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Don't Look Back
Arlen L. Chitwood

Arlen L. Chitwood (1933–present). Born on July 15, 1933, in Belen, New Mexico, Arlen L. Chitwood is an American Bible teacher and author known for his dispensationalist and kingdom-focused writings. Raised in a small railroad town in the Rio Grande Valley, he attended West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M University) in Canyon, Texas. In 1953, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving four years, including a stint in French Morocco, where, in 1954, he came to faith in Jesus Christ. After his service, Chitwood graduated from Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1961, and completed his education at Bob Jones University. Influenced by A. Edwin Wilson, he developed a ministry centered on the “Word of the Kingdom,” emphasizing distinctions between salvation of the spirit, soul, and body, particularly the “salvation of the soul” as a future reward for faithful Christians. Based in Norman, Oklahoma, he founded The Lamp Broadcast, Inc., authoring over 70 books, including Salvation of the Soul, The Bride in Genesis, and By Faith, available as free PDFs at lampbroadcast.org. His teachings, also shared through audio sermons on SermonIndex.net, focus on scriptural literalism and eschatology, though some critique his views on conditional soul salvation as controversial. Little is known about his personal life, including family details. Chitwood said, “Scripture must be interpreted by Scripture, comparing spiritual with spiritual.”
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Sermon Summary
In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of not dwelling in the plain, using the story of Lot's wife as an example. He contrasts Lot, who didn't make it far in his journey, with Abraham, who dwelled in the high country. The preacher warns against tying our hopes and visions to the present world system, as it will ultimately be destroyed. He urges listeners to keep their focus on that which will endure and gain an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ.
Sermon Transcription
All right, let's go ahead and get started. Our Father, we're thankful that You've allowed us once again together to look into Your Word. We would ask for open minds, receptive hearts for what You have for us. It's in Christ's name. Amen. Back to Genesis 19, verse 17. Let's read the verse again. And it came to pass when they had brought them forth abroad that He said, Escape for thy life, don't look back, don't stay in all the plain, escape to the mountain, and if you don't, you'll be consumed. I didn't read the verse exactly as it is worded, but that is what the verse is saying. Now we left off somewhat in the last study at a point I'll pick up, and that is, there are two spheres in which one can conduct his life, his activities, and it is either one or the other. If a person is not for Christ, he is against Christ. Now don't ask me to explain that. Ask the person that wrote that to explain it. Christ said if the person gathering not with Him scatters. He that is not with me is against me. Note for example, you need not turn there, I'm just calling your attention to a passage of Scripture that is in the book of Ruth. I'll give a perfect illustration of this. Ruth worked in Boaz's field. Now she would be gathering, that is, in the field, she would be gathering in connection with Boaz. Where would she work if she worked outside of Boaz's field but still worked? She would be working over in another field, but she would not be gathering in connection with Boaz. That is, a gathering in connection with Boaz could occur in one field and one field only. It was either in Boaz's field or it was outside Boaz's field. It was either gathering in connection with Boaz or it was gathering outside in another field outside of connection with Boaz. That is, it was either laboring properly or it was laboring in an improper manner. Now, if she gathered in Boaz's field, she would have that connection with Boaz. And as matters worked themselves out in the book, she took a part or had a part in that which lay out ahead in connection with Boaz. That is, the inheritance was redeemed and she, along with the redemption of the inheritance, became Boaz's wife. Of course, this is all a type of the Christian gathering in the proper field today in connection with Christ with a view to the redemption of the inheritance, which has to do with the book of Revelation, Christ redeeming the inheritance through judgment, judgments upon this world, and at the same time doing exactly the same as seen in the type when Boaz redeemed the inheritance and the bride becoming the wife as Ruth became the wife of Boaz. And in connection with this in the book of Ruth, you see regality out of head because in the lineage of Ruth and Boaz, you go on down eventually to David, the second king over Israel, and the king that prophecy goes back to. Like, for example, Christ, he shall be great, shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David down through Boaz, Ruth, through David to Christ. And in the book of Ezekiel, David is going to be raised from the dead and he is going to be seated on his throne in the Messianic era. Christ is also going to be seated on this throne ruling in the midst of his people Israel, but it's David we're talking about. David, a descendant of Ruth and Boaz. Down further, Christ, the greater son of David, a descendant of Ruth and Boaz. It all has to do with regality, regality out of head, man realizing the reason or the purpose for his very existence. But again, it's either in Boaz's field or out. It's either in Christ's field or out. If in Boaz's field, it's in connection with Boaz. If in Christ's field, in connection with Christ, it's either one or the other. There is no middle field, so to speak. It's either in the field or out of the field. Take the actions of Simon and Andrew. They were fishermen. It was either fishers of men or not forsaking their nets and continuing with their occupation. No middle ground. Now, the plain in which Lot lived. Let's talk about that for a moment. That's within the text we're dealing with, and there are two locations seen in Genesis 18 and 19. The locations are in the plain or on the mountain. Lot was in the plain. Abraham was on the mountain. How did Lot come to be in the plain? Well, there was a conflict in Genesis 13 between the herdsmen of Abraham's cattle and the herdsmen of Lot's cattle. And Abraham, in his magnanimous way, offered Lot any portion of the land, that is, to separate himself and his herdsmen, his herds from, separate themselves to avoid the conflict. He told Lot, he said, you choose any portion of the land, you take your herds, your herdsmen, and you go over there, and I will go in the opposite direction. Well, Lot lifted up his eyes. He saw the well-watered plain of Jordan. He looked upon the best that this world had to offer in the Jordan Valley. And he said, I'll take that land. Abraham said, that's fine. I'll go in the other direction. Lot went down. Abraham went up. He went back into the high country. Lot went down into the low country. And you get on into Genesis 18 and 19, and you find Lot seated in the gate of Sodom when the Lord came down in the company of two angels appearing to Abraham. The angels went on down into Sodom. The Lord stayed out in the high country with Abraham. Now, note a contrasting difference. Lot is in a part of the land separated from the Lord. He's in the low land. Abraham is out in the high country. He's in the mountain that's referenced here. And he's standing, seen in several instances, standing before the Lord. Lot was seen down intermixed with the people in the plain not standing before the Lord. See, it's either one or the other. When the angels were sent down, Lot seated in the gate of Sodom. He had eventually pitched his tent towards Sodom. He eventually found himself in Sodom. And he at this time found himself seated in the gate. Now, what is the significance of being seated in the gate? Back to the book of Ruth. This was where business was transacted. This was what we might see as a courthouse today in the town square, where business on behalf of the people, records were kept, things of that nature. And that day it occurred through the elders at the gate. And in the book of Ruth, Boaz went down to the gate to redeem the inheritance in the presence of certain elders, of course, and near kinsmen involved. Things of that nature that you can read about in Ruth chapter 4. And when the angels going on down into Sodom appeared at the gate, there was Lot seated in the gate. He had so involved himself in the cities of the plain, and in particular Sodom, that he at this time was apparently, after some fashion, transacting business. He could have only been a person welcoming strangers, but he was so involved in the affairs of the city that he was seated in the gate. Now, years ago I had a Bible teacher that was very adamant on Lot was at this time the mayor of Sodom. Well, there's no indication he was the mayor, but there is every indication that he had gone so far down that he at this time was involved in the affairs of a city that was filled with homosexual activity. He had so completely separated himself from Abraham and the Lord, Abraham standing before the Lord, that there's that contrasting difference seen completely enmeshed within the things of this world. Now, Abraham, on the other hand, completely different story. He is in the world, but he's not of the world. He's a place where you find his activities are in connection with the Lord, not in connection with the things of this world. Now, here's an interesting thing that you might keep in mind. These cities of the plain, though they were destined for destruction, lay within the area that Abraham was to inherit. Now, notice you project that out into the antitype. This present world and its system is to undergo the same fate that the cities of the plain during Abraham's day suffered as those cities lay within the area that Abraham was to inherit. So the cities today, this present world system, lies within the area that Israel, the church, will inherit during the coming era, during the coming age, following what? What do you find in the type? Following destruction. As the cities of the plain were destroyed, so this present world system will be destroyed. As that lay within the land that Abraham was to inherit, so that which is to be destroyed out there today, yet to be destroyed, lies within the realm that, let's take Christians for example, Christ is to be given the Gentiles for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his inheritance, but not until Gentile world power is destroyed. And Israel is once again brought into the picture, placed back in the land at the head of the nations, a theocracy in the land, and these Gentile nations, Gentile world power destroyed. These Gentile nations in that position with Israel at the head of the nations, the nations ruled by and blessed through Israel. Christ and his co-heirs in the heavens, notice, co-heirs with Christ, God has promised his son, I'll give you the Gentiles, the uttermost parts of the earth. But it's after Gentile world power has been destroyed according to the type, that's the way it will be out in the antitype. I just thought you might like to know that, the reason I'm calling it to your attention. Now, Abraham, another interesting thing, Abraham was the one that the Lord appeared to. The Lord didn't appear to Lot. Abraham was the one who was told about the impending destruction. Lot didn't know anything about it. Abraham interceded on behalf of Lot. He, so to speak, sought to bargain with the Lord. If you find 50 righteous in the cities down there, will you destroy it? No. He went down to 45, 40, 30, 20, went down to 10, and the Lord left off communing with Abraham. There were 10 righteous in those cities. And they were to be destroyed. In contrast, Lot knew nothing about this impending destruction. Does that kind of somewhat... See, Lot represents a saved individual. Abraham, a saved individual. You have contrasting differences between two saved individuals of that day. One intermeshed, intermixed within the things of the world. The other, following a correct course, not down in the plain. He's running for his life. He's running the proper course. He's set the pace. And he has his goal on the mountain. And he's really seen dwelling out on the mountain. He's not dwelling in the plain. Now, a Christian today is here in the plain. The mountain has to do with a kingdom out ahead. But note, he can dwell out there. Not here. But if he sets his sights, goals, aims, ambitions on things here, he would be, as Lot, but setting his sights, goals, aims, ambitions on things on the mountain, ignoring the things of the plain, then you have Abraham picturing the Christian in the other respect. Again, there's no position between. It's either as Lot or as Abraham. Now, Lot's testimony among those in the cities of the plain, when the two angels came down and told Lot that these cities were about to be destroyed, he sought to warn others. And he seemed to one of them an individual that was jesting. Lot knew nothing about spiritual things, spiritual values. He had spent all his time among these homosexual individuals. They didn't mind coming around his house, trying to get Lot to bring these two angels out. And there's a number of interesting things that one can somewhat derive from seeing what these homosexual men were doing or their mindset. There seems to be, that is, what seems to be taught here is that homosexual activity, in fact, it's not just here. It's in the book of Jude that talks about going after a different kind of flesh. These individuals going after a different kind in their homosexual ways. But the inference is clear in Genesis 17 and 18 and 19 that the men of Sodom had been having homosexual relationships with angelic beings. Now, that may seem far-fetched, but you start comparing scripture with scripture. You have a heterosexual relationship of this nature in Genesis 6, which resulted in the flood. You have a homosexual relationship of this nature in Genesis 18 and 19, which resulted in the destruction of the cities of the plain. Now, you put that together. You find that in the days immediately before the coming of the Son of Man, conditions during those days are described as they were relative to two men in scripture. As it was during the days of Noah, as it was during the days of Lot. Now, normal activity was occurring during the days of both of these men. It goes on to talk about eating, drinking, marrying, giving in marriage. I know some have tried to make some things out of the latter part of that, that I don't really see can be taught from the text. And that is marrying and giving in marriage. They're trying to see something of a wrong connotation there. Some have tried to see marrying a number of wives. Some have tried to see the heterosexual relationship brought in in Genesis 6, or even the homosexual in Genesis 18 and 19. I doubt very seriously it's more read into the text than anything it seems. I doubt very seriously you can derive that teaching from the text. But the thing is, you put these two together and it seems that in the latter days, you're going to have a repetition of not only heterosexual activity, but homosexual activity between angels and female offspring of Adam, angels and male offspring of Adam. Now, look around and see the direction things are going today. And you can see that the world could very easily move into a condition of that nature. Now, I'm not going to try to tie present into future. You start trying that and you get into trouble. So many try to tie certain events today into prophetic events and show a connection. And about the next day or two, certain things go in so many different directions because things move so fast in the Middle East that they're shown, or they have to change some of their thinking. But I can tell you how it is now. I can tell you how it will be and exactly how the connection or how it will move into that. I can't tell you. That's not revealed. And I'm going to stay away from it. Now, the command is to get up and get out of this place because it is going to be destroyed. That is, the angels came down. They told Lot, we will destroy this place. Now, there's a destruction by angels and there's also a destruction by the Lord. Are you in Genesis 18 and 19? I want to show you something. Now, first of all, in 1821, I will go down, this is the Lord speaking, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it. Why does the Lord have to come down to see? Isn't He omniscient? Certainly He is. He didn't need to come down to see, but this is simply the way He presents Himself in His word. I will go down and see. He's going down to see what He already knows. Now, He's talking about a report. He has watchers. He has holy ones out reporting back what's happening. They've reported back what has been happening in Sodom. He's come down to see in verse 22, and the men turned their faces from thence and went towards Sodom. These are the two angels. But Abraham stood yet before the Lord. Now, it's in Genesis 19, in verse 1, there came two angels to Sodom at even. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. In verse 13, this is after the homosexual activity at his house, after they came to Lot, begged him to come into his home and spend the night, not stay on the streets. Lot knew what was happening out on the streets. He apparently knew these men were angels. The men of Sodom apparently knew they were angels. They tried to break Lot's door down to get to them, to these two men. Why do that? They had one another. Well, the inference is clear. Apparently, a homosexual relationship with an angel, a man with an angel, was the height of, say, a homosexual experience. I'm not a homosexual, so I can't speak along those lines. But that seems to be somewhat a clear inference here. These men had been having homosexual relationships with angels, and they wanted these two angels in a bad way. Bring them out that we might know them. Now, after seeing this, after seeing how corrupt it was, they already knew what was going to happen. But these two angels, down in verse 13, We will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxing great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it. Question. According to that verse, who is going to destroy these cities of the plain? Four cities were about to be destroyed. Zor was spared for Lot to flee into later. But who, according to this text, is about to destroy these cities? Well, these two angels. They say, We will destroy these cities. In the next verse, right in the middle of the verse, Oh, get out of this place, for the Lord will destroy this city. Now it's the Lord that's going to destroy it. In verse 24, Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone fire from heaven, and He overthrew those cities and all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. Now, who destroyed the cities? Did the angels destroy the cities, or did the Lord destroy the cities? The Bible states that both destroyed the cities. Well, how can that be? How can it be the angels, and how can it be the Lord? I heard one man speaking upon this, and he said, Well, it states that the angels destroyed it, but it was really the Lord that destroyed it. Well, that is not the answer. Let me give you a picture of the whole universe, what we have. God rules a universe. He rules this universe through angels. He has angels over provinces throughout the universe. He has angels over this province. A messianic angel over the province, numerous angels under him. Over this province, He placed the man, the angel we know today as Satan. Those under him, that is, only one third followed him when Satan sought to exalt his throne. Those are the ones ruling this province today. But let's look out in other parts of the universe. He has other messianic angels out in other provinces with angels ruling under them. Now, the Lord rules the universe. Angels rule over provinces, but the Lord rules over these provinces. Now, note, we have the same thing. The angels destroy the city. The Lord destroys the city. The Lord ruling throughout the universe rules over provinces, but angels rule over provinces. How can these angels rule over provinces and it be said that the Lord rules over these provinces? It's very simple. Angels rule over these provinces, or let's turn it around to our text. These two angels, the angels act under fixed laws set up by God. And they're acting under fixed laws. Their actions become the Lord's actions. And thus, the Lord, it's the angels that destroyed the city acting under the cities of the plain, acting under fixed laws. And it's also it also can be said, as in the text, not only the angels destroyed, it was actually the angels destroyed the city. But they're acting under fixed laws in this respect that God has established. It can also be said that the Lord destroyed the cities. The same thing in ruling the universe. Angels rule over provinces. The Lord has placed these angels over these provinces. And these angels acting under fixed laws, their actions become or are the Lord's actions. And it is the Lord who rules throughout the universe. The Lord uses angels in numerous capacities in this respect. Turn to Daniel chapter four. Let's see a little bit of this. Does anyone know who places and removes rulers in the kingdom of men? Well, it clearly states in Daniel four that it's the Lord who rules in the kingdom of men. And he places whom he will. Sometimes he places a man of it. The word is in the King James is base. Sometimes he places the basest of men. Other times not so. Man in a high position. Now, base is not to be thought of in a derogatory sense there. It's to be thought of as a man in a low position. Maybe a man no one ever heard of. The Lord reaches down and places that man in a position of power. Who placed George Bush as President of the United States? People think that the Republican Party placed him there. Well, the Lord may have used the Republican Party in that respect. But that's all beside the point. In Daniel, it states that the Lord rules in the kingdom of men. He places individuals in positions of power. And he removes individuals. He placed Nebuchadnezzar in the position he occupied. The day came when he removed Nebuchadnezzar. Drove him out into the field to eat grass for seven years. Then he placed the man back in a position of power. But it's the Lord who does this. And he in Daniel is doing this through angelic beings. Holy ones. Watchers who report to him. They're acting under fixed laws. Their actions become the Lord's actions. That's the way it's set up in Scripture. That's the way it occurs in the world today. I'll never forget in 1960 when John Kennedy was running for President of the United States. There was a cry throughout the Protestant world. It didn't occur in the Catholic world, of course. But throughout the Protestant world that God did not want this man in office because he was a Catholic. And he would have some allegiance to the Pope in Rome. And the U.S. could not afford a man in the highest office in the land who would have that type of allegiance. And the Protestants all gathered together, not all of them, but a great majority of them, proclaiming that we had to get out and do something to keep this man out of office because God didn't want him in office. But John Kennedy was placed in office anyway. Now, who put him in office? The most high rules in the kingdom of man. He gives it to whomsoever he will. It was God who put him in office despite all the ministers that got out and stated that God didn't want the man in office. God had a reason. I don't know what it was, but there was a reason that God put the man in office. There was a reason for that which occurred in Dallas in the fall of 1963. And if you believe it or not, there was a reason that Lyndon Johnson was in there for a while, Richard Nixon, and on and on you go. It was the Lord who put them in. It was the Lord who removed them. That's the way He operates in the kingdom of man. Now, an interesting thing. It is God who rules over all and ruling through angelic beings in this respect. That is, ruling through messianic angels and the angels placed under them. They're acting under fixed laws. Their actions becoming God's actions. He ruling in that respect. We have a little bit different situation in this world today. We have a rebel ruler. But even with this rebel ruler, God still rules in the kingdom of man. This kingdom has not been taken out from under His control. He's allowing this rebel ruler to continue ruling for a time. He is today. The Spirit has come into the world to call out a bride for His Son to one day occupy the position over this earth presently occupied by Satan and his angels. That is, Christ will occupy the position presently occupied by Satan. Christians ruling with Christ occupy the position presently occupied not only by angels ruling with Satan, but by the angels who refuse to go along with Satan when he sought to exalt his throne. But I've said all that to say this. Recall the scripture which would say Satan is the God of this age. How can he be the God of this age? Would other messianic angels out in other worlds be the God of this age? Not in the sense that it is spoken of of Satan. Now, there is a sense in which the word is used relative to angels, but not as it's used referring to Satan as the God of this age. Now, note that Satan sought to exalt his throne. He sought to be as God. And he as a rebel ruler is the God of this age, even though the most high rules in the kingdom of men through his omniscience, his power, his providential. I want the word providential. His providential control of all things. But the day is coming when the true God will be the God of an age out ahead through his son. We have a rebel. We have a rebel God, so to speak, over this world. He has relinquished the right to rule, but he has yet to relinquish his position on the throne. And note what he is going to do. Maybe this will help clarify what I'm trying to say. Note what he is going to one day do relative to the man of sin. He is going in Revelation 13, 2, I believe it is. He is going to give his throne, his power, and a great authority to the man of sin. And this man of sin then, notice this God of this age, this man of sin is then going to enter into the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and declare himself to be God in connection again with the God of this age. Now let me look and see where I'm supposed to be and then we'll get on with this study. Now we're talking about the destruction of the kingdom of this world. Through the type, the destruction of the cities of the plain. How far back can you go and see teaching relative to the destruction of this present world system within typology? Well, you can go back to at least Genesis 6, 6 through 8. In Genesis 5, Enoch is taken out. Then we have Noah, Enoch the seventh from Adam at the end of a complete set of generations. Seven, a complete number. Then at the end of the next complete set, 10, Noah the tenth from Adam. Noah goes through the flood. We have a destruction of the present world typifying the destruction of, that is the destruction of the world that then was, typifying the destruction of the world that now is. Exactly as the cities of the plain then typify that which is about to be destroyed. You see a new beginning in Genesis 9. Then you see somewhat of a repeat of this in Genesis 10 and 11. You find Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord. The beginning of his kingdom was Babylon. Here's the first king of Babylon. Typifying the man of sin out ahead, the last king of Babylon. The feet of iron, the feet mixed with iron and clay. Also the legs of iron merging into the feet of iron and clay. Or the fourth beast in Daniel chapter 7. It's all about the Babylonian kingdom from the days of Nebuchadnezzar to the man of sin. The final Nimrod, the final Assyrian. What happened in history? What happened in Genesis 10 and 11? When the Lord came down to look at this Babylonian kingdom, they were seeking to build a tower reaching into the heavens. Now they were not trying to build a tower to heaven. They sought to build a tower whose top was like unto the heavens. Apparently a pagan place of worship. The Lord came down to look at this tower the children of men built. He dispersed them. In other words, he destroyed man's plans and purposes. He did away with that which the first king of Babylon sought to build. And he will do away with that which the last king of Babylon will seek to build. What happens right after that? In the type, he calls Abraham out to go to another land realizing inheritance therein. What's going to happen in the antitype? He's going to call those descended from Abraham through Isaac Jacob, Jacob's twelve sons, into another land to realize an inheritance in that land. Thus, we're not talking about the first appearance or the first mention of the destruction of this present world system when we get to Genesis 18 and 19. We're talking about at least a third and even more than that when you get to looking at other scriptures like the battle of the kings in Genesis 14 right in there. When Lot was taken captive, Abraham brought his man out. You had a destruction of the kings in that day. And then you had nine kings mentioned and Abraham a tenth. But this merges right into the first mention of Melchizedek pointing to what? To that future day. Melchizedek, a king priest in Jerusalem pointing to Christ's coming place when he will be king priest in Jerusalem. So it's just over and over and over. And we're only in Genesis 18 and 19. You can go beyond that into numerous other parts of scripture. The destruction of this present world system has been told over and over and over and over in scripture. And people believe that things are going to go on and on and on without an end. In such a day as you think not, in such a day as the world thinks not, things are going to suddenly change. Now, the Lord allows things to go on and on and on for a time. And then the hammer drops. The Lord may not move for years, for decades, for millenniums. But then all at once, the time that the Lord has decreed. That's an interesting time for the clock to start dinging. The time that the Lord has preset, decreed, arrives, and things move rapidly. I mean, the fire drops. That's what's about to happen. It looks like it's going on forever, but it's not going on forever. How much longer it will go on, we're not told. We know that we can only be very near the end of the dispensation. But how near? It's all coming down. Don't tie your hopes up in the present world system. Get out of the plain. Look out to the mountain. That behind will be destroyed. Ishmael has no inheritance with Isaac. Ishmael representing the man of flesh, representing the things of the plain. Isaac representing the man of spirit. The things out on the mountain. There are a number of ways you can make the statement. The man of flesh has no inheritance with the man of spirit. And relative to the things associated with inheritance, let's say you tie your aims, ambitions, inheritance, any number of things up in this present world system. What will happen? First Corinthians 11 again. You will suffer destruction with the world. Keep your eyes focused in the correct direction. Keep it focused on that which lies out ahead. Keep it focused upon that which will endure, not upon that which will be destroyed. A couple of verses and then we'll close. And you all can be on your way. We need to get you off on the road. I almost said that the wrong way. We need to get you off the road. You know, that's not what I'm saying. We need to get you off and on to the road and get you back to Dripping Springs to prepare the way for the next day or two. Let me make a couple of verses and we'll be through. No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is what? Fit for the kingdom of God. Now, I didn't say that. That's the Lord that said that. No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. That's what we're talking about. Don't. I know it doesn't mean that don't don't don't even give it a second thought. Don't worry about it. In other words, well, let's just place it within the framework of our text. Run for your life. Yes. Don't look back. Don't stay in the plane. Escape. Where are you going to escape? Escape to the mountain. That's where you're to fix your eyes on the mountain. Fix your eyes on the coming kingdom of Christ. You know, I haven't even gotten to the section of our study where we're going to talk about the mountain in relation to the coming kingdom. You all know all of this. Anyway, the mountain signifies a kingdom. Fix your eyes upon the mountain. Fix your eyes upon the kingdom. If you don't, what's going to happen? Well, nothing. Yeah. What does the text say? You'll be destroyed with the world. If you don't, you'll be destroyed. You'll go up in smoke with the cities of the plane. Now, you'll not lose your eternal salvation. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about loss or gain. We're talking about suffering destruction with the present world. That is a loss of inheritance. Suffering destruction with the present world. Gaining an inheritance. Living with Christ in the kingdom. Remember Lot's wife. There's a verse of Scripture. What'd she do? She looked back. Don't look back. Now, Lot's experiences in general have been set forth as a warning to what? To Christians today. The command is clear. Look out ahead. Look toward the mountain. Don't look back. Don't stay in the plane. What the illustration is given. In fact, it's given from real life. What happens when you look back? You don't make it. Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt. We'll look at Lot in another study. How he didn't make it either. Though he made it farther. But he still didn't make it. And we'll look at why he didn't make it. Don't dwell in the plane as Lot did. Dwell in the high country as Abraham did. And we'll let it go at that. We'll see more as we go further into the study in Dripping Springs tomorrow. Our Father, we're thankful that You've allowed us once again to look into Your Word. Study these things. Think on these things. Give us an understanding exactly the gravity of what is meant. Not only in Genesis 19-17, but in related portions of Your Word which are enumerable. Interwoven from one end to the other end of Your Word. For it's in Christ's name. Amen. Yeah. Now you can leave. Go.
Don't Look Back
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Arlen L. Chitwood (1933–present). Born on July 15, 1933, in Belen, New Mexico, Arlen L. Chitwood is an American Bible teacher and author known for his dispensationalist and kingdom-focused writings. Raised in a small railroad town in the Rio Grande Valley, he attended West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M University) in Canyon, Texas. In 1953, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving four years, including a stint in French Morocco, where, in 1954, he came to faith in Jesus Christ. After his service, Chitwood graduated from Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1961, and completed his education at Bob Jones University. Influenced by A. Edwin Wilson, he developed a ministry centered on the “Word of the Kingdom,” emphasizing distinctions between salvation of the spirit, soul, and body, particularly the “salvation of the soul” as a future reward for faithful Christians. Based in Norman, Oklahoma, he founded The Lamp Broadcast, Inc., authoring over 70 books, including Salvation of the Soul, The Bride in Genesis, and By Faith, available as free PDFs at lampbroadcast.org. His teachings, also shared through audio sermons on SermonIndex.net, focus on scriptural literalism and eschatology, though some critique his views on conditional soul salvation as controversial. Little is known about his personal life, including family details. Chitwood said, “Scripture must be interpreted by Scripture, comparing spiritual with spiritual.”