Genesis 19:16, “And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.”
I
had always thought that Lot took his family and departed from Sodom at the
warning of the two angels. But that's not what happened. I never saw this
truth before. The fact of the matter is that Lot just couldn't seem to let
go of Sodom. Literally the angels dragged Lot out of Sodom! The Bible says that Lot lingered while God was waiting to
annihilate the city with fire and brimstone. The city of Sodom and it's
neighboring cities were without any fear of God. The Lord in His fury and
anger destroyed them for their wickedness.
In Genesis we read that Lot's heart was already in Sodom before he got there. Lot pitched the opening of his tent door toward Sodom (so he could watch the city from within his tent). Genesis 13:12, “Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom.”
Exactly one chapter later we find Lot and his family dwelling in the wicked city of Sodom. Genesis 14:12: “And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.” Long before Lot moved his family to the wicked place of Sodom, his heart was already there. This evidences the important of guarding the desires of our heart. Abraham was a humble man, who feared God and wanted to part of Sodom. Lot's family paid the ultimate price for living in Sodom. Lot's wife's heart was still in Sodom even after she was dragged out, and the Lord punished her by turning her into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:26). The alcohol that Lot's daughters used to seduce him to commit incest came out of Sodom. The first case of incest in the Bible involved alcohol. God hates booze and so should every Christian who fears God and loves The Lord Jesus Christ.
What a tragic story! What a sad testimony Lot had. If we could interview Lot today and ask him if it was worth living in Sodom, there is no doubt that he would say “No way!” Where is your heart?
Lot lingered in Sodom after being warned that
the city was about to be destroyed by God. The Bible says in Genesis
Genesis 19:16, “And
while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his HAND,
and upon the HAND of his wife, and upon
the HAND of his two daughters; the
LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him
without the city.” Literally, the angels grabbed Lot's hand,
his wife's hand, and the hand of Lot's two daughter's and
brought them out of the city by the skin of their teeth to escape the coming
destruction.
Angels Dragged Lot Out Of Sodom!
Have you ever seen a movie where someone barely escaped a car or building that blew up? It seems to be a common theme in movies that the star actor barely escape the exploding spaceship or planet before it explodes! We'll that's exactly what happened with Lot and his family. The angels couldn't wait any longer for Lot to decide whether he wanted to stay or leave, so they rescued Lot and his family from the imminent destruction. As they fled the city, fire and brimstone reigned down from the sky and killed all the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
My friend, this world is facing imminent destruction. Are you lingering to get saved? Are you lingering to serve God as a Christian? Lot was saved, but he was not living close to the Lord. The world needs to hear the Gospel. When Lot warned his son-in-laws of the coming judgment upon Sodom, they laughed in his face as one who mocketh. Genesis 19:14, “And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law.” Lot's son-in-laws perished in the destruction of Sodom. There are so many spiritual truths to be gleaned from this passage of Scripture.
No doubt Lot's son-in-laws weren't saved and went to Hell. They wouldn't listen to Lot. In addition, the angels came to rescue Lot because he was a righteous man (saved). If Lot's son-in-laws had been Christians, then the angels would have delivered them as well. The Bible says that Lot and his family would have perished in Sodom, but God showed mercy and the angels grabbed them all by the hand and rescued them.
Also, notice the modesty of the angels, who touched their hands, The Bible doesn't say that the angel put his hand on Lot's wife's waist or her back. No man should ever touch a woman to whom he is not married. Although these were angels, they appeared as men.
By the way, the idiotic teaching is UNTRUE that male angels had sex with earthly females in Genesis 6:4, “There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” The sex-perverted, satanic, Jewish, Mormon cult started this doctrine of devils. Mormonism is steeped in Jewish Kabbala and the Talmud which blasphemes Christ as being the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier. The Talmud teaches that Jesus is boiling in excrement and urine in Hell forever. That is where Judaizers will spend eternity, burning in the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:11-15; 1st John 2:22; 2nd Thessalonians 1:8-9).
God is just as angry today over wickedness as He was in the days of Sodom. I believe God is MUCH more angry, because we have the completed Bible today (which Sodom never had). Jesus said that if He had done the miracles in Sodom which were done in Capernaum, Sodom would have repented! Matthew 11:21, “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.” Most believers are lingering in wickedness. Carefully notice that Lot was living so worldly that his son-in-laws didn't even take him seriously when he spoke of the things of God. Yet we read in 2nd Peter 2:7 that Lot was a just man. 2nd Peter 2:6-7, “And 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; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.”
This Scripture is evidence against all the false prophets who teach Lordship Salvation. This is the false teaching that faith in Christ is not enough to be saved. Lordship Salvation teachers also require a person to change their ways and endeavor to please God, which includes trying to stop sinning. The heretics confuse the grace of God with discipleship of the believer. The Biblical Gospel is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whoever repents of their unbelief and believes the Gospel is saved eternally. There are NO obligations upon the sinner. There are no strings attached, nor additional requirements to be saved. All that God requires is faith in the Gospel.
Biblical repentance is a change of mind with believing the Gospel as being the ONLY object of repentance. To repent does NOT mean to forsake sinful bad habits, nor does it mean to decide to change and start living for God. Any changes will happen AFTER salvation as a FRUIT of genuine repentance, and not as part of the ROOT of saving faith. Eternal life is a free gift (Romans 5:15; 6:23), paid for by the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1st Peter 1:18-19). The difference between the two plans of salvation is DRASTIC. It is far from a matter of semantics as some claim.
May Lot be an example to every Christian of how not to do things. May we not pitch our tent toward the sinful world as Lot did, which ultimately destroyed his entire family. His son-in-laws were killed. His wife was killed. His daughters were pregnant by their own father. Talk about a messed up family! That's where the sinful world, alcohol, wickedness and disobedience to God always lead. All of Satan's apples have worms! If you give the Devil an inch, he'll become a ruler! Sin will always take you further than you wanted to go, cost you more than you intended to pay, and keep you longer than you planned to stay. The Devil is a liar, thief and murderer (John 8:44). If you let him, the Devil will steal, kill and destroy everything you hold near and dear in life (John 10:10). Oh the foolishness of mankind!
Proverb 14:14, “The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways: and a good man shall be satisfied from himself.”
Proverbs 19:3, “The foolishness of man perverteth his way: and his heart fretteth against the LORD.”
Proverbs 27:22, “Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.”
Lot (Abraham's nephew) was something. Here God is about the rain down fire and brimstone to utterly destroy Sodom and Lot is taking his time, lingering. I am fully convinced that Lot didn't want to leave. As much as Lot hated the wickedness around him, he enjoyed the conveniences of city life. Food with easy to buy. We read in Ezekiel that Sodom was a place of plenty. Ezekiel 16:49, “Behold, this was the iniquity of thy 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.” Most people think of the sin of homosexuality when they think of Sodom; but they were guilty of many others sins as well.
The citizens of Sodom were selfish, having plenty but sharing nothing with the poor. No doubt Lot was selfish just like his fellow Sodomites. There's a reason why Lot's son-in-laws wouldn't take him seriously when he tried to warn them. Perhaps Lot had been like the boy who cried wolf. So now no one took him seriously when he had something important to say. The Bible says in Proverbs 25:19, “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.” Lot was not a faithful man.
Since Sodom had much provisions; such as water, food, protection and entertainment, they were often idle. The Bible says they had an ABUNDANCE of idleness. An idle mind is the Devil's workshop. Hard work is a blessing from God that keeps men out of trouble. One of the worst curses plaguing America today are youth roaming the streets, joining street gangs because they are idle and bored. I lived in Chicago for 37-years. Chicago's mayors have historically been amongst some of the nation's worst, most corrupt, dishonest, shady and connected with the mafia. The newsmedia and local papers are continually filled with one financial scandal after another. One of the biggest and easiest ways that criminals steal from Chicago's taxpayers is through highway construction projects. Then there was the year 2,000 Millennium Park rip-off (4-years over schedule and $300,000,000 over cost). They stole all that money!!!
I said that to say this... While the city's politicians and their criminal buddies steal billions-of-dollars from the citizens, there's no money for youth projects to keep them off the streets. The truth is so sickening that it makes any honest and God-fearing person want to vomit. Chicago's street gangs are well connected with the mafia and Chicago politics. I remember when $500,000 in confiscated marijuana just vanished over a weekend from 26th and California (police headquarters and the court house). The biggest criminals in Chicago ARE THE POLICE! Police are told to leave drug-dealing pimps alone, and to let the gang units handle them. It's a convenient way to ensure that the pimps never get caught.
Literally, anyone who has lived in Chicago for any length of time could take you to dozens of street corners where drugs are sold! The police don't do anything to them. Years ago the Chicago Tribune newspaper ran a giant Sunday edition, several pages long, documenting in detail the financial breakdown of the various street gangs. They gave the names of the gangs, what territories they control in the city, and how much money in illegal drugs they rake in annually. Chicago illegal drug business makes over $500,000,000 per year in profits! The illegal drug business is as clear, known and documented as Wal-Mart. The politicians are in on the business. It's not just Chicago. Every major city in America is complicit to the illegal drug industry in America. You see, it doesn't matter if a bunch of honest people work for the FBI or the CIA, just so long as the highest decision making powers are corrupt. If the guy at the top is a bastard, then the whole company is evil and corrupt. Proverbs 29:12, “If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.”
Hence, this is how the criminal globalists (international banking cartel) control America. They have appointed into place their own minions in the highest positions of the Supreme Court, FEMA, The White House, the FDA, CIA, FBI, Justice Department... you name it! I don't want to get too far off topic, but here's some evidence below of what I'm talking about. The Obama administration has appointed 37 former Goldman Sachs employees to government positions. The banksters are taking over the government (and now gradually taking over the states and cities as well; hence Rahm Immanuel—straight from the Obama presidency, now thug mayor of Chicago's Police State) ...
Chicago is worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. God is going to cast a lot of trash politicians, corrupt department heads, scum judges and dirt-bag lawyers into the fires of Hell forever. God is calling all Americans to rise to battle, we are at war with the forces of darkness and Satan.
