The people among whom Ezekiel lived were filled with sin; public and private. The prophet was inspired to deliver a serious warning to them inasmuch as they could not learn by being taught correct precepts, but only by harsh judgment. His warning included this statement:
"The morning is come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth." (Eze. 7: 7-9.)
I had a few thoughts about why and how such "judgments" could be easily be poured out upon us, as well.
From drug abuse to carnality, we are less civil and more dangerous as a population each year. If you would like to see the Lord "pour out [His] fury upon [us]" you only need to shut off the electrical power in Detroit or Los Angeles at night. We are filled with the savagery that will bring about our own punishment. When the electrical grid fails in larger metropolitan areas of the United States, it will be Americans killing Americans, without any need for an invasion by an enemy. God will not need to send a plague upon us. We become our own plague because of our wickedness.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when the New Orleans Police Department was unable to keep order, and the National Guard had not arrived yet, there were days filled with violence, rape and murder. It did not take anything more than a brief lack of police authority before the population was plagued with criminal misconduct, violence and killing.
What more fitting a way to "judge thee according to thy ways?" What more apt a manner for "recompensing thee for all thine abominations?" It is our own choice to become our own undoing. Amazing, really.
Are our sins any less than that generation to whom Ezekiel spoke? Americans have killed 40 million unborn (innocent) children. Hitler, the great genocidal monster of the last century, only killed 6 million in his perversity. We have selected the most innocent, and ended 40 million of their lives. As Christ put it: Truly we deserve a millstone hung around our necks and to be drowned in the depth of the sea for this wanton shedding of innocent blood. (Matt. 18: 6.)
This great perversity is what we call a "right to choose," thereby clothing an atrocity in the words of virtue. We call evil good and good evil, and never take time to notice we fulfill prophecy as we do so. (2 Ne. 15: 20, using Isaiah 5: 20 to describe us and our time.) Freedom of choice, right to choose, tolerance, diversity, open and free are all words implying virtue. They justify suppression of truth, sexual misconduct, killing innocent unborn and curtailing freedom of thought and expression. We are hardly able to recognize good from evil, because everything destructive or debasing, advocated by those addicted to a perversity, is called by them good. And any who oppose these abuses are called evil, intolerant, oppressive, haters and ignorant.
It should not surprise any of us if the Lord should shortly pour out His judgments upon us. All it would take is a prolonged failure of the power grid and we would unleash on ourselves our own direful judgments.
Brilliant! I think you've been answering my last question.
ReplyDeleteAs Lehi rejoiced after hearing about the judgments:
13 And he read, saying: Wo, wo, unto Jerusalem, for I have seen thine abominations! Yea, and many things did my father read concerning Jerusalem—that it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon.
14 And it came to pass that when my father had read and seen many great and marvelous things, he did exclaim many things unto the Lord; such as: Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God Almighty! Thy throne is high in the heavens, and thy power, and goodness, and mercy are over all the inhabitants of the earth; and, because thou art merciful, thou wilt not suffer those who come unto thee that they shall perish!
15 And after this manner was the language of my father in the praising of his God; for his soul did rejoice, and his whole heart was filled, because of the things which he had seen, yea, which the Lord had shown unto him.
Of course, I am only advocating the exact sentiment Lehi had, and we don't know all that he saw here. See you on the other side, my friend! (not in death, but life)
I remember a leadership meeting with President Hinckley several years ago when he said "brethren, I don't know how much longer the Lord will allow the conditions of Sodom and Gommorah to continue."
ReplyDeleteHow soon do you think Denver?
It's so true, we would do it to ourselves. It wouldn't even require invading armies, or huge natural disasters. I'm sure there are those who if given the chance would shut down the power grid themselves. A natural disaster would do it, but then again, it might not even take that.
ReplyDeleteDisturbing. A good warning.
I ask the same questions almost daily as I slog through the "steets of Gomorrah". Truly sad how a chosen land and people could fall so quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhy do we continue to look beyond the mark? The judgements are underway already.
ReplyDeleteIf we do not learn to live by the spirit of God, and know his voice in the here and now we will go down with this titanic called the USA.The right place the right time feels so critical to me right now.If we can not let go of babylon now we won't now how to live with out it when it falls.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of clinging and cliffs and the judgements that are hanging over us, and on and on ... whether we are aware of it or not, our entire society is clinging to/hanging from the edge of a huge cliff, which at any moment will give way, as we plummet out of control. It's true that we won't need to be invaded by foreigners to bring about total chaos, but of course, that will happen too.
ReplyDeleteFor sure you all know what an "EMP" is -- Electro-magnetic pulse. When a hydrogen bomb is detonated at a high altitude over the land, it doesn't do the typical Hiroshima-type destruction, but rather puts out a pulse which destroys electronic circuitry, especially digital circuitry. This, of course, is known by all nations on earth. The day this happens, nothing you own will work anymore. The "grid" won't just be down, it will be fried. All cars built after 1978 are digital as well. The power grid of the U.S. will shut down completely in one fell swoop, and we will be a third-world nation in chaos and horror. Interesting to ponder, no?
The coming physical plagues will be nothing, even considered a 'blessing' to stop the suffering of those already plagued by a far more deadly 'spiritual plague' that is already destroying almost every person on the earth, even every person in the church, except a few.
ReplyDeleteThis spiritual plague quickly destroys the eyes & heart & mind so we are not able to feel, reason or see right from wrong or our own evil acts or the pain our acts cause others. The worst thing of all is that those with this plague cannot tell they have it. They suffer & die with it without even knowing they are ill.
Only the few humble followers of Christ, who really believe in & live his Gospel of Charity will be spared this deadly spiritual plague, while everyone they know dies around them, for they will not save themselves because they do not believe they are ill or could even catch this plague, for they believed themselves to be very righteous.
To survive, we must all assume we have this plague & plead for deliverance from it & for the one cure for it, which is Charity, the True Love of Christ.
A few years ago I attended a class at BYU Education Week presented by Kathy Headly, the founder of "Mothers Without Borders", a non-profit organization which helps orphans in Africa.
ReplyDeleteTowards the end of her presentation, after having explained and shown slides of the horrors the people and children there are suffering, especially in Uganda -- children being kidnapped with girls being made into sex slaves for the soldiers and boys being turned into soldiers -- Kathy asked people to stop praying for our safety and start praying for the Second Coming, because the children in Africa will not have a chance to get out of their horrible suffering until we build Zion and the Savior returns. If that means that we need to get nuked sooner so that those who will finally be willing to repent when Babylon finally crashes will repent, and someone else (THE Remnant) builds Zion instead, then so be it.
Of course, if we would repent now, things might be able to turn around for the people in Africa now. Look at what Nephi and Lehi, the prophet brothers in Helaman 4 -5 did: they brought the entire Lamanite nation to repentance, which ended a war that the Nephites with Moronihah as their Captain, couldn't end. They were so effective in preaching and ministering with the true Power of God that we really didn't have Lamanites again for about 200 years. From that time on, although there were still Lamanites in a sense, they were more joined with the Nephites, and the main two divisions were between the Gadiantions and non-Gadiantions.
If two men with power of God could do that, then so could we -- if we would repent.