THE DOOM OF THE SODOMITES! (Taken from Genesis Chapters 13-14 & 18-19)
1. Weary and discouraged, Lot, the chief Judge of the city of Sodom, trudged through the streets to his judgement seat under the shadow of the city gates. As he passed through the streets, groups of men walked delicately past him, hand in hand with each other, giggling like girls! Still others lay sprawled drunk in the gutters. Lot shook his head with disgust and continued on his way.
2. As he sat in judgement, one homosexual after another came before him, bringing their complaints against each other.
3. Then a bearded, middle-aged man came before him, pointing an accusing finger at another man standing nearby. "Nabal won't share his inheritance with me!" he whined.
4. "Are you his brother?" Lot enquired.
5. The man waved a limp wrist at him and grinned, "NO, you silly, I'm his LOVER!"
6. The court was suddenly interrupted as the sounds of shrieking and shouting of an attacking gang rang out through the city! A visitor to Sodom had just been attacked, robbed and molested in broad daylight, right in the main street of the city! Immediately the court adjourned and Lot raced to the spot and pushed his way through the crowd! A stranger, his clothes ripped, bruised and bleeding, lay dead in the street.
7. "Who saw the crime happen?!" Lot demanded, looking around at the crowd.
8. "I did!" about 2OO men said in unison.
9. "And you did NOTHING?!" Lot exclaimed.
10. "Well, it's not OUR concern!" retorted a fat merchant, "everybody has to look out for HIMSELF in Sodom! You know that!"
11. Wearily, Lot had the man carried away, and, after several people had told him what had happened, said to the crowd, "I'll judge the case this afternoon!" He then headed down the street toward his mansion for a rest. He was not hungry for his noon meal.
12. "This vile city," he thought, "vexes my righteous soul! (2Peter 2:7-8) I thought by staying here and becoming a Judge, I could be an influence for good! But things are just getting WORSE!"
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13. Abraham, Lot's aged uncle, was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day, beneath the shade of the great oaks of Hebron, when suddenly he looked up and saw three men a short distance away coming towards him. They had such a powerful unearthly aura around them that he sensed that they were not mere mortals! Jumping up, he hurried to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
14. "If I have found favour in your eyes, my Lord," he said to their leader, "do not pass your servant by. Let me get you something to eat so you can be refreshed, and then go on your way!" Abraham then prepared a meal of veal, milk, cheese and bread and set it before them. After they had eaten, they got up to continue on their journey.
15. Abraham walked with them a short distance to see them on their way, and they came to the edge of the heights of Hebron. The mountains of Canaan were thousands of feet high, and from the edge of his camp on the sides of Mt. Hebron, Abraham could see the Valley of Siddim some 30 miles away at the Southern end of the Dead Sea. There, in the center of the lush green valley, he could make out the distant walls of Sodom and Gomorrah shining in the sun.
16. Abraham now realised that these "men" must be the Lord Himself and two of His Archangel bodyguards! So the Lord said, "Abraham, I will not hide from you what I am about to do." Pointing to the valley below, He said, "The cry and stink that has arisen from Sodom and Gomorrah is so GREAT and their sin so GRIEVOUS, that I will now go down and SEE if what they have done is as wicked as the outcry that has reached Me! If not ... I will KNOW!"
17. The three "men" turned away and began descending the mountain path, but Abraham stopped them. Then Abraham pleaded, "Lord, will You annihilate the RIGHTEOUS together WITH the WICKED? What if there are 50 righteous people in the city?" The Lord turned to Abraham and replied, "If I find 50 righteous men in Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
18. Realising that there were most likely NOT 50 righteous people in Sodom, Abraham spoke up again, "What if there are LESS than 50 righteous people in the city?--Will You destroy it for LACK of FIVE righteous men?"
19. "If I find 45 there," the Lord replied, "I will not destroy it."
20. Desperately, Abraham persisted, "What if only 40 are found there?" "For the sake of 40, I will not do it."
21. "But ... but what if only 30 righteous people are found there?" Abraham pled.
22. The Lord answered, "I will not destroy the city if I find 30 righteous men there."
23. "What if only 20 can be found there?"
24. "For the sake of 20, I will spare Sodom," the Lord said patiently.
25. Still Abraham implored, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ... 10 can be found there?"
26. "For the sake of those 10, I will not destroy it," the Lord said with a note of finality in His voice. Then, turning away, He vanished from Abraham's sight.
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27. By evening, just as the sun was going down, the two Angels arrived at the city gates of Sodom. Lot was sitting there in his Judge's seat by the city gate. Recognising that they were important strangers, Lot arose and greeted them, and very hospitably said, "Please, my lords, turn aside into my house for the night and rest."
28. But they said, "No, we will spend the night in the city square."
29. Lot knew only too well what would happen to the two visitors if they tried to sleep in the public square, so he finally persuaded them to come to his house for the night. His two young daughters and his wife were at home, and helped him to prepare a meal for their two guests.
30. But just before they went to bed, they heard a sea of voices growing louder and louder around their house. Looking out the window one of Lot's daughters gasped, "Oh father, look! It looks like the WHOLE TOWN has surrounded our house!"
31. Looking out, Lot said fearfully, "Yes, you're right!--We're surrounded!"--as he sensed the awful reason why!
32. Suddenly several men from the mob shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them OUT to us so that we may have INTERCOURSE with them!"
33. Lot was horrified!--And because the two visitors had come under his roof, he knew he must try to PROTECT them! He knew if he didn't, they would be brutally violated all night and probably left for dead by morning. Mustering up his courage, he stepped outside his house, and shutting the door behind him, pleaded to the mob from the top of his steps, "I beg you, my friends, do not do this wicked thing!"
34. Looking out over the seething sea of faces he realised that he could not possibly stop them, so as one final desperate attempt to protect his guests, he pleaded, "Look! I have two daughters who are VIRGINS!--They have never had intercourse with men. I'll surrender THEM to you, and you may do to them as you wish! But, please, don't do anything to these men!" Lot loved his two daughters dearly, but he thought that it was better for the crowd to violate THEM than to violate these holy men!
35. "Women?!" the crowd retorted sarcastically. "Who wants sex with WOMEN?--Even if they ARE beautiful young VIRGINS!"
36. A leader of the mob shouted, "This fellow came here only as an immigrant, but now he presumes to be our Judge!" Turning to Lot he snarled, "For that, we'll rape and violate YOU even worse than THEM!"
37. "Now out of the way! Stand back!" they screamed as they rushed up the steps, pushing Lot against the door! With their first assault, they came close to breaking down the door, but suddenly Lot's strange strong guests threw open the door and pulled him inside!
38. His eyes flashing with anger, the Angel stretched out his hand over the mob and struck them with a bolt of dazzling, supernatural lightning, and they were ALL instantly BLINDED! Then he quickly shut and bolted the door behind him! There was no further attack on the house, for all the men outside were completely BLIND and groping about in utter darkness and terror! Lot was STUNNED, for now he KNEW that his guests were mighty ANGELS of GOD!
39. Turning to Lot, a note of intense urgency in his voice, one of the Angels said, "Who ELSE belongs to you here in the city? Take them OUT from Sodom NOW!--For we are about to utterly DESTROY this place!"
40. Frantically, Lot raced out of his house, pushed his way through the blinded crowd, and ran down the dark streets of the city to where his married daughters and his sons-in-law lived.
41. "Get up and LEAVE this place," he told them, "for the Lord is about to DESTROY the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was joking and refused to believe him. So after failing to convince them, Lot wearily re turned home without them.
42. Hoping that they would yet change their minds and come, Lot waited until dawn. If they waited any longer, some of the citizens might LEAVE the city and NOT be caught in the destruction, so the Angels urged Lot on, saying, "You must leave the city NOW! Take your wife, your two younger virgin daughters and LEAVE, or you will be CONSUMED in the DESTRUCTION of this wicked evil city!"
43. Lot hesitated, thinking not only of his other daughters and his sons-in-law, but also of his exalted position as Judge and his great riches and properties in the city. But the Angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters and literally pulled them though the streets to the massive gate and outside the city walls!
44. Pointing to the nearby mountains, the Angels commanded, "FLEE for your LIVES! Do NOT look back or stop ANYWHERE on the whole plain! Escape to the MOUNTAINS at ONCE, or you will be consumed in the destruction!"
45. Looking at the mountains over 10 miles away, Lot cried, "Oh no, my lord! I cannot flee that FAR in time to keep the disaster from overtaking me as I run! I'd be CAUGHT in it and DIE! Look, that town on the hills ahead--ZOAR--is near enough to escape to! It's only a SMALL city, isn't it? SPARE it please and let me flee THERE!"
46. Zoar, unlike the cities of the plain, was NOT totally given over to sodomy, so the Angel sternly replied, "Very well, I will not overthrow the town you speak of! Escape and take refuge there! But I cannot do anything until you arrive there!--So HURRY!"
47. The sun was fully risen over the Earth as Lot and his wife and daughters, completely out of breath, staggered around the last curve in the road towards the gate of Zoar!
48. Suddenly there was an ominous muffled thundering as the very earth beneath their feet began to quake! The roar grew steadily louder, then suddenly the earth shook so violently that they were almost thrown off their feet!
49. Within the gates of Sodom and Gomorrah the streets and the plaza cracked and buckled as the earth heaved! Buildings and palaces began tumbling down! Then suddenly the ground rent completely asunder and sheets of flame burst forth out of the bowels of the earth, roaring toward the heavens!
50. Then the CHAIN-REACTION started! Underneath the Valley of Siddim were great deposits of salt and sulphur, as well as pitch and tar, which had potted the valley with many "slimepits". Ignited by the fires, they erupted into blazing sheets of fire! Struggling at last into Zoar, Lot could feel the scorching heat come in sweltering waves across his shoulders! He screamed to his wife and daughters, "DON'T LOOK BACK!! DON'T LOOK BACK!!"
51. Then with one final deafening roar, the whole Valley of Siddim exploded! An inferno of death and destruction engulfed Sodom and Gomorrah, and they were literally turned UPSIDE-DOWN as hundreds of thousands of tons of sulphurous fire, flaming tar and salt were spewed high into the heavens!--And then came raining DOWN upon those wicked cities as "FIRE and BRIMSTONE from Heaven"!
52. Lot's wife was reluctantly following far behind her husband and two daughters, and hearing the final explosion, she spun around to look, thinking of their fine palatial mansion in the city, all her riches and fine clothes, and regretting having to leave the city! For a second she stood frozen in stunned awe at the holocaust before her eyes!
53. Then suddenly, TONS of scalding hot salt, driven with the force of the explosion, sprayed for MILES in every direction like the blast of a HURRICANE! As Lot and his daughters threw themselves in safety behind the thick city walls of Zoar, waves of salt totally enveloped his wife as she stood there, completely encrusting her and literally turning her into a pillar of salt.
54. Terrified and fearful for their safety, Lot and his two girls then fled from Zoar into the mountains far out of reach of the horrendous disaster, and dwelt in a cave.
55. Hours later, Lot and his two girls dared to look out the mouth of their mountain cave, his robe held over his face to keep out the choking, burning sulphurous fumes. It was like looking at an alien world! The entire valley lay in utter destruction! Every man, every animal, every tree, every plant, every city in the Valley of Siddim was GONE!--But Zoar!
56. All the way up to the walls of Zoar, the ground was buried in deep white banks of salt! And there, only a short distance from the gate, was a solid PILLAR of salt where Lot's WIFE had last stood looking back with regret at the end of Sodom!
FOOD FOR THOUGHT (THE DOOM OF THE SODOMITES!):
57. (1) This story is a severe warning to all generations to follow that the Lord is VERY much AGAINST the sin of SODOMY or HOMOSEXUALITY! 2Peter 2:6 says, "The Lord burned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ASHES, CONDEMNING them in an OVERTHROW, making them an EXAMPLE to those in following generations who would live ungodly!" Romans 1:24-27 describes sodomy as "men given over to SHAMEFUL LUSTS...men abandoning NATURAL sexual relations with WOMEN and burning in their lust for one ANOTHER...MEN committing DEGRADING acts with MEN!"
58. (2) Many sodomites argue that since Jesus came and abolished the old Mosaic Law, that homosexuality is no longer a sin, but has been made "pure and clean". This is an absolute LIE! He is still COMPLETELY AGAINST it! "The Lord" Who appeared to Abraham and PERSONALLY directed the DESTRUCTION of Sodom and Gomorrah was JESUS! "Jesus Christ is the SAME, YESTERDAY, TODAY and FOREVER" (Hebrews 13:8), and His stand against the filthy act of sodomy has NOT changed!
59. (3) Even medical doctors will tell you that homosexuality is unnatural, dirty, and causes all kinds of diseases and infections!--And just like the Lord destroyed thousands of sodomites in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, thousands of sodomites are dying TODAY from all kinds of diseases!--Especially the deadly new disease: AIDS! As Romans 1:27 says, "Men commit indecent acts with other men, and receive in their own bodies the DUE PENALTY for their perversions!" The Lord will always try to persuade them first with love to change, but sad to say, many sodomites refuse to repent or receive the Truth! WHY? Because "they do not like to retain GOD in their knowledge", so are "given over to a REPROBATE mind, to do those things which are UNNATURAL."--Romans 1:28.
60. (4) Sodomy--homosexuality--is a SPIRITUAL affliction, a demonic possession or oppression by FEMALE devils, known as "incubuses"! Whatever excuse men may give for becoming sodomites, the REAL reason is that they have yielded their minds and their bodies to DEMONS! Therefore, the only SURE way to be DELIVERED from it is to EXORCISE the she-demon by desperate prayer and REBUKE the evil spirit in JESUS' Name! Some poor men may have gotten into sodomy, not KNOWING how wrong it is, so they need to be shown in LOVE from the Word of God that it IS wrong, and cry out for deliverance! If they will pray, He WILL deliver and forgive them!
61. (5) Like Sodom and Gomorrah of old, homosexuality has become widespread, accepted and even encouraged today in many nations of the Earth! Even many so-called CHRISTIANS today think that in our "modern enlightened society" we should just accept it and put up with it. That's what LOT thought 4,OOO YEARS AGO!--But he was barely saved from God's wrath on a whole land of Sodomites!
62. (6) 2Peter 2:7-8 says, "The Lord delivered RIGHTEOUS Lot, who was VEXED and tormented by the filthy lives of the wicked!" If Lot was SO "righteous," WHY did he disobediently remain so MANY YEARS in Sodom, and have to be finally FORCIBLY pulled out to save his life?--For the same reason that many Christians TODAY live in wicked sodomite-infested cities! They love their riches and positions and the luxury of city life too much to leave, no matter HOW wicked the city is!
63. (7) Lot's WIFE loved her riches and the materialistic comforts of city life even more than LOT did, so she disobeyed the Lord and gave a last, yearning look back at all her earthly treasures as they were being destroyed!--And it cost her her LIFE! When describing the terrible judgements of God that are soon to destroy TODAY'S wicked cities, Jesus compared it to the days of LOT!--Luke 17:28-30.--Ordering Christians to flee to the hills and not to turn back to get their possessions in days of wickedness and persecution, Jesus warned, "Remember Lot's wife!"--Luke 17:32.
64. (8) ABRAHAM, who was a VERY righteous and Godly man, tried to persuade God NOT to destroy Sodom! He wanted God to SPARE Sodom just to save his Nephew! But God didn't WANT to spare Sodom! Lot also was trying to save Sodom. He stayed in Sodom, trying to change and REFORM it by being a JUDGE there for YEARS!--But God knew it was a hopeless case! He HAD to destroy them before they infected the whole early World with their filthy, vile sins!--But now Sodomy is AGAIN rife and God's judgments are again due today!
65. (9) Another major lesson this story brings out is the danger of COMPROMISING and not SPEAKING UP for the TRUTH, because of either hope for MATERIAL GAIN or to preserve POPULARITY and POSITION! Obviously Lot was NOT really being a FAITHFUL witness or a RIGHTEOUS Judge until that final night, because if he HAD been, he would have been driven OUT of Sodom YEARS earlier!--2Timothy 3:12. "His righteous soul was VEXED day by day", but he didn't SPEAK UP and REPROVE them as he SHOULD have! As Ephesians 5:11 says, "Have NOTHING to do with the unfruitful works of DARKNESS, but rather REPROVE them!"
Considering the fact that not even his sons-in-law and married daughters believed him enough to leave the city with him and his wife and unmarried daughters--but thought instead that he was JOKING--he must not have had much CONVICTION or been a very SERIOUS witness BEFORE that time! If YOU find yourself in a situation where you have to totally compromise the Message in order to STAY in a similar situation, then it is probably NOT God's Will for you to stay there!--How about it?
66. --Are YOU tolerating Sodomy?
Copyright 1996 The Family