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As many of my friends will know, in addition to running the Bill's Bible Basics website and its various web services, I am also rather active in a number of social networks. At this present time -- January 2024 -- these include Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Blogger, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Truth Social, Instagram, Mewe, OK, Threads and VK. One of the witnessing and teaching methods of the Bill's Bible Basics ministry is my graphics creation. Over the years, I have created more than 6,000 Bible-based graphics, which I freely share on the Bill's Bible Basics Blog, as well as on the aforementioned twelve social networks, by way of syndication. In order to make it easier for my friends to share my graphic work, I have divided these images into more than three hundred different topical categories, which you can find in the "BBB Graphics Library" section of my website.

Insofar as publicly posting these graphics is concerned, I normally cycle through all 6,000+ images over a period of several months, or longer. Once I have shared all of them -- usually ten or more each day -- I begin the cycle all over again. At the same time, I am also constantly creating new graphics as well, so the total number continues to grow. One of the topical categories is called "Apostasy * Backsliding * Falling Away * Perseverance". At the time that I published the original version of this article, I shared the images from this category with my online friends once again.

After I had shared this particular set of images, one of my Facebook friends posted a comment in which she mentioned that she had recently become involved in a discussion in which it had been stated that a certain radio pastor had offered an explanation regarding why he believed that Lot's wife made it into Heaven. I assumed that she posted her comment because she was hoping that I would offer her some feedback regarding this issue. Thus, I began doing exactly that on my Facebook timeline.

However, as is often the case, whenever I start to answer a person, what invariably happens is that one Bible verse after another begins to pop into my head; and what I expect to be a short answer begins to grow rather long. Then I reach a point in my comment where I think to myself "Hmmm . . . Other people may be wondering about this very same issue as well. I should turn this into a regular BBB article instead, so that everyone can benefit from my response." Thus, here we are with another new article.

Regarding what that radio pastor said, let me start by saying that personally, I don't believe that anyone should really be espousing or promoting firm doctrines regarding the issue of the fate of Lot's wife. My reason for adopting this position is really quite simple: The Bible does not outright say what her spiritual fate was. Thus, anything we suggest is personal speculation and theory at best; and it is precisely in this manner that so many misguided, false doctrines are created. I don't need to tell you that the Internet is literally filled with such things.

Having said that, based upon the evidence that we do find in the Scriptures, what we know for certain is that it was God's clear intention to save Lot and his family, including Lot's wife. He obviously loved them; and apparently, He considered them to be righteous, as per the agreement which He had made with Abraham to save the righteous in Genesis 18, as we see by the following group verses:

"And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place."


So even though Lot and his family lived in that terrible city of sin known as Sodom, God still desired to save them, and He apparently considered them righteous. Thus, He sent the two Angels to escort them by force out of that wicked place prior to its fiery destruction, as we see by the following verses:

"And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground."


You know, I don't know about you, but I have long wondered about Lot's questionable character. If we read the Biblical narrative concerning Lot very closely, we come to realize that he was quite a character. Stated more bluntly, it seems to me that Lot was very self-centered with a "What's-in-it- for-me" attitude. You may recall that when the herds of both Abraham and Lot grew to such a great size that the land was no longer able to support both of them, they decided to part ways. At that time, generous Abraham -- who was Lot's uncle by the way -- gave Lot a choice. As we read in the following verses, Lot chose the best of the land for himself and his flocks. In fact, as these verses reveal, that is how Lot and his family ended up so close to Sodom:

"And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom."


I have to wonder though if God didn't punish Lot later on due to his selfish attitude. If you read the very next chapter of the Book of Genesis, you will see that there was war between the various kings of Babylon and the eastern regions, and the kings of the cities of the plain where Lot and his family all resided. As a result of that great war, Lot and his family were taken captive. Despite his selfish attitude, guess who freed Lot and his family? Good old Uncle Abe. So Lot was quite indebted to Abraham, who was his father Haran's brother.

We get another glimpse of Lot's questionable character when the homosexuals in Sodom discover that Lot is hosting the two Angels in his home. Of course, the men of Sodom did not know that they were Angels at that time, but they certainly found out later. However, what I would like for you to consider is the fact that when those gay people came pounding on Lot's door, because they wanted him to turn over his two visitors to them, so that they could "know" them -- meaning to engage in homosexual sex -- Lot offered his own two virgin daughters to those wicked people instead. Personally, that a man would betray his very own daughters, and willingly turn them over, knowing that they are going to be sexually abused, is very hard to digest. Yet that is exactly what Lot offered to do. Whether Lot did this to protect his Angelic Visitors -- who even he may not yet have realized were Angels -- or merely to protect himself, I am really not certain. Consider this group of verses:

"But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them. And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly. Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof."


As you may know, and as I explain in the series called "Queen James Bible: Blasphemous Abomination Exposed!", people who support same-sex "marriage" and gay and lesbian rights try to explain away -- and poorly so -- the various verses in God's Word which clearly condemn homosexual acts. They claim that the word "know" -- as it is used in the previous verse -- is not referring to engaging in sex, even though that is exactly what the word means in so many other places in the Bible. Yet if what they are saying is true, and if the gay men of Sodom only wanted to meet Lot's visitors, why in the world does Lot respond to them by saying "I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly"? Lot obviously knew exactly what those wicked gays wanted to do with his two Angelic Visitors. If the men of Sodom just wanted to shake their hands and say "Howdy!", do you honestly believe that Lot would have responded in that manner? I don't.

While the previous verses inform us that Lot's two daughters were virgins, a few verses later we also discover that they were nevertheless already married to two local fellows, who were apparently just as heathen and wicked as the rest of the people of Sodom. Consider this set of verses. I have added a few words in brackets for the sake of clarity:

"And the men [the two Angels] said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law."


Another point which causes me to question Lot's character is the fact that even though God extended such great mercy to him and his family, despite their choosing to dwell amongst such wicked people, as we saw in previous verses, Lot still had the nerve to whine and complain when the two Angels were forced to physically remove him and his family from Sodom. In those verses we were told that the Angels "laid hold upon his hand" because Lot "lingered". In the original Hebrew, the two words that are used are "chazaq" and "mahahh". Based upon the various definitions that we find in the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon, the impression I get is that the two Angels firmly grasped Lot and his family by the hand because Lot delayed. Maybe he had doubts. Perhaps he didn't really want to leave Sodom. After all, even though he was a stranger there, he must have enjoyed some rather brisk business with selling the products of his herds. Whatever the case may be, the Angels had to take drastic action in order to get Lot and his family out of that evil city.

As if that wasn't already enough, Lot even argued with the Angels when they commanded him to take his family and flee to the mountains, lest they be killed when God destroyed the cities of the plains. Here God is being merciful to him and trying to save his ungrateful butt, and Lot whines that it is too dangerous to go to the mountains. In the previous verses he groans "Oh, not so, my Lord" and "I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die." Imagine telling God's Angels that you don't want to do what God has ordered you to do. Yet that is exactly what Lot did. Furthermore, he was doubting God's ability to protect him. Is it any wonder that Lot and his family had to basically be dragged out of Sodom by the two Angels?

I find it rather interesting that even though the two Angels conceded by letting Lot and his family go to Zoar instead, in the end, God's Will was still done, and Lot and his daughters still ended up in the mountains. The Angels obviously knew that they were dealing with a very stubborn man; so perhaps they decided -- or maybe the Lord even told them -- to let Lot do as he pleased. In other words, if Lot wants to be so rebellious, then let him learn his lesson the hard way. But look at what happens next:

"And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters."


We aren't told exactly why Lot "feared to dwell in Zoar". Was it because the people there were also wicked? Was it because Lot worried that God might destroy that city as well? Was it because Lot knew that he had disobeyed the Lord by not going to the mountains in the first place? Who knows. Whatever the case may be, if we take a look at this story on the whole, it does not seem to me that Lot was so righteous after all. Not only that, but I wonder if God truly spared Lot because he was righteous, or if He did it simply as a favor to Abraham, because Lot was Abraham's kin, and more importantly, because Abraham was the friend of God due to his faith, and a direct ancestor of Jesus Christ. Consider the following verses:

"Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?"


"But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend."


"And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God."


As I said a minute ago, in looking at the facts of the story, it does not strike me that Lot was such a righteous man. He selfishly chose the best of the land when Abraham gave him a choice. As a result, he and his family eventually were taken as captives when a war occurred. He lived in or very close to the wicked city of Sodom, where he more than likely profited financially by selling the products of his herding business to the sinful people of that place. His two daughters even married two ungodly men from that town who failed to believe Lot when he warned them to leave Sodom. Lot was willing to give up his own two daughters in order to save his own skin, or possibly to protect the two Angels. It is difficult to know what truly motivated him. Even though Lot chose to live in or near that evil town, God eventually kicked him out of there. Lot seemed hesitant to leave Sodom, and he complained about having to go to the mountains. Lot went to Zoar instead of obeying the Lord, and he was eventually forced to leave that place as well. It just seems to me that Lot made one poor choice after another, due to his own selfishness, and he paid the consequences for it.

If there is one lesson which we are supposed to learn from this story -- which even Jesus emphasizes in the Gospels -- it is that when God says to go, it is time to go, and you do not argue with Him about it. You just do as He says. Look at what happened when the Prophet Jonah decided to run from the Lord and dilly-dallied on his mission to warn the people of that wicked city of Nineveh. He ended up spending three days and nights in the belly of a great whale with seaweed wrapped all around his head. God obviously wanted to give Jonah some time to seriously think about his decision to run away from his prophetic responsibilities.

The greatest and most tragic example of procrastination which is found in God's Word, clearly involves the Jews themselves. As I mention in a number of other articles, in the Gospels, Jesus warned His followers to leave Jerusalem immediately, and to flee into the mountains of Judaea when they beheld the Abomination of Desolation standing in the Holy Place -- that is, on the Temple Mount, and even in the temple itself -- as had been prophesied by the Prophet Daniel. In fact, John the Baptist warned the Pharisees and the Sadducees of this very same thing, as we see by the following verses:

"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"


"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened."


"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days."


"Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"


"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people."


"Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."


"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."


"And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here! And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down."


"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


"And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down . . . And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."


Despite these clear warnings, while the Disciples obeyed the Lord's command and fled to the hills of Judaea, the majority of the unbelieving Jews in the city of Jerusalem did not. As some of you history buffs will know, in the year 66 AD, the First Jewish-Roman War began. Roman general Vespasian was sent by Emperor Nero to quell rebellion in Judaea. Over the course of the first half of this seven-year war, Vespasian slowly subdued Israel, beginning in Galilee, until all that remained was Judaea and Jerusalem itself. In fact, even King Herod Agrippa II -- who was the seventh and last king of the Herodians, and a puppet-king of Rome -- fled from Jerusalem, and fully supported Vespasian in his campaign against Judaea. Following the war, Herod and his sister Berenice went to Rome where he served as a praetor, and lived in affluence.

At any rate, as a result of the suicide of Emperor Nero in 68 AD, and the political rivalries and civil war that ensued -- referred to as the "Year of the Four Emperors" -- and having gained much support in the provinces of the empire, Vespasian returned to Rome where he was crowned the new emperor. Thus, the task which had originally been assigned to Vespasian by Nero, was completed by his son, General Titus, who was his second-in-command during the campaign against Judaea, and who likewise eventually became a Roman emperor for a few years.

Titus had a siege wall built around the outer walls of the city of Jerusalem. A common tactic in its day, a siege wall meant that no one could get in or out; and neither could any other thing, including food, water, military supplies, etc. The end result was that the people who were the victims of a siege slowly starved to death, turned on each other, died from different diseases, etc. As an added bonus to all this misery, in the case of Jerusalem, General Titus added mass crucifixions to the mix as well. According to historians Tacitus and Flavius Josephus, somewhere between 600,000 and 1,000,000 Jews were trapped inside Jerusalem. Why did they not flee from the wrath to come as they had been warned to do?

By the middle of 70 AD -- which was also the middle of this seven-year war -- the three walls which surrounded Jerusalem were breached, resulting in most of the city being burned to the ground, and the temple compound being utterly destroyed, in precise fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy about four decades earlier. According to Josephus, 1,100,000 Jews were killed during the siege. Furthermore, many thousands more were taken captive, and carried away as slaves to other Roman provinces. This was in fact the beginning of the Third Diaspora. While the fall of Jerusalem marked the end of the major part of the seven-year war, mop-up exercises continued for another three and a half years until 73 AD, because there were still some pockets of Jewish resistance, such as the famed fortress of Masada.

What I find particularly amazing is how accurately the Prophet Daniel describes these historic events which befell Jerusalem during the First Century. Consider the following verses. I have added a lot of words in brackets for the sake of clarity, because many Christians have a difficult time understanding the time-specific prophecies of Daniel:

"And after threescore and two weeks [or 434 years] shall Messiah be cut off, [meaning Jesus is crucified] but not for himself [because He died for our sins]: and the people of the prince that shall come [meaning General Titus and the Roman legions] shall destroy the city and the sanctuary [meaning Jerusalem and the temple]; and the end thereof shall be with a flood [not of water, but an army of men], and unto the end of the war [meaning the First Jewish-Roman War] desolations [destruction] are determined. And he [Titus] shall confirm the covenant [may be some kind of military or political deal] with many for one week: and in the midst of the week [in the middle of the seven-year First Jewish-Roman War] he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease [because he destroyed Jerusalem and the temple compound in 70 AD], and for the overspreading of abominations [possibly refers to Roman standards which bore the image of an eagle, which is unclean and an abomination to the Jews, and the Roman legions and siege wall which surrounded Jerusalem] he shall make it desolate [destroy Jerusalem], even until the consummation [until the war is completed], and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate [the people who were destroyed, meaning the Jews]."


The tragedy here is that much of this death and destruction could have been avoided, had the Jews simply bowed to their Roman conquerors, and accepted it as God's chastisement, due to their cruel treatment of, and rejection of, His own Son. But the Jews have always been an extremely proud, stubborn, and rebellious people. As I explain in articles such as "The Fruits of Disobedience", time and time again over the past four millennia, God has had to firmly deal with them because of their sins against Him. In the case of Northern Israel, the Prophet Isaiah warned them to repent. They did not, and this resulted in the Assyrian invasions, and the very First Diaspora. About one hundred and fifty years later, Jeremiah warned them for a period of forty years to repent and to bow to the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. However, again they refused to bend the knee. This resulted in three Babylonian invasions, and the eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in the year 586 BC. This marked the beginning of the Second Diaspora.

Please go to part two for the conclusion of this article.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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