Satan is about control; Jesus is for liberty (freedom of association and choice). EVERY detail in the Plan of Salvation points towards this agency or ability to choose. Anything that limits it (for adults) is NOT of God - and I am not talking about unfettered lawlessness, here or letting your children run wild and eat only their ice cream and ignoring the broccoli; I am talking about the ability to choose between good and evil and freedom of expression and association. So, when you see anything that clamps down on this - you have the economy of the d'evil at play. There will be a one-world economy, a one-world religion, a one-world code of conduct and ZERO choice. All dissenters will be dispatched with. No exceptions. As much as I despise many of the tenets of Islam, I also would defend the ability of any person to peaceably live that religion - so long as they did not seek to lob off the heads of anyone else or deprive them of their liberty (which sharia law basically does, which is why I oppose it.....).
So, I have experienced this very thing (proscription/prescription) and it is maddening. I have experienced it in a small community, in a homeowners association setting, and I have experienced it on the massive scale of bummer health scare and our forced national taxation scheme. Socialism is a creeping evil - that is now in place; all part of the devil's plan. President Benson and so many others warned us stridently - and we were too distracted or plain evil to listen.....
Some people like to be told how to do something, down to every little detail. I do not. I prefer to have the creative ability to move about (within reasonable bounds) and choose HOW to get to the final end result. Micro-managing kills creativity. Now that I think about it, this was a major cause of the exodus from Washington to Montana - and then from Montana to Alberta. In each phase of that journey, there was a major struggle over self-determination that ended with me seeking for more liberty and self-determination. It was the instigating factor in what led to the birth of America and even our (first) Civil War and the final wars of annihilation that will sweep the wicked from the earth. No one can say that the battle that raged in the pre-existence over compulsion and forced adherence to an agenda is still not in play.
Here is what got me spun up from Rhonda from a FB discussion group:
I've been thinking more about Elder Ballard's warning to us last week at the Salt Lake Regional conference: that if the people of America do not turn to God, we'll see the consequences and destructions prophesied in the scriptures.
One thing I've wondered for years is this: In the Book of Mormon, we see that the last stage of being 'ripe in iniquity' is that the people kill or cast out the righteous. The question for now is, in a day where killing is less culturally acceptable, will it get that far in general, or does casting out and denigrating on a social level count? (Yes, I'm also aware there is large-scale literal killing and casting out going on elsewhere in the world; thus the flood of refugees we've been counseled to help. I'm wondering about HERE.)
I found this today from George A. Smith that seems to indicate that maybe the social dimension is sufficient if widespread (it would include limited loss of life too):
"The same spirit that dwelt in the breasts of the Nephites during the last battles that were fought by them on this continent, when they continued to fight until they were exterminated, Moro. 9:5 is again on the earth, and is increasing.
"I was amused the other day in hearing a relation of a visit of brother Barlow to his native State, Kentucky. He said, “The people are so united in secret conspiracies that everything they do not choose to uphold, they will proscribe in every way.” Says he, “If I had mended a clock or a piece of jewelry, it would have been desecrated, and the man that dared to employ me or feed me would have been proscribed by the community, through their secret organizations.” That is the spirit that is abroad on the earth, and one party will unite against another, and so on, to the utter destruction of every single principle [p. 37b] of liberty, human happiness, and human right upon the face of the earth, and bring down upon the heads of the wicked a terrible destruction, which has been predicted by the Prophets.
"I have seen the same spirit operate in the midst of these mountains. I have seen individuals here who are filled with the spirit of contention—who are filled with the spirit of wickedness; I have heard them complain, murmur, and find fault, until, by and by, they conclude Brigham is wrong, the Church is wrong, and everything is wrong, and that they would go to California, and there stay until the great day, when the Prophet should come and set things right.
"This spirit will in the end lead a man to destruction; and all that will preserve the Saints in the last days from the general destruction in the vortex of ruin to which the world is rushing, will be their unity with each other, their clinging with all their might, mind, and strength to the building up of this kingdom, and making it their only interest, that they may hang together as one".
I think often of this statement by George Q. Cannon: "my experience has taught me that the Lord works in the midst of this people by natural means, and that the greatest events that have been spoken of by the holy prophets will come along so naturally as the consequence of certain causes, that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the spirit of revelation rests us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the holy prophets."
-Journal of Discourses, 21:264
http://scriptures.byu.edu/...
This was really good! :) Thanks!
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