Kevin
Straub’s Rewrite of Fred Wright’s Behold
Your God, Chapter 28
"God destroys no one." Testimonies, Vol. 5, 120.
"God destroys no man.
Everyone who is destroyed will have destroyed himself." Christ's Object Lessons, 84. "God does not stand toward
the sinner as an executioner of the sentence against transgression; but He
leaves the rejecters of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have
sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded,
every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed
sown, which yields its unfailing harvest. The
Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from
the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of
the soul, and no protections from the malice and enmity of Satan."
The Great Controversy, p. 36. Click to go to our Home Page
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Foreword by Ron: I have added the above statements by Ellen White, which
support the findings of Wright and Straub. The link to the complete book as
written by Fred T. Wright appears below the main menu on my website.
“The last message of mercy to be given to the world
is a revelation of His character of love. The children of God are to manifest
His glory. In their own life and character they are to reveal what the grace of
God has done for them.”--COL 415, 416 (1900). {LDE
200.4}
It is not a true message of the character of God’s
love to in any way teach that He kills anyone. Such messages are from the arch
rebel, Satan.
God does not kill. He removes His protection
from the sinner because His presence cannot accompany the presence of sin. If
God directly killed anyone, He would violate His own character, His
commandments, which are a written transcript of and a virtual
testament of His character.—rwb
Ch. 28 Pre-Reading Questions:
WAS THE RAINBOW AN ARBITRARY SIGN? WHY A RAINBOW?
THE TIME OF THE FLOOD INTRODUCED VAST CHANGES WHICH
BROUGHT A CURSE TO THE EARTH IN MANY WAYS. DESCRIBE THESE.
HOW IS IT THAT THE EARTH IS NOW HELD IN RESERVE FOR
DESTRUCTION BY FIRE, AS POINTED OUT BY PETER?
WHY WOULD THE SOVEREIGN AND OMNIPOTENT GOD CHOOSE FIRE
TO PUNISH THE WICKED? DO NATIONS WHICH ALLOW CHRISTIAN FREEDOMS EXERCISE THE
DEATH PENALTY BY TORTUROUS MEANS?
DID GOD SPECIALLY CREATE THE MOLTEN FIRE THAT RAINDE ON SODOM AND GOMORRAH?
CAN WE FIND ANY MODERN HISTORIES OF FIERY DESTRUCTION
THAT WOULD GIVE US A PARALLEL TO WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CITIES OF THE PLAINS?
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sodom and Gomorrah
Noah and his family emerged from the ark to tread a
shattered earth. The destruction was beyond description. They needed
no convincing that the flood had come, but they did need a very
real assurance that it would not happen again. This the Lord was
able to give them.
“Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never
again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again
shall there a flood to destroy the earth.’
“And God said: ‘This is the sign of the covenant which
I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is
with you, for perpetual generations:
“I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be
for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.
“It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth,
that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud” Genesis 9:11-14.
These words assure us that there will never again be a
repetition of the deluge which twice before has covered the earth,
firstly in the opening days of creation, and secondly, during
Noah’s time.
It is interesting to note that the token of God’s
assurance that there would never again be a flood is in itself an indicator
that points us to the fact that there had been a monumental change in the
environment. Specifically, the conditions required to produce the rainbow never
existed before the water mantle broke. The water vapor held in the atmosphere
would have been a barrier to the direct sunlight required in order refract and
produce the colors of the visible light spectrum. Now that the band of water
above the earth had passed away, direct sunlight could pass through the thin
dispersion of water droplets in the earth’s atmosphere and create the rainbow
phenomenon. So, here we have yet another example of Biblical language, in that
God says that He “set the rainbow in the cloud.” The rainbow is a natural
phenomenon, but God takes the responsibility for it, as He is the Creator of
all of nature.
The Noachic flood was none of God’s doing, it having
come in spite of His efforts. Therefore, His statement that there would
never again be a flood of water, was not an undertaking to
restrain Himself, but a prediction of what the future held.
Specifically, the prophecy is limited to a flood of water. It does
not ensure against the deluge of fire by which the earth will
finally be consumed. See 2 Pet. 3:5-7
For there to be another flood of water, the conditions
necessary to produce it must exist, as they did before Noah’s time. The
only way total flooding could reoccur would be for the polar caps to melt,
the mountain chains leveled into the ocean depths and, in general, the
land masses reduced to about the same elevation. All the water which
covered the earth in the first days of creation and which returned
to submerge it again, is still here. Therefore, it would cover the
earth if it was evenly distributed over the surface again.
Should the Lord withdraw His sustaining presence from
the earth, convulsions of this magnitude are not impossible and, in fact,
will happen again, but the result is not seen in a flood of water. Rather, a
flood of fire will engulf the planet.
These floods, firstly of water and lastly of fire, are
not disconnected. The former is the parent of the latter. This
relationship should be clearly understood.
It is not usual to think of water producing fire, for
water is the most commonly used means of extinguishing a conflagration.
However, the waters of the flood were the means whereby enormous amounts
of fuel were buried under the earth and will be provided to fire that last
great holocaust.
Moreover, the flood, though itself long since over,
lives on in the form of offspring. Some roam the earth as storms, hurricanes, tornadoes,
cyclones, and tempests, others are confined to specific locations such as
volcanoes, geysers, and any other geothermal activities, while still others
break forth in expected and unexpected spots as earthquakes and tidal waves.
All are devoted to missions of destruction.
The flood marks the time division between original
tranquility and the aberrations of nature. Of every one of these
deviations from God’s original scheme of things, the flood is also the
parent. These disturbances may be divided into two categories: those found
in the earth, and the others in the atmosphere.
The first of these include volcanic eruptions, thermal
activities, earthquakes and tidal waves. In the latter are storms,
tempests, hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes, typhoons, floods, and
droughts.
Then "the fountains of the great deep" were
"broken up,” (see Gen. 7:11) and water came up from below, in addition
to the great downpour from above.
“Jets of water burst from the earth with indescribable
force, throwing massive rocks hundreds of feet into the air….” {PP 99.1}
Problems arising within the earth were spawned when
the earth’s crust suffered this breakage. The inner molten materials are now
brought near the surface in many locations and in many cases erupt onto the
surface of the earth. Water and other substances, such as coal, sulfur, and
other minerals, may interact with the hot material in the depths, resulting in
other disruptive occurrences. The tensions and pressures built up at fault
lines result in sudden shifts of the rocks beneath the surface, resulting in
earthquakes. When earthquakes or volcanoes occur under the sea, tidal
waves and tsunamis are launched.
Thus, the flood is truly the parent of all these
troubles within the earth itself.
Weather as it is today, is the product of conditions
brought about by the deluge. The redistribution of land and water masses,
the location of mountains and flat lands, and the inequalities of
climate, all formed by the flood, are the determining factors in
producing atmospheric problems from their mildest to their wildest forms.
What tremendous changes the flood set up,
producing results which reach down to the end of time. The
destruction initiated at the flood but halted before it had finally
consumed all things, will then break forth to completion. Those fires
by which the earth will be reduced to ashes, will also be the child of the
flood, for the remaining deposits of coal and oil in the earth will
contribute to the fuels of that last conflagration. Undoubtedly, there will
be other sources of fire coming in at that time, as well. The inner molten
materials will be released at unprecedented rates and volume, as there are no
restraining protections in place to keep the mantle of the earth from breaking
apart in continuance of the chaos that was initiated at the flood. As the
liquefied elements release under great pressures they will spew high into the
atmosphere, as did the waters from under the earth, during the time of the
flood, to rain down upon the heads of those who have cast their lot on the side
of rebellion.
We have no way of knowing for certain what other
mechanisms may contribute to the fires, but it is not outside the realm of
possibility that there may be burning materials coming in from outside of
earth’s atmosphere, in the form of meteoric showers or other material.
Additionally, it seems highly probable that man’s
activities will play their role. We know that Satan will have marshaled his
forces together and the great men of war of the earth will have applied all of
the most advanced technology available, under the direct instruction of the
most brilliant created mind in the universe, to rebuild their implements of
war. (GC88 664.1) These weapons will be unleashed, for without
the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit, the ultimate in vicious and
desperate human passions will arise and release in untempered fury. (GC88 671-2)
Whenever man goes to war he generates fire. Much of
this fire may be “unconventional,” as in nuclear weaponry. The chain reactions
may spread to all the elements, without any of the expected “natural”
restraints, as God is no longer present, acting in His role of Savior and
Protector. It could be that this “fervent heat” that Peter speaks about in 2 Peter
3:10-12, is not an ordinary fire, as all the elements are dissolved. See also
Zech. 14:12, 13.)
Drought and flood, tempest and earthquake,
tidal wave and hurricane, volcano and fire, are that cataclysm’s
troubled offspring which will plague earth dwellers till the end.
Not every area is afflicted with all these scourges.
In fact, some parts are apparently free from them. This explains why some
centers of sin pass unscathed year after year, while others
seemingly less iniquitous, are struck down with shocking suddenness.
Those cities located right where one of these children of the flood
resides, need to be far more careful than those in positions more favored.
For years the giant of destruction will remain unseen or manifest itself only
in mild forms, because the restraining power of God holds it in check
while He seeks to woo men from their danger and while there remains in the
city a faithful remnant for whose sake He will continue His restraint.
But, during this time, the unwitting inhabitants continue to resist His
appeals until finally He has no choice but to leave them to their
desires.
The unfettered monster then bursts with unannounced
fury upon the unprotected heads and homes of the abandoned
sinners, whose destruction may be as total in the area where they are, as
it was over the whole earth when the flood came.
Sodom and Gomorrah were a case in point.
The Scriptures report the devastation of those cities
and their peoples in the same way that all the other destructions which
fell upon abandoned sinners are described.
“Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and
Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. And He overthrew those
cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew
on the ground.” Genesis 19:24, 25.
To millions of Bible readers, these words have
pictured God as personally pouring great sheets of flame from His own
hands upon the hapless victims below. But, those who have come to learn
and accept the principles of God’s character as explored in this
study and who have learned to use the Bible as its own dictionary,
know that such an interpretation is wholly incorrect.
Rather, the truly Biblical interpretation of these
words is that the Lord had no option but to withdraw and leave the wicked
to the fate they had chosen. This He had done only when every means
and appeal had been totally exhausted and there was nothing more
He could do. Then, whatever potential of destruction was lurking
in the area, was unleashed. The result was terminal.
There is always great value in assessing the
implications of a certain belief, so study will now be given to see in
what image God is cast by the belief that He personally poured that fire
down upon the dwellers on the plains. Only a certain kind of God would do
this.
Death by fire is one of the cruelest and
most-to-be-feared ways to die. On February 1, 1974, “a fire, started by an
electrical short-circuit in an air-conditioner, engulfed the upper
fourteen stories of a newly constructed twenty-five story bank building,
trapping hundreds of workers as the flames fed on combustible
interior-finish materials; due to inadequate escape facilities, at least
two hundred and twenty-seven persons lost their lives.” 1975 Britannica
Book of the Year, page 238. Those in the higher floors above the fire
level found themselves cut off. As the fire advanced upwards, many
chose to die by leaping from the upper levels rather than face the
hungry flames.
In the jungles and forests it is the thing most feared
by the animal kingdom. Beasts and reptiles lose all fear of each other as
they flee pell-mell from the roaring flames. There is good reason,
for death by fire is a horrible death.
Think of yourself as facing the death penalty, the
only consolation being that the choice of how you will die is given to
you. The choices are firing squad, gassing, the electric chair,
beheading, hanging, or being burned alive. None of these is a
pleasant prospect, but when you sit and think of your body being
roasted while you are still alive, you know that that is the very last
choice you would make. It is not difficult to realize that this is the
kind of death which a judge or king would impose upon a person
whose death he wished to make as painful as possible.
It is not a pleasant scene upon which to dwell. Yet it
must be visualized as realistically as possible so that it can be
comprehended that no God of mercy, justice, and love, would ever behave in
such a way to personally and deliberately inflict a death of this nature
upon anyone.
The ability to do certain things reveals the
disposition within the doer. It is not possible for any being in the
universe, including God, to do everything. The truth of this statement is
confined to the spiritual and ethical side of the person. Admittedly, God
has the physical power by which He can do anything. But while He
has the might, there are some things His
character will never permit Him to do. If God poured the fire and
brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah, it could only be because it was in Him
to do so. It had to be a part of His character. Therefore, God has within
Him a spirit of cruelty by which He is motivated to select the cruelest
possible death for those who have refused to obey Him. Without that, He
could never have treated the Sodomites as He is accused of having
done.
But that is not God’s character. He is not cruel,
sadistic, and revengeful. He would never select the worst conceivable
punishment, and then administer it to those who did not appreciate His
ways and acted contrary to His ideas.
Terrible are the implications of believing that God
determined that the cities of the plain should be consumed by fire and
then proceeded to do so. It is to equate Him with the papacy, whose
constant practice was to burn to death those who refused to submit to
her assumed authority. Something of the seriousness of this is
manifested when it is recognized that the papacy is Satan’s
masterpiece of misrepresentation of God’s character. If we wish to
understand what God is not, then behold the principles and practices of
the papacy. The way God is supposed to have behaved at Sodom and
Gomorrah is exactly as the papacy would have behaved if she had been
in God’s position. Therefore, how God is thought to have behaved is
certainly not the way He conducted His affairs there.
The papacy went forth to convert the people to her
religious beliefs and service. When her first efforts were unsuccessful,
she began to exert pressure upon them until, when it was clear that
the subjects of her ministrations had no mind to ever obey her, she
cruelly destroyed them with fire. In doing this, she represented
herself not only as administering the will of God, but of doing so as
she and Satan would have it believed God does it.
In all of this the papacy was carrying out Satan’s
plans. The very fact that this is the way of the papacy is certain
denial of its being God’s way for, if anyone wishes to know what God
is not, let him behold what the papacy is and what she does.
Contrariwise, if anyone wishes to know what God is, let him look at the
life of Jesus Christ. Never will the two witnesses agree.
The ultimate witness to the character of God is found
in those who have drawn so near to Him as to possess His character.
Such a people cannot be brought to take up any weapon of
destruction against anyone, not even their very worst enemies. They
would much rather die themselves than take the life of another. That
is the example of the life of Christ. He would rather die Himself than require
that the life of another be taken. This is the ultimate outliving of the
injunction to turn the other cheek and go the second mile. A God who
counseled this kind of behavior as the reflection of His own, could never
pour fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. He did there just what He did on every
other occasion. He did not “stand toward the sinner as an executioner of
the sentence against transgression; but He” left “the rejecters of His
mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown.” The Great Controversy,
36.
If the Lord of heaven did not act the part of an
executioner and personally pour fire on those cities, then how were they
destroyed? Are we left with no scientific information to reveal the nature
of that disaster?
There is a considerable amount of information
available if careful search is made for it, though hampering the search is
the relative uncertainty as to where these cities actually stood.
There are those scholars who have looked for the
cities on the northern side of the Dead Sea, but “Other scholars seek
these cities underneath the waters of the southern end of the Dead Sea.
Arguments for this view are more numerous and weighty: (1) The ‘vale
of Siddim’ in which these cities were located is
identified with the ‘salt sea’ in Genesis 14:3. The northern two-thirds of
the present Dead Sea reaches a depth of one thousand, three hundred
and twenty-eight feet, and must have existed as early as
Abraham’s time, but the depth of the southern part nowhere exceeds sixteen feet.
Submerged trees show that part of this area was dry in relatively modern
times, and accurate measurements have shown that the level of the sea has
been steadily rising during the last century. “
(2) Asphalt is found at the southern end of the Dead
Sea, while the Vale of Siddim is said to have
been ‘full of slimepits,’ RSV ‘bitumen pits’
(Genesis 14:10). Bitumen, or asphalt, still erupts from the bottom of the
southern part of the Dead Sea and floats to the shore.
“(3) Statements made by classical authors, Diodorus Siculus (ii. 48.
7-9), Strabo (Georgr. xvi. 2. 42-44), Tacitus (Hist.
v. 6. 7), and Josephus (War iv. 8. 4), describe an area south of the Dead
Sea (presumably now covered by its rising water) as scorched by a fiery
catastrophe that destroyed several cities whose burned remains
were still visible in their day. Foul gases are said to emerge from
fissures of the ground. Compare Deuteronomy 29:23.
“(4) Geologists have found oil and natural gases in
the ground at the southern end of the Dead Sea, which is at the same time
an area frequently disturbed by earthquakes, hence furnished all
the conditions for the catastrophe described in the Bible, if God
used natural means in the destruction of the cities (see above).
Furthermore, Jebel Usdum, the ‘Mount of
Sodom,’ at the southwestern shore of the Dead Sea, consists of 50 per cent
rock salt. Some have conjectured that in an upheaval during the
destruction of Sodom some of this salt may have been dislodged and may
have buried Lot’s wife, piling over her to form a ‘pillar of salt’
(Genesis 19:26).
“(5) A number of streams enter the southern part of
the Dead Sea from the east, in a region that is still very fertile, and it
is reasonable to believe that the whole valley now forming the
southernmost part of the Dead Sea was once that exceptionally fertile
plain, one fitting the Bible description which compares the land with the
Garden of Eden and the Nile valley (ch
13:10).
“(6) Kyle and Albright, in their exploration of the
region lying southeast of the Dead Sea, found no ancient ruins of cities,
but discovered an elaborate place of worship on a hillside with
remains dating from before 1800 B.C. This site, Bab
edh-Dhra’, evidently was a place where the
annual festivals of a large population were held. The cities in which this
population once lived must have been in the area now covered by the waters
of the Dead Sea.
“(7) Zoar, one of the 5
cities of the plain (Genesis 14:2), was at the southern end of the Dead
Sea in the time of Christ.” Seventh- day Adventist Bible Dictionary 8:1028,
1029.
This statement gives excellent reasons for concluding
that the site of those ancient cities was at the southern end of the Dead
Sea. But it also tells some further interesting facts about the
area.
“Bitumen, or asphalt, still erupts from the bottom of
the southern part of the Dead Sea and floats to the shore... Geologists
have found oil and natural gases in the ground at the southern end
of the Dead Sea, which is at the same time an area frequently disturbed by
earthquakes.”
“The Encyclopedia Britannica 1975 Edition, Macropedia, Volume 14:165 states: ‘The Dead Sea was
known in ancient times as Lake Asphaltites (from
which is derived the term asphaltum) because
of the semisolid petroleum washed up on its shores from underwater seepages.’
“Even today the southern region of the Dead Sea is
rich in asphalt. Inflammable gases still escape from rock crevices in the
area. Asphalt rising to the surface of the southern part of the
Dead Sea gave to it the name Lake Asphaltitis in
classical times. Massive lumps of asphalt floating on the surface are
often of sufficient size to support several persons. Asphalt, sulphur, and other combustible materials have been
reclaimed and exported from this region for years.” Seventh-day
Adventist Commentary 1:335.
Asphalt, oil, natural and highly inflammable gases and
earthquakes are not common to every part of the world, but they are
a combination often found together. Where they are found indicates a spot
where enormous amounts of vegetable material in the form of plants and
trees together with animal and human carcasses were buried at the flood.
Where such materials are found there is the formation of coal, oil, gas,
and petroleum which may or may not ignite. If it does, thermal activity
will result, usually accompanied by earthquakes and tremors.
“Before the flood there were immense forests. The
trees were many times larger than any trees which we now see. They were
of great durability. They would know nothing of decay for hundreds of
years. At the time of the flood these forests were torn up or broken down
and buried in the earth. In some places large quantities of these immense
trees were thrown together and covered with stones and earth by the commotions
of the flood. They have since petrified and become coal, which accounts
for the large coal beds which are now found. This coal has produced oil.
God causes large quantities of coal and oil to ignite and burn. Rocks are
intensely heated, limestone is burned, and iron ore melted. Water and
fire under the surface of the earth meet. The action of water upon
the limestone adds fury to the intense heat, and causes
earthquakes, volcanoes and fiery issues. The action of fire and water upon
the ledges of rocks and ore, causes loud explosions which sound
like muffled thunder. These wonderful exhibitions will be more
numerous and terrible just before the coming of Christ and the end of
the world, as signs of its speedy destruction.
“Coal and oil are generally to be found where there
are no burning mountains or fiery issues. When fire and water under the
surface of the earth meet, the fiery issues cannot give sufficient vent to
the heated elements beneath. The earth is convulsed—the ground trembles,
heaves, and rises into swells or waves, and there are heavy sounds like
thunder underground. The air is heated and suffocating. The earth quickly
opens, and I saw villages, cities and burning mountains carried down
together into the earth.” Spiritual Gifts 3:79, 80.
This makes it plain that wherever there is a spot on
the earth where such enormous amounts of vegetation have been buried
to petrify into coal and oil, there is the potential for volcanic
eruptions and devastating earthquakes. The evidences still existing
today show that Sodom and Gomorrah and their associated villages
and towns were located over just such a spot.
They were in danger constantly, for they were living
over a powder keg, a disaster which was only waiting to happen. But the
Lord desired their salvation. He was as loathe to see them perish as
He is to see anyone destroyed. So, He filled His usual role of
protector of those wicked cities, while His Spirit pleaded with them to
repent and escape the wrath to come. But they would not and the time came
when finally the protecting Presence had to be withdrawn leaving no power
to control the seething elements beneath the ground. Long held back, when
released they exploded in one spectacular and all-consuming fireball of
destruction that filled the heavens above where they stood and the earth
where they rested.
It was not something which God sent in the sense that
He decreed what should happen to them and then personally used
His power to see that it happened. Rather it came, not because the
Lord brought it, but because He could not hold it back any longer.
There was no one the Sodomites could blame for their destruction
but themselves.
The burning of the cities of the plain is not an event
singular to them. There is a modern counterpart to this in the destruction
of St. Pierre, on May 8, 1902.
“It was on May 8, 1902, that the town of St. Pierre,
on the lush West Indies island of Martinique, abruptly died. At exactly
7:50 A.M. on that disastrous morning, 4,583-foot Mont Pelee—a long-dormant
volcano—blew its top in one of the world’s most
cataclysmic explosions.
“The French-held island of Martinique shuddered like a
stricken giant at the violent eruption. From the yawning mouth of
the volcano, a huge black cloud of superheated air and gas emerged that
rolled down the sloping side of the mountain like a monstrous tumbleweed.
In its path, at the foot of the mountain, lay the harbor town of St.
Pierre. Within seconds the cloud swept over the city. Street by street,
buildings leaped into instant flame and people were turned into human
torches. The hideous black ball—its core later estimated to have been at
least 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit—quickly reduced St. Pierre to smoldering ashes.
Only two people survived the fiery devastation, and the rest of the populace— more
than 30,000—died.
“Elapsed time from the moment of eruption to
extinction of the city was less than two minutes!” Nature at
War, 131, 132, by Hal Butler.
“…There were a few eyewitnesses outside the area
covered by the black ball who survived, a handful on land and a dozen or
more on ships at sea. From these came the most graphic
descriptions—in fact, the only descriptions—of the sudden
catastrophe.
“An unidentified passenger on the Roraima
described the destruction of St. Pierre this way:
“‘I saw St. Pierre destroyed. It was blotted out by
one great flash of fire. Thirty-thousand people were killed at once….
“‘Our boat arrived at St. Pierre early Thursday
morning. For hours before we entered the roadstead we could see flames
and smoke rising from Mont Pelee….
“‘When we anchored at St. Pierre I noticed the cable
steamship Grappler, the Roddam,
three or four other steamers and a number of Italian and Norwegian
barks. The flames were then spurting straight up in the air, now and then waving
to one side or the other for a moment, and again leaping suddenly higher
up. There was a constant muffled roar. It was like the biggest oil
refinery in the world burning up on the mountain top.
“‘There was a tremendous explosion soon after we got in.
There was no warning. The side of the volcano was ripped out and
there hurled straight toward us a solid wall of flame. It sounded
like thousands of cannon... Before the volcano burst the landings of
St. Pierre were crowded with people. After the explosion not one
living being was seen on land.’
“M. Albert, owner and manager of an estate near St.
Pierre, witnessed the eruption from a position on land, and gave a vivid
account of his experience:
“…there was a rending, crashing, grinding noise, which
I can only describe as sounding as though every bit of machinery in
the world had suddenly broken down. It was deafening, and the flash of
light that accompanied it was blinding, more so than any lightning I have
ever seen. It was like a terrible hurricane, and where a fraction of a
second before there had been a perfect calm I felt myself drawn into a
vortex and I had to brace myself firmly. It was like a great express train
rushing by, and I was drawn by its force.
“‘The mysterious force leveled a row of strong trees,
tearing them up by the roots and leaving a bare space of ground fifteen
yards wide and more than one hundred yards long. Transfixed, I
stood not knowing in what direction to flee. I looked toward Mont Pelee and above its apex formed a great black cloud
which reached high into the air. It literally fell upon the city of St.
Pierre. It moved with a rapidity that made it impossible for anything to
escape it. From the cloud came explosions that sounded as though all the
navies of the world were in titanic combat. Lightning played in and out
in broad forks, the result being that intense darkness was followed
by light that seemed to be magnified in power….
“My estate was ruined while we were still in
sight of it.’
“…Leon Compere-Leandre, the
shoemaker who was sitting on the doorstep of his home trying to decide
whether or not to leave St. Pierre, had his reverie shattered by Mont Pelee’s final eruption. The explosion was so violent
that it shook the entire island, and Leon felt a shuddering spasm under
his feet. He staggered upright and caught a glimpse of the darkening sky
and the menacing black ball rolling down the side of the
mountain toward the doomed city. Trembling with fear, he turned to
enter the house, but a hot wind buffeted him and he felt his
body burning as if tongues of flame already were licking at his
flesh. With difficulty he made his way into the house and
staggered to the table. Three men and a ten-year-old girl were in the
tiny house, all of them screaming with pain as the heated air
raged over them.
“Leon moved to a table and hung over it, wondering if
the end was near for him. Then he saw the girl collapse and die in
twisting agony, and the three men fled blindly from the room.
For what seemed hours—actually about a minute—he held tightly to the
table. Then, noticing that the strange hot wind had abated, Leon pushed
himself erect and walked into the bedroom where the little girl’s father
lay. He found the man dead in his bed, already burned to a crisp by the
heat. Stumbling into the courtyard he discovered the three men on the
ground, their inert bodies charred. The thought crossed his mind, How
can I be alive when the others are all dead? Screaming, he ran back
into the house, threw himself on a bed, and awaited death.
“But for some strange reason no one since has been
able to explain, death did not come. Instead Leon became aware that
the roof of the house was burning and once more he stumbled
outside. He saw now that his legs and arms were severely burned and
bleeding, but he managed to run six kilometers to the next town—Fonds-Saint-Denis. Once he looked back. All of St.
Pierre was in flames. A strangled cry escaped him and he staggered
on. Unknown to him, he was one of only two people who had
survived the annihilation of St. Pierre.
“Louis Cyparis, the
prisoner, awaiting a breakfast that would never be served, knew that
something more dreadful than a thunderstorm had taken place when Mont Pelee’s final paroxysm laid waste to St. Pierre. The
noise of the explosion penetrated his underground chamber and the ground
beneath his feet vibrated. He rushed to the grate to peer out but
staggered back under an onslaught of heated air. The superheated cloud
that had engulfed the city had stabbed through the open grating and seared
Cyparis’ face and body. With a scream of pain he
rolled in agony on the dungeon floor.
“‘Help! Save me! ’ he yelled, hoping to attract the
attention of one of the jailers. But by this time there was no one to hear
or to care.
“The fiery intrusion in the cell lasted only minutes,
then faded. But it left Cyparis in agony,
tortured by his burned flesh. For three days he lay groaning in the cell,
not knowing what had happened or why no one came to his aid.
“On the third day he heard voices over his head and he
yelled at the top of his lungs for help. This time he was heard. A
rescue party searching the ruins of St. Pierre at once broke open the
cell door. When Cyparis was brought out into the
light of day, he was amazed to find that the city of St. Pierre no longer
existed. In the case of Louis Cyparis, as in the
incident involving Leon Compere- Leandre, the blast from the volcano had acted
capriciously, leaving him as the only other survivor of the doomed city.
“…On the freighter Roraima,
Chief Officer Ellery S. Scott turned his telescope from the city of
St. Pierre, where he was watching the colorfully attired people wending
their way to and from church, toward the summit of Mont Pelee. At that exact moment the volcano exploded, and
Scott witnessed the destruction of St. Pierre in the less than two-minute
interval that followed. Afterward he was able to provide a detailed
account of the tragedy:
“‘The whole top of the mountain seemed blown into the
air. The sound that followed was deafening. A great mass of flames,
seemingly a mile in diameter, with twisting giant wreaths of smoke, rolled
thousands of feet into the air, and then overbalanced and came rolling
down the seamed and cracked sides of the mountain. Foothills were
overflowed by the onrushing mass. It was not mere flame and smoke. It was
molten lava, giant blocks of stone and a hail of smaller stones, with a
mass of scalding mud intermingled.
“‘For one brief moment I saw the city of St. Pierre before
me. Then it was blotted out by the overwhelming flood. There was no
time for the people to flee. They had not even time to pray.’
“The great black ball of destruction that bounded down
the mountain side and swallowed the city of St. Pierre did not stop there.
It rolled out into the roadstead where seventeen ships lay at anchor.
Scott watched helplessly as the ball billowed out over the water and swept
toward his ship. At the last moment, Scott and a few others sought shelter
by leaving the open deck and retreating into the innards of the vessel.
The move saved Scott’s life, but many caught on the deck perished.
“When the ball hit, the Roraima
rolled almost on her port beam-ends, then suddenly went to starboard.
The stack, masts and lifeboats were carried away, and dozens of fires
broke out. Eventually Scott and other survivors were removed from the
burning ship by a rescue craft and taken to a hospital in
Fort-de-France.
“In the roadstead of St. Pierre, all but one of the
seventeen ships at anchor sank or perished in the flames after the black
cloud passed over them. Only the British ship Roddam,
covered with seething volcanic debris, afire in a dozen places, and
with 28 crewmen and most passengers dead, managed to escape. She got
away because she happened to have steam up at the time and was
ready to sail. Her captain, badly burned, personally took the wheel
and guided the ship to the nearby island of St. Lucia. A port
official, horrified at the battered condition of the ship and the
blackened bodies strewn about the deck, said, ‘My God, what happened
to you? ’
“‘We just came from hell,’ the captain said.
“…Eventually, the Vicar-General and the police,
soldiers and priests went ashore. In a letter written to Monseigneur de Cermont, Bishop
of Martinique, who was in Paris, the Vicar-General described what he
saw:
‘…The Place is now nothing but a heap of
confused ruins. Here and there are decaying bodies, horribly disfigured,
and showing by the contraction of the limbs how awful must have
been the death agony….
“Those aboard the Vice-General’s relief ship and
others who followed had the unpleasant task of burning or burying 30,000
bodies that quickly putrified in the heat of the
sun. They found many of the victims in casual repose, indicating that the
black cloud had snuffed out their lives suddenly and painlessly. Others,
however, were distorted in agony. Most of the victims caught outside
their homes were naked, with their hair burned away and what had
been clothing either torn or seared from their bodies; others,
indoors, were still covered with their charred clothes. Every stone house
in the city had collapsed, and most lay completely in fragments.
The entire city was covered by a ghostly white ash that in some
places was several feet deep.
“Even though the giant ball of volcanic horror had
swept the city in less than two minutes, it had enough time to play
capricious tricks along the way. In many cases solid objects were
pulverized, while fragile articles were left untouched…. Although the
wall of the military hospital was completely leveled, one section
containing the clock still stood. The hands of the timepiece had stopped
at 7:52, marking the exact moment that St. Pierre had died.
“…On May 20, cantankerous Mont Pelee
erupted again. This time a violent explosion rent the air over the
mountain at 5:15 in the afternoon. The Vicar-General, in Fort-de-France,
stood on his balcony and watched the same amazing scene reenacted—a black
ball of heated air and gases again tumbled down the slopes toward
St. Pierre….
“On a recent visit to Martinique we saw a few
remaining walls standing in what had been St. Pierre. That was all, for
the city that was once called the ‘Paris of the West’ was never rebuilt.
Mont Pelee had not only destroyed a city of 30,000
people; it had ended a way of life.” Nature at War, 142-152.
We have no eyewitness accounts of the destruction of
the ancient cities as we have here of the modern decimation of St. Pierre,
only the terse Bible statement of what God did there.
Yet the similarities between the two situations are
very obvious. Both were located in an area of intense volcanic and
earthquake activity and both were suddenly overcome by the descent of fire
upon them of such ferocity and intensity that the cities were obliterated, never
to be rebuilt, and the population was exterminated but for very few
survivors. In the case of Sodom, there were only three, Lot and his two
daughters. In St. Pierre, only two in the city and the family who fled
just in time, escaped death.
Like Sodom, St. Pierre was a place of abandoned
wickedness. Here is the description of it as given in our source by Hal
Butler:
“In 1902, St. Pierre, on the western coast of the
island and only four miles from Mont Pelee, was
Martinique’s major city. Twelve miles to the south was Fort-de-France, the
capital of the island, but this was a small village that bore no
resemblance to glittering St. Pierre. France was proud of St. Pierre;
indeed, the French often referred to the city as the ‘little Paris’ or
‘the Paris of the West’ because of its sparkling social life.
“…In addition to being the social capital of the
island, St. Pierre was also the commercial center. One of its major
industries was the rum distillery, and its principal business street, Rue
Victor Hugo, was lined with banks, stores and other commercial
establishments. The ‘Paris of the West’ was also equipped to cater both to
the welfare of the soul and the gratification of the flesh, for it boasted
a stately Catholic cathedral and several parish churches, along with a
theater where actors from France entertained, cafes, nightclubs and
assorted emporiums designed specifically for uninhibited revelry.
“The French colonists, whose ancestors had settled on
Martinique generations before, represented the elite of the island.
They owned and supervised plantations producing tobacco, coffee,
cacao and sugarcane. Most of them had built ostentatious villas in
the mountains and spent much of their time either relaxing at
these summer homes or sipping cognac in St. Pierre’s hotels and
inns. This wealthy group of Pierrotins—as
residents of St. Pierre were called—numbered about 7,000.
“Most of the city’s 23,000 other inhabitants were
blacks. The men—usually bare-chested and dressed in canvas trousers
and hats made of bamboo grass—were typically handsome; the
women couched their natural beauty in colorful robes and turbans
and strode the streets with trays and baskets of salable goods
balanced on their heads. The waterfront was a scene of continuous
activity as stevedores loaded and unloaded ships calling at what was
one of the most profitable ports in the Caribbean.
“This was St. Pierre in 1902—a city that had every
reason to believe in its future but a city that had no future at all.” Nature
at War, 132-133.
Life in St. Pierre and Sodom followed a similar
pattern. Sodom and Gomorrah were places where study was given to the
development of every means whereby the desires of the flesh could be
gratified and, from the description given here, so was St. Pierre. Thus the
very things which caused the departure of the restraining and protecting
Spirit of God in the ancient situation were also present in this fair
city. In both cases, the balmy climate and abundant wealth tended to
stimulate this pursuit for the licentious, until a fever pitch was
reached.
It is not to be supposed that Sodom was irreligious,
for in those days worship of the sun god was the devoted spiritual
exercise of those peoples. Wherever this religious influence has been
present, it has encouraged licentiousness and immorality of all kinds.
The Roman Catholic religion which dominated the spiritual life of
St. Pierre, is the modern counterpart of the ancient sun-worship
and has demonstrated that it, likewise, is the spawning ground for
every type of sin and wickedness. The same religious
influences therefore, which brought Sodom and Gomorrah to the pitch of
wickedness equated with total and unrestrained rejection of God,
also brought the inhabitants of St. Pierre to that point.
St. Pierre, then, provides us with a splendid
illustration of the death of Sodom and Gomorrah. God did the same thing in
both the ancient and the modern situation for the same reason. He left
the rejecters of His mercy to themselves to reap that which they had sown
and He did that because that was what the people in each case demanded of
Him. Because the cities concerned were sitting over a time-bomb just
waiting to go off in the form of a volcanic eruption, that was the fate
which overtook them. In other words, they died, not because God decreed
that this was the way it should be, but because that was the potential
destructive threat under which they lived.
A wide variety of destructions befall the wicked.
There are those who, as in the cases of Sodom, Gomorrah, and St. Pierre,
are wiped out by volcanic eruptions, while others are taken by flood,
earthquake, hurricane, hailstorm, accidents by air, sea, and land,
giant conflagrations in forests and buildings, famine, or by the
savage outbursts of human wrath. The only consistent pattern through
it all is that the disaster is according to the potential of
destruction common to the area. This denies the charge that God
personally takes hold of the powers of nature and manipulates them
according to His design to punish sinners. God has the power to
create any kind of destruction at will. He is not bound to the
particular peril present in a given area. Being a God of utter justice and
consistency would require Him to punish the same offenses with
the same punishments. But this is not what happened. The same
offenses are dealt with by widely varying punishments always
according to the destructive potential of the place where the
offenders reside.
The nature and location of these catastrophes are
clear proof that they are not the work of God. They occur because of the
presence, in scattered areas of the earth, of pockets of potential
destruction seeded at the time of the flood. Those who live in such
areas need the protecting care of God more than do others who live where there
is a lesser threat. But, by their impenitent living they grieve away the
shield of omnipotence thereby exposing themselves to the terrible storms
or earthquakes, fires, floods, volcanic eruptions, or whatever else is
poised to obliterate them. Therefore, they suffer the awful consequences
of the withdrawal of God’s presence, as others in more favorable places do
not.
This does not infer that there are entirely safe
places on earth, for this is not true. As the withdrawal of God’s presence
becomes more extensive, the uncaged powers of
nature are reaching out to waste areas previously untouched. As we draw
nearer to the end, this will become universal.
There is no problem in understanding what God did at
Sodom, Gomorrah, and St. Pierre, if care is taken to consider all the
implications and if the principles which govern God’s behavior are
carefully kept in mind.