Sleeping With the Enemy, pt. 11
One day as I was driving, the Lord spoke to me saying, “Jan, every time you been taken captive into bondage, it was through sexual sin.” Wow! What a revelation! As I examined this truth from God, I reflected back over my life and saw with clarity what God had revealed. Every time I went into bondage, it was through sexual sin. Relationship after relationship, which was not from God, always led me away from God and into bondage. It was not long before I found myself in the same old trap of the enemy: captivity.
In Proverbs, chapter 7, we see an illustration of Solomon telling his son to seek wisdom and call her his sister, his kinsman, so that she would keep him from the “strange woman”. He goes on to tell a story which I will paraphrase to make my case in point.
Solomon begins by saying he looked through his window and saw the young simple ones who were void of understanding walking along, passing through the street. He said when it got dark the young man met a woman dressed like a whore. Be certain that she was dressed in the “bootilicious” Babylonian garments. He said how loud she is and that she is a busy body who won’t stay in her own house, but rambles the streets at night. She lays in wait for a victim and then meets the young man. She invites him to her house and lures him with a seductive kiss. She is a temple prostitute who has paid her vows to the idol she worships, and have come out just to meet him. No doubt this woman is one of the women who had sex in the temple with one of the gods of fertility.
She goes on to tell him that she has perfumed both her bed and decked her bed with tapestry and fine linen from Egypt. She then invites him to come and let us make love all night long. I need to insert here, that this is a great lie from Satan, that a man can make love all night long. Young men often love to boast about their sexual exploits, but from an ex-prostitute, I have never seen this happen. In most cases within fifteen minutes it’s all over, which is why, in my opinion, sex outside of marriage is really over-rated. She lures him by telling the young man, her husband is gone on a journey and won’t be back for a long time. Verse 21, says that with her fair speech and flattery she causes him to yield and “he goeth after her straightway, as an ox to the slaughter, or as a fool to the stocks till a dart strikes through his liver." That dart could be AIDS, STD’s, or even the sudden, unexpected return of her husband, which will surely mean his death.
Solomon concludes this story with some good advice. He tells his son not to go with this woman when she approaches him. “Go not astray in her paths” he warns because you will not be the first. I have seen from this very window, how she has caused the death of many strong young men. He adds, “her house is the way to hell.” Let the church hear what the Spirit is saying. It behooves us to read this story and learn from it. Solomon goes on to tell us that “Stolen waters are sweet…but he knowest not that the dead are there and her guest are in the depths of hell.” (Proverbs 9:17-18)
Solomon speaks again on this subject throughout the book of Proverbs, but particularly in chapter 23, verse 27, in which he states, “A whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit. She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.” What this simply means is that a whore crouches like a lion and snags her victim when he is least unaware. Over the course of years, she adds men names to the guest list of hell.
When a man or woman is empty inside, he/she will spend a great deal of time trying to fill that emptiness. This is called the spiritual vacuum. It’s a God-size hole that nothing and no one can fill, except God. Many times we pursue people and things, trying to fill up with something that just won’t do the trick. Then, after a short while, we find we have to move on to the next thing. The Bible refers to this as the spirit of whoredoms. Being unfaithful to God and pursuing other people or things is what constitutes whoredoms.
The average woman in the church will tell you that she is not a whore and have never been whorish. Let’s look to the Bible to find out if this is true or not. In the book of Hosea, God told the prophet Hosea to marry a whore named Gomer. God used this marriage to illustrate to us exactly what whoredom really is. God said “The Land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)
Thus we have the definition for whoredom. Gomer was a whore because she slept with around with other men on her husband and had children by them This is a picture of the Church and God; the unfaithful people of God have departed from the Lord. Anything and anyone that a Christian pursues more the Lord is called the spirit of whoredom. “I will go after my lovers.” (Hosea 2:5) “She went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.” (Hosea 2:13)
When Gomer departed from the Lord she found herself a slave and in bondage. She found herself naked and clothed in shame. God revealed His infinite love for the Church through Hosea by telling him to go after her and buy her back. “So I bought her back for fifteen pieces of silver…Thou shalt abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt not be for another man: so will I be with thee…afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God…and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days.” (Hosea 3:2,5)
“Whoredom and wine take away the heart…the spirit of whoredoms that caused them to err, and they have gone a-whoring from their God.” (Hosea 4:11-12) Whenever we go a-whoring after other gods we, like Israel become enslaved and are taken captive by the very things or people we sought after.
Many things can be considered whoredoms. Money, sex, men, women, gambling, sports, hobbies, etc. Anything that takes up more of your time than the time you spend with God. Remember God’s word, “ For the Lord thy God is a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 6:15) The Saints of God must always remember it is not who we are, but Whose we are. We are the King’s kids. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” (I Corinthian 6:20) Many call Jesus their Lord and Savior, but if he is Lord, he must be Lord of all, or not at all!
