To turn away from the right course. To lead astray morally. These are the first two definitions given for the word pervert in the dictionary. I realize in this society of finger pointing and non culpability. The majority of people are more than happy to point the proverbial finger at someone else. With the intent of course albeit unspoken. Of pointing out how bad the other person is. And of course leaving themselves out of the picture entirely as being a pervert. Most today if asked, what is a pervert? Would say someone who lures in children. Or perhaps those who put hidden cameras in restrooms and the like.

But in the eyes of God you are a pervert if you have lost sight of his word,his guidance and his church. And by the way when it comes to perversion.It is just another avenue which sin takes. And if you are guilty of one you are guilty of all. So if you are watching the news and commenting to your spouse about the man being cuffed and put in the van for child porn. While you yourself are reading sex magazines. Your sin is the same. And although you haven’t faced a penalty by mans standards. You are equally guilty and known by God by his standards. Sin is sin and all of it will render you a reservation in hell.

And now to the book of Galatians. Where the apostle Paul is addressing some poor choices which have come to his attention in the church of Galatia.Just as a pig wants to return to the pen.To roll around in its own urine and feces in the mud. For most sinners. It doesn’t take long  for them to forsake Christ and return to their sinful ways. Just like you for instance.Galatians chapter 4 beginning in verse 17. I am reading the Amplified bible….So this I say and solemnly testify in the Lord. That you must no longer live as the heathen do in their perverseness, folly and vanity. And the emptiness of their souls and the futility of their minds. Their moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is clouded.

They are alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance and willful blindness that is within them. Due to their hardness of heart and their insensitivity to their moral nature. In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling. They are reckless and have  abandoned themselves to unbridled sensuality. Eager and greedy to engage in every form of impurity. Which their depraved desires may suggest and demand…. My dear readers. Perhaps you have heard of the term…having reached the point of no return? Paul uses quite a few very descriptive adjectives in this text. But for the moment I would like to focus on the word callous. As someone who has spent more than their fair share of time doing hard labor. I can speak from experience. Every laborious job comes with the build up of callous on the body. The areas that are used and abused performing the work. Will develop blisters, bruises and even cuts. But over time from continued abuse. These same areas develop hardened skin known as callouses. And after having developed them you don’t feel the pain any more in those areas. You have become insensitive to what once hurt you.

Paul makes the connection to us spiritually. That we through neglect and hardening of our own hearts. Can reach the very same state of which I just spoke. Just plug in the word callous where the word hardening was just used in describing your heart. You now have no guilt, remorse or anything else you can think of in regards to your sinful behavior. And in most cases they now relish it. And the end of such individuals is generally worse then when they first came to know Christ. The Gospel of Luke chapter 11 starting in verse 24. Jesus is teaching on what happens when a person is delivered from a demon such as perversion…..When an unclean spirit is driven out of a man. The spirit walks through dry places looking for rest. And finding no place to rest. He says to himself. I am going to return to the place I was cast out of. And when he comes he finds  the house swept and cleaned. He then goes and gets seven other spirits more wicked then himself. And they all enter in and dwell there. And the end of that man is worse than when he first started.

The house spoken of here is a human body. A body that was formerly inhabited by the Holy Spirit. And the person has now forsaken God and turned back to his old ways of living. The house is now swept and clean as far as  the demon is concerned. The Holy Spirit is no longer present preventing him from entering the man.And finally in the book of Ephesians chapter 5 beginning with verse 5. I will end with this. But immorality and all sexual vice and impurity. Including greediness must not be named among you. As is fitting among Gods consecrated people. Let there be no obscenity and indecency or foolish and sinful talking. Neither any coarse jesting which is not fitting nor becoming of the saints of God. And be sure of this. That no person practicing sexual vices or impurity in thought or in life. Or one who has a lustful desire for the property of another. Will have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.And so now I must ask you. Are you a pervert?…..To be continued