The Passage most of this message originates from, is Genesis 19. The bible version I use is
NAS. Most of what I shared, is in here, altho He at times, prompted me to share something I
didn’t expect.

As ideas swirled around my head about what I wanted to share, God brought to mind, as often
happens, God moved me in a direction I hadn’t intended on sharing. He led me in another
direction. The lessons He taught me- is teaching me, is one I needed to hear at this point in my
life. Some of what He taught me, on the surface, is obvious. But when trying to work the
application of it into my life, my eyes were opened to a much deeper understanding.

This started with a message from my pastor on Genesis 19, about Lot leaving Sodom before
Sodom was destroyed. In digging deeper, questions came to mind that God answered in my study
time. First, how close can we get to evil before it sucks us in? How do we avoid getting sucked
in when evil is all around us? When we find ourselves sucked in, how do we get out?

Now, Lot was a righteous man (2 Peter 2:7) “and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the
sensual conduct of unprincipled men”. Yet, even being a righteous man, he found himself being
sucked in by the evil all around him. When Abram & Lot separated (Genesis 13), Lot was given
first choice of where to live. He chose the rich valley where Sodom and Gomorah were located.
Not only did Lot choose to live in the valley, he moved right by Sodom. Not only did he choose to
live in the area, he chose to become a prominent person, prominent enough to sit at the gates of
the city. This was no small matter. To be at the city gates was a powerful thing. People would
seek advice, seek out help in settling a dispute. He allowed his daughters to be betrothed to
Sodomite men. He offered his daughters to the masses for a ‘less deviant’ kind of wickedness
than what the men of the city desired to do to his special guests. In Genesis 19:4, it states
“Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young
and old, all the people from every quarter;”- that includes his sons in laws with whom his
daughters were betrothed. When he warned his sons in laws about the impending destruction,
they thought he was kidding. They did not take him seriously. When it was impressed upon him
that Sodom was going to be destroyed, he didn’t leave immediately. In fact, the angels had to
pull him and his family from the city.

How did Lot find himself in that situation? It started way back when he first considered the
lands with Abram. He chose the valley because of the richness of the land. Genesis 13:13 shows
that the land was already filled with evil. This suggests to me that Lot knew he was moving into
an evil place. Did he think he could resist evil? Did he turn a blind’s eye to it? Did he think he
could just withstand it?

Second, he chose to live in Sodom. He moved into an area known for its wickedness. Instead of keeping a distance from the constant onslaught of evil, he chose to dwell in it. Having made the choice, Lot also chose to remain silent about the sin going on in the area. How do we know this? He was seen as a prominent man of the city, sitting at the city gates. Do you think then great

citizens of Sodom would have allowed him to sit at the gates if he warned them about their sin? Would they have even let him live if he mentioned that God would destroy them if they did not repent?

One clear place where he showed he compromised himself was when he offered his daughters to
the crowd. He didn’t demand they stop the perversion. He didn’t tell them to leave. He just
tried to placate them to a less perverse act, and offered his daughters to the crowd. He
obviously was not the godly father he needed to be for his daughters. He allowed them to be
betrothed to men of Sodom. He did not seek out godly men for his daughters. These men were
at his door, demanding he send out the visitors.

What does this mean to us today? Do we still have to worry about what evil can do with us? Do
we have to worry about Sodom pulling us away from God, from His protection? Of course we do.
The more we walk with Yeshua, the more evil will try to pull us away. The attacks come in so
many different ways. Some are very overt, and sometimes the attacks are so subtle that we
miss seeing the weakened spot.

Here’s an example that happened today at our house that made the point clearer to me. We
were planning on having fajitas for dinner tonight. Mac prepared the meat, covered in salsa,
marinating away on the stove. I came in, wasn’t paying attention to which burner I was turning
on, and I mistakenly turned the one on that the casserole dish was on, not the one with the tea
kettle. After a very short time, we heard a very large crash. The dish shattered sending glass
across counters, on the floor. The food was of course ruined, but a couple lessons were learned.
The first obvious...I need to slow down, and double check which burner I turn on. But also, what
came to me as we cleaned up all that glass and lovely meat, was that casserole dish was old. It
had scrape marks from cutting lasagna or cake. There were scratches all over it. It was
weakened. As a believer, how many times are we weakened, and totally unaware of it until we
shatter? Often, we take a shot from the enemy and leave it unattended. It heals...sort of... and
we think that incident is all done, and there’s no harm done. But often, those little shots,
weaken us, and if we are not in His Word, walking with Him daily, those scars can re-open and
cause us even more problems.

Another way the enemy often attacks is in our relationships. Several of my friends are dealing
with serious marital issues right now. The enemy LOVES to attack marriages. In a couple
situations, they were unaware of underlying problems, or sometimes had inklings about a
problem, but chose to set it aside. One marriage ended up moving to separation before both of
them were really forced to face the problems going on in their marriage. Thank God that the
marriages I’m speaking of, are still going, and are growing stronger in Him. The one couple who
separated, are back together working out the problems. We so often get caught up in life, we
miss the shots the enemy directs at our marriages. Often, he attacks friendships. There are
so many ways the enemy can attack our godly friendship. Think of the misunderstandings that
can happen, and how quickly they can destroy a friendship. We must stay alert to the steps the
enemy may take on our godly friendships.

There are other ways evil can creep into our lives. Through music, books, movies, or television, there is the potential for trouble. A guideline a pastor gave us years ago on matters like these, is this: If you are going to read a book, listen to music, be on the computer, etc....consider these three points.

1
2 Is this moving me closer in my relationship with God in some manner?
3 Is this pulling me away?

When considering what we are doing, either activities or relaxation matters, if it moves us
closer in some manner to Him, it’s not dangerous. Playing baseball is not necessarily a godly
activity, but when adding to it, a time of fellowship, sometimes prayer, sometimes testimonies....
then it certainly becomes a godly activity.

Now, the second, that it is pulling me away, is obviously something that then needs to be
stopped. Before I was a believer, I read TONS of drustore novels ... or as my husband called
them... bodice rippers. When I became a believer, one of the first things God directed me to
do, was to get every single one of those books out of the house. They definitely weren’t godly.
They certainly weren’t enhancing my life with Him. They were pulling me away, so it had to go.

The third question... it does neither... is actually the most dangerous. Because, in actuality, what
we do, can only either move us closer to Him or draw us away. Another example, the music I
listened to before I was saved, wasn’t anything hard or overtly evil. But, after becoming saved,
God directed me to get rid of all of my albums... there were over 200 albums, so this was a big
deal. Many believers have said that was a very radical thing to do, and probably unnecessary. I
told them when I honestly looked at the lyrics of the songs, most of them were VERY
depressing. I was already dealing with depression in my life, why listen to music that’s
depressing? It wasn’t helping me move forward. It wasn’t giving me an emotional release. In
fact, in being perfectly honest with myself, I saw them as a kind of anchor, preventing me from
moving forward with Him. Now, I’m not saying that you have to get rid of things like I did. In
fact, after a bit of thinking, it wasn’t hard for me to get rid of the junk. I did have to seek His
will, and when He pointed out stumbling blocks in my life, I needed to remove them. The
freedom I had in getting rid of those anchors was overwhelming.

Lot’s life was going ok before moving into Sodom. He was a rather wealthy man. He was doing
well. He let his guard down to the ungodliness around him, and it gradually overtook his own life.
If we are not focusing on things that draw us closer to God, how can we stand? Lot was at the
city gates as a man of importance. He was accepting some of what Sodom was giving. He didn’t
keep in his life, things that drew him closer to God.

It’s so difficult to be on guard all the time with what the world offers, but it’s a necessity.
We’ve on occasion, unplugged our tv for months at a time, because we found ourselves getting
too attached to regular shows, etc. We’ve done it with our computers (granted, not for the