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TACTICS OF THE LAWLESS WHORES
by Pastor Jeromy John Visser
(Introduction:)
This evening's topic is called Tactics of the Lawless Whores and like usual we'll be taking a close look at several 'bad girls' of the Bible and how we can avoid their evil devices. Like both previous parts Tactics of the Lawless One and Tactics of the Lawless Children, I hope that this sermon will also give some extra insight into these wicked women so that we can further verify that "there is no new thing under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9)" and help us to "prove all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21)."
We've already covered several characteristics of a whorish woman in Solomon's Strange Wives. For example, "She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house (Proverbs 7:11-15)" and she also "increaseth the transgressors among men (Proverbs 23:28)." Indeed, "she hath cast down many wounded (Proverbs 7:26)" and a great number of once-honorable men have been ensnared by women with little virtue or sense throughout history -- Adam and Eve or Samson and Delilah might spring to mind.
1 Corinthians 10:6 teaches us that "these things [Bible stories] were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted" so a great deal of knowledge can be gleaned from these accounts "[to] keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words (Proverbs 7:5)." In this day and age, when the lawless children involved with the wicked media will use everything at their disposal to push their godless feminist agenda, Christian men and women need to choose their future mates with care because "Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Yahweh (Proverbs 18:22)."
The Laws of Yahweh are extremely specific when dealing with 'loose women' or whores. For example; "Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness (Leviticus 19:29)" and "They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God (Leviticus 21:7)." More straight-forward are the commands of "The daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire (Leviticus 21:9)" and "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of Yahweh thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto Yahweh thy God (Deuteronomy 23:17-18)." Let's do it God's way.
Solomon tells us that "a whore is a deep ditch" in Proverbs 23:27 and Paul would later add that "no whoremonger hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God" in Ephesians 5:5 so whores and those who seek after them as 'whoremongers' need to be examined by well-meaning Christians, especially those who are still seeking their 'proper mates' from Yahweh.
The first 'bad girl' of the Bible is Adam's own wife Eve, and while not a 'whore' in the same sense as Rahab or Jezebel, her unfaithfulness to her husband and Yahweh's Words single-handedly brought evil into the world through the seed of Cain. We're taught in 1 Timothy 2:13-15 that "Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety." Notice the reference to childbearing?
Paul also teaches us "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled [seduced] Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2-3)." Notice the reference to virginity?
I quoted the non-canonized Protevangelion in Tactics of the Lawless Children when discussing Cain but it's certainly worth repeating this evening because it gives us a hint as to what happened in the garden of Eden; "When her sixth month was come, Joseph returned from his building houses abroad, which was his trade, and entering into the house, found the Virgin grown big: Then smiting upon his face, he said, With what face can I look up to the Lord my God? or, what shall I say concerning this young woman? For I received her a Virgin out of the temple of the Lord my God, and have not preserved her such! Who has thus deceived me? Who has committed this evil in my house, and seducing the Virgin from me, hath defiled her? Is not the history of Adam exactly accomplished in me? For in the very instant of his glory, the serpent came and found Eve alone, and seduced her. Just after the same manner it has happened to me. Then Joseph arising from the ground, called her, and said, O thou who hast been so much favored by God, why hast thou done this? Why hast thou thus debased thy soul, who wast educated in the Holy of Holies, and received thy food from the hand of angels? But she, with a flood of tears, replied, I am innocent, and have known no man (Protevangelion 10:1-10 as translated in The Lost Books of the Bible)."
Indeed, Eve was found guilty by Yahweh of eating [partaking] of the the tree [race] of the knowledge of good and evil and 'cursed' her according to that specific sin by saying "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children (Genesis 3:16)." That offspring was Cain "who was of [spawned from] that wicked one (1 John 3:12)" and not listed in Adam's genealogy as found in Genesis 5:3; "Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth [Replacement]." Rather than focus on what happened, let's instead look at how it happened. "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (Genesis 3:1-3)."
The thing to notice is that the serpent, or Satan (Revelation 20:2), was more 'subtle' than any beast of the field -- the deeper Bible student will have no problems making the analogy. Nonetheless, Satan says to Eve "Yea, hath God said" casting doubt on Yahweh's Word as is his favorite tactic to which Eve misquotes Yahweh's original words "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (Genesis 2:16-17)."
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons (Genesis 3:4-7)."
Not only does Lucifer twist Yahweh's Words by adding to them he uses his age-old tactic of offering the ability to 'be gods' and to 'know' good and evil. We've already discussed his tricks somewhat during Tactics of the Lawless One, this same maneuver can also be seen much later during the Gospels through his so-called 'temptation' of Christ. Nonetheless, we should notice that it was Eve who became 'seduced' by the serpent and it was her error that caused Adam to fall as well -- this is a re-occurring theme throughout most of the Old Testament narratives as we shall soon discover. The moral of Eve's story? Don't trust Satan.
If there was any question about Eve's integrity, without a doubt Rahab was once a Canaanite whore. Her very name means "proud, roomy or wide (Strong's #H7342 & G4460)" but by her works she found justification under Yahweh's grace. For more information, we can read in James 2:25-26; "Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
A second witness is found in Hebrews 11:31 that says; "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." In these verses we not only learn that 'faith without works is dead' but that the ex-whore Rahab makes it to the so-called "Faith Hall of Fame" alongside such greats as Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Moses due to her actions. Have you ever wonder why she was so blessed by God when several Old Testament writers even attribute her name to be equal to fallen Egypt as documented in Psalm 87:4 & 89:10 in addition to Isaiah 30:7 & 51:9? Here's a hint -- in Matthew 1:5 this same Rahab is listed in Joseph's seedline; "Salmon begat Booz of Rachab [Rahab]; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse."
In order to see what Rahab did right we must turn to the Biblical account itself; "Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, Behold, there came men in hither to night of the children of Israel to search out the country. And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men that are come to thee, which are entered into thine house: for they be come to search out all the country. And the woman took the two men, and hid them, and said thus, There came men unto me, but I wist not whence they were: And it came to pass about the time of shutting of the gate, when it was dark, that the men went out: whither the men went I wot not: pursue after them quickly; for ye shall overtake them. But she had brought them up to the roof of the house, and hid them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order upon the roof (Joshua 2:1-6)."
The first thing to notice is that the wise 'war chief' of Israel Joshua sent two spies into Jericho to case out the situation -- a war tactic that is still necessary to "be wise as serpents." When the man-king came to question Rahab the harlot she straight-out lies to him protecting the Israelite spies hidden upon her rooftop and instead says that they had left the city of Jericho sending out a bogus 'search party.' This is certainly not the first time that someone was chosen to tell a lie to protect the chosen race, nor would it be the last. Those familiar with this particular story should also be aware that Rahab believed in Yahweh by saying "we have heard how Yahweh dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly destroyed (Joshua 2:10)." She goes on to make a pact with the two spies before letting them down by a cord through her window to safety. Later, during the taking of Jericho, Rahab and her family are spared because Yahweh says; "The city [Jericho] shall be accursed, it, and all that are therein, to Yahweh: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent (Joshua 6:17)." Faith is very important.
A deeper study into Rahab's past will unearth some interesting tidbits of information. For example, the word used for harlot -- zânâh (pronounced zaw-naw') can also mean "innkeeper" meaning that it's possibly just speculation that she even prostituted herself in the first place. There's even a few books published on this subject proving that Rahab was actually from of the tribe of Ephraim but either way the fact still remains that she was blessed for lying to our enemy and was even made a partaker of the promises for her unwavering faith and for doing so. I'll just say that "For many are called, but few chosen (Matthew 22:14)." The moral of Rahab's story? Keep the Faith.
If there are any doubts in your mind about either Eve or Rahab, you'll find few Christians that will debate whether or not Jezebel was a sneaky whore or not. This subtle dog not only had Naboth murdered for his vineyard but even planned to have Elijah slain before Jehu had her torn to pieces. Perhaps there is no name in all the scriptures that is as tainted as that of this idolatress and even in this day and age people are known to refer to a sluttish woman as a 'Jezebel.'
Jezebel was married to king Ahab and the daughter of Ethbaal ['ethba‛al - "with Baal"] the king of the Zidonians so she continually moved the children of Israel to worship Baal throughout the books of 1st and 2nd Kings. The greatest aspect of Jezebel's gloomy life is actually her death because Yahweh said about her; "The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel (1 Kings 21:23)" and "the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her (2 Kings 9:10)."
Let's focus in on a few of Jezebel's tactics before I get to the amazing scriptures that narrate her death. Turn with me to 1 Kings, chapter 21 and we'll begin reading at the first chapter; "And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. And Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, because it is near unto my house: and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it; or, if it seem good to thee, I will give thee the worth of it in money. And Naboth said to Ahab, Yahweh forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee (1 Kings 21:1-3)."
Here we read that king Ahab wanted Naboth's sacred vineyard so he could plant a garden of herbs. I briefly touched upon this in Herb For The Service Of Man -- it could've been to plant ganja in contrast to hard drink, but nonetheless Naboth refuses the king's offer. We should pay attention to what king Ahab does next because it's an age-old tactic -- he involves his bitch. We can see that Ahab is a spoiled rotten seed in the following few verses that explain exactly what happened.
"And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased because of the word which Naboth the Jezreelite had spoken to him: for he had said, I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers. And he laid him down upon his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no bread. But Jezebel his wife came to him, and said unto him, Why is thy spirit so sad, that thou eatest no bread? And he said unto her, Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite, and said unto him, Give me thy vineyard for money; or else, if it please thee, I will give thee another vineyard for it: and he answered, I will not give thee my vineyard (1 Kings 21:4-6)."
Waah! Poor Ahab couldn't sucker wise Naboth out of his vineyard so he cries to his wife Jezebel who takes matters into her own hands by soon forging 'letters' in her husband's name in order to murder Naboth and take his property anyway. Even worse is she commands that they set two 'sons of Belial' to bear false witness against him -- keep in mind that this entire matter is over a piece of property, my how times don't change! Right about now, one might be thinking about president Bush and her husband.
Anyway, let's read it for ourselves; "And Jezebel his wife said unto him, Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel? arise, and eat bread, and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite. So she wrote letters in Ahab's name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters unto the elders and to the nobles that were in his city, dwelling with Naboth. And she wrote in the letters, saying, Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people: And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die (1 Kings 21:7-10)."
Those familiar with the account might recall that Jezebel succeeded in her mission to murder the innocent Jezreelite Naboth by stoning and not long after "when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead [he] rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite to take possession of it (1 Kings 21:16)." Birds of a feather flock together and "king" Ahab was about as honest as his whorish wife Jezebel. Now, let's get to those bloody verses as I promised.
Turn with me to 2nd Kings, chapter 9 and we'll begin reading on the 30th verse; "And when Jehu was come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she painted her face, and tired her head, and looked out at a window. And as Jehu entered in at the gate, she said, Had Zimri peace, who slew his master? And he lifted up his face to the window, and said, Who is on my side? who? And there looked out to him two or three eunuchs. And he said, Throw her down." Picture this, Jezebel is sitting high up in her window feeling all smug -- after all, her name in the Hebrew means "chaste (#H348)" -- and along rides the mighty Jehu who had a major reputation and great skill for slaying idol worshippers. Jehu simply yells out to the three nutless eunuchs to "Throw her down." What do you suppose happens?
"So they threw her down: and some of her blood was sprinkled on the wall, and on the horses: and he trode her under foot. And when he was come in, he did eat and drink, and said, Go, see now this cursed woman, and bury her: for she is a king's daughter. And they went to bury her: but they found no more of her than the skull, and the feet, and the palms of her hands. Wherefore they came again, and told him. And he said, This is the word of Yahweh, which he spake by his servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, In the portion of Jezreel shall dogs eat the flesh of Jezebel: And the carcase of Jezebel shall be as dung upon the face of the field in the portion of Jezreel; so that they shall not say, This is Jezebel (2 Kings 9:33-37)."
The moral of Jezebel's story? It never pays to be a whore or try to usurp authority over your husband -- just look at what happened to her! Surely when Jesus returns one wouldn't want to be found as a mashed pile containing 'a skull, two feet and a couple of palms' now would they? Oh, let's pray that our own daughters will never learn the way of the heathen and go whoring after their strange gods, the outcome is never a good one in the eyes of Yahweh!
The final illustration for this section of the 'Tactics Series' will be Delilah, for what 'bad girls' Bible study would be worth its salt without looking at this double-crossing whore who betrayed the mighty Samson? The account in found in Judges 16:4-18 so please turn there now and we'll look at how a colossal man can become a total fool when placed in the hands of a seductive and semi-attractive woman. This would be the section of this sermon that I'd ask the gentlemen to pay closest attention to.
It begins; "And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee (16:4-6)."
This is the first time Delilah asks Samson about the secret of his strength. Strangely, Samson resists giving this whore the real answer three times and instead tells her lies proving her a snake each time by her preceding actions. For sake of time we'll skip those three tricks and rather focus on what caused Samson's spirit to break and finally reveal the secret to this Philistine-mixing dog known as Delilah. The answer is in the 16th and 17th verses; "And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any man."
Game over! Samson becomes a blinded sacrifice to the bogus Philistine god Dagon but not before taking out a few dogs in the process and bringing down the temple by crushing the two middle pillars killing hundreds of pagan spectators. Good going! The moral of Delilah's story? Never trust a woman that has been proven unfaithful over three times or one who constantly nags you.
(Intention:)
My intention with this study is to offer men some Biblical protection against loose women in the same manner that I'd hope the previous part Tactics of the Lawless Children would benefit both sexes. Like always, I pray that Jesus Christ gets the honor and these sermons may somehow help to establish His kingdom here on earth. Let us always stand strong against the enemy and may Yahweh's perfect will be done in all things. Amen.
[ Date:
Sunday, May 1st,
2005 ]
Last Page Update:
February 07, 2006
Covenant People's Ministry
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