the civil and religious leaders—is the harbinger of the outpouring of God’s wrath. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah, as well as Gibeah of Benjamin, and remember also the words of our Lord when he said of those who utterly reject the gospel of his grace: ‘I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town’ (Matthew 10:15). The Lord places a choice before men: will it be retribution or will it be redemption? A second mark of a collapsing society