A Portrait of an American Christian

Many of us are aware of the story of Lot, especially when it comes to the portion about Sodom and Gomorrah. We often think of him as a man who compromised his beliefs and conformed to the wickedness of Sodom; a man who offered his own daughters to the sexual perverts of the city that would be destroyed by fire and brimstone sent by God.

However, 2 Peter 2:7 says, “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:”

Just Lot? Just, as in honorable and righteous? How can that possibly be so?

I would posit that Lot was just like many modern American Christians who try to do what is right in a society that is grows more and more wicked by the day.

The verse says that Lot was “vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked.” He did not condone or participate in it, but he was deeply bothered by wicked conversation.

If you want an idea of what it was like to be Lot in Sodom, consider how a Bible believing Christian who is vexed by the wickedness of society feels.

How do you feel when you hear about children being taught in taxpayer funded government schools that pornography is “natural” and should be de-stigmatized? How about learning about hormone blockers or the brutality of sexual reassignment surgery on teenagers?

That is the vexation of just Lot.

TYPEOLOGY

Typology is a major part of Biblical exegesis. David is a type of Christ. Saul is a type of Antichrist. Egypt is a type of the world. And, in this case, Lot is a type of Christian (especially in America today).

Abram/Abraham = God the Father

Isaac = Jesus Christ

Lot = the adopted son, aka Christians (Galatians 4:5).

Lot (the American Christian) was the nephew, and really more like an adopted son, of Abram (a type of God the Father). We know that later on Abram would become Abraham and his son, Isaac, would be “sacrificed” on an altar (though he was not actually killed), making this a clear typology of the Father (God) sending His Son (Jesus Christ) to be sacrificed.

LOT IN GENESIS

After Abram took Lot in (Genesis 11-12), they eventually came to a place where Abram gave his nephew the opportunity to choose his own path (Lot had free will to choose his fate, just as we have). Lot chose the land that appeared to have the most prosperity (like America) in Genesis 13.

Lot took the easy path. Do we not do the same on so many occasions?

A little later on in chapter 14, Sodom and Gomorrah went to war. In the chaos, Lot and his possessions were taken by the rival kings. When Abram got word, he went down and rescued Lot (Lot was “saved,” like we Christians). Saved from the wickedness, Lot went back with the king of Sodom into the city of wickedness (America has a number of these types of cities).

The next time we see Lot is in Genesis 19. Lot was sitting on the gate of Sodom – a position of leadership. This is usually where preachers rail on Lot for being corrupted. He was a part of the system of Sodom, but it is not clear that he was a partaker of their wickedness. I imagine that we can look at some of our Christian politicians, school board members, business owners, etc. who bare within the system, and might even be trying to change it for the better, but the systems around them are corrupt.

I have heard many people use the argument that Lot must have at the very least condoned the immorality in Sodom in order to sit on the gate.

They forget that Daniel sat in the gate of the king (Daniel 2:49).

Let’s not forget that Joseph also reached a prominent position of power in the Egyptian government, despite his ethnicity that was despised by the Egyptians and his open and devout belief in the Lord God – much like Daniel.

Is it really a stretch to believe Lot did as well?

The contemporary equivalent would be one of us being a biblical Christian on a local school board or a mayor of a town.

The Judgment of Sodom – Genesis 19

Vs. 1 – Lot met with two angels who looked like men (v. 5), yet he recognized their authority, evidenced by his bowing.

Vs. 2 – He offered to bring the angels to his home, but they politely refused.

Vs. 3 – Lot insisted that they come home with him, and they agreed. Lot showed them hospitality.

Vs. 4 – The men of Sodom gathered around Lot’s house.

Vs. 5 – The people of Sodom asked for the angels (who looked like men) to come out so that the perverts could fornicate with the angels.

Vs. 6 – Lot left his house and shut the door behind him.

Vs. 7 – He implores the Sodomites to not do “so wickedly.”

Vs. 8 – Lot offers his virgin daughters to the Sodomites so they would leave the angels alone.

Vs. 9 – The Sodomites acted “offended” (like modern day “snowflakes”) and threatened to do worse to Lot than to the angels. They stormed toward the door with the intention to break it down.

Vs. 10 – the angels pulled Lot back inside.

Vs. 11 – the angels blinded the men of Sodom

Vs. 12 – The angels warned Lot to gather up his family and leave.

Vs. 13 – The angels reveal they are there to destroy the city

Vs. 14 – Lot asked his sons-in-law to leave with him, but his family treated him as if he was joking.

Vs. 15-16 – Lot leaves with his daughters, his wife, and the angels.

Vs. 17-26 – Judgment begins and Sodom is destroyed.

AS IN THE DAYS OF LOT

“Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28-30

Notice the typology once again. Lot leaves the city before its destruction, just as Christians will be Raptured before the tribulation judgments.

The United States is quickly becoming like Sodom in the days of Lot.

Let’s consider the conditions there. Sodom is most known for sexual perversion – particularly homosexuality.

Sodomy in America

Sodomy, aka. homosexuality, used to be a crime in the United States. State Sodomy laws began to be eliminated in 1962 (the Satanic era). The Supreme Court in 1986 supported the Constitutionality of state Sodomy laws. In 2003, however, the Supreme Court reversed the decision and sodomy became legal in all 50 states.

Gay marriage was first legalized in Massachusetts (2004).

Gay marriage was federalized in 2013-2015.

Obama repealed the LGBTQ ban in the military (2013).

The DSM (the manual used to diagnose mental illnesses) originally listed “homosexuality” in 1952, but was replaced with “distressed by homosexuality” in 1974. Homosexuality was removed entirely from the DSM-V in 2013.

Propaganda and confederacies

The big question is how well propaganda (essentially a systematic effort to sway public opinion) and confederacies (a group of people joined together by a common cause) are working to affect social change.

Today, dozens of openly LGBT politicians, including the head of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Transportation.

There has been a marked increase in “representation” in media in which LGBTQ characters are becoming much more prominent, and companies like Disney have expressed their desire to increase the number of LGBTQ characters in film and television.

We went from “don’t ask, don’t tell” in the 90s to the military actively advertising and recruiting LGBTQ and paying for sexual reassignment surgeries (2021).

There has been a massive increase and mainstreaming of drag shows via “family friendly” book readings in libraries and performances at bars.

Infiltration of our school curriculum and government schools teaching about pronouns and homosexuality in children as young as kindergarten.

“Misgendering” laws around the world have increased – people are going to prison in Canada and Europe over pronouns. Pronoun laws were on the ballot, but were struck down in California (2017). Even without government intervention, many corporations have strict policies against misusing gender pronouns and social media platforms will outright ban you for violating preferred pronouns.

Rise of MAP’s (Minor Attracted Persons) and child grooming – which is already prevalent in many parts of the world.

The doubling of generational LGBTQ identification – about 3.5% of Gen X’ers identify as LGBTQ; 7.1% for Millennials and 15-20% of Gen Z.

The conditions for “the days of Lot”

1. The free will to choose our path
2. Salvation through grace
3. A wicked land filled with unimaginable sexual perversion
4. Too few righteous people
5. Global Sodom

Are we there yet?

The days of Lot are here. That feeling that you have knowing that everything around you is spiraling into degeneracy as we struggle to maintain our own personal spirituality is likely how Lot felt.

Lot struggled to find anyone righteous in Sodom, and it is becoming more difficult here. Abraham negotiated with God so that Sodom and Gomorrah would not be destroyed for 10 righteous people. Extrapolated to a nation with over 330M people, how many righteous would there need to be?

According to Gallup, only 8% of Americans want less acceptance of LGBTQ people. Of that 8%, how many are Christians? Because we know that Mormons, Muslims, and Catholics are huge groups who also reject the LGBT lifestyle. We cannot know how many Bible believing Christians there are in this nation, but I would reckon that there are very few who would be considered righteous.

Like with Sodom, judgment is coming. Will you be one of the righteous who are saved, or face the tribulation? Like Lot, you still have a choice (for the moment).

Choose wisely.