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    We find the first record of homosexuality in Scripture in Genesis 9:19-25. After the flood, Noah planted a vineyard, got drunk, took off all his clothes, and laid down in his tent.  Noah's son, Ham, came into the tent where Noah was and "saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without" (Genesis 9:22).  We understand that Ham looked at his father, but Bible scholars tell us that he also participated in a sexual act with his father.  Note:  "And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him" (Genesis 9:24).  Noah in response cursed his son, Ham.

    Later we find in Genesis Chapter 13, the herdsmen of Abram and Lot were fighting over their possessions.  Therefore, Abram suggested that they divide the land and gave Lot the first choice.  Lot saw that the valley of the Jordan was like a garden and chose the best area toward Sodom. "And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar" (Genesis 13:10). "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly" (Genesis 13:13).

    Some time later in Genesis Chapter 18, God appeared to Abram and told him that he was going to destroy Sodom because of the extent of their sin.  "And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous" (Genesis 18:20).  Abram tried to bargain with God to save the city because Lot lived there.  God agreed to save the city if ten righteous men could be found in the city, but ten righteous men could not be found there.  God sent two angels in the form of men to Sodom to the house of Lot.  The men of the city arose at night, surrounded Lot's house, and banged on Lot's door demanding that Lot bring the two men out that they might have homosexual relations with them.  "And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them" (Genesis 19:5). The expression "to know" implies sexual relations.   The angels blinded the men of the city, that they could not come into the house.  The next morning, the angels led Lot, his wife, and two daughters out of the city.  "Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;  And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.  But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.  And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD:  And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace." (Genesis 19:24-28).  Excavations in the southern area of the Dead Sea continue to validate this Biblical account.  They have found two cities buried under layers of ash which once flourished as a tropical paradise.

    We find the root causes outlined in the following scripture.  "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:49).

    Iniquity = The word "iniquity" in the Old Testament Scripture is a word that literally means "perverseness".  It is an inherited negative personality trait, a bent toward sin.

    The first area that is mentioned is "pride".  Pride is being self centered, "full of self".  Pride is thinking that you are better than everyone else.  It is demanding your own way.  Remember Lot chose the best part for himself.  He felt like he deserved it.  Pride is the primary factor in homosexuality!

    The second factor is "fulness of bread".  Before God destroyed Sodom, the area is described as a well watered valley, maybe like the Garden of Eden. The third factor is "an abundance of idleness".  There was no sense of purpose and laziness.  The fourth factor is not helping the poor and needy.  They were greedy, self centered, and felt that they were above reaching down to help the needy.

    Now read Ezekiel 16:56-59.  Here we find PRIDE, WICKEDNESS, LEWDNESS and thine ABOMINATIONS, and HATH DESPISED THE OATH IN BREAKING OF THE COVENANT. Note again that "pride" is first on the list.  After pride, come the sexual sins. These lead one into thinking that he is a law unto himself and above God's law.  Our society in America today seems to be moving toward doing away with the marriage covenant.

    Now compare this to "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world" (I John 2:16). Homosexuality combines all three of these areas.   Look again at Ham who "saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without" (Genesis 9:22).  First, he saw (lust of the eyes), next he acted upon it (lust of the flesh), and then he told his brothers about it (pride of life).

    Now look at some New Testament views of Sodom and Gomorrah.  Jesus said, "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day" (Matthew 11:23).   Capernaum is compared to Sodom in self exaltation or pride.

Peter the apostle wrote, "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;   And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:  (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)  The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:  But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities" (II Peter 2:6-10).  Is there any wonder that the homosexual community has stood up and demanded "gay rights"?

1. It is progressive.

No one starts out to be a homosexual.  Quite often the individual comes out of a home where he or she receives abuse from one or more of the parents.  There is a tremendous struggle for identity.  The girl may hate being a girl because of the sexual abuse of her father or another male factor.  A boy may take on some feminine characteristics from his mother through role modeling with the absence of a father image.  Then he may become accepted by an older male who practices homosexuality.   Here we should understand that iniquity increases from generation to generation.  The pride of a father may expand to other areas in the life of the son. "Ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness" (Romans 6:19b).  The Word also speaks about a ripening of iniquity. "But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full" (Genesis 15:16).   You may also see this in Joel 3:13. "Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves" (Romans 1:24)

2. It is unnatural.

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:   And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;  Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,  Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,  Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:  Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them" (Romans 1:26-32).

Ham took advantage of his father, Noah, when he was drunk.  The men of Sodom demanded to have the two men (angels).  Pride leads to a haughtiness and says that one is above the law of man and of God.  Satan assumed this position.  "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit" (Isaiah 14:12-15).

There is a  heart wrenching account in the book of Judges that gives us one example of the violence. There was a man of the tribe of Levi that went with his concubine to a town of the Benjamites.  An old man invited him to his home.  However the men of the city came to the man's house.  "Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him" (Judges 19:22).  The old man refused, but offered his own daughter and the man's concubine.  "But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go." (Judges 19:25).  She struggled back to the house, but died upon the porch that morning from the abuse.

The outward acts are only a symptom of what is in the heart. Jesus said, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,  thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:  All these evil things come from within, and defile the man" (Mark 7:21-23).  A decision to change is important, but there must be a supernatural change within the heart before one can experience true freedom.

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7).   Furthermore, the Bible does not use the term "homosexual" or "gay" because these are modern terms used to explain away the nature of the sin.  Remember that the first root cause is pride. "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18).  A haughty spirit is one who has lifted himself above others. He is so high, he is untouchable in his own mind.

1. Understand that God created you to be a heterosexual being.

God created you the sex that you are. "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.  My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.  Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee" (Psalms 139:13-18).

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth" (Genesis 1:26-28).  The only way that they could be fruitful was by being male and female.

God created Eve to be Adam's help meet (to complete). "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.   "And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him." (Genesis 2:18, 20).  Then God ordained marriage.   "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh" (Genesis 2:24).

2. Understand that homosexuality is not the "unpardonable" sin.

First, we should understand that it is God's will to save everyone. "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth" (I Timothy 2:4).    We should understand that the work of the Holy Spirit in the world is to bring proof to the world of a need to accept Jesus (John 16:7-11).  The only "unpardonable" sin is the rejection of Jesus as Lord and Saviour. "For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries" (Hebrew 10:26-27).  It doesn't matter how terrible the sins are if we receive Jesus, we can receive forgiveness.  "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18).  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9).

3. Understand that God has already demonstrated His love for you.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). The world has to include you.  "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). If you are a sinner, Jesus died for you. Paul the writer of most of the New Testament said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (I Timothy 1:15). If Paul was the chief of sinners (a murderer of Christians), then you can't be worse than him.  "And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (I John 2:2).  Also see: Good News Word and True Love Demonstrated (Macromedia Presentation).

4. Commit your life the Jesus as your Lord and Saviour.

Please pray the following PRAYER to God.  Don't let pride stand in your way.

Dear God,

(1) I confess (agree with you) that I have sinned (disobeyed God).  (Romans 3:10, 23)
(2) I realize that the penalty for sin is spiritual death. (Romans 6:23)
(3) However, I believe that Jesus died for all my sins and arose from the dead. (Romans 5:8).
(4) Therefore, I give my life to you, Jesus, as my Lord and Savior. Amen. (Romans 10:9-10).

Also see: Searching For Truth and Find Life, Purpose, and Joy.

5. Break all generational curses.

Generational curses are an inherited bent toward a sinful behavior.  However, Jesus suffered the curse of the law that we might be set free. "For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.  And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.   Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith" (Galatians 3:10-14).  The twelve steps to breaking these curses are clearly outlined in my book, "How To Destroy The Evil Tree".

Job made a covenant with his eyes.  "I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?" (Job 31:1). Often the "eye gate" is the first source of sin. David's sin began when he watched Bathsheba bathe.  "And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon" (II Samuel 11:2).     Jesus said, "And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell" (Matthew 5:29).  Also see:  Overcoming Pornography .

7. Humble yourself before God and crucify the flesh.

"But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another" (Psalms 75:7).
"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time" (I Peter 5:5-6).  "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Romans 8:13). "Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry" (Colossians 3:5).  For more information see: Training The Flesh.

8. Receive emotional healing through Jesus.

Many who have chosen to be homosexuals have come from very abusive backgrounds. They have received many emotional cuts and and bruises which are blows to their personal identity.  Jesus said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,  To preach the acceptable year of the Lord" (Luke 4:18-19).  Yes, Jesus came to heal the emotional wound and set people from from emotional bruises.  See: Healing For The Emotions and Understanding Emotional Bruises.

As a Believer it is extremely important that you see yourself as who you are in Christ.  "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (I Corinthians 6:9-11).  Please see: Identity Crisis Test, Protection For The Mind, and My Personal Confessions.