Antidote for the Perfect Storm

Several years ago, I actively wrote in this blog. I used it to grapple with the fallout of a massive crisis of faith which engulfed my life. That period of time is now passed and I haven’t touched this blog for years.

My faith is fine. But I am, dismayed, angry and dumbfounded at the events which are unfolding across our country. We are living through a perfect storm of political unrest:

• An unprecedented illness has engulfed the world. 

• Civil unrest wracks our country more than anytime since the Civil War. 

• I watch journalistic malpractice, in the name of political agendas no less, so damnable Joseph Goebbels would be proud. 

• We have a president who is so hated by state and local leaders, they feel justified in trampling on the rule of law to score political points against him. 

• Political correctness and accusations of "racism" are now bludgeons used to silence different points of view.

I often ask myself, "What are we to do in the face of all this?" For I see it consuming, even destroying, the social fabric of my country.

To the depths of my soul, I believe the Book of Mormon can help us through this period of unrest as it helped me through my faith crisis. So, here I am, writing in my blog, again. My hope is that my efforts to come to terms with what's happening will help you in some ways do the same.

Melting with Fervent Heat

There are some interesting comments which both the Savior and Mormon make about His appearance to these Nephites. One was an “ahah” moment for me, the other is a perplexing question for which I have no answer yet.

The “ahah” moment is when Mormon mentions the Savior spent three days teaching the Nephites in 3 Nephi 26:13. My original understanding was the Savior made a much shorter visit: just two days. The first day when He appears to the temple and then the second day when He appears to the multitude. But now, I think His second appearance was the one which lasted three days. Mormon says He appeared to them often after that too.

This longer visit gives Him the time to expound all things to the people. How cool would it be to have been taught by Jesus about the history of mankind upon the Earth? Yet, the Spirit whispers to me to not be envious of them. He gave them what they needed. In a manner appropriate to our time and circumstances, He will give us all we need.

As I continue to attend the temple, I marvel at how prominent the Savior is in all that happens there. While He is Lord of all, in that He created all things for the Father, He is also my Lord: my personal Savior. Just as Heavenly Father, though all the universe is His and an innumerable host are all His children… still He knows me personally.

I’ll finish this post with a question: what is the fervent heat mentioned in verse 3 of the same chapter? I don’t know.

Prophecies

It’s been a while since I posted. I’m not too sorry about it because I’ve been preoccupied lately with a new job and a new chapter in my life. I’m hoping to get back on track with this entry.

I just have to say, this section of the Book of Mormon which tells of the Savior’s visit to the Nephites becomes much more relevant when in the midst of a trial you turn to the Savior for help. When I read about Him weeping for the people or blessing each child one by one, I’m left with the powerful impression that He feels the same for us.

I’ve been going to the temple quite a bit lately. Feeling the divine resonate within you as you ponder the profound truths which are taught there is something everyone should experience. There’s no way to share it because there are no words to describe it. I can say I’ve come to comprehend that God plays the long game. He’s interested in us being happy. He wants us to live… not just exist. The best way to live is His way and that way is what Jesus was teaching the Nephites. It’s also what the church teaches today.

For that I’m profoundly grateful. I finally get it that commandments are a blessing because they show how to attain the greatest joy you can have in this life. They don’t restrict you, they empower you. It’s like me in my profession: I have the power to write software because I know how to do it. If you don’t know what I do, you can’t do what I can. That’s how commandments are: they show you how to live joyfully in the face of adversity and in great prosperity.

This is what the Savior was trying to teach the Nephites. He told them when we, the Gentiles, got the gospel it would either bring us great joy because we chose to live it or great sorrow because we chose otherwise. Based upon what’s in these sections of the book, we Gentiles don’t get it.

Jacob 5 - the Apocalypse of Zenos

Jacob 5 is one of the longest single chapters in the Book of Mormon. It’s also a verbatim quote of a prophet not found in the King James Bible, Zenos. What I find most interesting about it is it contains a concise history of the world. One that covers time from the scattering of Israel through it’s final gathering and salvation at the end of the world.

In this context, it encompasses our day, and hence my interest. What does it say about our day? God is preparing the world for the eventual harvest… the Second Coming. It outlines a Divine iterative cyclic approach to improving the world. God weeds out the worst, letting the righteous fill in the space occupied by the recently removed wicked. Then He goes to the next place and removes the most wicked there as soon as there is enough righteous growth to take its place. There's a lot of pruning to do.

The other take away from that is the answer I got to what all the pruning actually is. It’s war. God prunes the vineyard, the Earth, with war. It’s not that He “chooses” to do that, but He allows it to happen amongst the wicked. It’s a tough way to do it, but one thing I’ve learned lately is sometimes that’s the only way people can be reached.

2 Nephi 19-23 - The Lesson Continues

In these chapters Isaiah hammers home the point that we need to trust God, to have faith in Him rather than in the wisdom of men and our pride. There is too much going on in these chapters to review them in any comprehensive way. Doing so requires books worth of ink and paper and a lifetime of pondering.

There’s a lot about the last days here. There’s the destruction of “Babylon” which is a type of the wicked and oppressive governments that exist in our day. There’s also mention of the purging wars waged by the wicked which hearken to Jacob 5’s references of the pruning of the orchard to clear out the evil branches to make room for the righteous. Revelations references to the dragon making war against the woman and the great destructions caused by the evil beasts also speak to this.

In the end, God delivers His people and they experience great peace.

On a personal level, which for me is where all this matters, is the lesson that all will go through adversity and faith challenging trials. The righteous will humble themselves and turn to God. Then, in the midst of great adversity, they will experience a peace which will cary them through these times. The wicked will turn to their own wisdom and suffer a different fate.

There repeats a series of punishments which end with the warning, “for this his hand is stretched out still.” I used to think this meant that despite these punishments, God’s hand of mercy was still extended if the people would repent. I can see how this is a correct interpretation. But I’ve also come to believe this interpretation, that despite all He’s done to get them to repent, He’s prepared to smite them again because they won’t.

The bottom line: everyone is going to experience trials. The great question is: how will we handle it? Will we take faith, turn to God for help and in the end enjoy great peace? Or will we ignore God and follow our own reason to spiritual death and destruction?

3 Nephi - 24-26 - Expounding All Things

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a sci-fi geek kind of guy and the movie teasers and trailers that are out right now, fill me with anticipation. I’m really looking forward to seeing them. I get a similar sense of anticipation and yearning about the scriptures when I read this passage.

On the second day of His visit with them, the Savior starts reciting scriptures which they don’t have, particularly Malachi chapters three and four. So, there I am, reading this and all I get in chapter 26 is the line “and He did expound all these things unto them.” What? Nothing for us? In verse three it says, “And he did expound all things even from the beginning of time until the time that he should come in his glory…” How cool is that!

Instead all we get is Mormon’s comment, “Behold, I was about to write them, all which were engraven upon the plates of Nephi, but the Lord forbade it, saying: “I will try the faith of my people.” That’s us, just in case you were wondering. They had access to the whole record.

Talk about a teaser!

It makes me wonder if this future history is in the sealed part of the record Joseph was not allowed to translate. I can only guess but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. Think about it… the entire history of man from Adam to the Savior’s return in glory. Then again, as I think about it… I think of Nephi who saw the future history of his people and what befell them and how it broke his heart (1 Nephi 15:4-5). We would likely see similar things. Instead of being separated by a thousand years of history as Nephi was, we will likely live through it. Are we ready for that? Could you handle it? I'm not sure I can.

So, while the Lord said He would try our faith by not allowing all His words to come to us, I half suspect mercy also had a role in that commandment.

3 Nephi 21 - A Tale of Two Prophecies

This is an interesting chapter in that the Savior tells the Nephites of a sign of when the redemption of theirs and the Lamanites descendants occurs. He says, “here’s a sign.” Then He speaks about how the sign is given when the Gentiles learn of the things He’s reveals to them.

Then He launches into a prophecy of how the Father will lead the Gentiles to this land and establish them here and then warns them about living righteously. After this, He finally gets to saying what the sign is: the restoration of the Gospel to the Gentiles and then to their, the Nephite’s and Lamanite’s descendants and Israel.

He speaks of the prophet who will do this…. Joseph Smith.

Then He gives another conditional prophecy. If the Gentiles don’t repent, they will suffer severe judgments in the form of their societies and cities being laid waste. If they do, then they will be allowed to help the house of Israel be gathered in.

I sometimes wonder if the desolation spoken of in this chapter isn’t already being fulfilled before our very eyes this day. Consider this… in Viet Nam 41,000 soldiers died in action over a 10 year period. But at the same time, 400,000 died in car crashes, most of those alcohol related. It hasn’t gotten any better. In the US alone a million unborn children are killed each year by abortion. One-fifth of all pregnancies in the US end in abortion.

Closer to home on a less dramatic but equally real note, in a recent Stake Priesthood meeting, those in attendance were asked to raise their hand if they knew someone either in their immediate family or close relation who was struggling with their testimony of the Gospel. Virtually everyone did.

At the same time, there are people having amazing experiences with the Spirit. Temple attendance is up and, according to Elder Cook, by every measure the church is stronger now than ever. So, to borrow from the story… it is the best of times and the worst of times. We are living through the fulfillment of the Savior’s prophecy this very day.

3 Nephi 20 - Feeding the Multitude and Isaiah

Two things struck me as I read through this chapter with the first being the Sacrament which the Savior administers to the multitude. The other is his quoting and paraphrasing of Isaiah.

First, the Sacrament and feeding the multitude: The day before, the Savior has bread and wine brought and He administers the sacrament to the disciples. He teaches them about it and then we have the amazing experience where He prays for and blesses the children and heals the sick, the maimed and afflicted.

On this second day, no bread or wine is asked for. He provides it miraculously and administers it to the disciples and then has them administer it to the gathered multitudes. It’s reminiscent of when the Savior fed the 5000, but here He associates this feeding with the covenants in the Sacrament ordinance.

Thereafter He begins to teach the people and makes this reference to Isaiah: “Ye remember that I spake unto you and said that when the words of Isaiah should be fulfilled,” and here’s what struck me most. “Behold, they are written, ye have them before you, therefore search them.”

There is a sermon in this. The gist of it is being, the Lord expects us to study and learn from what He’s already revealed. By implication you can also. See, we won’t receive more until we’ve learned what we can from what we already have. One application of this principle is, until we, or at least enough of us, understand all the Book of Mormon that we have and need more, we won’t get the rest it.

The rest of the chapter is an exposition of the Nephites’ future as written in Isaiah. As you read through it you can see where He quotes Isaiah and then expounds on it. It makes for interesting reading when you consider the gentiles the Savior is speaking of is us.

3 Nephi 8 - The Destruction

I feel impressed to take a slower pace through this next section, so all I'm writing about today is chapter eight in which we have the earthquake and the storm at the time of the Savior's death.

The interesting thing about the chapter is in the beginning the people were actually looking forward and anticipating the three days of darkness. By the end, they are howling in agony for the loss and the destruction that has occurred.

My immediate reaction was to ponder the mindset of all the "last-day" people, of which I am one. All of us look forward to the Savior's return and preparing for times prior to His coming. We "know" things will be difficult, but we're eager to get our year supply and whatever else we feel we will need. All that is really a good thing to do.

I wonder though, if like the Nephites and Lamanites who were looking for the fulfillment of the prophecies but not really aware of what it was going to be like, if we aren't doing the same thing? I look forward to the Second Coming and imagine what it will be like to be on the Earth with the Savior in charge in a political as well as religious role. I can't wait for that day. Yet, while I intellectually "know" the time leading up to that will be difficult, I'm clueless as to how emotionally difficult and physically arduous those times before His advent really will be.

This chapter gives us a hint as to what it could be like. It's not pretty and it makes me think there are more things than just food storage I need to be preparing.