Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

they had the example of the pre-Flood world and knew of their
destruction, they followed the same course of wickedness.
When Lot settled in Sodom, corruption had not become
universal, and in mercy God permitted rays of light to shine amid
the moral darkness. Abraham was not a stranger to the people of
Sodom, and his victory over much stronger forces prompted wonder
and admiration. No one could avoid the conviction that a divine
power had made him conqueror. His noble and unselfish spirit, so
strange to the self-seeking inhabitants of Sodom, was another
evidence that the religion he had honored was superior. God was
speaking to that people by His providence, but the last ray of light
was rejected, as all before had been.
Now the last night of Sodom was approaching, but no one was
aware of it. While angels drew near on their mission of destruction,
people were dreaming of prosperity and pleasure. The last day was
like every other that had come and gone. A landscape of
unsurpassed beauty was bathed in the rays of the setting sun.
Pleasure-seeking crowds were going this way and that, intent on
enjoying the hour.
In the twilight, two strangers approached the city gate. No one
saw them as the mighty heralds of divine judgment. The careless
multitude little dreamed that in mistreating these heavenly
messengers, that very night they would reach the pinnacle of guilt
that doomed their city.
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