I WAS GOING BACK THRU SOME E-MAILS AND MISSED A COMMENT FROM A READER THAT WAS TOO LONG TO POST, SO HE E-MAILED IT TO ME:
We've got to keep in mind (during general
conference) things that they ARE saying, but also things that they're
NOT saying ANYMORE. Such as food storage. They haven't mentioned the
word "food storage" once since April 2007. They used to do it all the
time. But its like a water faucet was turned off. You won't hear it this
April, either. Why? Not because we've all been obedient and have at
least a year supply. Heck no. And, not because that instruction isn't
relevant anymore either.
The majority of the
Church is INCREDIBLY disobedient when it comes to following the
prophets. Listen to General Conference, guys. Listen to what they say
now and compare it to what they used to say about food storage, getting
out of debt, getting married sooner than later, not limiting the number
of children you have or when you have them, wives staying home to raise
the children while husbands go out to work, embracing the Book of
Mormon, etc. If they say anything at all about that stuff, its extremely
watered down (excluding food storage, because they just don't talk
about that anymore). WHY???
The prophets and
God HAVEN'T failed us, we've failed them. God will only give us what
we're willing and able to accept, and we've rejected all of that. We
don't get the "greater things" delivered to us as a whole church
anymore, we are only getting the lesser things.
"And
when they shall have received this, which is expedient that they should
have first, to try their faith, and if it shall so be that they shall
believe these things then shall the greater things be made manifest unto
them." (3 Nephi 26:9)
And what is watered down now will continue to get even more watered down until the church fails in its progress (Alma 4:10).
And not because the watered down stuff isn't true, its because the
people will (and do) reject even that. Why would God give us more when
we reject even the very basics? The 3 translated Nephite disciples only
remained so long with the Nephites until they were eventually taken away
by the Lord because of the people's wickedness.
"And
it came to pass that the Lamanites withdrew their design, and there was
peace settled in the land; and peace did remain for the space of about
four years, that there was no bloodshed. But wickedness did prevail upon
the face of the whole land, insomuch that the Lord did take away his
beloved disciples, and the work of miracles and of healing did cease
because of the iniquity of the people. And there were no gifts from the
Lord, and the Holy Ghost did not come upon any, because of their
wickedness and unbelief.... And I did endeavor to preach unto this
people, but my mouth was shut, and I was forbidden that I should preach
unto them; for behold they had wilfully rebelled against their God; and
the beloved disciples were taken away out of the land, because of their
iniquity. But I did remain among them, but I was forbidden to preach
unto them, because of the hardness of their hearts; and because of the
hardness of their hearts the land was cursed for their sake." (Mormon
1:12-14,16-17)
There are many in the Church
today who think, "No, not us. This won't happen to us." That's the same
thinking of those who lived in Jericho, "No, not our walls. Our walls
are too high, too strong." That's called arrogance. That's called pride.
But remember this: Pride comes before the fall, even in the church in
the land of Zion.
The Book of Mormon states in 6
different places that not even a hundredth part of things could be
written... the writers knew they had limited space, and all of that was
written was written by commandment. Out of ALL the stuff that they could
have talked about, they were commanded to show us the FALL of the 2
greatest civilizations on this continent (the land of Zion), who also
had Prophets and the church. NOTHING makes us any different. If we keep
the commandments (which we have not, as a whole), we will prosper in the
land. If we do not (and that includes the preponderance of the church now-a-days), we will not prosper in the land and will come under bondage and warfare.
That's
why the church HAS TO and WILL be cleansed, to get the "false swearers"
(Mal 3:5) out and keep the "more righteous part" (3 Nephi 10:12).
And even then, Christ will chastise with love those who remain and say
to them, "O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than
they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be
converted, that I may heal you?" (3 Nephi 9:13).
Guys,
there will be a systematic cleansing. We've been warned about it since
the church was restored. We've seen patterns of it in the Book of
Mormon. People who have the Spirit of prophecy and revelation (and we
can all have that same Spirit, namely the Holy Ghost) have their eyes
opened so they can see and understand what God is up to. They can see
and understand the writing on the wall.
To see the order of the systematic cleansing, look at 3 Nephi 6-8. There are 3 "breakups".
Breakup
1: The church. This is the cleansing of the church, not the demise of
it, as you'll read about. This is the removal of the cancer that held
them back, as it does us today. This is the removal of "Achan", the one
man who's sin affected the whole house of Israel. This is the removal of
the "false swearers" who "mock God" and pollute the church of God. This
all happened of necessity, and will happen again in our day.
Breakup
2: The government and economy. Their government was completely and
utterly overthrown, and was never re-established. It was completely
destroyed. The people separated into tribes of families and friends.
* Note that breakups #1 and #2 happen in the SAME YEAR. Then a few years later, #3 happens.
Breakup
3: The land. Earthquakes and tempests, etc. Entire notable cities were
destroyed by fire (wonder what caused that!), whirlwinds, earthquakes.
Some were sunk. Some were buried. The scale of environmental destruction
and change caused the people to marvel.
As
President Ezra Taft Benson said during the 1987 General Conference as
Prophet, Seer and Revelator, "The record of the Nephite history just
prior to the Savior’s visit reveals many parallels to our own day as we
anticipate the Savior’s second coming. The Nephite civilization had
reached great heights. They were prosperous and industrious. They had
built many cities with great highways connecting them. They engaged in
shipping and trade. They built temples and palaces."
Read the rest of that talk here: http://www.lds.org/general- conference/1987/04/the- saviors-visit-to-america?lang= eng
*
Notice the order of the cleansing. Starts with the church, then the
government, then the land. That is in perfect symmetrical reflection of
the order of the establishments. First, this pristine land was
discovered in 1492 by Christopher Columbus who was inspired by the Holy
Ghost. Then, years later, an inspired government was established. Then,
just a few short years later, the Church was established.
It's amazing to see the symmetry!
First...
Land settled -> government established -> church restored
Then...
Church cleansed -> government removed -> land wiped clean
THEN........
after these things... Christ "suddenly comes to his temple". So what
are we preparing for? We should be preparing for the cleansing of the
Church by getting our hearts off of Babylon and on to Zion. We should be
preparing for the removal of the government and the social chaos that
will come with it. We should be preparing for the environmental
cataclysms that are coming. Then we should get ready for Christ to
suddenly come to his temple, which has yet to be built (the New
Jerusalem Temple in Jackson County).
Thanks, IRAQ, for your wonderful blog that helps us all to find pieces of the puzzle
Thanks for this post! I noticed the symmetry referred to is actually perfect chiastic structure, as found all through the scriptures, especially Isaiah and the Book of Mormon (ABC -> CBA). This structure is also well articulated in the common scriptural theme "first, last -> last, first", like D&C 29:30. Also, it matches well with D&C 112:23-26, where it tells us directly that the church will be cleansed first.
ReplyDelete