When we look into the world today it is not hard to see how evil man can be. We can look at Syria where civil war is raging and evidence is mounting of President Assad using nerve gas on his own people. Something that is not new to the Middle East as this is exactly what Saddam Hussein did to the Kurdish people in the 80’s, although a much larger and disturbing scale. Also recently we have all seen the images of the Boston bombings in the United States, completely senseless acts of violence. And just think, this type of news if it happens in Iraq is in the news for a day if you’re lucky. And to add to that, it does not look like things are getting any better, Russia is rearming, North Korea is sabre rattling, and then well, there is Iran. The list goes on and we haven’t even mentioned the continent of Africa. There is just simply so much violence in our world it is hard to not be numb to it.  And make no mistake it was for this cause that God flooded the world in the time of Noah.

Gen 6:13 - “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

That was the time of Noah. The next time scripture records God ending a society in a dramatic way was at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. Let’s read what God had to say about them.

Ezekiel 16:49 - “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”

But it did not stop there as the story of Lot attests to as we know. The Epistle to Jude says the following:

Jude 1:7 – “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”

Well this week we have seen France become the 14th country to legalize gay marriage, the New England states are pushing it through, New Zealand is slated to legalize it this summer and there are probably others. A recent poll shows that 58 percent of Americans now think that gay marriage should be legal up from 37 percent in 2003. It is hardly surprising that for the first time last year an American President came out in favour of gay marriage.

Well if God hit the reset button in Noah’s day due to violence and in Lots day due to pride, fullness of bread, abundance of idleness, neglect for the poor and needy and immorality we must believe that there becomes a point when God intervenes. I believe that we are close to that point. We often discuss the signs of God working in the nations to bring about His plan and purpose. Well the state of society is reason enough for God to pull the plug.

The following is the account of God’s destruction of Sodom:

Genesis 19:24-28 – “ Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.”

Those are sobering words and stands as a lesson for us as a society that God has and will intervene when man corrupts the earth and disregards His commandments. It is then I feel no small coincidence that in these last days it seems the Biblical city of Sodom has been discovered. The following is an excerpt taken from an interview on www.assistnews.net with Dr. Collins, chief archaeologist regarding the Tall el- Hammam Excavation in Jordan, just north of the Dead Sea:

“It began three years ago when we found some skeletal remains. Like many archaeological sites, we didn’t mention the find publicly because of the potential problems involved with such remains. However, with these recent finds, we had to say something because it was so monumental.

“It began when one of our doctoral students, Carrall Kobs, was supervising on site. She discovered two sets of human remains, then another. Concerned, she called me over. I asked her to walk me through the discovery and excavation process, asking important questions along the way. What we found was ash, debris, and destruction material with no indication of insertion cuts for graves or primitive burial indentations. They weren’t burials.

“To add further intrigue, this archaeological stratum was clearly within the Middle Bronze Age horizon. It was the terminal destruction of the city.”

When asked more about the skeletons Dr. Collins replied:

“Two of our osteologists, Dr. John Leslie, PhD, MD, and Dr. John Moore, PhD, DDS, looked over the bones. The area they concentrated on was the bottom half of the body, including the pelvis region, legs, and feet—the upper portions on two of them were missing. The initial results were amazing and quite exciting archaeologically—but sad in how the people died. They found the bodies splayed out, face down, joints twisted, toes hyper-extended, with many signs of violent burial within collapsing debris. In short, the bodies were extremely traumatized in their death.”

To read more regarding this Excavation Project you can visit www.tallelhammam.com The evidence to the destruction of this place is a reminder to all of us of the presence of Almighty God and His promise to send His son to judge the world.

2 Peter 2:5-7 - “And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked”

As much as we believe that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb 10:31) we must also remember the words of the Hebrews 11:6,7:

“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.”

May all of us be moved with fear to prepare for that day and not be caught up in the cares of this life and immorality of it. This has been John Billington with you this week and we thank you for tuning in and encourage you to tell your friends about bibleinthenews.com