Prepare - and mind the gap!

Ether 7

Just in this one small chapter, there is a lot of history.  This means there is a lot of history that is not recorded.  Orihah reigns in righteous.  There is strife in the kingdoms of Shule and Cohor.  Prophets come and warn the people of their impending doom if they don’t stop their evil ways and repent.

As I was reading this, I thought of the time it must have taken for Moroni to sift through all the records to extract the small amount he did.  There were years of history recorded.  Just in V2 it says Orihah begat 31 children (23 sons).  It takes time to do that.  No wonder you get whiplash reading about a righteous people to an unrighteous people. 

When the Pilgrims first came to this continent, they were relatively good people.  They didn’t have the gospel but they were God-fearing and worshipping people who eventually set up a country with God at the center.  It was a miracle how they won the war against Great Britain.  The Lord obviously was in the details.  A Constitution was signed in 1776.  The gospel restored 50+ years later.  There has been relative peace in the nation up until the last 50 years and the gap between those who understand this nation to be founded on righteous principles and those who do not get it is getting wider and wider to the point many (and maybe even a majority) would have God taken out of the equation completely.  We are ripening for destruction, as the scriptures call it.  This is a very sobering thought.  Will we be able to turn it around?  Does this make it easier to understand Ether and how they went from such great blessings from Heavenly Father to a destroyed nation?  It’s been 236 years since the Constitution of the United States was signed.  We are definitely on a slippery slope.

So how does this affect me this morning?  There is much I cannot do.  I can study those things to be voted on, however.  I can assist in areas I am able as far as the voting process is concerned.  I can set a righteous example.  I can use any opportunity I can to bear testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.  I can keep myself worthy of the blessings of eternity, because in the end, that is what we are all striving for.  We know from reading scripture that things can get pretty ugly.  Prepare for what the future may hold.  Yes.  Prepare - and mind the gap!