Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

and the plain. Palaces and temples, costly homes, gardens,
vineyards, and the pleasure-seeking crowds that only the night
before had insulted the messengers of heaven--all were consumed.
The smoke went up like a great furnace. The lovely Valley of
Siddim became a place never to be built up or inhabited--a witness
to all generations that God's judgments on transgression are certain.
There are greater sins than those for which Sodom and
Gomorrah were destroyed. People who hear the gospel invitation
calling to repentance, and pay no attention, are more guilty than the
dwellers in the Valley of Siddim. The fate of Sodom is a solemn
warning, not merely to those guilty of defiant sin, but to all who do
not take seriously their Heaven-sent light and privileges.
The Savior watches for a response to His offers of love and
forgiveness with more tender compassion than that which moves the
heart of an earthly parent to forgive a wayward child. "Return to
Me, and I will return to you" (Malachi 3:7). But anyone who
persistently refuses that tender love will finally be left in darkness.
The heart that has disrespectfully ignored God's mercy for a long
time becomes hardened in sin, no longer able to respond to the
influence of the grace of God. It will be more tolerable in the day of
judgment for the cities of the plain than for those who have known
the love of Christ and yet have turned away to the pleasure of sin. In
the books of heaven God keeps a record of the sins of nations, of
families, of individuals. Calls to repentance, offers of pardon may be
given; yet a time will come when the account will be full. The
individual's decision has been made, and by his or her own choice,
119