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Daily Devotional – Year 4, July 17

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Sodom Rising?

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Part 19

“A Sodomite Church-world?”

To read Part 1, click here… August 22nd (Sodom Rising! Part 1)

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The sun was risen upon the earth

when…the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah

brimstone and fire…out of heaven…

But his (Lot’s) wife looked back from behind him,

and she became a pillar of salt.

Genesis 19:23, 26

Picture – Lot Escapes – www.thebiblerevival.com offers free Bible clipart – Public Domain.

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Various geologists, theologians/Bible teachers and laymen have gone to the ancient site of that infamous city of Gomorrah to investigate claims that ashes and balls of brimstone still lay upon the now-desolate landscape as a God-made monument and fearful reminder of His awful Judgment upon those cities, as is written…“The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;” Genesis 19:23, 24

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Well, sure enough, the now-desolate landscape of that once-thriving city is still covered with ashes and some still-remaining fire-balls of brimstone scattered here and there!

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The sodomites are smitten with blindness – Wikipedia – US Public Domain

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SODOM NOW THE LOWEST POINT IN ALL THE WORLD!

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Of course, the area which once was that other condemned sister-city of Gomorrah, the City of Sodom, is now completely covered with salt-laden water, being a testimony of its complete annihilation by God, this area now being the lowest point of altitude in the entire world (1300 feet below sea level!).

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Dead Sea – World’s lowest point (1971) – cropped image – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

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AN UNHEEDED WARNING!

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As the Epistle of Jude reveals, Sodom & Gomorrah were to become a testimony of God’s eternal wrath…“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha…giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” Jude 1:7

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Of course, this great warning from Heaven against ungodliness, has not deterred the citizens of this present-day fallen world from pursuing the same licentious lifestyle of those ancient cities.

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Birmingham Gay Pride – Wikimedia – Share-alike License

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“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy (God’s People) sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”

Ezekiel 16:49 

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But even more fearful are the various Bible warnings to the church-world, not to pursue the vain, selfish pleasures and the proud, ambitious pursuits of this Sodom & Gomorrah world!

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Listen to Jesus’ frightful warning…“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” Mark 6:11  

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Yes, when a true Believer unsuccessfully tries to warn the world’s inhabitants (and to warn world-loving church-goers) to repent from their ungodliness, those hard-hearted skeptics need look no further than the destruction of those two doomed cities to see the awful fate awaiting every Christ-rejecting man, woman, and child!

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Audience hands – cropped & altered – Wikimedia – Universal Public Domain

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A SODOM & GOMORRAH CHURCH-WORLD?

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Listen to what God says to His very own people…“Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.” Isaiah 1:9, 10

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God is comparing His very own people to Sodom & Gomorrah!

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But don’t think that this verse from Isaiah is merely for the Old Testament people of God! No, just listen to Peter…“But there were false prophets also among the (Old Testament) people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies…And (God) turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly…Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” 2nd Peter 2:1, 6, & 3:17, 18

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This passage reveals that if the works which have been witnessed by today’s church-community, had been witnessed by the unbelieving secular people of this Sodom & Gomorrah world, they would have long ago repented of their misdeeds!

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Audience hands – cropped & altered – Wikimedia – Universal Public Domain

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“I AM CHIEF (OF SINNERS)!”

1st Timothy 1:15

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And so, there is no reason for any of us in the church-world to look down our noses at those who are caught up in perverted lifestyles.

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No, but rather, we are in much worse trouble with God than they!

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We’re the ones who should be in sackcloth & ashes, falling down before our Holy God, begging for mercy and repentance!

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“RUN, CHRISTIAN, RUN!”

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The Good News in all this is, this is still the day of Salvation! And just as Lot fled from Sodom to the mountain, so to, God is calling His people to, “FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME!” Matthew 3:7 & Luke 3:7

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PICTURE – Constellation- Woman of Revelation 12 flees to the mountains Mark 13:14 This is not a star-chart, but merely a concept picture, but made up of real constellations (Ursa Major & Auriga, Hyades, etc…, howbeit not in their actual positions in the night-sky)

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YOU ARE INVITED TO WATCH THIS VIDEO EXPLORING THE AREA WHICH ONCE WAS THE ANCIENT CITY OF GOMORRAH

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