It would be difficult not to read my blog for any length of time and realize that I am fond of astronomy. If there is any doubt about this, today will confirm my joy of viewing matters of a heavenly nature. Today's picture is a bit unusual (even for me) as you will notice that there seems to be a beam of light coming from the hole in the cloud and exploding at the horizon. With this in mind, I naturally thought of the following...
Genesis, Chapter 19 (WEB)
1 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth, 2 and he said, “See now, my lords, please turn aside into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.”
They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”
3 He urged them greatly, and they came in with him, and entered into his house. He made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the people from every quarter. 5 They called to Lot, and said to him, “Where are the men who came in to you this night? Bring them out to us, that we may have sex with them.”
6 Lot went out to them to the door, and shut the door after him. 7 He said, “Please, my brothers, don’t act so wickedly. 8 See now, I have two virgin daughters. Please let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them what seems good to you. Only don’t do anything to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
9 They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now will we deal worse with you, than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and drew near to break the door. 10 But the men reached out their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door. 11 They struck the men who were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
14 Lot went out, and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for Yahweh will destroy the city.”
But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be joking. 15 When the morning came, then the angels hurried Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife, and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city.” 16 But he lingered; and the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and his two daughters’ hands, Yahweh being merciful to him; and they took him out, and set him outside of the city. 17 It came to pass, when they had taken them out, that he said, “Escape for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be consumed!”
18 Lot said to them, “Oh, not so, my lord. 19 See now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your loving kindness, which you have shown to me in saving my life. I can’t escape to the mountain, lest evil overtake me, and I die. 20 See now, this city is near to flee to, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape there (isn’t it a little one?), and my soul will live.”
Before Yahweh destroyed these cities, he advised Abraham of his intentions and the patriarch bargained with the Almighty to save them. When God's angels when to Sodom, the wicked men there wanted to rape them and this led to the destruction of both Sodom and Gomorrah.
Thought here- When there is only wickedness in a place, how long can it be before it is destroyed? And like it or not, this applies to The United States Of America as well.
Now, I could be wrong about the picture and it could be just a sunrise with a ray pointing upward toward the astronomical hole in the cloud, but wouldn't it be safer to think the other way around? If we consider our ways and repent, will not God be merciful? Then again, America doesn't have a problem with the sin of homosexuality, does it?