A senator from Oklahoma reportedly explained why God "hasn't given up" on America despite the gloomy comparisons to the Bible's Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Christian Headlines said United States Senate Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management Chairman James Lankford expressed in an interview of hopes on the future of the country because God sends Christians to Washington D.C. after comparing it to the destroyed places in the Scriptures.
"That would tell me even if this is Sodom and Gomorrah, He hasn't given up on it. We shouldn't give up on it," Lankford said.
Lankford, who made the statement during a guesting in Virginia for the Family Research Council's Pray, Vote, Stand Summit 2021, explained that he was often approached by people who often compare the nation's capitol to Sodom and Gomorrah telling him they can't believe he works there. He would often respond by saying that unlike in the Bible where God is removing believers from Sodom and Gomorrah, he is doing the contrary to Washington D.C.
"And I'll typically smile at them and go, 'Yeah, I can see some similar characteristics. But at the end in Sodom and Gomorrah, God was pulling all the Believers out. He's still sending Believers in (to D.C.)," Lankford recalled.
Lankford pointed out that Washington D.C. is a "mirror to the country more than the country wants to admit," especially in terms of its contentiousness. As such, change in the country must begin in the grassroots, particular in places of worship.
"If we want to see a change, I really am convinced that Washington doesn't change the country. The country changes Washington. And the country is changed by churches and by believers actually living their faith. I really do believe in the power of the Gospel," Lankford elaborated.
The former Baptist Convention of Oklahoma Student Ministry Director then cited the Bible verse on 1 Peter 2 that spoke of Christians being "sojourners" in a foreign land who are called to be "honorable" so that their good deeds would be seen and would, in turn, "glorify God on the day of visitation" even though others "speak against you as evildoers."
"(Peter) spends the rest of the book of First Peter saying, 'Here's some practical things you can do to demonstrate your faith into a culture that has no idea who God is'," Lankford continued.
"Guess what? Those churches put that into practice. They lived among the people that had no idea who God was," he added. "They lived those principles out and people came to know God and cultures got turned around.
"You think maybe that would work the same now, as it did in the first century? I do. Absolutely. So that gives me hope," he ended.
A member of the Senate Committee on Finance, Lankford introduced in August an amendment to the Democratic Party's budget resolution by prohibiting taxpayer-funded abortions in compliance to the Hyde Amendment, as well as, to the Weldon Amendment, that protects health care providers from discrimination if they refuse to participate in abortion.
Lankford is a renowned for his support of the pro-life movement and is actually one of the Republican senators who have reintroduced in February the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
