I love our Prophet. He is doing a great job. But, as with any mortal, he can fall. I have seen many a lazy saint crash and burn for lack of effort to find the path to God for themselves by way of the Holy Ghost. This a great quote:
Ezra Taft Benson: "Six of the original twelve apostles selected by Joseph Smith were excommunicated. The three witnesses to the Book of Mormon left the Church. Three of Joseph Smith’s counselors fell--one even helped plot the Prophet’s death. A natural question that might arise would be, if the Lord knew in advance that these men would fall, as he undoubtedly did, why did he have his prophet call them to such high office? The answer is, to fill the Lord’s purposes. For even the Master followed the will of the Father by selecting Judas. President George Q. Cannon suggested an explanation, too, when he stated, “Perhaps it is His own design that faults and weaknesses should appear in high places IN ORDER THAT HIS SAINTS MAY LEARN TO TRUST IN HIM and NOT in ANY man or men.” And this would parallel Lehi’s warning: ‘put not your trust in the arm of flesh’ (2 Nephi 4:35)... It is from WITHIN the church that the greatest hindrance comes. And so, it seems, it has been. Now the question arises, will we stick with the kingdom and can we avoid being deceived?...Brigham Young said: The Adversary presents his principles and arguments in the most approved style, and in the most winning tone, attended with the most graceful attitudes; and he is very careful to ingratiate himself into the favour of the powerful and influential of mankind…Such characters put on the manners of an angel, appearing as nigh like angels of light as they possibly can,…The good which they do, they do it to bring to pass an evil purpose… Those of us who think ‘all is well in zion’ in spite of Book of Mormon warnings might ponder the words of Heber C. Kimball, who said:... “the time is coming when we will be mixed up in these now peaceful valleys to that extent that it will be difficult to tell the face of a Saint from the face of an enemy to the people of God. Then, brethren look out for the great sieve, for there will be a great sifting time, and many will fall; for I say unto you there is a test, a Test, a TEST coming." (Book From Ezra Taft Benson: God, Family, Country p. 335 - 337)
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I have been concerned that many active members may go to church, follow the lessons with the requisite reading, attend the temple faithfully and are completely ignorant of events of the 2nd coming. That is something to happen far into the future and they will be long gone by then, and they have no need to understand something too difficult to understand and they just plainly do not have the interest with all the distractions that "The World" presents.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course the Brethren would warn us.
If I am not mistaken, we were commanded to look to his coming. If we are looking to his coming, we are doing more than just reading scripture. We are studying the course of events in the world, we are looking to unde world events... requiring us to use discernment, to study, pondering and pray if all else fails. The Spirit has little ability to guide if we are not putting forth the effort.
People will assume that the Leadership of the LDS Church are somehow all knowing. They look at everything objectively without prejudice.
To me the Church's Leadership support of masking, social separation, shut down of churches and the temples in line with the media and government fraudulent Covid pandemic is almost as disturbing as the as the abuse of Government. I am disturbed that they are deceiving the membership to accept the deception and lies of the Powers That Be. There is a drive to be more accepted of The World with the idea in mind to attack more members, which may mean compromise. The best people, the ones really looking, are those who have the ability to discern truths capable of being dependable, and such would be turned off by the obvious compromises.
Joel Skousen's view is that the Church reacts to the past view the World has had of the Church and are bending over to be more acceptable. I know people have had endless excuses to blame the early Saints for the reasons they were forced out of Kirtland, Independence, Far West and Nauvoo. They just forgot Satan will find ways to stir up ignorant, prideful and wicked people.
Now I could be wrong in my assessment, but I have seen this disconnect long time and my view has not changed. I usually depend upon time to reveal more truths.
Now, am I speaking Ill of the Leadership? If I am speaking Ill....I am lying, or in someway trying to tear down the Church. Do I ignore the elephant in the room and continue to say nothing? Am I a part of the deception if I say nothing?
All prophets I have read of in scripture have been very unpopular with the wicked. They tell the people straight up what their problem is and the solution and the people come undone and try and kill the Prophets. Years past when I read the newspaper, I was stunned at how liberal, even Marxist, some BYU professors were, who wrote opinion pieces in the paper, even to a point of lunacy. Maybe it's no wonder so many members have abandoned their support the principals of the US Constitution for socialism. And amidst all this there is crickets from the Brethren. You can't just say prophets statements in the past are still valid. Does anyone think Moroni or Mormon would be silent on these points when it is in process.
I have no clue how on earth the Elders of the Church will preserve the Constitution when they have so little respect for it.
Thank you, Iraq!🙌🏼
ReplyDeleteAmen, brother.