SELLING YOUR SOUL FOR MONEY

Introduction

What would you sell your soul for? The Lord Jesus Christ made this principle clear in Mark 8:36-37, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Some willing lose their opportunity at eternal life cheaply. For some it does not take much at all. When it comes to sexual union, the Bible teaches very clearly abstinence until marriage. In our day and age, it is pretended that being a virgin is old fashioned and uncool. In reality, just the opposite is true. To go against God’s clear commands of "Thou shalt not commit adultery," which is a summary law of all sexual immorality is selling one’s soul to do evil and suffer the consequences of such behavior.

Application

To properly understand the Bible, we need to use what is known as applied theology.

Leviticus 19:29 reads, "Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness." Sometimes to gain money, some parents will prostitute their daughters. Drug addicts are notorious for such behavior. On a more subtle level is the allowing of daughters to wear immodest and suggestive clothing. This is saying that their daughter is available. If you are not selling, do not advertise is a saying of the world. Men get signals from these young women that says I am easy. Another old saying is why buy the cow if the milk is free?

Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines "prostitution" as, "1. The act or practice of offering the body to an indiscriminate intercourse with men; common lewdness of a female. 2. The act of setting one’s self to sale or offering one’s self to infamous employments..." This same dictionary renders "lewdness" as, "1. The unlawful indulgence of lust; fornication, or adultery. 2. In Scripture, it generally denotes idolatry. 3. Licentiousness; shamelessness." Since man is not divided, the soul was sold first for evil before the body was offered for sale. A whore is an harlot at heart first and foremost. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ meant in Mark 7:21, "For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders." Sexual immorality begins in the heart and works it way to the body to be used in degrading ways because this is the condition of the soul.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:15-18, "Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.17But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." The word harlot here is rendered prostitute in the Amplified Bible. Sexual immorality brings one into being one flesh i.e. married to lewdness. Paul said to flee any and all situations. It is better to be like Joseph than to be one flesh with a prostitute.

Prostitutes have certain characteristics about them. One of those characteristics that would not be found in a prostitute would be 1 Peter 3:4, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Another one that prostitutes are not known for is 1 Timothy 2:9, "In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array." In other words, women are to make sure that they are not brazen and their dress is not sending the wrong message.

Let us see the normal condition of an harlot in Proverbs 7:7-13, "And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, 8Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, 9In the twilight, in the evening , in the black and dark night: 10And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart. 11(She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: 12Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.) 13So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him." Here it is right out in the open. The Amplified Bible says the "simple" are "empty-headed and empty-hearted." This woman looks for the undiscerning. She comes out at night because her heart is the same color. She is dressed like a prostitute. Judges 16:1 says, "Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her." How did Samson know this woman was an harlot? The Bible said he saw, therefore, she was advertising by wearing suggestive clothing to entice him into lewdness. Notice also, she is loud and stubborn. The opposite of an quiet and meek, submissive spirit. She has no discrimination herself. She would sleep with anyone for money. She has sold her soul for evil.

Conclusion

Even men as well as women can be prostitutes. Both alike are abominations unto God as Deuteronomy 23:17-18 makes abundantly clear, "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. 18Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God." These are cult prostitutes both male and female. God would not accept their offerings for a vow. The offering and the one making the offer, where detestable, loathsome, and a moral stench in God’s sight. Prostitution is thus given to a false god and idolatry.