AND THEY BEING IN HELL, LOOKED UP.....

I have a confession to make.

I secretly like the homeless people.  I study them to see what I can learn - and obviously to see where I can help outside the obvious....

I think many, if not most, of us will be in a situation where we ourselves will be cast into this kind of a situation of hunger, loss of home, cold and destitute with not much more than the clothes upon our backs - and that just barely.  Knowing that, I try to rub shoulders with them as much as I can to know more of what they are experiencing.  I was parked outside of McD's last Saturday night and a homeless couple with a Safeway shopping cart rolled up next to me to use the outdoor outlet on a light post to charge their phones and use the free wi-fi.  They told me how they are abused by the police and driven from place to place by people who call and complain about them.  Instead of seeking to understand what brought them to this place, people reject them driven by their own fears and insecurities - which dampen or mask their own humanity.  Many of the homeless are there because of poor choices - no doubt.  The man in this couple had a felony on his record - not one of violence, but one for driving without a license.  I did not ask - but would guess he was a dropout of high school.  Something that I do not understand.  I was the polar opposite in school - and have an ease and love of learning that has always come easily to me.  Many do not - struggling with learning and other brain disorders, chaotic home-lives, abuse, poorly modeled behavior that is perpetuated inter-generationally.  This leads them to a conclusion that they do not fit in - and slowly migrate to the fringes of society until they are utterly rejected by the "proper" citizens of "finer" upbringings.  The sins of Sodom were the rejection of such as these - sin of greed, selfishness and smallness of spiritual stature.  We suffer the same maladies today - Prophets have spoken it.

Because we have become so focused upon the things of the world as people who should know better, we will have it all stripped away: 

Those who have focused on the obtaining of the mini-mansion, will have nothing but a tent to shelter themselves during the bitter cold winter.  Those that survive.

Those who have focused on beauty and our outward appearance shall have nothing but wrinkles and radiation burns to show for your lack of empathy for the poor. 

Those whose nation has oppressed other nations, shall in like manner be oppressed by these other nations as the wicked rise up to slay the wicked.

For those who have focused on the greatness of their wealth, while grinding upon the face of the poor - a minimalist reward awaits you.  The Savior was not kidding when He said to sell all that you have and give it to the poor as a test of your commitment to living a higher Consecrated life.

For those who have coveted their husbands (and rejected God's law, as given in D&C132) leaving many widows and marriageable women comfortless, you will have nothing but a grave site to visit - and loneliness for the rest of your days (please do not convict me, convict Isaiah - and those who have declared that his words are great.....).

I can promise you that greatness awaits the ones on the left and only the Lord knows the fate of the ones on the right.  I do not possess those keys.  I only know that I am under condemnation for not having enough of a Zion heart - and instead consuming what I have been given upon my lusts.  Once we consider ourselves blessed beyond our wildest imaginations - even if we have relatively little - then the blessings of heaven can be poured out upon us.  This must occur for us to become a Zion people - and so we must pass through the fire of the furnace of affliction in order to get to that hallowed point in our spiritual progression.




   From Luke 16:

 19 ¶There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

 26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

 27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house: