God’s wrath is “poured out” and takes a specific form: “wars and rumors of wars among all the nations and kindreds.” People go to war. The “wicked kill the wicked.” (D&C 63: 33; Proverbs 11: 5; Mormon 4: 5.)
The angel makes a point of stating what Nephi is beholding: “Behold, the wrath of God is upon the mother of harlots.” How is this God’s wrath? The answer is that when God is angry, He withdraws His spirit. (Helaman 6: 35; Helaman 13: 8.) And when He withdraws His spirit from one, He generally pours it out on another. (Helaman 6: 34-36.) When His spirit withdraws, men are left to their natural, carnal state, filled with envy, jealousy, covetousness, ambition and greed. When the heavens become silent, the judgments of God follow. (Revelation 8: 1; D&C 88: 95.)
This is the means by which the tares ripen in iniquity, and the wheat ripens in righteousness. However, to preserve the spirit among those to be saved in the last days, it will be necessary for the same priesthood, the same calling, to be in possession of those to be preserved. Otherwise they can’t ripen into wheat. (D&C 86: 1-11.) For the wheat are destined for Celestial Glory and eternal life. (D&C 101: 65.) This cannot be realized without a covenant (D&C 132: 20) and the testimony of Jesus to them. (D&C 76: 51-57.)
Can anyone make you “wheat” if you do not the things the Lord commands you to do? (Luke 6: 46–a favorite verse of President Kimball’s.)
If His spirit withdraws from the world, but remains with His Saints, what peril is there if the Saints don’t also withdraw from the world?
Will citizenship in both Babylon and Zion be possible?
Another question that hit me yesterday was which economy do you want to be a part of? Babylons or the Lords Economy?
It is becoming more clear to me that you can’t Serve God and Mammon at the same time. Of course, I have been trying to do this most of my life. I may not have known it all the time, but now that I know I am responsible, and I am also free to choose Eternal Life, or to choose the captivity of the Devil.
I believe this is where my Faith must grow as I leave Babylon and truly put my Trust in Him.
Another Question that keeps coming up is the violence that will be poured out her in the USA. I feel like many of my good lds friends almost look forward to “defending there home” with their weapons. To me I am seeking the Lord and HIs rebirth so I can be with Him. I know the wicked will punish the wicked, and I pray I may not be one of the wicked killing or being Killed. Is self defense bad, NO. But my goal is to find Him, not just get ready and armed to fight my brothers and sisters for another moment on earth.
Bottom line, I want to seek him and his Protection. Then if commanded I will fight for the Lord in whatever way He Directs (like Captain Moroni or Mormon). Or if He directs to Lay my life down, Then so be it.
A couple years ago as I was “preparing,” getting my food storage and such, I found myself in a gun store, ready to walk out of there with some gear (I don’t own a gun). You can’t have food storage without a way to protect it and your family, right?
As I was looking down the barrel of one of them, I could picture in my mind’s eye what would be in view of the scope, and why I would be shooting. A cold shiver went down my spine.
I sat in the ammo aisle deliberating over if I should proceed and purchase some guns. A distinct thought came in my head: “You can purchase these guns and ‘protect’ yourself and your family with them. That is the easy way. Or you can protect them with the POWER of the Priesthood. It will be a much more difficult decision and require tremendous work and faith on your part, but the rewards will be more than you can imagine. The choice is yours.”
I felt as if the choice I made at that very second could and would have eternal consequences, either way. It’s interesting how we get put on the spot like that from time to time.
—Doug
“Will Zion need a bank?”
I though Zion was a bank. :-)
Zion’s Bank is a different subject:
On Friday, May 21, 2010 the Church News posted an article about President Monson dedicating a new multimillion dollar Zion’s Bank center in Provo, Utah. It was on the inside, third page, where everyone who subscribes to the Church News could not miss the article. I was reminded of the Kirtland Anti-Banking Safety Society. The dedication was given prominent mention to quiet LDS members’ concerns about keeping money in the bank. Using President Monson at the dedication was a calculated effort to keep deposits in the bank.
Today’s Deseret News reports that Zion’s Bank continues its slide in failing performance. The seventh straight quarter of losses, this quarter totaling $135.2 million. The Troubled Asset Relief Payment (TARP) bailout money of $1.4 billion has not been repaid.
Oddly the bank’s stock has risen on expectations that the bank would be improving in earnings. Much of that expectation being fueled by unrealistic optimism.
Zion’s has 500 offices in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington. Many of the depositors are subscribers to the LDS Church News and are no doubt keeping their money in the bank as a result of confidence in its ties to the LDS Church. The recent well publicized dedication of the Provo Center is, no doubt, calculated to keep that confidence high among depositors.
I noted that same article today about Zion’s, and a similar thought went through my mind: If Zion’s was to go down it might have a negative effect on the faith of some folks who have trusted in that association. Unfortunately, Zion’s has also been in the past a target of the folks who use naked shorting to trash the stock of some smaller companies. That may still be going on.
I know they had an affiliated bank here in Nevada that had a different name that was sorely hurt early on by the Real estate crash in this state.
I’m not sure of the status of Zion’s anymore. I know they used to be a church operation, and it made perfect sense in the early pioneer days to have that, and other church owned properties available. When the church was in financial difficulties, the Simmons family purchased it. During the 80’s when I had some affiliation with a church owned insurance company, which had ties to Zion’s through its Board of Directors, the rumor at that time was that the Simmon’s family intended to some day give Zions back to the church when the patriarch of that family died.
I don’t know if he did, or if they did or what. But the situation with Zion’s, and more particularly with the insurance company was that MANY, if not most of their customers had confidence in those institutions because of their affiliation with the Church: At that time; their investment strategies were VERY conservative because the leadership of those institutions understood what they had been entrusted with.
I think the church really wanted to get rid of the insurance company at that time, but the point was made that it would be unfair to all those who had already invested a fair amount of money with that institution to have the ties cut to the church which would have left it with a very insecure future. For most people, life insurance is not a short term investment.
By the way, I called earlier this week to get the “rating” of Zion’s Bank. The ratings are similar to report card grades. It has been downgraded from a “C” rating to a “D” now – seems it’s barely passing and getting worse.
Wes: Interesting–thanks for the report. How far they have fallen.