The Sodom Affect

By Buddy Owens

Why would it be so essential to our understanding that from the history of Abraham in Genesis to the Revelation of the Apostle John at Patmos, that Sodom would be the example of evil itself?  Just as hell is the container of all evil and falsity in the spiritual world, Sodom is the representative of all the evil in one complex in the natural world, while Gomorrah is the falsity from that evil.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Buddy Owens
• Release date: Jan 22, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224178193

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THE SODOM AFFECT

By Buddy Owens

Introduction

The Sodom Affect is seen from Genesis to Revelation when one is reading the Word.   Why would it be so essential to our understanding that from the history of Abraham in Genesis to the Revelation of the Apostle John at Patmos, that Sodom would be the example of evil itself?   The answer to this question will be examined thoroughly in this study.  Just as hell is the container of all evil and falsity in the spiritual world, Sodom is the representative of all the evil in one complex in the natural world, while Gomorrah is the falsity from that evil.

The Word says in Genesis 13:13:

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

Seeing this in the Word allows the men of the church to examine it from good.  You can see evil from good but not the reverse.  All good, that is good, comes from the Lord alone, thus from the Word.  Every promise in Revelation was made to him that overcometh.  The Lord challenges the church to overcome evil and that cannot be done unless the Word rules in the human mind.  There is no science that can teach man what love is.  And yet, there are societies throughout our world that attempt to persuade men otherwise.  They have never seen an affection, nor captured any thought, to take into their lab to analyze it.  They can only see the effects on human behavior.  Compare love to hate and anyone can see that those affections are real substances, when controlling the human mind.  If I cannot see hate, but I say I could feel the hate in the room or I could see the hate in his eyes then I know that some unseen substance is controlling the behavior.  The Word captures all the evil affections and thoughts in a single word, called sin.  These unseen substances are stored in the human mind, which operates out of the human brain.  They are intermediates out of the spiritual world but operate in the natural world as organic substance.  If this were not true, there would be no inherited evil.  The soul of the earthly father has in his seed a defiled human nature, with evil affections in it, that must be overcome by every man.  If this were not true, man would not need to be born again.

Every Christian should know from the doctrine of his church that he has a spiritual man and a natural man; one is internal, while the other is external.  As noted in 1 Peter 3:4:

But let it be the hidden man of the heart.

or from Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16:

For which cause we faint not: but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

This examination will be about the sinful Sodom Affect on our society, the church, and yes, an individual man or woman.  It is also necessary to know that in man, there is a spiritual mind and a natural mind, with a rational mind developed as an intermediate between the two minds.  Because man is created as a receptacle for the thoughts and affections passing through these minds, his freedom of selfhood exists, from the quality of the vessels (the will and understanding) that govern these affections and thoughts.  Every man has a will that determines the use of the affections while the understanding by its thoughts, determines the quality of that use.  The Lord created these two vessels (the will and the understanding) to bring forth uses, that allow mankind to share delights with men and angels.  Without delight from uses, these minds soon become a dark gloom with very little light.  The Lord or the Word (which are the same) is the only source for True delight.  On the will side of man, the affections from the Lord are called good and all good is from love.  The only source for all good or love is the Word, and these two, love and good are interchangeable.  The understanding depends on the good or love to flow into its truth or faith (these two, truth and faith are interchangeable) so that, good or love can bring forth the motive for any action.  This is called a marriage of good and truth, and this marriage produces a heavenly life from the Lord for mankind.  To understand the downward spiral of man, caused by the attack from hell on these two vessels (the will and the understanding) along with the direful Sodom Affect, it is necessary to review the Word beginning with Adam and his posterity, then Noah and his posterity (which the men of Sodom were one of), next Abraham and his posterity and finally the born again mind after the

Chapter One

In the beginning, in Genesis chapter 1, what was the cause of the evil?  Adam, was a man created in the image and after the likeness of God, as said in Genesis 1:26:

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

With this in mind, why would evil affect Adam and his posterity when they were a complete vessel, that could receive the influx out of Heaven from the Lord without hindrance?  They were celestial by nature, thus operating from love toward the Lord.  Anyone who loves the Lord with all his heart, by his nature, also loves their neighbor.  Unlike all men that followed, they were gifted with a blessing of using their whole mind.

Every man operates from a willing mind and an understanding mind.  The will side grows the desires and affections, which are the man's loves.  The understanding side captures the thoughts, which are the truths of wisdom.  The celestial mind of Adam was not divided, unlike the minds of the men that followed.  The men of today can look you in the eyes and tell you one thing, while intending something entirely different.  When the affections (loves) in a man are good, and the thoughts are from truth, then it is one mind with no deceit.  This is to illustrate that the will of man is a vessel formed to receive the good of the Lord by His influx.  While the understanding is a form that receives His truth.  No man has life in himself, but life flows in from the Lord, who has life in Himself.  As written in John 5:26:

For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.

The purity of the vessel determines what the use of the influx is.  If the soul receiving the life flowing in has good and truth from the Lord implanted in it, then it will produce good fruit.  However, if the soul has evil and falsity from hell in it, then it will pervert the influx for evil uses.  John says, speaking of the Lord as the Word,

In Him was life and the life was the light of men and the light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. (John 1:4-5)

Also,

That was the true light which lighted every man that cometh into the world. (John 1:9)

This light or influx flows into every man whether he is good or evil.  No man can exist without that life (light) flowing in.  It will sustain