Most know the biblical story of Abraham and Lot. Lot was Abraham’s nephew and Lot traveled where God was leading Abraham. Tension started increasing between the herdsmen of Abraham and Lot so they agreed to part company. Lot chose to move to the plains where the cities were. Lot’s people mingled with the natives and became influenced by evil people who dominated the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham stayed in the hill country and walked with God.
Not more than a couple of decades after Lot’s people departed Abraham, lot’s people were all destroyed by fire from heaven along with all the native people of the plains because they had joined in with the wicked practices of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot, his wife, and his two daughters were led out of the city by angels because of the intercession of Abraham for his nephew. Lot’s wife looked back (turned back to see because of her disbelief?) when the judgment on those cities fell and she was turned into a pillar of salt. Lot and his daughters hastily relocated to the hills as the angels directed.
Such a division of people of the promise and worldly people seems to be now taking place in America in our time. I would say from the moral breakdown in the big cities of America, that it is more likely than not that the big cities of America will be destroyed before the downward slide into sexual perversion and immorality goes on very much longer.
I started thinking about this after reading this very informative article on City vs. Country and the great divide that exists between the urban and rural people of America. The article is mostly correct in what it says, but I noticed an obvious bias against rural people in the tone of the writers. Since the article comes from liberal media, that is not surprising.
I knew there was a great division between how city people and rural people voted, but I did not know that the divide was as great as was documented in this article. The article indicates that about 75 percent of the rural areas voted Republican, compared to only 25 percent vote for the Democrats. Obviously, voting Republican does not make people moral, but the Republican party did stand for most of the things that God-fearing people in this nation also stand for. The Republican vote reflects that.
I happen to live in a rural area of the Missouri Ozarks, very much like the area described in the article. When it comes down to God and country and federal government intrusion into our lives around here there is a lot of agreement, for sure. I have lived in other rural areas of the country and saw much the same thing. Rural people generally are more religious, more moral, and are more conservative than city slickers. They are not fond of federal government coming in and telling them how to live their lives or telling them to give up their means of self defense.
We should also be aware that rural people are becoming an ever smaller minority in America. Rural people are only 20 percent of the population of America. The definition of urban is cities that are over 50,000 population and it also includes urban clusters of 2,500 to 49,999. Those living in the 2,500 to 5000 category are only 1.6 percent of the national population so these smaller urban population centers are not much of a factor in my Abraham-Lot conjecture.
Almost 60 percent of the people in this nation live within 153 urban areas with populations that have over 200,000 people. Most of these big cities are “progressive”, crime ridden, and corrupt. Many of them have the most tyrannical and unconstitutional local governments in our nations.
These 153 areas would be in the greatest danger from any attack on our nation. For example, something as simple and as likely to happen as the national grid going down for a couple of weeks or a financial collapse would end life as they know it in these 153 urban areas.
The possibility of a nuclear attack from Russia or China would obviously be directed at our largest urban areas as well, and they certainly could launch more than 153 warheads.
Many talk about the problem between the different worldview of the Red and Blue states, but there is a much greater division in our nation along urban and rural lines in each state in the Union. If all 50 states became independent countries, we would still have much the same division between the Liberals and the Conservatives within each of the respective states.
I read where one writer suggested that the solution to the Conservative and Progressive division in America is to make these large liberal cities into sovereign states of their own. These new city-states would have their own laws and constitution so what they do in these city-states would not impact those in the more rural conservative areas within the original state. A fitting name for this city-state theory is “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”.
If that happened, you might have a hundred or more states in America that cannot agree on anything other than the big cities would be progressive and the rural areas would remain conservative. So how does this improve America? It seems to me that most of these city-states would pass “progressive” rules that would free them to become literally as evil and perverse as Sodom and Gomorrah. Without the influence within the states of the more moral rural people, there would be no moral restraint on the urban cities.
That city-state solution would bring about the same solution that God came up with for the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah and that is actually where we are heading. If it does not happen sooner in America, it will happen during the great tribulation when all the great cities of the world fall (Rev 16:19).
It seems that as of now, the children of Lot and Abraham are still choosing their locations of destiny. Is God now separating the children of Abraham from the children of Lot in our own nation by allowing the cities to be very enticing to those that reject Him, and making these large urban areas repugnant to those that fear Him? You be the judge.
I think the people living in these 153 areas will be in great physical danger as the moral slide continues. You might want to get away from these areas as soon as you can, if you can.
Don,
I doubt this nation, the U.S.A., has enough time left for a “city-state” scenario to play out, but if it did…well, I think we would see civil wars ‘city-state’ vs. ‘city-state’.
Each ‘city-state’ bordering another ‘city-state’ would end up having great antipathy for the other…which always, as history shows, leads to wars.
Doesn’t matter, dividing the states isn’t going to happen before this nation has more pressing issues to deal with like the looming economic disasters and the probabilities of World Wars.
Just my opinion.
“If it does not happen soon in America, it will happen during the great tribulation when all the great cities of the world fall (Rev 16:19)”
This struck a chord with me Don, making everything else you wrote very believable.
Withtout my presence in the work space, I can easily see evil multiplying. I drove coworkers to a lunch and there was minimal consideration for my “Jesus orientation” as the conversation was pro-liberal on just about every topic they conjured up.
I live across a bay, which used to be a dividing line between urban and rural, but that dividing line is shrinking over the past ten plus years. I have a relatively long commute. My bigger concern is walking home after an EMP attack. If I make the trek within, say, 48 hours, I might be safe if I stick on the highways with similar walker-commuter folk, but it seems dicey.
My two cents.
Hi Don,
This divide has been going on for some time now,as each election shows.A few years ago,I had a thought about the churches in relation to Matthew 13:30.This could be applied to city vs. rural as well.My thought was that the tares were being bundled into groups,ie;churches,political groups,CITIES,etc.to be burned later,while the wheat,the true body,would be gathered into the barn first,THE RAPTURE ? Are the tares being bound in thier sin? And the wheat being seperated out,leaveing these corrupt churches?I always wonder why the tares were gathered first,and burned later.Could that be dureing the tribulation?Is the prophetic nature of this parable happening now in these last days?As fast as the apostacy is moveing,it sure seems like it is being fullfilled.
Living in a small town in NW Arkansas, in a county where the sheriff is a good man, and a friend of many families in our area, I believe most of us will be okay if the stuff hits the fan in this country. We would of course have to drastically change our lifestyles, but I believe for the most part we would take care of each other and of course we still have an armory in our small town, we would band together and defend if needed. We also have crops, cattle, and a few remaining chicken and turkey farms. Plus the Arkansas River is right there with its stock of fish. National forest is also close by with its stock of game.
Of course, I hope to pass on through to life without having to encounter these type of hardships. But wonder if hardships are not good for the soul, I remember my grandparents and others of their age who had a much more humble approach to life than those of later generations.
The thunder of judgment now rocks the horizon.God is going to send the fire.No other way to handle amoral beasts.
“You might want to get away from these areas as soon as you can, if you can.”
Wow, Don. Shouldn’t we be lead by the Spirit to disciple those who don’t know Christ? How does the Church minister to lost humanity if we chose to abandon them? All the more since there doesn’t seem to be much time left before Christ’s return. I know I am mis-judging you, Brother. We should be busy doing our Father’s work and that may mean staying in the middle of ugly situations until God directs us elsewhere. Don’t run from opportunity, embrace it! God is not done collecting the full number.
David Roye,
I was generalizing, it appears to me that many in the American urban areas have already heard the message and they are not much interested in hearing about the gospel of salvation anymore because they choose not to believe it.
If God is telling you to stay where you are and keep witnessing to the Urban mockers, you probably will get the message. However, from what I know of “Christians” in our Urban churches there is very little witnessing going on anyway. You also can live in rural areas and still mainly witnesses to those in Urban areas through many different means.
By the way, we do not disciple unbelievers, we only can give them the message of salvation. If they hear and believe, then we can disciple them. Even so, there is very little discipleship going on in this nation either.
I think judgment will start in the American cities. Not that rural areas will be exempt, but they generally are more God fearing and not as vulnerable to the imminent dangers that Urban Americans continue to ignore.
To David Roye,
Jesus instructed the disciples to leave Jerusalem before it was destroyed, they obeyed and fled to Pella according to early church historians. Could this be seen as a precedent to follow? If you see the end approaching shouldn’t you remove yourself from the scene of the destruction?
Thankfully, we have found a group of believers that still practice discipleship. It is a thrilling experience. I guess I believe that if I’m fishing, I’m likely to be more successful going where there are a lot of fish. Accordingly, we all do our best work in the place that God has planted us.
Don’t mean to judge, you have a marvelous ministry here and I really enjoy your insight.
Don you said “You might want to get away from these areas as soon as you can, if you can.” The big part I face is “If I can”. If it were entirely up to me I would sell everything I have, scale back, and go live in a very Rural part of South Carolina. My wife on the other hand is skeptical and says “what if we have 10 more years before the (you know what) hits the fan”. She says she doesn’t want to live in the sticks and wait it out. I thought the wheels would come off the wagon back in 2008/09 but as we know that didn’t happen. I know you don’t have a crystal ball but what is your gut saying about the “timing” question? I wish I knew because like your saying once this starts, its end game. Where I live will become mad max in about a week. I am no longer of the view that the “rapture” will save us all before it happens (and if it does praise God!) but if it does not then we must do something to prepare more physically. At best I can live for 1 month without outside need of water and food but when the savages around me, who can live 4 days, need it, we are done. Any insight on this “timing” topic?
Eric,
Your guess is as good as mine. There just are too many variables to be certain about the timings. Things like an EMP, natural disaster or world war can bring it to pass in just one day. On the other hand, if those things do not happen, those running the world might see some use for the U.S. to be the world power for several more years. They have shown that they have some ability to control the world economy. When you see the dollar fall like a rock, inflation will hit us like a ton of bricks and interest rates will rise causing all borrowing to cease.
You cannot predict natural events or even what enemies might do with any certainty, but when you see our monetary system collapsing you can be sure that every form of lawlessness will soon follow. I personally think the nation will be in dire straights before the end of this decade for one reason or another.
Wow. You touched on a-l-m-o-s-t all the most likely scenarios for U.S collapse
as extrapolated by the secular gurus. A secular source that explores the break-
down of society norms due to various causes and actually gives a timeline of
how long we could expect under various scenario developments is given by
http://www.munknee. Don you can post this at your discretion and are free to edit my
comment but please do not chastise me for citing this source of some objective
articles explaining the secular side that supports our expectations based upon a
study of biblical prophecy. I only find some of these articles at that source as
parallel to your comment.
ceSmith,
I do not have a problem with people using secular sources for trends analysis but the link that you gave does not deliver what you said. It most likely is somewhere on that website, but few will ever follow a link, yet, search for the article on that site. If you have a direct link to an article that gives a timeline, I would like to see it.
Here are two articles on the http://www.Munknee site that are warning of dire comings in near future with short outline of why they will happen and how long it will take for society to collapse in specified scenarios. Short and concise outlines that are easy to understand.
‘ ‘ I Repeat: “Economic disaster of unprecedented scale is coming!” Here’s Why ‘ ‘
And ‘ ” 5 Red Flags of Imminent Economic Collapse ” ‘
So the KKK and the white supremacist movements are still going strong in rural areas and many of of the participants profess to be saved Christians. Do you think so?
Dorrene,
I do not know what makes you think so? There always are a few but I lived in many white rural areas and have never run into any. Racism of all spectrum’s is much worse in urban areas.
Don,
What gets my attention is Jesus statements about “The Days of Lot ” and “The Days of Noah ” being end times signs. I am shocked at the seemingly growing public acceptance of same- sex , homosexual marriage. That seems to parallel “The Days of Lot” , AKA , Sodom and Gomorrah which God judged decisively. God has not changed so we should not expect Him to remain silent. “The Days of Noah ” were full of demonic activity as reflected in the movies Hollywood is currently producing. Have not seen the movie Noah , people I know who are not Christians tell me it is not even close to scripture , the fallen angels are cast as good and taken into heaven.
Don,
The Noah film is all about pagan gnostic beliefs of the producer and radical environmentalism. Of course the two tie together. The film has a gnostic surly deity that pagan gnostic’s call creator. That is not almighty God. Even Christian leaders that don’t like the film missed what the film was really about.
Don ,
Thanks for your reply. As I said , I have not seen the film ( and will not ) waste my money.
My comment was based on what a relative ( who is not a Christian ) told me after he saw it.
It was encouraging that he saw it was unbiblical as I have prayed for him to see The Truth and
accept God’s grace. I apologize as I know I’m off the subject matter here. Thank You for all your efforts to alert others to truth. Keep up the good work. BLESSINGS!!!!! I would interested in your thoughts on all the Blood Moon hysteria taking place
Hi Don,
I wrote an article about the blood moons and it got over 1000 downloads from search engines just today, thanks to all the hype and hysteria.
https://www.thepropheticyears.com/wordpress/blood-moon-of-joel-and-revelation-not-about-eclipses-of-2014-2015.html