I love this exchange between God and Abraham here! He starts with 50 people that can actually desire to glorify Jesus and works his way down to ten, indicating that if there was even one person who loved God in Sodom, He wouldn’t destroy it. Lot was that righteous man (2 Peter 2:7-8), but unfortunately, he couldn’t get anyone saved there. I pray that Bee becomes Christian, though, and that she wouldn’t be unsuccessful in reaching others for Christ, either. I’ve already gotten three people saved since I became Christian (the first of which being someone I had messaged on Tumblr when I was able to access my account there), and I can’t be any happier! Too bad someone can attack my niece whether she’s Christian or not, even though she’s still under two years old. For I don’t have very many pleasant memories about my childhood, especially since retribution seemed to never end. It was as if I was born only to be made prey for others who claimed to love God in the past… I just didn’t find any good Christian communities until I started college, but I didn’t know that hypocrisy was so high for a long time… I wish I could’ve lived on campus, but at least I can enjoy Gilbert with some friends of mine 😊 I don’t expect anything good to happen, though, for I’ve already encountered so many angry people in my job (customers and staff) that I’m actually feeling less good about working anywhere in which I engage with others. One guy even exploded with wrath like nuts in front of his own daughter late last July, and she had to have been younger than five years old! I couldn’t stop getting very pissed off. I wish the “sinners in the hands of an angry God” message never happened. We’d be a heck of a lot better off without it. Also, this passage is found in page 9 of my NKJV Bible, page 12 of my NASB Bible, pages 20-21 of my VOICE copy, and page 21 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.
Speaking of anger, I noticed that Abraham had begged God not to be angry with him twice in this passage alone! And the first mention of love I haven’t come across during this journey through four translations at once yet (this happens at chapter 22), and this isn’t even spoken on God’s part. It really sucks that the Scriptures don’t have much mentions of love until it’s too late, it seems. And I don’t know why… I’ve actually heard my pastor disagree with the reality that God is love once, but he’s since recanted that belief… I hope… I’m not expecting anything good in the church or in Prescott this weekend, actually… I’m going there with my Awaken crew Friday afternoon (today’s Wednesday), and I actually heard some offensive preaching by someone speaking in more than half the messages, and because of what I know about the cultural climate in the U.S., I’m not expecting the one speaking this weekend to be any good, either. Indeed, my friends Josh and Abby Thomas got audited by the IRS recently, and I can’t help but think they’re being persecuted because they don’t believe in politics or something. If either of them are done in by them, I might be next! And who knows what might happen to my niece because her mom is from the Philippines, even though she was born here February last year… she can be imprisoned because of this! It’s just not fair! And next thing I know, someone will criticize me for saying this because they think life shouldn’t be fair or even that God is trying to cause the horror of family separation at the U.S.-Mexico border. This kind of thing is completely godless! I bet none of them have ever had any righteous ancestors before.
What also drives me nuts is that even a note on the VOICE copy I have that’s sandwiched between two of the verses in this passage says that God’s mercy has a limit. That simply cannot be true. I don’t want to speak of Sodom’s fate; I assume many people who have read the Bible at least once know of this. Too bad a sickening word has come from this monstrosity, though. I don’t even want to mention it; I think it might be a little inappropriate for this blog, I have no idea. I know the Bible never mentions that term… it’s pretty offensive. But maybe next time, when someone reads this, they won’t repeat the sins of Sodom and her neighbors. I know I don’t want to do anything Lot didn’t like when staying there… I especially pray I don’t dishonour Christ… I’m scared to think of what might happen if someone does that to Him, and I learn of it. But as it stands, Jesus died for everyone there, too, even though this happened almost two thousand years before He was born.
I know I sound pretty bleak today, but I can still remember that it’s still possible to do what Christ says in even the worst of situations based on Proverbs 29:18, for people can go incredibly nuts if we go without revelation long enough. Speaking of which, have any prayer requests like these (or any other)? Drop them in my e-mail: ron.outland4727@gmail.com! Also, I edited my previous post a bit; I put down the wrong page number for my NASB Bible last weekend, but I fixed it. Here’s to hoping nothing sickening happens today… but as you probably know, any hope of peace can soon be destroyed even if Christ backs it up to some degree (but it’s always on the other side)… pray that I don’t have godless men doing irreparable damage to anyone, including myself. It’s also just after 8:30 a.m., so it’ll be awhile before I get to work still (I only have four hours today, though). But God’s faithfulness is true, so I’m hoping to find more of it. Later!
Ron And His Stories 