Abraham’s Plea and Today’s America

 Abraham’s Plea and Today’s America – Terry James - https://terryjamesprophecyline.com/2024/04/07/abrahams-plea-and-todays-america/ America, it seems to me, has reached a point of depravity not far distant from the level of wickedness reached in the city in which Abraham’s nephew, Lot, chose to live. We’velooked at the Sodom-likeness of our own nation a number of times in these commentaries. But never before has such a degree of Sodom-likeness materialized, in my view. This observation gives me no pleasure to report. However, the accumulating facts are what they are, and to be true to what we believe the Lord has put us here to do –bringHis Truth, found in His Holy Word, to bear—we can do no more or less than report what is happening in our beloved nation. We start with Abraham’s initial question: What if 10 can be found? Genesis chapter 18. When the aged patriarch, Abraham welcomed strangers as they approached his home, he soon recognized these were not ordinary men but Heaven-sent beings in the form of men.As two of the men were ready to depart to go to Sodom where Abraham’s nephew and family lived, the third stayed to talk with the old man. “And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether accordingto the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know” (Gen 18:20-21). So Abraham now recognized the third being as being God Himself in human form. Undoubtedly, Abraham knew of the wickedness of the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah becausehe knew what the Lord would find there and feared the punishment to follow. Abraham appealed for God to have mercy on the inhabitants of Sodom. “But Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous withinthe city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?” (Gen 18:22-24). We know from this account that the Lord agreed that if 50 righteous people could be found, He would spare the city of Sodom His Judgment. Then Abraham kept asking if the Lordwould spare Sodom if 40, then 20, then 10 righteous could be found. At this point, Abraham realized Sodom’s fate was sealed, apparently so incorrigibly wicked had the people become. We can only imagine, from this account, the degree of debauched comportment the people of Sodom had reached. But the news of the wickedness in the twin cities was so great,it was known by Abraham and doubtless all who lived in the region round about. Certainly, reports of the wickedness had reached into Heaven to the degree that God Himself, like in the matter of the Tower of Babel, came down to see exactly how great was theevil of the cities. God, of course, knew, as He knows all things, but apparently, He wanted Abraham –and those of us today who are believers, to know that His Judgment, when it comes, is not without His complete Knowledge and Consideration. He Intervenes directly into the affairs of mankind with Judgment and Wrath only when there is no other recourse. That is when such Intervention is the only hope for savingman from his own destructive behavior. And this brings us to the title of this article: Abraham’s Plea and America. Many of those who observe things going on in America at this moment –including yours truly—wonder just how close is the nation to bringing about, because of anti-God activity,God’s catastrophic Judgment of the type suffered at the time of Babel and during Lot’s time in Sodom. Many –even believers– today would scoff at even the thought of linking America to the type of wickedness the Bible reports as having been taking place in Sodom and Gomorrah.And most people don’t believe this really took place, at any rate. There just is no evidence either of the historical fact of Sodom’s destruction or that the United States is as wicked as was the “fabled” city of Sodom, the majority might declare. Recent archeological digs in the region below the Dead Sea, however, have changed the fable of Sodom to almost without question a historical fact. So we look to the situationin America at this moment in time to try to ascertain if there are similarities to the days of Lot to things going on in America. Articles such as the following excerpt report on an hour-by-hour news cycle basis cultural and societal debauchery legislated into U.S. law –and even worse. A sprawling, $1.2 trillion government funding bill includes funding for abortion facilities, as well as LGBTQ activist centers that carry out transgender injections, targetminors, hold drag shows, and help illegal immigrants who identify as gay or transgender gain U.S. citizenship — a bill one congressman calls “a total, total abomination.” The “Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024” funds the Departments of Defense, Education, Health and Human Services (HHS), Homeland Security (DHS), Labor, and Stateuntil the end of the fiscal year, September 30. Congressional leadership released the text of the 1,012-page bill at 2:30 a.m. Thursday, giving members of Congress just hours to read before an anticipated vote to head off an impending government shutdown atmidnight Saturday. As of this writing, the bill contained the following earmarks: $400,000 requested by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) for Briarpatch Youth Services in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. The group promises to hide minors’ struggle with gender dysphoria fromtheir parents while indoctrinating teens in extreme gender ideology. Its “Queer 101 Training” promises to teach “an intersectional understanding on queer oppression” and aims “to demonstrate how limiting the ‘male’ and ‘female’ binary is.” The organizationoffers “individual counseling services” for children “ages 12-17,” in which a “[counselor can work with children on exploring identity, resiliency, and creating a Gender Support Plan for school support and advocacy.” The group’s website says, “Youth do NOT need parent/guardian permission to join Teens Like Us. We understand not all youth are at a point in their lives where they can safelyand confidently ‘come out.'” (Emphasis in original.) Source: TotalAbomination: $1.2 Trillion Bill Funds Teen Trans Programs, Abortion to 22 Weeks – The Iowa Standard, By Ben Johnson, The Washington Stand The above story is but one small segment of the voluminous reports recording America’s free fall into Sodom-like culture. It seems to me that God is expressing His warningof impending Judgment on this most materially blessed nation in all of human history. The destruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, named, of course, after the author of America’s National Anthem, I sense, is not mere coincidence. I fear even more dramatic forewarnings of national Judgment is in the offing. Jesus, again, Foretold as recorded in Luke 17:28-30 that His next catastrophic Intervention will be exactly like it was in the days of Lot in Sodom. Jesus, Who is God in Hisreincarnate form, said the following to Abraham, who was pleading for His Mercy in the city where his nephew Lot lived. “That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee: Shall not theJudge of all the earth do right?” (Gen 18:25). This gives me great hope. It makes me know that the Lord of Heaven, Who is the blessed hope of Titus 2:13, will spare the righteous –that is all Who have Trusted in Him forSalvation, which makes them Righteous in God’s Holy Eyes. You want to be part of the Righteous when the Lord Jesus Intervenes next in the wicked affairs of mankind. Here is how to be made Righteous in the Eyes of the Lord. “That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believesunto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9-10).