Mingding Doctrine
Recommended\Comments
Mingding Doctrine 关闭
【Bible Study】Leviticus 18 - Do Not Imitate the Customs of the World!

2021-02-05 34,316 Leviticus

A Bible Study:

Introduction

Good day, everyone! We continue with Leviticus Chapter 18. The preceding chapters of Leviticus are all related to God's preferences. Our lives originate from God, and are precious in His sight. However, there is a peculiar phenomenon: people insist on living in a way that is not honourable.

Originally, when God created man, he had a dignified and glorious image, along with the capacity to create. How was it all lost? It was because he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God forbade man from eating this fruit. Yet, among the Christians I've encountered, I've noticed that they not only keep eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but they consume it by the basketful. Adam and Eve were timid and only ate one or two. But today's Christians eat basketfuls. As a result, they lose the image of God.

Once a person loses the image of God, what do they become like? They become like beasts, sometimes even worse. So, what is Leviticus teaching us? It teaches us how to be priests, how to lead those under us, and to instruct them on how they should live their lives.

Therefore, this 18th chapter speaks of not uncovering nakedness. After reading it, you may not know what uncovering nakedness means. To put it bluntly, it means sexual intercourse. This applies whether it be between men, women, or between men and women, using the sexual organs. The connection of sexual organs is a very critical matter for people. Not in the way people see it, but in the eyes of God, it is a very critical matter.

We have previously discussed that it is good for married couples to have normal marital relations, isn't it? But the Bible says that after engaging in marital relations, a person becomes unclean. Also, a woman's menstruation is a very normal bodily function, isn't it? But it is unclean. This applies to women, so what about men? If a man has a discharge, such as seminal emission or nocturnal emission, that is also unclean. This shows that matters concerning the reproductive organs are quite serious in God's eyes. Matters of the reproductive organs bring about a lot of confusion.

Because Jehovah is our God, we must not imitate the customs of this world

Leviticus 18 begins by saying:

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.(Leviticus 18:1-5)

If you listen carefully, you will notice that it says many times: I am Jehovah, I am the Lord your God, and then commands people: do not imitate the behaviour of the people of that land. Then, it proceeds to talk about matters related to sex, elaborating at length.

If we carefully examine Leviticus 18, we find that the emphasis on not imitating the behaviour of the people of that land is primarily focused on sexual relations. Sex can produce a very strong feeling in people. Human sexual organs are very sensitive, created by God that way, causing reactions.

But the problem arises that since there is this reaction, God has made a series of regulations specifically targeting issues related to the sexual organs and sex. Why make these regulations? These regulations point towards not doing things the way they were done in Egypt and Canaan. When the Israelites came out of Egypt, or when they arrived in Canaan, the sexual practices of the people there were like that.

The problems brought about by human sexual organs are numerous. Why is this? Because sexual organs are closely related to the spiritual realm. We say that the Bible is a spiritual book, using spiritual language to speak of spiritual things. The Bible does not simply talk about sexual organs from a physiological level. Therefore, I title this chapter: You must not imitate this world.

You must not imitate this world, whether it is the land you came from, Egypt, or the promised land you are going to, Canaan, all these places are included. Actually, it is saying that in these matters, people must not imitate the customs of this world, especially those related to sex. So I want to simplify this theme to: Do not imitate the world, or further simplify it: Do not imitate the customs of this world. Why? Because Jehovah is our God.

People Like to Live According to What They Like

People have an interesting tendency to live according to what they like. The problem with not imitating the customs of this world lies in one of the most fundamental issues of people. What is it? The most fundamental issue is that people like to act according to what they like. Liking to act according to what one likes means obeying human customs. God brought us out of Egypt and established a series of rules for us, drawing a red line to tell us: do not cross this red line. If you cross this red line, what is it called? It is called offending God!

The red line drawn by God is usually closely related to our own inner preferences. For example, eating and drinking, weddings and funerals, or building houses and doing business, things related to how people live. In these matters, people either live according to their own preferences or according to the word of God. In other words, living according to one's own preferences or according to the customs of this world is contradictory to living according to the word of God.

This is why some people wonder how to live according to the word of God. The problem is that if you do not act according to the word of God, and do not carefully observe and follow God's word, and do not follow God's statutes, commandments, and ordinances, but instead imitate the world, our problems will be difficult to solve. The difficult thing people encounter on the path of faith is dealing with our own preferences, which is really not an easy thing to do.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?(Romans 7:24)

The flesh naturally chooses the path of death and disobedience to God. What is the mystery of the gospel? Some think it is conquering oneself, but it is not. The mystery of the gospel is that God wants to restore the glorious image He created in us, but what does this have to do with? It has to do with conquering our flesh.

We can rely on the Holy Spirit to overcome the flesh. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were inviolable, but in the end, people still transgressed. People want to overcome the flesh, but the flesh will have a strange feeling, sexual desire, which comes from the spiritual realm. Many evil spirits are attached to people's bodies, and people will often experience a strange feeling, and their bodies will be out of control. We must begin to know that it is not that we ourselves do not want to keep and follow God's word, but that the fleshly things within us are hindering us. People especially like to obey their own carnal lusts and desires, and then offend God, resulting in attracting demons, and then attracting more demons, making it even harder for people to get out of this.

God's description in this chapter is how evil spirits lead us into sins related to sex. In fact, even after the Old Testament regulations were given, people still could not overcome their flesh and lived entirely in the curse. Why? Because when that urge comes, they cannot conquer it, especially when the sensation of the sexual organs comes. Some of us find it really hard to control in this area. Someone shared with me the bitterness within them. I have to tell you good news, the Holy Spirit will be our strength, relying on the Holy Spirit can overcome these evil things. How exactly to deal with it? Often pray in tongues.

When that urge comes, you will find that your body can gradually control that evil urge. Where does this urge come from? We often think that when this urge comes, we have committed the sin of fornication. Sin is actually a demon, sin is something inherent within us, often in perfect harmony with our carnal nature. Sin is not only related to sexual organs, but also to the laziness of the flesh. The characteristic of the flesh is that people do not do what they want to do, but do a lot of things they do not want to do, resulting in self-destruction. All things of the flesh are very spiritual.

Strong Feelings Produced by Sexual Organs are Related to Evil Spirits

The things that the Bible describes as carnal, including laziness, sexual impulse, uncontrollable feelings inside people, hatred, jealousy, and discomfort, are all very spiritual things. In fact, the love that people yearn for is also a very spiritual thing, so spiritual that it is closely related to the spiritual realm. Let's first talk about this passage, which is that you must not uncover the nakedness of your close relatives. In fact, it means you must not have sexual relations with your relatives.

The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness. The nakedness of thy father's wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father's nakedness. The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover. The nakedness of thy son's daughter, or of thy daughter's daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's wife's daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister. Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's sister: she is thy father's near kinswoman.(Leviticus 18:7-12)

A lot of talking is all about not having sexual relations with relatives. Why write these? Because there were indeed a group of people in that land who did these things. After being controlled by evil spirits, they developed a desire to have relations with their own mothers. They were not interested in other women, but only had a reaction to their own mothers. As a result, these people were great evil in the eyes of God; some girls had relations with their fathers, and some not only had relations with their husbands, but also with their fathers-in-law. I find these people very strange.

As far as I know, some people, when that urge comes, want to have relations with a certain type of person, a certain category of people, which is what is described here as incest, or something similar, which is always not quite right. A lot is said here, all of which is great evil.

Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.(Leviticus 18:18)

That is, you cannot have relations with your sister-in-law, because these are great evils in the sight of God. What is the problem? It is that this kind of evil spirit creates a strong feeling on people's sexual organs. What's the point of that? But that is the way it is. Jesus said in the New Testament that some people are castrated, and some people castrate themselves for the sake of God. It is difficult for us to understand this sentence, which is that people castrate the feeling on their sexual organs because they love God.

The strong feelings produced on the sexual organs, some people think of it as love, and they love someone so much that they have to be careful, because it is mostly from corruption and from demons. People in the world like to follow their own preferences, especially the preferences of their sexual organs, and like to follow this feeling.

There was a corrupt official who embezzled the equivalent of 500,000 RMB every day. How much money would that be! And he didn't dare spend it at home. He kept hundreds of women outside. Some people joked about how amazing he was to have more than 100 women. Was it fun? But people just like it because he had absolutely no control over the demons on those women, and those women had absolutely no control over themselves either. These people were manipulated by evil spirits into this kind of relationship. This corrupt official was later sentenced to death. You can check the news.

How did these people fall into this state? They initially invited evil spirits in and ended up in a very miserable state. You can listen to what he said after he was sentenced to death. He felt very wronged. He didn't want to be like this, but he couldn't control it. There was also a domestic news story about an elementary school principal who sexually assaulted elementary school students on a regular basis. The elementary school students' sexual organs were not yet developed, but he did that. After he finished, he realized that it was meaningless. But the evil spirit drove people like this, and the person involved could not control it.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, you must be careful with the feelings related to sexual organs, because this is the evil spirit, or called the flesh, sin.

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.(Matthew 5:28)

There is that kind of evil spirit on people, there is a demon of sin living in them, which is the sin inside people. Traditional theological systems have weakened or narrowed the concept of demons. The concept of demons is broader in the Old and New Testaments. People in traditional churches say that there were so many demons in the years of Jesus, why are there no demons now? In fact, demons live inside people. Although people cannot see them, the feelings produced are very real, whether it is the feeling on the sexual organs or the problems of contention, jealousy, envy, and hatred, all of them are closely related to the spiritual realm.

After reading this chapter, we can explain why this boy has to have relations with his mother. We feel it is incredible, but some people are full of this idea. There are also those who specifically have relations with their brothers and sisters. All of these are evil spirits behind it. There are also those who have relations with their granddaughters and grandsons, and there are also those who have relations with their stepmothers, aunts, aunts, and uncles. There are also those who, after having relations with this woman, also have relations with this woman's daughter, which is very chaotic. These are all very evil.

Why did God drive the people of Canaan out through the Israelites and kill them? It was because the people in that place carried these evil spirits and specialized in doing these very evil things. They not only did this on people, but also offered their children to idols. The thing behind this is fornication.



##  The Spirit of the Dragon Behind Sexual Immorality

The dragon we Chinese speak of is recorded in ancient books as having nine offspring. You can search for them online. Later, as I learned more online, I found the topic of sexual immorality quite interesting. The dragon has nine sons, each with a name. Let me recite them for you. The dragon's nine sons are: eldest Qiúniú, second Yázì, third Cháofēng, fourth Púláo, fifth Suānní, sixth Bìxì, seventh Bì'àn, eighth Fùxì, and ninth Chīwěn/Chīwěi.

Over the past years, I've wondered how the dragon could produce so many offspring. The dragon is a sexually promiscuous creature, capable of engaging with anything. That's what sexual immorality is – the spirit of the dragon. Homosexuality is also present here – men with men, women with women – creating a very strange sensation. This feeling must come from evil spirits. Yet, people think it's caused by genes or the environment. Some even believe it's innate, so they think it's normal because the feeling is real.

Some people even engage in bestiality, having relations with their pet dogs or cats. These things are perverse acts, and who's behind them? Evil spirits. When people are possessed by these evil spirits, God didn't explain it so clearly in the Old Testament, but He said He would vomit those people out of the land, that is, destroy them.

When these people do these things, they defile the land, and then God seeks retribution for the land's iniquity. It's not about the evil spirits in that place, but about God seeking retribution for the land's sins. Like Sodom and Gomorrah, these two places were evil to a certain extent. To what extent? If a man from outside came to stay in an inn, it would be ruined. If you happened to pass by and stay in an inn, the whole city would drag him out to have sexual relations with him. The whole city would come, sometimes even couples together. Isn't that evil? But they think it's a form of entertainment, a very normal custom. In reality, it's all the operation of the spiritual realm.

Recently, when I was casting out demons, I encountered a dragon that called itself an earthworm. To what extent is this dragon sexually immoral? It even has relations with earthworms. There are all kinds of animals in the world, and the dragon has relations with many different things, resulting in the birth of different creatures.

Once, when I was on a business trip, the hotel I stayed in was surrounded by many government offices. Instead of displaying something good at the entrance of the offices, they displayed things like Qiúniú, Bìxì, and Yázì. It was really filthy. These things all came from sexual relations, all related to sex. In the Old Testament, it is recorded that God does not like hybridization. You must know that hybridized things are terrible because they are not pleasing to God.

Today, we either follow our own desires or follow God's desires. We follow God's desires because Jehovah is our God. God is a jealous God. God is holy, honorable, and glorious. God does not have this problem of sexual immorality. There was a young boy, not very old, but he dared to say that sometimes he masturbated six times a day. He would watch obscene images and couldn't control himself, and as a result, his body was very weak. In fact, behind that is an evil spirit.

Let me share a concept with you: many problems are solved through casting out demons and mortifying the deeds of the body. When we cast out demons and mortify the deeds of the body, we begin to live out God's honorable and glorious image. It's difficult to solve these problems without casting out demons, but casting out demons alone cannot solve the problem. After casting out demons, we must also solve the problem of mortifying the deeds of the body. Because when people follow their own flesh, they easily attract demons, and they attract all kinds of filthy things.

**Sexual immorality in the flesh and sexual immorality in the spirit are exactly the same. The core issue is unfaithfulness.** Therefore, our brothers and sisters must have a clear understanding of the spiritual realm. Idol worship is a spirit of sexual immorality. Why do people worship idols? It's because they want to follow the desires of the flesh. If you think about it carefully, where do we need deliverance? Then we must be delivered in that place, because God originally wanted to deliver us. For example, after Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, death entered them, and then they would have a series of problems.

We are talking about not conforming to the customs of this world, especially in sexual matters, because Jehovah is our God. We do not obey the customs of this world. The customs of this world are all closely related to these things. I have said so much, mainly to highlight one concept: the strong feeling produced by sexual organs comes from evil spirits. Moreover, whether it's our body or the things we follow according to our own preferences, including eating, these are all very spiritual matters. The solution lies in solving it in the spiritual world. There are two main things: one is casting out demons, and the other is mortifying the deeds of the body.

##  Beautiful Love Stories Are Also Related to Evil Spirits

Have you heard the story of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai? We have always thought it was a beautiful story. Also, the Legend of the White Snake is all about love. You see, Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai just hit it off for some reason. No matter how they looked at each other, they thought the other was good. If they really got married, would they still think the other was good? Luckily, they died before they got married. But many of us thought that after they got married, they would be a happy couple. Maybe they wouldn't even make it to the end. Because that feeling is there today, but what if it's gone one day? Therefore, relying on your own preferences and feelings is very inaccurate.

Once, a foreigner came to visit China, and they were shown Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai. It was very difficult to translate. Premier Zhou Enlai was a knowledgeable person, and he said: This is the Romeo and Juliet of China. When the foreigner heard Romeo and Juliet, he said: I know that. So you also have Romeo and Juliet in China! In fact, every ethnic group has them. Evil spirits all play this trick and corrupt people in this way. These people all died miserably in the end. If you ask me if they lived well, they actually didn't live well.

What else? There's a lot of messy stuff in Dream of the Red Chamber involving Lin Daiyu and Jia Baoyu. Even today, we need to know that there are still many ghosts we need to deal with. There are too many ghosts related to emotions. Some people can't fall in love; they feel uncomfortable as soon as they fall in love. Is it always uncomfortable? No, it's quite enjoyable when they're enjoying it, but it's also very uncomfortable when they're uncomfortable. Many couples, before they get married, see the good in each other and hit it off. In fact, what I hate the most is the affairs of couples. I fix things for them today, and then they scold me behind my back. If the couple is not doing well, they also scold me behind my back. So we don't fix this matter; we just fix the ghosts behind it.

We need to be careful about our expectations for this thing. A young couple hit it off, and I suggested that they take a good look at each other first. As a result, they said: What's wrong? Are you trying to break us up? I don't have anything better to do than break that thing up. As a result, the hot romance developed and entered into marriage. In fact, no matter how hot the love is, it will enter into a battle of the experts after marriage.

**Because of the present distress, I think that it is good for a person to remain as he is. Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.(1 Corinthians 7:26-28)**

If you follow the flesh, can you not be in pain? The first family, Adam and Eve, attracted a ghost. The second family attracted another ghost. The first family is already like this, and the ones that follow won't be any better. Some say: If people don't get married, where will people come from? You seem to be quite concerned about the world's population problem. Then I can only wish you good luck, and you can contribute to the world's population. Therefore, the problems of couples and sexual relations have far-reaching effects.

One day, David's son had relations with one of David's daughters. This son's name was Amnon, and the daughter was Absalom's sister, although they were not born from the same mother because David had many wives. At first, Amnon loved this sister very much. One day, after he raped his sister, why didn't he just marry her? As a result, he hated her no matter how he looked at her. Isn't that strange? Therefore, someone said this to me, although I may not necessarily agree: Husband and wife are birds of the same forest; they fly away separately when disaster strikes.

What can be relied on? Only God can be relied on. Things related to sex are all related to evil spirits. I encourage everyone to read the Bible carefully, especially 1 Corinthians chapter 7, which talks about the issue of marriage. If you are already married today, what should you do? Just live like that.

We must have hope in eternal life. We live in the world, and then we die. Doing these things is almost the same as animals. How people have sex, animals also have sex; people have this need, and animals also have this need; how people are born, animals are also born; how people die, animals also die. People live about the same as animals, but people have the image of God. Therefore, the human spirit longs to return to God's kingdom. In fact, the immediate consequence of a person's physical enjoyment is spiritual entanglement. Therefore, if you want to live an enjoyable life, you must know that running on this spiritual path is a healthy feeling.

May God bless everyone!
Recommended for You
Close
No comments yet~