A Very Ancient Story With Very Modern Relevance

Before we get started I’d encourage you to read Genesis 14:17-24. And it’s worth taking a few moments to dust off before we get to the application below, so hang with me.

After Sodom’s confederation of princes benefited from Abram’s military victory the King of Sodom went out to thank Abram. At first, the tribal chief’s offer looks like Middle Eastern generosity and gratitude. He wanted to repay Abram for the service to his people. But things aren’t what they appear, and Abram smelled a weasel.

The King of Sodom knows Abram has done him a great service, and knows that he owes Abram a favor. He feels indebted and he doesn’t like it, he is no longer in control of the situation. Sodom’s cannibalizing world of marauders and greed operates out of self-protection and self-interest. It operates out of indebtedness and pay-backs. It uses money to reward and to punish.

So, Sodom’s king sets the bait and tries to bribe Abram. There’s a subtle chess game going on, a manipulation of the score. Sodom’s King is trying to turn the tables to his own advantage so that he can use Abram in the future. The money he is offering Abram isn’t dirty money; there’s nothing unethical about it. But it’s dark money; there’s the shadow of an agenda lurking over it. It comes with strings attached and expectations of how he’ll behave in the future. Sodom is acting on his coalition of interests and trying to build an appeasement of favors.

We see this same human tendency operating in the book of Revelation. The “mark of the beast” is literally the number that represents “man” or “man-centeredness.” The beast system was primarily a financial system used to control people, to reward and punish according to the values that reinforced self-interest and not God’s kingdom. The world’s system will attempt to use financial pressure to play you; to become your puppet master. It wants to be your Baal (Baal literally means master) that promises rain and bountiful crops. Baal wants to be the benefactor you look to for resources, and the god you pray to for rain.

But Abram refused to play the game. He used his money to profess where his allegiance was aligned. Instead of receiving money from the King of Sodom, Abram chose to give money to the Priest of God Most High. This act of giving may seem out of place to you. The priest didn’t demand this gift and God didn’t command it. It was a response of honor. Abram was essentially saying, I am the beneficiary of God’s blessings and protection. I’m declaring, with my money, God is my great benefactor, it’s only because of him that I am what I am. This gift was a swearing of allegiance and an alignment of interests—God made me what I am, not the patronage of Sodom.

Abraham would rather take a 10% financial loss to pledge allegiance to the One True God than a 10% increase to find future financial security from Sodom’s King.

Strings Attached to Progressive Sexual Ethics

Recently the Lancaster County Community Foundation changed its participation policy for the Extraordinary Give campaign. Their initially stated goal for the ExtraGive was to increase giving to a variety of different causes and non-profit organizations around Lancaster County. In their own language, “thousands of people across the community (can) support more than 400 local organizations in our region. New this year, our STRETCH POOL of more than half a MILLION dollars will be distributed based on an organization's number of unique donors. Whether you make a $10 donation or a $100 donation, your gift will go further for the causes you care about!”

Unfortunately, this year the Lancaster County Community Foundation changed its qualifications of participation and is now demanding that every participating organization that benefits from the matched donations agrees to ExtraGive’s “anti-hate policies.” This language is a disguise for forcing the active promotion of progressive sexual ethics. These progressive sexual ethics stand in contrast to Biblical faith and teaching on human sexuality that has been understood and practiced for twenty-five hundred years by the Jewish and Christian communities. These “anti-hate policies” effectively define anyone who believes differently than they do to be “hateful.” There is no liberality for respectful differences of opinions or beliefs on this matter. Do you see the irony? Prior to their redefined guidelines, anyone with various beliefs on sexuality could have participated or not participated based on their private views. Now, the foundation’s beliefs on sexuality have become the gauntlet thrown down—You will believe this way, or you will not benefit from our financial aid.

The more the secular world tries to force its value system on people of faith the more we need to keep a few things in mind. It is human nature to behave according to our most passionate convictions. Lancaster County Community Foundation is a private organization and they have every right to set the terms of participation according to its view of the world.

We simply need to be aware that a progressive sexual agenda is using financial pressure to impose its unbiblical values on our religious beliefs. Let’s give it a label. There. Done. This should not take us by surprise. We don’t need to feel financial pressure to conform to their worldview. We can act according to our convictions, not their convictions. If money comes attached with agendas that aren’t in alignment with what we interpret as God’s value system then we don’t need to accept it or be enslaved to it or come into confederation with it.

Finally, who do you put your trust in when you come under financial pressure? Like Abram, we can trust in our great benefactor. God Most High is a far better provider than any confederation trying to pressure us. It’s better to pledge allegiance to God Most High and live in his values than be indebted to foreign gods and foreign kings. You don’t need dark money attached to unhealthy strings that pull you into coalition with values that you don’t confess. You don’t have to participate in that. Abram swore, “I will not take a thread or sandal strap.”

When the world’s system puts pressure on you to conform to it’s value system, you don’t have to. Confess your allegiance to your faithful God, and live under the canopy of his great truths. He will provide for you. He is the just and faithful God!

Tags: values, god, agenda, provider, coalition, benefactor, progressive sexual ethics