Introduction
The Book of Mormon is full of descriptions of our day, with the warning that
...when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation (Ether 8:24).
The judgment to come upon the Gentiles is sealed and is coming fast. However, there is still time for individuals to repent and escape the calamities ordained for the collective whole. No matter how entrenched you were in the false traditions of men, you can be forgiven instantaneously if you will only seek God and seek to do his will:
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. (Ezekiel 18:21-22.)
This entire book is filled with instructions on what to do in context of what not to do, but for the sake of leaving on a constructive note, let us recap.
Stop listening to men.1 They don’t control your eternal salvation. Only God does that. Your task is to find and obey God’s word, not man’s word. The distinction is of utmost importance, and something that you need to take the responsibility for, because you will be held accountable.
Give heed to what Joseph restored. Read the Book of Mormon. Pay attention to what it actually says, and try to forget what you’ve been told it says. Study what Joseph wrote and spoke. Find it online. Find it in “Words of Joseph Smith” or “The Joseph Smith Papers Project.” Study the other scriptures. Don’t forget the Old Testament. So much of what those prophets taught applies today.2
We have a limited amount of time before the Lord returns, and significant desolation will occur before then. Use your time for the weightier matters in order to prepare for that day.
But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the naked with a garment; He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, Hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 18:5-9.)
Seek for the experiences you have not yet received, such as baptism by fire, an audience with Christ, and the promise of eternal life. Getting there will require a focus on yourself, your family, and your neighbors instead of outward checklists. Stop wasting time in the hamster wheel of temple ordinances,3 family history, and church callings.
It is of extreme importance that you do whatever you can to help the oppressed, wherever they are found.4 Seek out and help the poor.
Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassions every man to his brother: And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 7:9-12.)
Paying tithing as the Lord has revealed will provide sufficient funds for everyone to help the poor more than they currently do.550
Wash yourselves clean: remove your wicked deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil. Learn to do good: demand justice, stand up for the oppressed; plead the cause of the fatherless, appeal on behalf of the widow. (Isaiah 1:16-17.)
Help others break out of the bondage of false traditions. In speaking of what to be done to qualify for Zion, Zechariah was told: “These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor...” (Zechariah 8:16.) As you have been awakened, take efforts to wake up others: “...it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.” (D&C 88:81.)
Though time is short, be patient and long-suffering. Use wisdom and tact to teach others on their level to give them the greatest chance of listening.
To summarize it all: “Respect and obey God! That is what life is all about.” (Eccl. 12:13, CEV.) May God bless all of us to flee from false traditions, whatever they may be. Let us not exercise the fruitless religion of our fathers that brings:
Knowledge of speech, but not of silence; Knowledge of words, and ignorance of the Word. All our knowledge brings us nearer to our ignorance, All our ignorance brings us nearer to death, But nearness to death no nearer to GOD. (TS Eliot)
AMEN.
Footnotes
- 1. The Lord told me to say: You prophets and priests think so little of me, the Lord, that you even sin in my own temple! Now I will punish you with disaster, and you will slip and fall in the darkness. I, the Lord, have spoken. The prophets in Samaria...led my people astray. And you prophets in Jerusalem are even worse. You’re unfaithful in marriage and never tell the truth. You even lead others to sin instead of helping them turn back to me. You and the people of Jerusalem are evil like Sodom and Gomorrah. You prophets in Jerusalem have spread evil everywhere. That’s why I, the Lord, promise to give you bitter poison to eat and drink. The Lord said: Don’t listen to the lies of these false prophets, you people of Judah! The message they preach is something they imagined; it did not come from me, the Lord All-Powerful. These prophets go to people who refuse to respect me and who are stubborn and do whatever they want. The prophets tell them, “The Lord has promised everything will be fine.” But I, the Lord, tell you that these prophets have never attended a meeting of my council in heaven or heard me speak. They are evil! So in my anger I will strike them like a violent storm. I won’t calm down, until I have finished what I have decided to do. Someday you will understand exactly what I mean. I did not send these prophets or speak to them, but they ran to find you and to preach their message. If they had been in a meeting of my council in heaven, they would have told you people of Judah to give up your sins and come back to me....These unfaithful prophets claim that I have given them a dream or a vision, and then they tell lies in my name. But everything they say comes from their own twisted minds. How long can this go on? They tell each other their dreams and try to get my people to reject me, just as their ancestors left me and worshiped Baal. Their dreams and my truth are as different as straw and wheat. But when prophets speak for me, they must say only what I have told them. My words are a powerful fire; they are a hammer that shatters rocks. These unfaithful prophets claim I give them their dreams, but it isn’t true. I didn’t choose them to be my prophets, and yet they babble on and on, speaking in my name, while stealing words from each other. And when my people hear these liars, they are led astray instead of being helped. So I warn you that I am now the enemy of these prophets. I, the Lord, have spoken. (Jeremiah 23:,11-22,25-32 , CEV.) ↩
- 2. For example: “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock; Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them. For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment. And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats. Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet? And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet. Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more. Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord God. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God.” (Ezekiel 34:1-31.) ↩
- 3. “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:6-8) Get a parachute yourself before you worry about sealing your ancestors to you. They cannot be saved until you are, and you cannot be saved by sealing yourselves to them if they have not been saved. ↩
- 4. “Thus saith the Lord; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong...” (Jeremiah 22:3.) 550 “But in aiding and blessing the poor I do not believe in allowing my charities to go through the hands of a set of robbers who pocket nine-tenths themselves, and give one-tenth to the poor.” (BY, Journal of Discourses, 18:357) Outsourcing your charity to the church guarantees that less than 100% of your donation will be spent on the purposes you intend (see “No Poor Among Them”). ↩