D. Kelly Ogden from his book ‘Eight Mighty Changes God Wants for You’ taught:
“YOU CAN GET YOUR SINS BLOTTED OUT, or your name will be blotted out. You can be sealed to God or sealed to the devil. You can remain an enemy to God or become a friend to God. You can decide on eternal life or eternal death. It’s your choice.
One of the crucial decisions in the lives of two contemporaries, Lot and Melchizedek, was their selection of where to live. Lot “pitched his tent towards Sodom” (Genesis 13:12). That decision cost him his family. Lot apparently had made the decision based upon the attractive nature of the properties down in the Jordan valley—“It was well watered everywhere. . . . even as the garden of the Lord (Genesis 13:10)—even though the low morals of the people should have been a warning sign. Melchizedek, on the other hand, lived with his people on the top of the hill country in a city called Peace (Salem).
It is quite a contrast. Lot chose to live at the bottom of the world (the Jordan Rift Valley around the Dead Sea is literally the lowest spot on earth), while Melchizedek chose to live up in the highest part of the land with his people—who eventually became righteous enough to be translated from the earth (see JST Genesis 14:34). Lot, along with his wife and children as we suppose lived on “higher ground” and enjoyed blessings of being closer to God, physically and spiritually, likely enjoying the highest blessings available to God’s children on earth in the holy sanctuary, or temple, in Salem.1
The lesson seems clear: Choose the higher ground to avoid evil. Don’t even pitch your tent toward Sodom—don’t even approach evil. Lot’s daughters committed gross immorality (see Genesis 19:30-36). And where did they learn that kind of behavior? Perhaps when their father pitched his tent toward Sodom.
Are you pitching your tent toward Sodom or toward Salem? The king of Sodom was the king of wickedness; The king of Salem was the king of righteousness (the literal meaning of the name Melchizedek).
You choose to follow either wickedness or righteousness. If you expose yourself to immorality very long, it dulls your abhorrence of sin. At first you’re shocked, then you tolerate it, then you experiment with it, then you embrace it. On the other hand, if you constantly expose yourself to moral purity, fortified by daily diligence in prayer and scripture study, and regular service to others and regular temple worship, you will build up a spiritual defense system to repulse the fiery darts of the adversary (the gross, crass and vulgar things of the world and be attracted only to that which is uplifting, edifying and sanctifying. It’s your choice. You choose to live the low life, without standards, or the godly life, with high standards. You choose to embrace the darkness or embrace the light. ~D. Kelly Ogden, ‘8 Mighty Changes God Wants for You Before You Get to Heaven. 2004) p. 152-54
