The Jews thought themselves favored of God. They trusted that the land they occupied had been promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were the descendants of these patriarchs. The land had been promised to them. They had the priesthood, the temple, God’s promise and a true religion. They knew nothing could molest their peace.
The Lord commissioned Zechariah to deliver this warning to them:
“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. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.” (Zech. 7: 9-14.)
We can look at the Jews to whom this prophecy was delivered and see with clarity how they failed. We can see through their false presumptions, foolish beliefs and evil ways. We know how to correctly weigh them in the balance.
Imagine, however, if you lived among those people and shared their false presumptions. Imagine that you believed, as they did, that they were chosen, promised that nothing would molest them. Imagine you possessed a temple of God, true priesthood, and descended from prophets. How would you react when a prophet came among you crying that you were wicked, oppressed the poor, the fatherless and the stranger? Wouldn’t you think Zechariah was wrong while all of you were right? How can a message from a single person hold an entire nation of people accountable for how they respond?
I suspect it wouldn’t be any easier for us to see our plight as it was for the Jews to see theirs. I suspect our own harsh assessment of the failure of the Jews will be the very standard against which we will be measured in how we react to truth when it is declared among us. I doubt we can distinguish between truth and error any better than they did. But we pride ourselves on condemning them, and justifying ourselves.
The irony in all this is so thick you can hardly move.
How grateful I am to live at a time when there are messages received again from the Lord which can lead us to salvation, despite earth and hell, false messengers and fools, pretenders and charlatans. Yet will the Lord keep His promise that before He does anything, He will commission a message of warning. (Amos 3: 7.)
Another great post.
This post could be read as a warning that someone could be sent from God to warn us, or it could be read that He is warning us right now, already. Or it could be both.
This post is just too good to not read it again and again. It relates so well to the Broken Souls post from a few days ago.
I love to visit the broken souls of which that post spoke. They never judge me. They are usually humble and willing to learn. The warning of this post to not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, the widow, what a good message of warning, thanks Denver.
If people will not judge my age, or whatever else may appear wrong, there are those of us in the church, somewhat hidden, (or sitting in the back) who care deeply, understand better than one would expect, have much to offer, and and will jump from the pew at the chance to be of some help to a broken soul, stranger or someone in need. Even if all I’m able to do is listen or offer some words of encouragement.
Until the last year, I was one who was foolish enough to think all is well in Zion. My eyes have been opened greatly as I’ve searched the scriptures and had the Spirit work on me. One of my focuses is on not being deceived.
This question is for Denver or anyone else who’d like to chime in. What are your ideas on what might be the big “test” Heber C. Kimball referred to that would lead church members to be deceived? Any input that would help me to avoid deception would be great. I know the most important thing I can do is have the Holy Spirit as my guide. I have some ideas, but will keep my mouth shut until I see what others have to say.
I believe this is the prophecy Dan is referring to:
Prophecy of Heber C. Kimball To Sister Amanda H. Wilcox found at
http://www.xmission.com/~blwalt/Prophecies/HeberCKimballSister.html
Christie
I am also in this moment full off gratitude & hope I have ears to hear his warnig voice.
Does He tell the rest of us what He’s going to do, or just warn us of what we need to be careful of in order to be safe? What is the Lord planning to do?
In response to Dan’s question about being deceived, I believe that the blinding deception has already occured in the Church, accept for a few.
Almost everyone today seems easily decieved to support, accept, encourage or do evil, usually. Many evil things have become accepted as ok or even good in most people’s eyes.
The worst of which is the acceptance of breaking sacred & holy marriage covenants, which brings in it’s wake evils like abuse, divorce, porn, same-sex marriage, etc.
By such things innocent children are made to suffer beyond imagination.
If we disintegrate & destroy our marriages & children it will bring upon us the utter destruction & holocausts warned about by Prophets in the Proclamation. For God & his covenants will not be mocked.
I’ve noticed that the things we point to most often as the wickedness and Ills of our society is often not what the Lord seems to condemn people for.
What were the Lords words through Zechariah? “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.”
In the scriptures it seems this warning is sent to a people just before destruction is sent to them, “But they refused to hearken.” It also seems that this is the very subject matter the Lord uses to sort us out in the world to come.
“And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” (Matthew 25: 32-33)
Now read what the Lord says are the criteria for being put on the right hand or on the left in Matthew 25: 34-45.
Perhaps worrying so much about same-sex marriage, porn and coffee is part of a ruse by the adversary to keep us from worrying about bearing one another’s burdens. I do not mean to offend anyone. Nor do I mean to make light of serious offenses. I do mean the types of things we normally think are wrong with society are absent from the list of criteria the Lord says he uses for sorting us out.
Methinks we might find ourselves practicing self-sufficiency in hell if we don’t learn to take care of those around us.
Wow, Chienvoxx, I thought you said this really well, and I agree with you. Matt. 25 is perfect for what we need to learn. I run in circles which are big in emergency preparedness, but people don’t get that it’s not about “being prepared so that we can take care of ourselves”, but rather about helping each other to be OK now, helping each other to be prepared for the future, and then helping each other as best we can, come what may.