Modern Sodom and Gomorrah

  

    “Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.” (Genesis 19:24-25)

    I suspect that every time we have read or heard a sermon about Sodom and Gomorrah, we have thought about why it is that has never happened again in history. We might be surprised to know that it is entirely possible that it has happened! There are many indications that the city of Pompeii, destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius in AD 80, was every bit as wicked and perverse as Sodom. But, we have an even more recent example of the island of Martinique in the Caribbean Sea in 1902.

   Martinique was a party place for the rich of Europe during the Easter season of 1902 and as many as 12 big ships were docked there to celebrate, not Easter, but Mardi Gras and all the wickedness that came with it. Two Canadian evangelists came also and the port authorities denied them permission to disembark from the boat they came on. All the Christians in the town had been ordered to leave or had left on their own so that they would not be around to interfere with the festivities. The people in the city were given over to drunkenness and gross immorality with open blasphemy and ridicule against anything religious. A pig was sacrificed on Good Friday in the main cathedral by those who had to do more than just curse God and His church.

   Shortly after this incident, the volcano Pellee made a loud noise and started belching smoke. It had erupted twice before in minor eruptions in 1763 and1851. Scientists were dispatched to the volcano and came back telling the people not to worry. The volcano was cooling off. Three days later when the boat carrying the 2 Canadian evangelist set sail and had just cleared the 3-mile mark, God answered in judgment, and the whole side of the mountain blew out! In 60 seconds the entire town was covered with glowing ash and rock and every person in the city but two were killed. Every boat still in the harbor was burned down to the water line. The only two people in the city who survived were in the deepest dungeon of the city jail, and one was a preacher!

    But as Paul Harvey used to say: “Now the rest of the story!” There was a traveling preacher, John Hartman, who was supposed to be in Martinique that day as he made his usual rounds to various islands. The Christians in the town had left a message for him at the dock that they were leaving town due to the immoral festivities and that they hoped to be back the next time he returned. Mr. Hartman’s wife had told him that she didn’t want him to go this time even though she had never once before  asked him to stay. He did not go. The boat he would have been on burned and sank with all aboard that day. Later the Christians when they returned to Martinique were sure that he had died and were very sad. But their sadness turned to joy when he was able to reunite with them a few months later and tell them of God’s wonderful intervention on his behalf. (Life’s Ultimate Privilege by DeVern Fromke, pp.81-86)

     God is a loving God but He is also a God of judgment. He has provided a way of salvation for everyone who calls upon His name but He reserves eternal separation from God to all who reject His free gift. He even, on occasion, as shown by what happened on Martinique, acts to speed up the process. Don’t be left out! Be one of the people who have a personal relationship with Jesus and knows that Jesus loves you and wants you to be in heaven with Him for eternity.

  “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scriptures says, ‘Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’” (Romans 10:9-11)

Pray:

1.     Lord, thank you that You have saved me by Your death on the cross. Fill me with Your Spirit and allow me to live each and every day to bring glory to You.

2.     Lord, help me to keep my priorities straight. You are my first love! You are my Master and my King! You are Who I need to spend time with every day in prayer and the reading of Your Word.

Lord, thank you for saving me! You have taken me out of the "miry clay and set my feet on solid ground!"