that night.  We cannot say she didn't believe the warning given by the angels.  She didn't mock like her sons in law.  She believed, but she lingered.  As the destruction came closer and closer, she lingered.  The only reason she left the city was because the angels took her by the hand and led her away.

      Please, are you a believer in the coming judgment of God?  do you believe you will pay for all your sinfulness at the hand of God one day?  Do you believe these things enough to come out of that wickedness and begin to serve the living God?  Will you be like Mrs. Lot, who lingered while death was on her heeds?

5.   Mrs. Lot had only one command from God.  "Look not backward."  This ought to be a very simple thing to do to save her life, but her heart was not in saving her life.  Her heart was back in Sodom, back in her house, back with the chores she had planned to do that day, back with the pleasures that lifestyle offered.

      Why did she look back?  She had a divided will.  She was still in love with Sodom, even though she knew God was going to destroy it because of wickedness.  There were two voices calling her.  The voice of God called her to the highlands, to liberty, to salvation, to purity of life.  The voice of Satan called her to the sin of Sodom, to the popularity of society, to the destruction of God.  She had been yielding to the voice of Satan, so she did the natural thing.  She yielded to the flesh, forgetting the blessings of God.

      We are now in a great day of testing.  We are living in the very last of the last days.  Christ will return at any moment.  Destruction is before the wicked.  What will you do?  Will you continue in the way of sin, knowing and believing that sinners will be judged of God, yet lingering on the brink of death and destruction?  Will you not listen earnestly to the warning given by God?  Will you turn from your sins and begin to serve the living God in the way you know He desires you to?  Will you confess the half heartiness that has come into your heart and life?  Will you ask God to help you love righteousness and hate iniquity?  Will you pray that God will open your eyes to the ruin of your life that he might bring true lasting happiness into the days you have remaining on this earth?  Won't you do this now?

      Luke 17:32, "Remember Lot's wife.

September 10, 1987

 

III.      WEARING OUT THE SAINTS OF GOD

 

            Quote Dan. 7:25. “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.”  A warning concerning complacency in the last days.  Mrs. Lot was a woman who heard the truth, and knew the truth, but became so accustomed to sin, that she had rather have sin than to have God or His Word.  In the last days God gives us a very solemn warning that we would stay with His word, serve Him faithfully, and always remember to fight against sin, Quote verse 26.  We have taken up in the middle of a thought.  Go back and read Daniel 7, Daniel has dreams and visions when Belshazzar is king of Babylon.  He dreams about the four great beasts that come out of the sea.  The beasts are different one from another.  The first beast was like a lion, the second like a bear, the third like a leopard.  The fourth beast was great and terrible, greater and more terrible than all the other ones.  Of course, these things concerned Daniel.  He didn't know what they meant and he began to pray and ask God to show him what they meant.  The Bible says there was an angel that came to him and began to give him the interpretation of the dreams and visions he saw.  The four beasts are four kingdoms that shall come on the earth.  They represent four kings that shall come.  Daniel was more interested in learning about the fourth beast than he was about the other three.  The fourth beast was the worse of all.  And we also find in Daniel 8 the definitions are give to the first three.  The lion represents the kingdom of the Babylonians, the bear represents the Medes and Persians, the leopard represents the Grecians.  The last beast is the most terrible of all, and we know that the first three kingdoms are passed away at this time.  The Babylonians are gone, the Medes and Persians are gone, and the Grecians are gone, but the forth kingdom is not gone!!  That kingdom is the kingdom that shall be in the very last of the last days.  This is where we are getting into our thought today.  We must be aware that the end of the world is upon us.  I do not know when the world will come to an end.  I do not know when Jesus will return.  I do not know all the details about when Satan shall establish his kingdom on this world.  I do know this:  We are living in the very last of the last days.  It is not our responsibility to find out when the Lord returns.  It is our responsibility to live right every day even if he doesn't come back that day.  Daniel 7:25 - Some things about the last kingdom.  The kingdom that will take place in the days in which we are living.  He shall speak great words against the most high.  And he shall wear out the saints of the most high.  What does that phrase mean?  This -- Satan desires to so bombard God's children with wickedness that we will get used to it and accept it as a way of life.  Satan's desire is for God's children to get so away from  the Word of God, that they won't even know what it means.  For example, a while back, some fool said, "God is dead".  A lot of people raised up and said, "Well, that can't be".  I know God is alive and yet it is like one saved man said to me some time ago.  He said, "Preacher, when was the last time you had a prayer answered?"  The thought is exactly the same.  While one man may declare that God is dead, and we say that is terrible, another man may say, "When was the last time you had a prayer answered?  It is the same thing.  One man is saying God is dead, and another saying God doesn't answer prayers.  Let me tell you, God does answer prayers.  It may be that we are not praying, or asking God for the things He promises us, we are asking for something, but God does answer prayer.  We are living in a day when we need to learn to pray.  Even in some aspects of our society, it has been said that we shouldn't pray at all, or that we shouldn't have any public Bible reading, for we offend unbelievers when we do this.  We don't want to offend any unbelievers, but at the same time, we that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, must be strong and stedfast, standing for God's word, for Satan desires to wear us out.  Matt. 24:12 - Quote -- Jesus is giving another warning that Satan desires to wear us out.  To put so much in front of us that we don't know how to stand.  And he wants to get us away from the word of God, and in the last days, "because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold".  Listen, friends, that is exactly what happened to Lot's wife.  Here is a lady who was taught the truth, she was with Abraham, and knew the prosperity God could give, and she took her husband and her children into the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and there Sodom became a part of her life.  Do you see the warning God is giving to us?  Lest we become like Lot's wife.  Lest we become "wore down".  We should not be that way at all.  We need to know what sin is, and even though the world doesn't, even if the world would legalize sin, that doesn't mean that God has changed what he said about it at all.

 

            II Peter 2:7  Peter is writing about the soon coming judgment of God.  Don't ever think that men will not be judged for their sins and wickedness.  Just as God told Adam in the Garden of Eden if you eat of the forbidden tree, ye shall die, it came to pass.  God said I'm going to judge Adam and he did.  Just as it was in the days of Noah when wickedness abounded, and God destroyed the world by water, even so as it was in the days of Lot when wickedness abounded in Sodom and Gomorrah and the other cities of the plane, and God destroyed that wickedness, even as god destroyed the wickedness of angels, and bound them in chains and put them in darkness to await the coming judgment of God, even so today will God judge the wickedness of sin and this world.  It may not come today, but it just might come today, or tomorrow.  We know not when.  God's judgment is going to come.  Here is what God says about Lot.  When God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah God send two angels into the cities to get Lot, Mrs. Lot, and their children out of the city.  (Quote the verse)  Lot was a saved man, the Bible says that lot was a righteous man, a just man.  He is a child of God, yet he is vexed with the filthy conversation of the devil.  The word vexed means wore down.  That's what it says in Daniel 7:25.  The devil's goal is to wear us down.  So we will accept the wickedness around them.  That is what happened to Lot, and Mrs. Lot.  Lot was living in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and his seeing and hearing daily wore down his righteous soul as he observed the unlawful deeds of the sodomites.  This is the devil's plan for our lives.  Satan wants to do to us what he did to Lot.  Lot was wore down, and he got to the place he didn't think anything about sin.  He accepted it as a way of life.  God says to us, "Don't do that".  That's the devil's plan for your life.  God intends us to observe Rom. 12:1 - Present our body a living sacrifice, (quote verse)  The devil's plan is to cause us to accept wickedness, and not accept the things of God.

 

            There are a lot of things we learn about this life.  We learn about songs, movie stars, important people, political leaders.  Let me ask you: do you know as much about Bible characters as you do about movie stars?  Do you see what I am saying?  We need to learn about the  characters in the Bible.  What God has done in them and through them. That we might learn the right way.  And while we are acquainted with the things of this world, let's take the Word of God just like it says, and serve God faithfully.


[1]According to the May 1, 1995, Vol. 22, No. 9, edition of The Exhorter published by the Austin Avenue Baptist Church, Pastor Nick Michalinos:

Dean Hamer, the homosexual geneticist with the National Institute of Health who gained fame by having found a "gay gene" is now quietly downplaying his claims in a new book by flatly contradicting what he had previously stated.  He now says "There is no gay gene."  His backpedaling hasn't even earned a fraction as much publicity as did his politically expedient claims in 1993.  (Media bias?)

...News Digest