Sermon: Guard Against Being an Abomination to God

#1660B
Kim Myers (1947-2023)
Given 02-Jul-22; 39 minutes

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As we go through this message that I have, I want you to think about what David [Maas] and Levi [Graham] said because nobody can defeat you on your walk with God to the Kingdom except you.

We are living in a country where the things that are an abomination to God are increasing daily, especially in the Israelitish nations. Most of us know that whatever happens in the world spills over into God's church and with God's people. We get a little of whatever is going on in the world. That is the way things are.

Today we are going to look at what God calls an abomination and how we fit into all of this. The definition of abomination is as follows to God: Something greatly disliked by God, something God has intense aversion to. He loathes it, He detests it, it is vile to Him. It is a shameful action to Him. It is something He has great hatred for and it is very disgusting to Him. We can see that God hates the things that we do which are an abomination to Him by the definitions that I just read.

Let us turn to Deuteronomy 7. We are going to start with graven images.

Deuteronomy 7:25 You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 27:15 'Cursed is the one who makes a carved or a molted image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' And all the people shall answer and say, 'Amen!'

Deuteronomy 32:16 They provoked Him to jealousy with foreign gods; with abominations they provoked Him to anger.

We, as God's people, think the Israelites were crazy because they made idols of wood, gold, and silver that looked like calves, bulls, and fish, like the Philistine god Dagon, the fish god. We would never think about bowing down to these things. So we kind of think that idolatry does not apply to us in the modern age we now live in, but that is not true. Anything that comes between you and God is idolatry. Idolatry is the worship of someone or something other than God. It is image worship. That is what idolatry is. It is devotion, a reverence for some person or things.

Many things in our lives can become idolatry to us, like our jobs, our money, our mates, our children, our hobbies, our homes—anything at all that becomes more important to us than God and anything that gets between us and God, His laws, His statutes, and His judgments. You and I can become an idol. Do you realize that? Then you say? What is Kim talking about? You all probably are aware of what I am going to explain to you. But I did not realize this myself until I studied into this subject.

A large number of God's people became idols and abominations to God in the greater churches of God through the Covid pandemic. These brethren were clueless and ignorant of what they were doing. These brethren did not assemble themselves for Sabbath services. They did not keep Passover because they did not want to touch someone else's feet. These brethren put themselves and their health between God and God's laws. These brethren became an idol to themselves and an abomination to God. This is how easy it is for all of us get mixed up in this present world and to become an abomination to God. It is easy, brethren.

Let us look at another act of mankind that is an abomination to God.

Deuteronomy 25:13-16 "You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all that behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God."

Proverbs 11:1-2 Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.

Proverbs 20:10-11 Diverse weights and diverse measures, they are both alike, an abomination to the Lord. Even a child is known by his deeds, whether what he does is pure and right.

Little children are not interested in weights and measures or putting their thumb on the scale and cheating somebody. Little children do not have and are not interested in false weights and measures.

Proverbs 20:14 "It is good for nothing," cries the buyer, but when he has gone his way, then he boasts.

He cheated the seller. You see it can go both ways on these false weights and measures.

Proverbs 20:17 Bread gained by deceit tastes sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

We think we are getting ahead with false weights and measures, by cheating others, but God says it is like a mouthful of gravel.

Again, we probably do not think that this verse applies to us because we do not have a butcher store or a fruit stand. We cannot put our thumb on the scale to cheat the customer with false weights and measures. But this first applies to us very heavily.

I am going to tell you a story about a young man that worked for me when we were building the Indian gaming casino at Lincoln City on the Oregon coast.

When you are employed by the employer and paid a wage, if you do not give the company an honest eight hours of work a day, you are an abomination to God because you are cheating him out of the labor that he is paying you for. This conduct falls under false weights and measures.

This young man that worked for me was a second year apprentice. My boss sent this apprentice out to the job because I needed another apprentice. I barely got four hours a day work out of this apprentice. All this apprentice wanted to do with smoke cigarettes and tell the rest of the crew or anybody that would listen to him how great he was and how many big jobs he had worked on. He was only a second year apprentice, guys. How many big jobs could this second year apprentice have worked on in only two years in the trade?

This man was a hindrance to the rest of the crew. Now, let you tell me a little bit about this young man's character. See one abomination leads to another, brethren, when we get caught up in it.

When the job started, I rented a house for myself and three other men on the crew. At that time, we were receiving $350 a week subsistence to live on. The house I rented cost us $800 a month. We all spent another $5 a day for dinner that I would buy and cook for the guys. So we were all able to save a pretty good chunk of money every month. Well, this young apprentice asked if he could live with us. He said that he needed to save money for his wife and kids back in Portland. I said he could, but he would have to sleep on the couch since all the beds were taken.

This young man only lived with us for about a week and a half. It was a Wednesday night and the apprentice did not come home for dinner. A couple of the other men asked, "Where's the apprentice" and I said, "I don't know. He didn't come home for dinner tonight." So we all went to bed around 9:00 or 9:30. Now, you know what happened? At around 1:30 or 2:00 AM I heard a banging on the front door. I got up and when I opened the door, guess who was there? The apprentice, who was drunk as a skunk. He could hardly stand up and guess what he had with him. He had a woman with him, who was just as drunk as he was. This man had a wife and kids back in Portland, as I previously mentioned

I was standing in the doorway and the apprentice said to me, "Move so we could come into the house." I told him to think again. I told him, "I'm not running a whore house." I told him he was not going to sleep in the house that night. I told him he that he could sleep on the beach or in his car or in a bush, but he was not going to sleep in the house with the rest of the crew. I told him to take cutie pops and beat it.

The next day I called my boss and I told him that this apprentice was not working out and I was sending him back to the shop. Well, they fired him. This apprentice worked for about a week or two in the shop where the boss could see him do nothing and then they sent him packing back to the union hall.

Now the rest of this story is for you young people, all you young guys that do not have jobs yet, or just starting out your careers. This apprentice was not very smart. We need to make ourselves valuable to our employers. His character proved that he would never work for Macdonald Miller again. He was on the no rehire list and he would never work for me again. He had only been in the trade for two years and he was already getting a bad reputation within the union.

If we do not give our bosses and the companies we work for an honest eight hours of work a day for eight hours of pay a day, we are falling into the unjust weights and measures category that God says is an abomination to Him. We as God's people should be the best employees the people we work for have. I am not talking about sucking up. I am talking about our work ethic. We as God's people need to make sure that we are very valuable employees.

Now, let us look at some verses on uncleanliness. The definition of uncleanliness is: dirty to God, filthy to God, foul to God, morally impure, obscene to God, and very vile to Him.

Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

Deuteronomy 24:4 Then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

In this category of uncleanliness there are many, many things that man does that are an absolute abomination to God. Pornography is one of those things that leads to much grief within a family. And unfortunately, it is widespread within the churches of God. Three very sinister actions that pornography produces within a family are, or can be, rape, molestation of their children, and incest.

Sodomy is also an absolute abomination to God. This is the definition of sodomy: Do not have sexual relations with the same sex or with an animal

Leviticus 18:22-23 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination. Nor shall you mate with any animal. to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion.

Incest is also an abomination to God. There are many things that fall into the category of uncleanliness, brethren. The definition of incest is: sexual relations between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law. Even the government forbids it .

Leviticus 18:6 None of you shall approach anyone who is near of kin to him, to uncover his nakedness: I am the Lord.

Now, I could tell you a lot of stories about these things I am talking about these unclean abominations to God, but I think that would be getting a little too graphic and I think that would make most of us very uncomfortable. So we will let the Scriptures speak for themselves.

Another abomination to God is, even when you are married, you cannot have sexual relations with your wife when she is on her menstrual cycle.

Leviticus 18:19 Also you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness as long as she is in her customary impurity.

This falls also under uncleanliness.

This next verse is very misunderstood by the world at large. But we as God's people that understand everything that is an abomination to God and the things that He hates. Sacrificing our children is also an abomination to God. Ancient Israel sacrificed their children to the God Molech. Today we Americans and most of the world sacrifice our children for convenience and we say that that is all right.

Leviticus 18:21 And you shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

The world, brethren, does not understand this verse when it comes to abortion. They do not get it. It is extremely hard for me to understand that anyone thinks it is okay to abort children. I know how much I love my children and my grandchildren. I wish I had more children and many, many more grandchildren. Children and grandchildren are great joy to us if we teach them correctly, if we train them in God's way, and teach them to respect others, and to have a great work ethic. But because we are so selfish and so into ourselves, and because of what we want to do and what we like, if we happen to get pregnant, it is no big deal to a large part of the population to just have an abortion. Kill the baby, do not have a second thought about the child or even what you are doing. It is all good as long as we are not inconvenienced. And we all know how widespread abortion is in the Israelitish countries.

Now, sorcery and necromancy are also an abomination to God.

Deuteronomy 18:10-11 . . . or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.

When King Solomon sent to the woman of the Endor, the medium, to inquire of her instead of enquiring of God about the war which the Israelites were just about to engage in with the Philistines, this act, or this abomination, with the witch of En Dor cost Saul his life, his sons' lives, and the Kingdom of God. He had done other things previously but this was the last straw.

I Samuel 28:3-19 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and spiritists out of the land. The Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or your Urim or by the prophets. Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor."

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Please conduct a seance for me, and bring up for me the one I name to you." Then the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, "As the Lord lives, no punishment shall some upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me."

When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What did you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth." So he said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man coming up, and he has covered with a mantle." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped down with his face to the ground and bowed down.

Now, Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, either by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do."

Then Samuel said: "So why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy? And the Lord has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hands of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. [they will be dead also] The Lord will also deliver the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines."

Sorcery is the use of an evil supernatural power over people in their affairs. It is black magic or charm. Necromancy is divination by means of communication with the spirits of a dead person. Now, I do not know how many of you have ever had any contact at all with people that read palms, tell you your fortune, and want to bring up the dead.

When Debbie and I were very young, there was a family that wanted to tell us things because they wanted us to participate in the Ouija board. They said how cool it was to get answers from the Ouija board. They said they had gotten answers to a lot of things through the Ouija board and they tried to coerce us into participating with them. Well, we were smart enough to refuse and we never hung out with that family again after that.

Later on, when I owned a heating business in the Portland area, Northwest Natural Gas sent me out to give a bid to the king of the Gypsies. This man's name was George. George said to me, "I have no money." He said, "I'm broke. I want to finance my new furnace." I told him that was doable through the gas company. So he filled out the paperwork to get George a loan. When George signed the loan papers, he did not sign them with his name. George could not read, nor could he write. So he had to have one of his grandkids read the contract to him and he made his mark.

So I sent the paperwork into the gas company and they told me that George had zero credit. I mean no credit at all. They would not give him a loan and they told me not to get mixed up with them. So I went to George's house and told him that his loan was turned down. Well, George said that he had to have a furnace because it was freezing, it was the middle of the winter. And he begged me to install a furnace for him. I said that I would do that on one condition: When we drive into the driveway with the furnace and ductwork he had to give us the money for the job, in cash up front. He agreed to this.

When we got to George's house with the new furnace and all the ductwork and I beat on the door, George answered, and I told him to give us the agreed upon amount of money and we will install the furnace for him. George said, "Let me pay you part of the money by reading you guys' palms. My wife is a palm reader and she'll tell you all kinds of very interesting and great things." Well, I told George I was not interested in having my palm read.

Well, George gave me all the money except for $40. That is how the Gypsies roll. They always cheat you out of $40. That is what they do. I told George he was $40 short. George turned his pockets inside out. He held out his hand and told me that that was all the money he had. He said, "I'm broke." Well, my partner and I decided to go ahead and install the furnace because we had another job to get to and we did not have time to mess around with George for $40. The good thing for me and my partner was that George sent me and my partner to install a few more furnaces for the Gypsies that also needed furnaces.

Now, you know what? They all practice fortune telling and witchcraft. All of them. There is a large community of gypsies in Portland's. They also have groups in most American big cities. George's son was married through an arranged marriage to the king of the Gypsies in San Francisco because I talked to her. The gypsies are a very interesting group of people and they are deep into the occult.

Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.

1. A proud look. Having great self-respect, heavy on self, or dignity. Having a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction, especially with the person's own achievement, being puffed up, having or showing a feeling of being better than other people, haughty. All of these things are part of a proud look that God hates.

Psalm 101:5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. The one who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure.

Proverbs 16:5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord; though they join forces, none will go unpunished.

These abominations are widespread in the world, brethren, and they spill over to us in the church. We must guard our minds at all times against all this kind of thing.

2. A lying tongue is also an abomination to God.

Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.

Psalm 31:18 Let the lying lips be put to silence, which speak insolent things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

Proverbs 10:18 Whoever conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

In the times that we are living in right now, who lies to us more than our government? And the news media, they lie constantly. Lying is alive and well in America. It is part of our culture.

3. Hands that shed innocent blood, or murder.

I John 3:15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

John 8:44 "You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it."

We cannot even hate each other, brethren. You and I cannot even hate anybody. God looks at this like murder and we become an abomination to God when we get involved in these things.

4. The heart that devises wicked plans. God is saying to us not to get mixed up in plots or evil projects or plans.

Psalm 64:2-3 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked, from the rebellion of the workers of inequity, who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and bend their bow to shoot their arrows—bitter words.

Nahum 1:11 From you comes forth one who plots evil against the Lord, a wicked counselor.

Isaiah 32:7 Also the schemes of the schemer are evil; he devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy seek justice.

We as God's people should never get mixed up in schemes and plots against one another to get our way, but we know that goes on all the time.

5. Feet that are swift in running to evil. God does not want us to bring sorrow or trouble to others, or destruction or suffering or wrongdoing. When we get involved in these things it puts us in a very bad moral state, which is where we do not want to be and we should not be.

Exodus 23:2 You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn the tide aside after many to pervert [or prevent] justice.

Proverbs 24:8 He who plots to do evil will be called a schemer. The devising of foolishness is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to [God].

It is so easy for us to follow a crowd, brethren, so easy, and to run the evil. We need to be careful and although we do, we can get mixed up in the abominations of this world very easily.

Isaiah 59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they make case to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, wasting and destruction are in their paths.

I Peter 4:3-4 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles [or the will of the world]—when we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run [right to evil] with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

6. A false witness who speaks lies.

Psalm 62:4 They only consult to cast him down from his high position; they delight in lies; they blessed with their mouth, but they curse inwardly.

Proverbs 14:5 A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness will utter lies.

Isaiah 59:4 No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bringing forth iniquity.

Lying and becoming a false witness is very easy for all of us to get caught up in. It is part of our culture.

7. Who sows discord among brethren.

Do you know who the biggest offender of sowing discord today in the greater churches of God is? You know who that is? It is the ministry. You heard me right. It is the ministry. Some of God's ministers tell their people not to have dealings with or talk to other brethren from other COGs. Even if they are related to one another. Some of God's churches have a closed door policy, meaning that you and I are not welcome to keep Sabbath services or the Feast of Tabernacles with them. Even though we all try to keep all of God's laws, commandments, statutes, and judgments the same. We do the same thing but we are not welcome. Go figure.

All of these kinds of policies do nothing but cause division among God's people. It sows discord and a lack of harmony. It is those conflicts. When God tells us to love one another.

Proverbs 6:14 Perversity is in his heart, he devises the evil continually, and he sows discord.

Hosea 10:2 Their heart is divided; now they are held guilty. He will break down their altars; he will ruin their sacred pillars.

It is so easy for us, especially in the times we are now living in, to become an abomination to God. Everything of available in America. It makes life easy for us to get caught up in things that are an abomination to God.

If and when this happens, sometimes we do not realize that what we are doing is is an abomination to God. We get caught up in things we do not understand. All God wants us to do is repent and make changes in our lives. We cannot change what we did yesterday. And move forward.

Our lives should be an overcoming process, day in and day out all of our lives. We need to guard our minds at all times that we do not do things that are an abomination to us—and to God.

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