Folks, if you really want to turn me off to you, just tell me that, when times get tough, you will just show up on my doorstep. This is a response of Mrs. Wood Zone on a discussion that food storage etc is optional because "God will provide the miracle"... Seriously, just plain wicked stuff.
I asked a gal who recently withdrew her membership from the Church if she had any food storage. Zip, zilch, nada. I am seeing a pattern here. Slothful in spiritual things; slothful in temporal things. What is it with the entitlement mentality? This same person also believes that authority for baptism is optional and many things are just "optional". I withdrew very disgusted with this attitude or thought pattern. This person's countenance has fallen dramatically - and they are probably not even aware of it. It is either due to seduction from an evil influence, mental illness, or one being brought on by the other. So sad to witness. It is a freaking train wreck - and I am concerned that others that I love dearly will buy into the mindless seduction and the lies. Serious LACK. OF. LOGIC. Its like I said to my oldest daughter in the garden a decade ago: Have you really thought this through? And she was being influenced by a person of authority at the time; her grandmother; who will pay for the sins of having influenced a somewhat innocent one. I will see to it in the eternities.
See, here is the problem. People think that it is just some kind of game and you just flit about life with little or no consequence, either spiritually or temporally. Well, if that is the attitude folks, you have another thing coming. There is a final accounting and it will be quite EXACT - and unless all is turned over completely to the One who can pay the debt to the last farthing, and complete and total repentance is sought and obtained, then the individual offender must pay for the sins of those they led astray. To just throw away a membership in God's kingdom is folly and insanely stupid in my opinion. People that believe there will just be a few stripes are delusional. God is exact at everything. That is how you get to that status. Slackers need not apply.... It comes with the job title....
So yeah, it is repent and rely on the blood of the Atonement, or move on (to hell). There is no other path. Repentance is the way. Repenting of bad attitudes is also the way, as my wife points out below. It may well be that attitudes about tithing and food storage etc are a representation of future performance/membership in the Kingdom of God:
We had a neighbor. She was the young women’s president and I an advisor. She was very fun to talk with and we traded babysitting and ideas and
philosophies. One day we got on the subject of being prepared and she flippantly said, “No, we are not. (And she listed a couple of reasons—none financial.) If I just got in a situation, I would just come to you.”I loved her kids and I loved her and her husband. But I struggled at that moment with sin. For although I loved her, I lost immediate respect for her.And I didn’t like her attitude or potential future behavior. The “ not my problem” mentality— not for health reasons. Not for economic reasons.Her reasons were just priorities. Just not feeling like it, wanting to gamble the perfect house, (cluttering the garage or the house, favorite foods don’t store, the perfect frequent vacations (family vacations
are important—don’t get me wrong).We have to balance everything. It was just her flippancy. Her entitlement. Her arrogance.Now with a miracle, she may not have made provisions dwindle by 50%. And in a emergency situation, she may have been more humble about this topic. But I thought it was so careless on her part that
she was willing—aware and willing—to gamble my children’s potential future well-being for her present state of unconcerned bliss.Yet, as I struggled with my natural woman feelings right then and many days later, realizing that she represented more people (the grasshoppers) than there were (ants) to take care of the grasshoppers.
And this is where the miracle is again.A bunch of us (including her) in this well-knit ward moved away and a huge handful of us were influenced by one great other friend that I have also stemming from this one ward. So this neighbor friend of mine,
(and a handful of friends from that ward at the time) have now let go of the teachings of Jesus Christ—all to differing degrees.But is it Nehor-like, to tell people there will absolutely be a miracle if they are doing their best or they cannot do much for reasons?Is it Nehor-like to tell people there will be a miracle no matter what and so out of convenience they rely on that notion only?Is the miracle also not in us sharing how important it is to our family and friends to accept responsibility now? To encourage and motivate (without fear tactics) but with pragmatic and practical pleas?The miracle could be what transforms one person’s place into a city of light and another’s not, is we encourage the wisdom of potential helping as much as preparing. We encourage people to be self-sufficient
as much as we encourage the miracle as well.It’s like encouraging repentance/baptism and grace.So who shut the ark’s door for Noah? Wasn’t Noah; it was the Lord.My prayer is that since I cannot imagine turning someone away, it will be the Lord who shuts the ark if there is a shutting to be done since it would be hard for me to.Remember, the Lord saved EVERYONE that repented from the worldwide flood. EVERYONE THAT REPENTED. THAT IS A MIRACLE.If they repented before the flood, they were taken up to join the City of Enoch or maybe other city or cities (if there were more than the city of Salem.). These were all saved one by one or family by family.The eight whose responsibility was to remain on earth who repented, were saved in a boat. THAT WAS A MIRACLE.Did God turn away those who did not repent? Did some get left on earth because no matter what the earth was going to get baptized?Could all on earth have been saved? Yes, because the earth was going to get baptized (flooded) no matter what.That is one time when I can say the Lord did turn others away—away from the City of Enoch and away from the ark. Not because He wanted to; because that is what THEY wanted. They were warned. They didn’t
care. They didn’t believe the way that they could be saved. They didn’t think it was necessary to repent, so they could be taken up to the City of Enoch.After the flood those that became naughty again, at least knew they needed to reach the City of Enoch, so they figured a way they could get there without repenting—the Tower of Babel, they were building.So my point is the miracle stories are good for those of us who are stingy who haven’t thought through that we need to be willing to go without so others can live.But we also need to be actively and prayerfully preparing others to be prudent and why to be prudent, so that our cities can be potential cities of light.It is the Lord who shut the door to the ark. If the Lord can do that, he can do other things as you read in Isaiah.
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