Rabbi Spero went on to say, “Even in ancient Greece they did
not write marriage contracts between men. There was homosexuality, and it was
wrong, but there was not an official ‘blessed’ policy. … Marriage is
‘sanctification’ (not simply a partnership).” He said to confer the title of
sanctification and holiness upon this behavior is “probably one of the greatest
sins of all that one does against God’s plan for this world.”

That is up until Nero. In 65 AD, the mad Pontiff Nero
crowned all his other debauches by a same-sex marriage. Nero married a male
look-alike of his murdered wife Poppaea Sabina. Here is a report by the Roman
historian Suetonius:

Besides the abuse of free-born lads, and the debauch of
married women, he committed a rape upon Rubria, a Vestal Virgin. He was upon
the point of marrying Acte, his freedwoman, having suborned some men of
consular rank to swear that she was of royal descent. He gelded the boy Sporus,
and endeavoured to transform him into a woman. He even went so far as to marry
him, with all the usual formalities of a marriage settlement, the rose-coloured
nuptial veil, and a numerous company at the wedding. When the ceremony was
over, he had him conducted like a bride to his own house, and treated him as
his wife. It was jocularly observed by some person, “that it would have
been well for mankind, had such a wife fallen to the lot of his father
Domitius.” This Sporus he carried about with him in a litter round the solemn
assemblies and fairs of Greece, and afterwards at Rome through the Sigillaria,
dressed in the rich attire of an empress; kissing him from time to time as they
rode together. (Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, Nero, XXVIII).

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming
of the Son of Man. – Mathew 24:37

When the Son of Man returns, the world will be like the
people were in Noah’s day. In those days before the Flood, the people enjoyed
banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat,
and the flood came to destroy them all. – Luke 17:26-27

If these Jewish writings are true, we are uniquely like the
“days of Noah” right now – and only right now.

I thought I might also point out that homosexuality has existed in many cultures and during many ages man has been existent upon the earth. I don’t think it’s a forgone conclusion God will send natural disasters every time to destroy the wicked. He may simply turn his face away and allow Satan to influence the hearts of their enemies to destroy them. But whenever a people or nation does become “ripe in iniquity,” they should have great cause to fear.

I can think of a few other cultures, kingdoms, or empires that have been broken up by the armies of other nations possibly due to this behavior. In particular, the Greeks.

At the same time, I do believe there are times when God uses natural disasters, because He knows certain people, cities, or nations as a whole are past repentance in this life and letting them continue on will only drag the world and all other future generations down to hell with them.

In President Kimball’s book, The Miracle of Forgiveness, it says this:

“When we went abroad, among the interesting things we saw in Italy was the city of Pompeii. When I had been a boy in my early teens I had read from my father’s library The Last Days of Pompeii. It intrigued me. I read it many times. So when we crossed the border into Italy that day, one of my greatest anticipations was to see Pompeii.

After spending some days among the ruins of Rome we went down to Naples, to climb Vesuvius and to see Pompeii. We went as high on the mountain as we could go in a taxi and then climbed the rest of the way to the top. We stood in the crater and less than a yard under our feet was the boiling, seething mass of lava. We could feel its fiery breath; we could see its rich color. Vesuvius was still active. And then we remembered that back in A.D. 79 the Lord permitted it to “blow its top” literally and figuratively.

This city of Pompeii, as we came to know by first-hand observation, was a worldly city. The politicians, the wealthy, the socialites, came from Rome to Pompeii near the coast of the Mediterranean. There they spent their money and time in lavish and riotous living.

The city of Pompeii has now been excavated. The stone roads show the marks of chariot wheels. The roads are lower than the sidewalks and we could see where the hubs of the chariots had worn into the stones at the corners of the blocks. We went into their bakeries where the food had been prepared. We went into their homes where they had lived. We went into their theaters and into their baths. Their empty brothels and houses of prostitution were locked with padlocks and carried signs in Italian, “For Men Only.” These places of shame stood after nineteen centuries, a witness of their degradation; and on the walls in these buildings, in color still preserved for these nearly two millennia, were the pictures of every vice that could be committed by human beings–all the vicious sins that have accumulated since Cain began his evil ways.

Then I came to realize why Pompeii was destroyed. There came a time when it just had to be destroyed. And as Vesuvius erupted, it blew up, and the ashes went into the sky for miles and miles millions of tons of them. The lava flowed down the edge of that conical structure and pushed before it everything in its path, burning the vineyards, the orchards, and some of the homes. It destroyed everything in its path, and some little cities were completely burned or covered out of existence.

But Pompeii did not all burn. It was not in the way of the lava flow, but the cinders and ashes in the air gradually settled, covering the city completely. The people in their buildings were choked to death. Their bodies were later found clasping each other in deadly embrace. Cats and dogs were there in the buildings. They were found as they died covered with ashes, so that when the excavation was completed, the houses and contents were in place. There had been no general fire, but many of the roofs had burned off. Pompeii was destroyed. I think I know why. It was because of its wickedness and depravity. I think Pompeii must have been in much the same lamentable situation as Sodom and Gomorrah long before it.”

Now where do we fit into all of this? All I can say is if we aren’t living up to our covenants, we will surely regret it as even the righteous saints will hardly escape the death and destruction foretold to come upon the world.