A message preached at a special season of prayer on the 41st anniversary of the opening of the first gospel hall here in Kilskeery.

The Book of Judges is in many ways a most distressing book for it records the follies of man when he departs from God's truth and follows his own evil desires. There is a statement which explains the spirit of that day. "In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes," Judges 21:25, (17:6).

The staggering from folly to folly, from wickedness to wickedness recorded in this book is the outcome of that policy.

Chapters 19-20 contain an account which is distressing to read yet it is an narrative of the words and actions of the people of God some 20 years after the renewing of the covenant with the Lord that is recorded in Joshua 24:14-28. What a solemn covenant this was and yet what wickedness existed among the people here in Judges 19-20, just 20 years later, and 40 years after Moses.

The deeds of the Benjamites in the city of Gibeah, as stated in chapter 19:22, are but a repeat of the wickedness of the Sodomites of Genesis 19:4. Sodomy can corrupt even the people of God. It is the SIN of today.

Sadly, this wickedness was defended by the rest of the tribe of Benjamin, 20:12-14.

In response to this sinful defence of the men of Gibeah, the whole tribe of Benjamin made itself guilty of the evil and the rest of the tribes of Israel set themselves to judge that sin.

It is the events that unfolded as they pursued that objective that I wish to consider today for there are lessons for us to learn from these events of some 3500 years ago.