Remember Lot's Wife

Jesus said to remember Lot's wife.

I am now starting to realize more clearly the real problem in the mind and heart of Lot's wife when she decided to look back at Sodom where her home was.

When she turned around to look back against all warnings from the angel's, the real danger that they were trying to keep her from was not so much her offending God by disobedience and getting Him mad at her but it was the danger of becoming mesmerized in wonder at the immense display of power and fireworks that had the power to consume her as well.

This is very similar to the angel's warnings to John in Revelation cautioning him against wondering after the beast or the woman sitting on the beast.

I can imagine that as soon as Lot's wife caught a glimpse of the overwhelmingly fascinating display going on behind her that it became impossible for her to tear herself away from staring at it obsessively. And because of the very nature of the immense firestorm going on, because she could not continue to flee with the others she found herself standing in the path of the wall of searing heat, sulfur and other gases that enveloped her and transformed her into something other than a human being.

This phenomenon is very much like the compulsive feelings that many of us experienced when we turned on the TV to stare in fascination at the live, unfolding events during the attack on the towers in New York a few years ago. Many could not tear themselves away from the tube as they watched one tragedy after another unfold before their very eyes in real time.

One of the most deceptive and powerful tools of the enemy is to lead us to believe that we must have information in order to be saved or to be successful spiritually. I see this kind of compulsive information-gathering in fanatical religious groups seeking to uncover every conspiracy that they can lay their hands on. I see it in the mind-set of people who become addicted to news broadcasts or talk-shows, unmindful of the fact that their brains and hearts are being brainwashed and molded into the image of the world. I see it in the psychological bondage created whenever a person falls into the steel trap of pornography, hooked and nearly without hope of escape as they find themselves led around like a slave by their lower passions without ability to make their own choices anymore.

This issue of wonder is far more significant than I believe hardly anyone realizes. This thing called wonder is really nearly synonymous with the concept of worship. Once a person becomes mesmerized by something that is overwhelmingly compelling and has captured their attention completely, they enter into a trance that is very much like worship but find themselves unable to escape. This is why the angels in Revelation are so adamant that God's people realize the immense danger in wondering after the things from this world. It is because some of those things are calculated to rivet our attention so thoroughly and powerfully that it can become nearly impossible to escape the magical spell that they cast over our whole being.