The Credibility of The Bible- The Vanished Cities
There is a place on our planet that can at least be called amazing. That’s where scientists found something that doesn’t exist anywhere in the world. It is one locality in the Middle East.
If we came to the famous Masada fortification in Israel and looked out over the Dead Sea, we would notice two unusual areas. The surroundings of these areas are flat and constructed of limestone rock, which is in the form of gravel and large stones. Within that terrain are two areas built of fine-grained rock, called gypsum, which forms uneven relief in the form of tall buildings and streets. In these areas, scientists have found large stones lined up in rows and at right angles, which led some to think.
But what has surprised scientists most is the large number of sulfur balls found in these rocks. Sulfur balls are 2.5 centimeters in diameter, up to the size of a tennis ball. What scientists have especially noted is how these sulfur balls pierced the rock at high temperature.
It was concluded that this terrain looks like someone fired at it with a large sulfur machine gun from the sky. It is known that sulfur in nature usually occurs near volcanoes or geysers, but is then full of impurities. Such pure sulfur and in such large quantities have not been found anywhere on Earth.
Scholars who knew Moses’ historical account immediately remembered the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah that were destroyed in incredible ways. Moses notes that these cities were full of lawlessness and immorality, and that the Creator brought down “fire and sulfur” from heaven and destroyed them.
Additional exploration of these sites has found the remains of burned human skeletons. Detailed chemical analyzes have confirmed that they are human skeletons and not some unusual shapes of surrounding stones.
Finally, a “chemical check” of the Moses report was carried out as follows: If the limestone rock that this region was built from would be exposed to high temperature (fire that would fall from the sky) and sulfur, we would get calcium sulfate or gypsum, the very rock that made these areas with sulfur balls.
In this way, additional evidence was presented in support of the veracity of Moses’ account of an incredible event – the destruction of the cities of great immorality, Sodom and Gomorrah, by the fall of fire and sulfur from heaven.
But why is this important? We have seen that from the origin of the first humans to the present day that the problem of this world is of a moral nature. Against the backdrop of bad politics, poor economics and poor human health also lies the moral decline of man. In a moral sense, the state of the world is increasingly deteriorating.
When we read those portions of the books of Moses and other books of the Bible that relate to future events, we see that all the writers of the Bible talk about the same event at the end of the history of this planet. Once, in the past, Noah had been invited to change their destructive lifestyles, and to prepare for the great water disaster that was coming. People laughed and rejected the call of the Creator. They never saw water falling from the sky and denied that anything like that could happen, continuing to live their lecherous and useless lives.
After the great Water Flood that followed, the Creator promised the people that they would never again experience that. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be another Flood.
The Creator in the Bible informs us that the day is approaching when humanity, due to its cruelty, insolence and self-will, will encounter a much more terrible Flood. This time it will be the fiery Flood, and the missing cities of Sodom and Gomorrah represent a diminished picture of that future event. Like the people before The Flood, many people today will reject and deny the possibility of such an event.
When we read Moses’ account of creation and when we look at the findings in nature, we see that this world was initially created as a place that was supposed to be a paradise for man in whom he would live forever. Although man made hell on this planet, the Creator in the Bible informs us that this planet will soon be restored and brought back to its original state, when people on it will be able to live in peace and happiness.
Before that, the Creator will make many more calls to people to turn towards the right path. And then, in the ensuing events, all those who do harm to themselves and others, and who are not interested in living in peace and harmony, will be eliminated.
We have seen that modern science clearly confirms what the Creator has revealed through the Bible related to the past. We have also seen that the biblical text is completely authentic and has not undergone any changes. So there is no reason not to believe what the Creator said about the future in His Book of Revelation to John.