FORNICATION – The Deadly Spiritual Exchange
Matthew 4:8-10
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Hebrews 12:16-17
16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. 17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Philippians 3:7-8
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ.
*All scriptures are in the NKJV unless otherwise stated.
We are practically, in this age of the last days, living in a hyper-real world. A world in which two realities are constantly playing out, whose influence put all humans under two continual categories: those living in the reality of how things are physically and those living in a simulation of reality that is based on delusion. It’s like living under the spell of the prince of this world. These two categories are determined by choices and decisions. First, I speak of these two categories from their natural perspective, knowing that there is a third category of those that live from a spiritual perspective. As we go further, I shall delve deeper into the spiritual perspective that this article wants to express and using the scriptural references I hope to provide a clearer picture of what I believe God wants to share with us today, especially for the Overcomers. It is both a warning to those who are not walking with God as well as an admonition and encouragement to those who are already walking as Overcomers before God.
In the world of acedemia, hyper-reality is defined as an inability of the conscious mind to distinguish reality from a simulation of reality. Hyper-reality is seen as a condition in which what is real and what is fiction are seamlessly blended together so that there is no clear distinction between where one ends and where the other begins. This is mostly psychological and technological in its approach. However, I want to bring something to light that has been a driving force in our world from ancient times, but that which most people don’t pay attention to. It refers to the spiritual influence of Babylon on earth but which is given strength by the prince of the power of the air. This influence has created such a massive delusion in this world that men by their conscious decisions and choices, choose to live out lies as against living out truth, without giving thought so much to the eternal consequences of these things. This article is not meant to show readers and Overcomers the foolishness of living in a physical hyper-real world of technological advancement, but rather to show the danger of choosing to walk away from that which is eternal (Truth) in God and then choosing to live out lies, which leads to eternal condemnation. It is to show the danger of exchanging that which is eternal in God for that which is corrupt in the flesh and is fading away. This exchange, the Bible rightly calls: Fornication.
As a matter of fact, and from the surface meaning of fornication, it is strongly tied to sexual activities outside of marriage. But I am not really writing about physical sexual activities in this article, but about something more grave. There is a massive shift in our world in which men are constantly moving from righteousness of the Spirit to living out patterns of ungodliness. This shift in our world is directly tied to the mystery of the Whore of Babylon seated upon many waters (peoples, nations and tongues) which Revelation 17 speaks of. It is a mystery that is tied to money, riches, gold, external enhancements which come at the cost of exchanging that which is eternal for that which is death. This is the fornication God is talking about, and His judgement over this wickedness is severe.
There are lots of stories in scriptures, the story of the temptation of Christ and of men and women whose lives, faith and choices I can use to illustrate the picture I am trying to paint in this article. But I will use the story of two men, one named Naboth and the other, Esau. I want to believe somehow we know the stories of these two men whom at some point in their lives where faced with some critical choices, which had direct eternal consequences for them. Firstly, let’s talk about Naboth.
1 Kings 21:2 says, Ahab the King of Israel said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it’s close to my palace. In exchange, I will give you a better vineyard, or if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” To the natural mind, this seemingly simple request from a king to his subject should pose no danger as it were. The delusion is that, some will think It’s good business to sell a vineyard to the king. But this same delusion is exactly what men are presented with in this age by the woman who sits upon the waters, but with slightly different contexts. In our day it comes in these patterns: ‘Give me your eternal inheritance in God and I will give you riches, fame and everything that attracts the eyes.’ ‘Take out Jesus from your songs and I will make you a famous gospel artist known all over the world.’ ‘Spend a weekend with me in my hotel room and you will get the job.’ ‘Peddle the word of God for money and you will have jets and fine cars.’ The list is endless.
Men, nations and people are falling for this request and are still falling, and this is what God calls spiritual exchange or fornication. But so that no one will be with an excuse, see what Naboth said to king Ahab in verse 3: but Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” This is mind blowing and calls for deeper meditations, for we all know the price Naboth had to pay for not agreeing to the request of the King. He spoke of the inheritance of his ancestors, which I believe alludes in our own day to the faith of the fathers who have gone ahead of us, whose faith cannot be completed without us. (See Hebrews 11:39-40) The scary question is this, how much of the faith of these fathers and our own faith have we cut short because of our choices of accepting the goodies of the Whore of Babylon? Think about this.
Now, let’s backtrack to the story of Esau and his response when he was faced with a similar situation. Genesis 25:29-34 has this to say about a conversation between two brothers: Jacob made a stew of lentils while Esau was away hunting. Esau came back hungry and asked Jacob, his brother, for some of his stew, but Jacob said to Esau, “Sell me your birthright as of this day.” Esau responded by saying, “Look, I am about to die. So what is this birthright to me?” Scripture says, ‘So Esau swore to Jacob, his brother, selling his birthright for a bowl of stew, for he despised his birthright.’
Clearly, from these two stories, we see two people presented with similar situations, that involved an exchange, and what their responses were. And if you fast forward to Hebrews 12:16, you will see what scripture says of Esau and his choice. He was called a fornicator and a profane person who for that which enhances flesh, sold his eternal inheritance in God. And even though he sought for it with all tears, he couldn’t find place for repentance, for God cannot be mocked.
Now, to bring us back to our days of hyper-reality, the days in which men are willing to exchange that which is eternal for that which fades away in corruption, and which only leads to eternal condemnation. The mystery of Godliness, which is the reality of the fullness of God manifesting in men right here on earth, is fast approaching. But, the question is: Have you exchanged your eternal inheritance for that which is passing away, through profanity and fornication with the Whore of Babylon, so that when the Day of this blessing and inheritance comes you will be found unworthy of Him? Think about these things, dear readers.
Upon realising these realities of spiritual exchanges going on in our world, and by the grace and mercy of God, I personally made a decision about my walk of faith. It’s a simple decision, which I know will cost me everything. I made up my mind that I will walk this walk of faith for four sets of people or four reasons. One, I will do it for God the Father who started this script of faith, so that He will rejoice at the end of it all. Two, I will do it for the fathers of faith who have gone ahead so that their faith can be completed and so that they also may rejoice at the end of faith. Three, I will do it for the next generation of faith walkers who must find a platform or a walk of faith in a man for them to be encouraged by in their own walk of faith. Four, I will do it for my Lord and King Jesus who must find faith when He returns. And then lastly (which I deliberately do not include as part of the four), I will do it for my own eternal inheritance in God.
These are my own personal reasons and choices, you must make yours according to the grace given to you by the Spirit of understanding in God.
Truth be told, there is an inheritance in God for those who love Him. Things that eyes have not seen, ears not heard and which have not entered the hearts of men before. Things reserved for those who will guard against exchanging their inheritance for the things that nourish the god of their bellies and the enhancements of their own flesh. This entire world is drunken of the wine of the fornication of the Whore of Babylon and men are willing to go this path without thinking of the consequences. We are all encompassed by this call to exchange our eternal inheritance for that which is passing away, but also, we all have the choices of either saying ‘Of what use is my birthright?’ like Esau did, or ‘God forbid that I give out the inheritance of my ancestors’ like Naboth did even though he paid with his life for protecting that which is eternal before God.
The Apostle Paul knew of this reality of spiritual exchanges, and he made a direct choice of counting all things within the spheres of his human achievements and external enhancements as rubbish in order to gain Christ. The question is, what will it cost you to hold on to your crown so that no man can take it from you? (See Rev 3:11)
Are you willing to pay that price? Or are you willing to compromise your eternal inheritance for dung? (See Eph 5:5)
It’s really amazing how God made sure Jesus too, even though He is God, pass through this same valley of decision but with a response that pleased God. See this; ” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ” ” Matthew 4:8-10 NKJV
Now to the Overcomers and to those who will listen to the call to come to the other side, into the life in God, and away from the table of Jezebel and the cup of the wine of her fornication, you have a choice to make. For there are lots of opportunities and avenues out there through which this cup of fornication is constantly being presented to us. For no one is exempted in this massive cup of wine of fornication going around, but each man must make up his mind to respond accurately to this enticing table of Babylon, which many are willing to sit at.
Jesus, in Matthew 24, said that there will be great tribulation in these our days and that unless these days are shortened, no flesh will be saved. But it’s easy to think He only meant the actual timing of the three and a half years of tribulation, which is in the near future. He also meant, right now. Even now that we are faced with all manner of enticing things of Babylon which are meant to dribble our hearts away from God and His eternal promises. We must take heed and hold onto the confession of our faith in Christ so we wouldn’t be found unworthy at His coming. It’s important we be found faithful to the heavenly calling and not to compromise our eternal inheritance for that which is perishing, knowing that faithfulness is faith in its fullness and it’s very critical. This means that faith, which is the evidence (tangibility) of things not seen and the substance of things hoped for, but which is tangible because it comes from the word spoken of God, which then creates a pattern of lifestyle, talkstyle, thoughtstyle etc is an all round expression of that which was spoken of God to us.
In conclusion, dear Overcomer, and to you out there who God is pulling to this stream of life in Christ Jesus, do not waver in your committment to follow God in faith and do not shift in your faithfulness to the things placed in your care by God. Babylon has fallen and will be totally destroyed in our day, thus, any investment with her is already a failed venture. Do not be like Esau who sold his birthright for that which is not divine, for it’s hard to repent after such choices are made.
May the God of Heaven who has found us worthy of Himself and who has promised us an eternal inheritance in Himself, keep you pure and without blemish until the coming of Christ Jesus our King.
God bless you.
