November 3, 2025 • 22 mins
# 21 - Sodom, Fire and Brimstone P. 2 - In this episode of The Chosen People, we revisit the story of Lot’s family fleeing the destruction of Sodom. The episode explores themes of judgment, obedience, and the dangers of looking back at what God has called us to leave behind. Through powerful retellings of the biblical narrative, listeners are reminded of the weight of God's holiness and the need for faith in moving forward, no matter the cost.
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Episode 21 of The Chosen People is inspired by the Book of Genesis.
Today's opening prayer is inspired by 1 Corinthians 10:14, “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”
Listen to some of the greatest Bible stories ever told and make prayer a priority in your life by downloading the Pray.com app.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Previously on the chosen people.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense. The victims
of this terrible wickedness plead for justice. The sin of
both Sodom and Gomorrah is extremely serious.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yes, my Lord, your judgment will be carried out according
to your will.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
My lords, be welcome to the city of Sodom, the
pride of the great cities of the plain. Please allow
me to be your host while you stay here in
these walls.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Lot was so unattuned to the presence of God that
he hadn't noticed what Abraham noticed. He did not recognize
the divinity veiled behind their handsome faces, or the authority
vibrating from their voices as they spoke.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
What who is it you're hosting in there?
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Who are those pretty men you're keeping all to yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
The wood of the door was immediate. It met with
the dull funk of the blade of a dagger, followed
by two pairs of fists. Just then Lot felt a
pair of strong, sure hands grasped his shoulders and hurl
him aside. A blinding light illuminated the street behind the door.
The light that refracted through the door frame and the
(01:19):
front windows was brighter than even the sun at its zeneth.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Ah, I've been blinded. Can you see anything?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Where?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Where is the datal?
Speaker 5 (01:29):
What?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
What did your doros?
Speaker 6 (01:31):
What?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
What fun and saucery is this?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
The evil and vile atrocities have caused a great outcry
against its people.
Speaker 7 (01:42):
It has become so great before the God Almighty that
he has sent us to destroy it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Despite all lod had seen earlier that night, with the
more than the blinding light, and even all the acts
of Abraham's God in the years since they left Haron,
he hesitated. The visitors watched his silent calculation, and as
if in response, they swooped upon him, grabbing his hands
and dragging him from the threshold of their home into
(02:12):
the streets of the city.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You need to leave, now, take your wife and your daughters,
or you will be swept away from the punishment of
the city.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
This episode of The Chosen People contains explicit content that
may be triggering for some listeners and inappropriate for young children.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Get up, keep moving, don't stop, and don't look back.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Lot stumbled, his knees stinging as it met sharp gravel
along the streets out of the city. The two messengers
were still forcibly dragging Lot and his stunned family, pulling
them up when they fumbled, and spurring them on with
words and hands toward the distant gates of Sodom. As
they fled, Lot's eyes caught sight of the crumbling stone structures,
(03:10):
delicate fishes, spider webbing beneath his feet. He blinked and
rubbed his eyes, but the vision remained a harbinger of
the city's imminent doom. His youngest daughter, Milker, tripped on
a step, her satchel spilling its precious contents, clothing, heirlooms, trinkets,
tumbling down the roughly carved steps. Her cry for help
(03:33):
went unanswered, the messenger hauling her along with a single
minded determination. Lot turned to protest, but a stern look
silenced him. There would be no slowing down, no stopping.
A grumbling far beneath his feet convinced Lot to surrender
any thought of a second appeal. The great upheaval caused
(03:55):
Lot to stumble again, and his messenger tightened his grip
on his elbow and doubled their pace. In the distance.
Frightened voices began to cry out and the sounds of
panic began to rise from every valley, corner and courtyard.
City guards poured through the streets, doors rattled in their frames,
(04:16):
and the very stones shook and fractured underfoot, sucking.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
The ashful pits out of the valley, like.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
The ones included the lives of so rendering the infusion.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Lot's eyes widened at the sight of substantial cracks forming
in the road. The earth groaned and the rocks sank
into the thick sulfuric slime beneath. He remembered the sidin
valley where King Cadelaeuma's men had been swallowed by the
treacherous brimstone pits. Almost impossible to detect, the acrid mud
(04:55):
held you fast as you sank beneath its toxic depths
through when surrounding debris, so unless you knew what to
look for, you could find yourself caught in its orbit
before aid could arrive. The oozing slime was incredibly flammable,
as the frequency of some wildfires out in the plains
had taught them. Lot had always assumed that the safety
(05:18):
of the Stone City would protect them, but apparently the
danger had lurked beneath the foundation of the city. All
the way, chaos reigned around them. Looters roamed the streets,
arms laden with stolen goods, while others turned to drink
and debauchory, embracing the uncertainty with reckless abandon Bloody daggers
(05:40):
flashed in the hands of n'a duas, and lynchings took
place in shadowed courtyards. The city in moments had descended
into anarchy, its veneer of civilization stripped away to reveal
the rotting core beneath. How could such repulsions have erupted
so swiftly? Had Lot been blind to the simmering of
(06:01):
these abominations. It was as if scales were falling from
his eyes as he finally viewed the horrors of the
place he had come to call home off its leash.
At last, in one alleyway, Lot spied a truly grusome scene.
It appeared that the blind Durac in his lackeys somehow
found Chavar Lot's friend, whom he had just defended mere
(06:25):
hours earlier. They were brutally delivering their vection of justice.
He had been stripped naked, and his face had been
beaten to a pulp, almost beyond recognition, and he limply
hung between Durac and Covin as turban further shamed him
right in the very street. Lot's stomach turned and bile
(06:47):
rose from the back of his throat. As this horrific
spectacle played out, He knew this would have been his
own fate if the messengers had not intervened. The crumpled
body of a city guard laid off to the sun,
it appeared there would be no rescue for Paul Charva.
Lot didn't look over to see whether his wife and
daughters had seen. The two messengers deafly navigated Lot and
(07:11):
his family around the deteriorating ground. They had an almost
sterile efficiency in moving them through the violence exploding around them.
That left Lot feeling unnerved. He couldn't bring himself to
look up again until they've reached the city gates.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
What we said we would do, we have done. You
had been that that.
Speaker 7 (07:31):
Would safely outside the city.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Now you must run for the little ladows, run to
the mountains, or you will be swept away by the
destruction that is alted before the city.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Remember don't stop anywhere on the plane. You must keep going,
and don't look back.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
With that final warning. The messenger, who had been holding
him fast throughout their journey, gave Lot a firm push
through the abandoned city gate.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
The moment his.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Feet passed the threshold, a different sort of panic washed
over Lot. His chest felt constricted. He couldn't breathe, He
couldn't bring himself to be that exposed, that out in
the open. The terror seized his body. His thoughts raced,
and his breathing came in and out in shallow puffs.
Was he dying? Why couldn't he breathe? Lot had next
(08:27):
to nothing between his pack and those carried by his family,
but at that moment, he would have given it all
to make this sensation, this waking nightmare stop. Something snapped
inside of Lot's mind. Sheer self, preservation, instinct and desperation
bore in him an idea. Wildly, Lot squinted into the
(08:51):
night before them. Yes, there in the foothills, just as
he remembered it.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Wait, my lords, please, I beg you whatever favor I
have in your eyes, even if it's on a count
of my uncle Abraham, I beg you. I can't run
to the mountains, I can't live in the mountains. I
can't I can't. Oh, oh, disaster, disaster will overtake me
(09:23):
and I'll die. You just saved my life, but now
you're gonna leave me to go to my death. Please
show me this kindness. I cannot be without the walls,
the stone in my back.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I need it. I need the stones.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I need the stones between me and my enemies.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Father, what are you saying?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
What because I have?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (09:53):
Yes, yes, Please please look.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
There's this small town up ahead on the plane. It
used to be a part of the City of the Plains,
Alliance Bella.
Speaker 7 (10:04):
It was called a.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Small place that's close enough for me to flee. To
allow me the chance to get behind its walls before
you bring on the destruction.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
Please take pity on us, my lords. What my father
means to say has don't strip him of any chance
to earn a livelihood.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Surely this small place can be saved.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Yes, this would surely be better than us living in the mountains.
How would we survive there?
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Please listen to my daughters and my wife.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Let us run to this small town.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Every breath was still a battle, and Lot felt as
if a great beast was perched upon his chest as
he watched the two other worldly men consider his family's petition.
The first seemed unmoved, but after what felt like an
eternity to Lot's anxiety, the second finally turned to them
after receiving an almost imperceptible from the first.
Speaker 7 (11:01):
We will grant you your request. We will not destroy
the small town you mentioned, but you must go now.
Remember what we told you. Don't look back, and don't stop.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Now go. We cannot complete our task until you get there.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Without waiting for the first man to have a chance
to change his mind, Lot took off without a second
look back at the two men. As the sun steadily
climbed into the sky, it assaulted the sky above Sodom
with its crimson glow. If they had not descended into
seeming chaos and villainy, the inhabitants would have found it
(11:44):
ominous and foreboding. But so intent on their evil deeds,
they also failed to see the gathering clouds creeping over
the plains like a sly predator stalking its oblivious prey.
Swirling in the depths of the clouds was a crackling,
fiery lightning. The pent up energy of the storm moaned
(12:05):
high above Sodom. The disciplined breath before a mighty war
crime that some unc signal. The first wave of lightning
struck the ground below the strike signight at the exposed boomstone,
causing it to melt immediately and catch fire. The dull, yellow,
(12:30):
acrid mud beneath the surface of Sodom turned blood red
as flamelet sulfur, one deposit of inflamed self. He met
the others and spread like cracks on ice, spider loving
throughout the entire city. A ghostly blue flame sprang up
and encased the burning holls of melted sulfur, consuming ever
(12:52):
a stone, wood and flesh in its park. Animal and
man alike went small into their fire deaths. Some of
the doors to water them up from their foul leaves
before the fire of the law consumed them. Others hidden
cellars ran to roofs in vain. No one and nothing
(13:13):
escaped the flames of judgment. The lightning strikes intensified a
harrowing force of nature and judgment. It was as if
thick tongues of flame were licking the city of Suden.
The bright white infernal of lightning from let the blue
flames from below, and all the falltime middle was melted
(13:36):
into the molten ness that writhed beneath the blue purifying fire.
The flames dancing atop the melted sulfur were like the sea,
the wind with the fire into waves that rippled over
the landscape and lapped a charred bones and slinged buildings.
The smell of the active themes burned their eyes and lumbers,
(13:58):
leaving their minds intent just long enough to field of
tortuous poison over coming.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
Plumes of thick black smoke sprang into the air and
could be seen for miles and miles. Held in the
sickening snow of a lot of eggs that could haunt
aloud the weakness.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
And months to come. Obeying the commands of the mysterious men,
they did not look back to the streets of Sodom.
Lot's wife kept her head from turning, averting her eyes
from the destruction falling behind them. It was when they
reached the outskirts of the small town of Bella that
(14:39):
the agonizing screaming and inhuman shrieking of thousands of men
and beasts being burned alive began. Even at a distance.
Their anguished chorus made the hair on the back of
her arms rise, and she covered her ears to block
it out, but to no avail, and nothing could block
out the booming thunder and c backing lightning that plummeted
(15:02):
out of the sky. It was then that the smell
affronted their senses. Edith's eyes watered instantly, and she gathered
at the nauseating, rancid smell, sul of smoke and burnt flesh.
She pulled her hands from her ears to cover her
mouth and nose, but the smell was everywhere. It seeped
(15:23):
into her skin, clothes, and hair. She felt she may
never be clean again. The clouds over the city cast
dark shadows before them, and they were outlined by a
bright white light every time the lightning illuminated the sky.
They reached the pitiful town walls that were the once
respectable town of Bella, and the horrified faces of the
(15:46):
townsfolk told them just how harrowing the sight behind them
truly was. Milker attempted to turn and look behind them
now that they were nearing the city gate, but Lot
roughly turned her head back to the ground before.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Them leave her alone. She just wants to see what happened.
Aren't we far enough away? Now?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Edith started to turn around herself when Lot lunged for
her and took her face in his hands.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Edith, No, you heard what they said.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Don't look.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
We can only go forward now. We have to get
beyond the walls of the city to safety.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Edith tore his hands away from her face and shoved
him hard in the chest.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
Walls of the city. You call this a city, How
are we to live? Look at these people. You would
have us live in squalor and poverty among these country bumpkins.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Ah, Edith, Edith, you beg these men to send us here,
same as me. What are you saying?
Speaker 6 (16:49):
I can't I can't do this, Lot, I cannot follow
you again. We've already lost so much. Hold her way back.
I can't do it again.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Mother.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Please, we'll find a way to survive. I promise we'll
find a way together. What do you know of it?
I've handed you everything. I got you a husband, secured
your future, and gave you stability. You would have nothing
without me, Mother. Follow your sister, heed her. She's the
(17:30):
best chance you have. See if she can provide for
you as I have.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
To Lot's horror, his wife kissed their younger daughter on
the forehead and squeezed the eldest's hand before turning around
to face the destruction of Sodom. She drew herself up
to her full height, squared her shoulders, and began walking
in the direction of the smoldering ruins.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Ah, yes, wait, turn around, what are you doing? Where
are you going?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Lot threw his arms protectively around his screaming and stunned
daughters to keep them from following her. He hauled them
forward through the final steps that led through the city gate,
and together they all collapsed at the threshold. The guards
had long since abandoned their posts to gape open mouths
(18:35):
of the terrible judgment raining down on Sodom and the
surrounding plain. Lot's young daughters then broke from his grip
and ran to roughly human embrasures in the stone wall
to peer out. Lot shakily found his feet and followed
them to the dreary lookout to see what fate had
befallen his wife. She was no more than a hundred
(18:57):
paces away, but thick smoke looked at the air, and
she was soon no more than an outline. The girls
whimpered and continued to shout her name in vain. Suddenly
the wind shifted and she was in full view from
the wall. She gazed upward as if in provocative protest,
(19:18):
arms outstretched, and her screen was cut short, and she
stood still as a pillar. But then her body fell
love It did not fall, but began to crumble to
lots of revulsion. The outline of her very body was
falling in on itself and dissolving into what appeared to
(19:39):
be sought. The wind carried larger and larger chunks, until
there was a small pile where she once stood. Petrified,
His daughters stopped screaming, their eyes wide in horror. Time
stood still as the three of them watched a smoky
gust carry the rest of her away on a wind.
(20:01):
His daughter's keening cries filled thoughts he as, driving him
to his knees. He couldn't bear to watch his city
burn again. About thirty miles away, Abraham was walking his territory,
walking stick in hand, surveying the land as he did
each day. A dark spot in the sky drew his attention,
(20:24):
and he turned off his path to climb the gentle
slope of a nearby oak tree grove to get a
better vantage point. Squinting in the bright sun of midday,
he saw plumes of thick black smoke steadily overtaking the horizon.
Even from this great distance, he could see the blurry
haze of angry red flames, and their outline wavered as
(20:48):
their heat rose. Sodom Its judgment had come at last,
just as his God had promised. Though he knew this
apocalypse was, he still stood in terrible awe at the
magnitude of the destruction. It was final. Definitive generations from
(21:10):
now would speak in hush tones of Sodom's fate, and
even further into the future there would be debate as
to where it actually stood. He trembled at the power
and might of his God, capable of wiping an entire
population off the face of the earth and obliterating its
very history. Even as sick astonishment washed over him, he
(21:34):
again felt that comforting presence in the back of his mind.
He knew this was going to happen, knew it needed
to happen, and he also knew with absolute certainty that
lot was safe. This Pray Dog comproduction is only made
(21:57):
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Max bard Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive
producers of The Chosen People. Narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters
are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan,
Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland, Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and
(22:22):
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Previously on the chosen people.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is immense. The victims
of this terrible wickedness plead for justice. The sin of
both Sodom and Gomorrah is extremely serious.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yes, my Lord, your judgment will be carried out according
to your will.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
My lords, be welcome to the city of Sodom, the
pride of the great cities of the plain. Please allow
me to be your host while you stay here in
these walls.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Lot was so unattuned to the presence of God that
he hadn't noticed what Abraham noticed. He did not recognize
the divinity veiled behind their handsome faces, or the authority
vibrating from their voices as they spoke.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
What who is it you're hosting in there?
Speaker 5 (00:54):
Who are those pretty men you're keeping all to yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:58):
The wood of the door was immediate. It met with
the dull funk of the blade of a dagger, followed
by two pairs of fists. Just then Lot felt a
pair of strong, sure hands grasped his shoulders and hurl
him aside. A blinding light illuminated the street behind the door.
The light that refracted through the door frame and the
(01:19):
front windows was brighter than even the sun at its zeneth.
Speaker 4 (01:22):
Ah, I've been blinded. Can you see anything?
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Where?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Where is the datal?
Speaker 5 (01:29):
What?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
What did your doros?
Speaker 6 (01:31):
What?
Speaker 4 (01:31):
What fun and saucery is this?
Speaker 3 (01:36):
The evil and vile atrocities have caused a great outcry
against its people.
Speaker 7 (01:42):
It has become so great before the God Almighty that
he has sent us to destroy it.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
Despite all lod had seen earlier that night, with the
more than the blinding light, and even all the acts
of Abraham's God in the years since they left Haron,
he hesitated. The visitors watched his silent calculation, and as
if in response, they swooped upon him, grabbing his hands
and dragging him from the threshold of their home into
(02:12):
the streets of the city.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
You need to leave, now, take your wife and your daughters,
or you will be swept away from the punishment of
the city.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
This episode of The Chosen People contains explicit content that
may be triggering for some listeners and inappropriate for young children.
Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Get up, keep moving, don't stop, and don't look back.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Lot stumbled, his knees stinging as it met sharp gravel
along the streets out of the city. The two messengers
were still forcibly dragging Lot and his stunned family, pulling
them up when they fumbled, and spurring them on with
words and hands toward the distant gates of Sodom. As
they fled, Lot's eyes caught sight of the crumbling stone structures,
(03:10):
delicate fishes, spider webbing beneath his feet. He blinked and
rubbed his eyes, but the vision remained a harbinger of
the city's imminent doom. His youngest daughter, Milker, tripped on
a step, her satchel spilling its precious contents, clothing, heirlooms, trinkets,
tumbling down the roughly carved steps. Her cry for help
(03:33):
went unanswered, the messenger hauling her along with a single
minded determination. Lot turned to protest, but a stern look
silenced him. There would be no slowing down, no stopping.
A grumbling far beneath his feet convinced Lot to surrender
any thought of a second appeal. The great upheaval caused
(03:55):
Lot to stumble again, and his messenger tightened his grip
on his elbow and doubled their pace. In the distance.
Frightened voices began to cry out and the sounds of
panic began to rise from every valley, corner and courtyard.
City guards poured through the streets, doors rattled in their frames,
(04:16):
and the very stones shook and fractured underfoot, sucking.
Speaker 6 (04:21):
The ashful pits out of the valley, like.
Speaker 5 (04:26):
The ones included the lives of so rendering the infusion.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Lot's eyes widened at the sight of substantial cracks forming
in the road. The earth groaned and the rocks sank
into the thick sulfuric slime beneath. He remembered the sidin
valley where King Cadelaeuma's men had been swallowed by the
treacherous brimstone pits. Almost impossible to detect, the acrid mud
(04:55):
held you fast as you sank beneath its toxic depths
through when surrounding debris, so unless you knew what to
look for, you could find yourself caught in its orbit
before aid could arrive. The oozing slime was incredibly flammable,
as the frequency of some wildfires out in the plains
had taught them. Lot had always assumed that the safety
(05:18):
of the Stone City would protect them, but apparently the
danger had lurked beneath the foundation of the city. All
the way, chaos reigned around them. Looters roamed the streets,
arms laden with stolen goods, while others turned to drink
and debauchory, embracing the uncertainty with reckless abandon Bloody daggers
(05:40):
flashed in the hands of n'a duas, and lynchings took
place in shadowed courtyards. The city in moments had descended
into anarchy, its veneer of civilization stripped away to reveal
the rotting core beneath. How could such repulsions have erupted
so swiftly? Had Lot been blind to the simmering of
(06:01):
these abominations. It was as if scales were falling from
his eyes as he finally viewed the horrors of the
place he had come to call home off its leash.
At last, in one alleyway, Lot spied a truly grusome scene.
It appeared that the blind Durac in his lackeys somehow
found Chavar Lot's friend, whom he had just defended mere
(06:25):
hours earlier. They were brutally delivering their vection of justice.
He had been stripped naked, and his face had been
beaten to a pulp, almost beyond recognition, and he limply
hung between Durac and Covin as turban further shamed him
right in the very street. Lot's stomach turned and bile
(06:47):
rose from the back of his throat. As this horrific
spectacle played out, He knew this would have been his
own fate if the messengers had not intervened. The crumpled
body of a city guard laid off to the sun,
it appeared there would be no rescue for Paul Charva.
Lot didn't look over to see whether his wife and
daughters had seen. The two messengers deafly navigated Lot and
(07:11):
his family around the deteriorating ground. They had an almost
sterile efficiency in moving them through the violence exploding around them.
That left Lot feeling unnerved. He couldn't bring himself to
look up again until they've reached the city gates.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
What we said we would do, we have done. You
had been that that.
Speaker 7 (07:31):
Would safely outside the city.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Now you must run for the little ladows, run to
the mountains, or you will be swept away by the
destruction that is alted before the city.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Remember don't stop anywhere on the plane. You must keep going,
and don't look back.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
With that final warning. The messenger, who had been holding
him fast throughout their journey, gave Lot a firm push
through the abandoned city gate.
Speaker 3 (08:02):
The moment his.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
Feet passed the threshold, a different sort of panic washed
over Lot. His chest felt constricted. He couldn't breathe, He
couldn't bring himself to be that exposed, that out in
the open. The terror seized his body. His thoughts raced,
and his breathing came in and out in shallow puffs.
Was he dying? Why couldn't he breathe? Lot had next
(08:27):
to nothing between his pack and those carried by his family,
but at that moment, he would have given it all
to make this sensation, this waking nightmare stop. Something snapped
inside of Lot's mind. Sheer self, preservation, instinct and desperation
bore in him an idea. Wildly, Lot squinted into the
(08:51):
night before them. Yes, there in the foothills, just as
he remembered it.
Speaker 4 (08:59):
Wait, my lords, please, I beg you whatever favor I
have in your eyes, even if it's on a count
of my uncle Abraham, I beg you. I can't run
to the mountains, I can't live in the mountains. I
can't I can't. Oh, oh, disaster, disaster will overtake me
(09:23):
and I'll die. You just saved my life, but now
you're gonna leave me to go to my death. Please
show me this kindness. I cannot be without the walls,
the stone in my back.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
I need it. I need the stones.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
I need the stones between me and my enemies.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
Father, what are you saying?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
What because I have?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (09:53):
Yes, yes, Please please look.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
There's this small town up ahead on the plane. It
used to be a part of the City of the Plains,
Alliance Bella.
Speaker 7 (10:04):
It was called a.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
Small place that's close enough for me to flee. To
allow me the chance to get behind its walls before
you bring on the destruction.
Speaker 6 (10:13):
Please take pity on us, my lords. What my father
means to say has don't strip him of any chance
to earn a livelihood.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Surely this small place can be saved.
Speaker 6 (10:26):
Yes, this would surely be better than us living in the mountains.
How would we survive there?
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Please listen to my daughters and my wife.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Let us run to this small town.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Every breath was still a battle, and Lot felt as
if a great beast was perched upon his chest as
he watched the two other worldly men consider his family's petition.
The first seemed unmoved, but after what felt like an
eternity to Lot's anxiety, the second finally turned to them
after receiving an almost imperceptible from the first.
Speaker 7 (11:01):
We will grant you your request. We will not destroy
the small town you mentioned, but you must go now.
Remember what we told you. Don't look back, and don't stop.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Now go. We cannot complete our task until you get there.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Without waiting for the first man to have a chance
to change his mind, Lot took off without a second
look back at the two men. As the sun steadily
climbed into the sky, it assaulted the sky above Sodom
with its crimson glow. If they had not descended into
seeming chaos and villainy, the inhabitants would have found it
(11:44):
ominous and foreboding. But so intent on their evil deeds,
they also failed to see the gathering clouds creeping over
the plains like a sly predator stalking its oblivious prey.
Swirling in the depths of the clouds was a crackling,
fiery lightning. The pent up energy of the storm moaned
(12:05):
high above Sodom. The disciplined breath before a mighty war
crime that some unc signal. The first wave of lightning
struck the ground below the strike signight at the exposed boomstone,
causing it to melt immediately and catch fire. The dull, yellow,
(12:30):
acrid mud beneath the surface of Sodom turned blood red
as flamelet sulfur, one deposit of inflamed self. He met
the others and spread like cracks on ice, spider loving
throughout the entire city. A ghostly blue flame sprang up
and encased the burning holls of melted sulfur, consuming ever
(12:52):
a stone, wood and flesh in its park. Animal and
man alike went small into their fire deaths. Some of
the doors to water them up from their foul leaves
before the fire of the law consumed them. Others hidden
cellars ran to roofs in vain. No one and nothing
(13:13):
escaped the flames of judgment. The lightning strikes intensified a
harrowing force of nature and judgment. It was as if
thick tongues of flame were licking the city of Suden.
The bright white infernal of lightning from let the blue
flames from below, and all the falltime middle was melted
(13:36):
into the molten ness that writhed beneath the blue purifying fire.
The flames dancing atop the melted sulfur were like the sea,
the wind with the fire into waves that rippled over
the landscape and lapped a charred bones and slinged buildings.
The smell of the active themes burned their eyes and lumbers,
(13:58):
leaving their minds intent just long enough to field of
tortuous poison over coming.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
Plumes of thick black smoke sprang into the air and
could be seen for miles and miles. Held in the
sickening snow of a lot of eggs that could haunt
aloud the weakness.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
And months to come. Obeying the commands of the mysterious men,
they did not look back to the streets of Sodom.
Lot's wife kept her head from turning, averting her eyes
from the destruction falling behind them. It was when they
reached the outskirts of the small town of Bella that
(14:39):
the agonizing screaming and inhuman shrieking of thousands of men
and beasts being burned alive began. Even at a distance.
Their anguished chorus made the hair on the back of
her arms rise, and she covered her ears to block
it out, but to no avail, and nothing could block
out the booming thunder and c backing lightning that plummeted
(15:02):
out of the sky. It was then that the smell
affronted their senses. Edith's eyes watered instantly, and she gathered
at the nauseating, rancid smell, sul of smoke and burnt flesh.
She pulled her hands from her ears to cover her
mouth and nose, but the smell was everywhere. It seeped
(15:23):
into her skin, clothes, and hair. She felt she may
never be clean again. The clouds over the city cast
dark shadows before them, and they were outlined by a
bright white light every time the lightning illuminated the sky.
They reached the pitiful town walls that were the once
respectable town of Bella, and the horrified faces of the
(15:46):
townsfolk told them just how harrowing the sight behind them
truly was. Milker attempted to turn and look behind them
now that they were nearing the city gate, but Lot
roughly turned her head back to the ground before.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Them leave her alone. She just wants to see what happened.
Aren't we far enough away? Now?
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Edith started to turn around herself when Lot lunged for
her and took her face in his hands.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
Edith, No, you heard what they said.
Speaker 1 (16:16):
Don't look.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
We can only go forward now. We have to get
beyond the walls of the city to safety.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Edith tore his hands away from her face and shoved
him hard in the chest.
Speaker 6 (16:28):
Walls of the city. You call this a city, How
are we to live? Look at these people. You would
have us live in squalor and poverty among these country bumpkins.
Speaker 4 (16:42):
Ah, Edith, Edith, you beg these men to send us here,
same as me. What are you saying?
Speaker 6 (16:49):
I can't I can't do this, Lot, I cannot follow
you again. We've already lost so much. Hold her way back.
I can't do it again.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Mother.
Speaker 6 (17:04):
Please, we'll find a way to survive. I promise we'll
find a way together. What do you know of it?
I've handed you everything. I got you a husband, secured
your future, and gave you stability. You would have nothing
without me, Mother. Follow your sister, heed her. She's the
(17:30):
best chance you have. See if she can provide for
you as I have.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
To Lot's horror, his wife kissed their younger daughter on
the forehead and squeezed the eldest's hand before turning around
to face the destruction of Sodom. She drew herself up
to her full height, squared her shoulders, and began walking
in the direction of the smoldering ruins.
Speaker 4 (17:58):
Ah, yes, wait, turn around, what are you doing? Where
are you going?
Speaker 1 (18:14):
Lot threw his arms protectively around his screaming and stunned
daughters to keep them from following her. He hauled them
forward through the final steps that led through the city gate,
and together they all collapsed at the threshold. The guards
had long since abandoned their posts to gape open mouths
(18:35):
of the terrible judgment raining down on Sodom and the
surrounding plain. Lot's young daughters then broke from his grip
and ran to roughly human embrasures in the stone wall
to peer out. Lot shakily found his feet and followed
them to the dreary lookout to see what fate had
befallen his wife. She was no more than a hundred
(18:57):
paces away, but thick smoke looked at the air, and
she was soon no more than an outline. The girls
whimpered and continued to shout her name in vain. Suddenly
the wind shifted and she was in full view from
the wall. She gazed upward as if in provocative protest,
(19:18):
arms outstretched, and her screen was cut short, and she
stood still as a pillar. But then her body fell
love It did not fall, but began to crumble to
lots of revulsion. The outline of her very body was
falling in on itself and dissolving into what appeared to
(19:39):
be sought. The wind carried larger and larger chunks, until
there was a small pile where she once stood. Petrified,
His daughters stopped screaming, their eyes wide in horror. Time
stood still as the three of them watched a smoky
gust carry the rest of her away on a wind.
(20:01):
His daughter's keening cries filled thoughts he as, driving him
to his knees. He couldn't bear to watch his city
burn again. About thirty miles away, Abraham was walking his territory,
walking stick in hand, surveying the land as he did
each day. A dark spot in the sky drew his attention,
(20:24):
and he turned off his path to climb the gentle
slope of a nearby oak tree grove to get a
better vantage point. Squinting in the bright sun of midday,
he saw plumes of thick black smoke steadily overtaking the horizon.
Even from this great distance, he could see the blurry
haze of angry red flames, and their outline wavered as
(20:48):
their heat rose. Sodom Its judgment had come at last,
just as his God had promised. Though he knew this
apocalypse was, he still stood in terrible awe at the
magnitude of the destruction. It was final. Definitive generations from
(21:10):
now would speak in hush tones of Sodom's fate, and
even further into the future there would be debate as
to where it actually stood. He trembled at the power
and might of his God, capable of wiping an entire
population off the face of the earth and obliterating its
very history. Even as sick astonishment washed over him, he
(21:34):
again felt that comforting presence in the back of his mind.
He knew this was going to happen, knew it needed
to happen, and he also knew with absolute certainty that
lot was safe. This Pray Dog comproduction is only made
(21:57):
possible by our dedicated team of creative talents. Steve Gattina,
Max bard Zach Shellabarger and Ben Gammon are the executive
producers of The Chosen People. Narrated by Paul Coltofianu. Characters
are voiced by Jonathan Cotton, Aaron Salvado, Sarah Seltz, Mike Reagan,
Stephen Ringwald, Sylvia Zaradoc, Thomas Copeland, Junior, Rosanna Pilcher, and
(22:22):
Mitch Leshinsky. Music by Andrew Morgan Smith, written by Aaron Salvado,
bre Rosalie and Chris Baig. You can hear more Prey
dot com productions on the Prey dot Com app, available
on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. If
you enjoyed The Chosen People, please rate and leave a review,
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