Are we living in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah?
That question and related others are being asked more and more frequently these days as the United States shakes its fist at God and rebels against His Word. The 412 Church senior pastor and host of the Hope For Our Times video program, Tom Hughes, has written an insightful book titled America’s Coming Judgment: Where is Our Hope? in response to this crucial question. We were blessed on Christ in Prophecy to have Pastor Tom as our guest on our television program to discuss this vital topic.
Turning Into Sodom
Dr. Reagan: Tom, you have a chapter in your book titled “Wealth and Decadence” about the city of San Francisco. What do you mean by that?
Tom Hughes: San Francisco provides the perfect illustration for the problems that this world faces. This fact may be disgusting to some readers, but it demonstrates the truth. San Francisco suffers from a homeless situation that is so severe that those people don’t have anywhere to go to the bathroom. So, they just relieve themselves everywhere. In response to the crisis, the city actually stepped up what they call the Poop Patrols. Yes, this is disgusting!
San Francisco actually has a problem with people pooping in their streets and on the sidewalks. These are humans that are doing this, not dogs. We think of dog parks where these animals can do that sort of thing, but there are no parks for human beings to behave worse than dogs.
As a result of all the defecating on streets and buildings, some of the infrastructures for those buildings, such as the street lamps and so forth, are actually decaying. This is really disgusting, but the people relieving themselves on the sides of buildings and on the street lamps has actually caused the construction to crumble.
Most know that San Francisco is ranked one of the most expensive places on the entire planet where a person can live. An example in my book is of a gentleman who was interviewed in an article. His name is Michael and he earns $700,000 a year salary. That’s a lot of money! And yet, he cannot afford to live in San Francisco. He has to commute 2.5 hours to work every day. The man makes $700,000 a year salary, and yet when he gets into San Francisco, he has to step over feces and pee strewn all over the sidewalks and streets.
Nathan Jones: You would think the city council could afford to build some bathrooms in San Francisco. They should be able to afford to with all that wealth. Build extra public bathrooms?
Tom Hughes: Agreed! We start looking at crazy situations such as this and you’ve got to be thinking, “You’re kidding me, right?” But, no, this is the reality.
I believe what is happening in San Francisco is a magnified picture of what is coming to every town in America. We are watching man’s decisions fail in fixing the most basic human nature, but man can only make things worse. Romans 1 reveals that mankind professes to be wise, but God says, “I’ll prove to them that they are fools.”
It’s hard to believe a person can earn $700,000 a year, and yet the cost of living in San Francisco is so outrageously high that people working in the city cannot afford to even live there.
Rushing Towards Gomorrah
Dr. Reagan: I remember 20-30 years ago when Billy Graham and his daughter used to say, “If God doesn’t judge San Francisco soon, he’s going to have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.” Are we living in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah?
Tom Hughes: Yes, indeed, I believe we are.
Go back to the book of Genesis and read about what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice how these cities’ societies worked. Lot was visited by angels posing as men. Rape gangs prowled the streets looking for anyone and anything they could rape, demanding Lot’s men come out to them. I don’t know how else to put it. There seemingly was no law against rape, or at least any that were enforced. Their society seemed to be just fine with rape. Sin, even at horrific levels, had become so commonly accepted in their society. And, sin has now become commonly accepted here in the world as well.
What’s equally both fascinating and scary about this societal condition parallels when Jesus was on the earth during His First Coming. In the Gospel of Matthew it records Jesus had sent out His disciples into other communities to share with the people His Word. Jesus wanted them to learn of His hope. But, if the town reject Christ’s disciples, then Christ promised it would be worse for those people in the days of judgment than it was for those living during the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Why is that? Because those First Century towns had the truth coming to them in the form of Jesus and His disciples. Sodom, on the other hand, did not have the truth.
This reality applies to the West today. We’ve got preachers everywhere and we have the Word of God preached over the airways and from thousands of pulpits. There are more Bibles sold every single year in the U.S. than any other book, and probably more than all the other books ever written in all of history. When we start looking at history you’ll marvel at just how phenomenal the amount of Bibles that have been sold. Every single year the Bible is the best seller in the U.S. We have the truth. Bibles can be found in almost every home. And yet, we still live like those in Sodom and Gomorrah.
Every single year the #Bible is the best seller in the U.S. We have the truth. And yet, we still live like those in Sodom and Gomorrah. Click To TweetDr. Reagan: Every time I get into a discussion about the story of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah somebody on the other side always claims that homosexuality had nothing to do with these cities’ judgment. Liberal theologians claim the cities were instead judged for demonstrating a lack of hospitality.
Tom Hughes: A lack of hospitality?!? Yes, how many times have I heard that ridiculous reason given? Okay, so don’t even go to Sodom and Gomorrah, rather go back even farther to the days of Noah. Look at the society during his time. Noah’s society was plagued by violence and an outright rejection of God. Violence and immorality were the two main characteristics of the pagan society of that time. Every thought in their minds were evil, just like Sodom and Gomorrah, and just like the world today. And, in each case, judgment from God came swiftly.