In the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis, there was a man named Onan. He is mentioned in Genesis, chapter 38, verses 4 through10. He did something that was so displeasing to God that He took his life. Why did he ( Onan ) die? In verse 3, of this chapter we find that Onan had a brother whose name was Er. One fascinating truth revealed in the Word of God is that names have meaning. People's names sometime point to their character and in some instances their names foretell of their destiny in God's plan of redemption to reconcile humanity back from death, but Onan's
elder brother was so wicked in the sight of the Lord, that God took his life. Er was married to a woman by the name of Tamar, who had not bare any children. Judah was the father of the now deceased Er, and he gave instruction to his second son Onan to take Tamar to be his wife and to raise up seed to his late brother. Onan was not obedient to his fathers instructions and instead of allowing Tamar to conceive seed unto his late brother, he spilled it on the ground! That's what is written in verse 9, where it reads;that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. Verse 10, And the thing which he did displeased the Lord: wherefore he slew him also. That's why he died ! To God, this man's seed was not a disposable body fluid, like urine or spittle, this seed was an important component in God's plan to save his people from their sins by the sacrifice of Himself. You see, several generations later the Saviour of the world ( The Lord Jesus Christ ) would be called "the Lion of the Tribe of JUDAH", for the vessel of flesh( Mary ) that God used as a means by which to be birthed by or manifested in the flesh through was a descendant of Judah, Onan's father. That's right, Mary, the virgin was a descendant of Judah! Well you may be wondering what all of the above has to do with an addiction to pornography? A lot actually. Be aware that there are some topics which many pastors might feel uncomfortable speaking about in church settings and rightfully so, therefore you may not hear the topics this website addresses in your local assembly, however, I am aware that many of you don't go to church at all, and some of you may never even have heard of the Holy Ghost, so then if you would patiently continue I would like to aquaint you with the timeless truths found in the Bible. You see, Onan died over 4,000 years ago for doing something very similar to what many viewers of pornography do regularly in our present day, that is masturbation. While it is true that Onan did not masturbate, what made his actions similar to masturbation was the end result, he spilled his seed on the ground, or he wasted it as though it were nothing. I am trying to find a way to communicate the stunning disbelief I feel at the carelessness so many men seem to have with regards to their sperm or seed. The spilling of it made God angry enough to slay a man! Though masturbation was not and is not a sin unto death I was shocked to learn that there was a specific law which ancient Israel had to abide by concerning masturbation, (see Leviticus 15:16), it was called, the seed of copulation. This little known verse was referred to in a very interesting lesson written by Dr. Wilbur L. Jones Sr. You can view the whole lesson by logging on to the following website at ( www.beulahchurchny.org) then click on Apostle's Message and refer to #3 under the section titled, God's Plan. SORRY! BUT THE AFORE MENTIONED WEBSITE IS DOWN. It is important that we as men understand that within us, within our seed is the potential to bring a soul ( an eternal being ) into existence! It seems that along with casual sex and the resulting increase of out of wedlock births that there has also been an increase in some men's blatant indifference to expressing true love to a child or children fathered by someone their mate," used to know"! Onan was angry because he knew the child would not be recognized as his own and expressed his displeasure by spilling his own seed on the ground without any regard to the potential life, nor the soul of the unborn. Today many men go from one sexual partner to another, thereby fathering several children by different mothers, yet they show outright disdain for the children fathered by their partners former lovers, but so many seem clueless of God's outright disdain for their immoral promiscuity. This is not God's plan for men, you can view God's plan for humanity at the website mentioned above. We must be aware that each and every soul belongs to God, irregardless of how ignorant and irresponsible their parents were. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. This is found in Ezekiel 18:4. The word soul is difficult for me to define. One fellow defined soul as, " a little part of God". We as men must be aware of the eternal potential of our seed, and the foolishness of wasting, or the spilling of seed after watching pornographic materials. To the Holy Father who is the Creator of all life, there is only one person who is sanctioned to receive our seed, our wives, not the ground, nor any other person, place, or thing, only our wives, for this too is part of God's eternal plan. One Sunday morning my pastor Bishop John D. Matthews, Sr. made a profound statement, he said, Only a woman can perpetuate the image of God! He went on to explain that the Creator has given women the capacity through the reproductive process to perpetuate the image of God Himself, and we know for certain that this process cannot occur unless she receives seed from a man, for there was only one immaculate conception.