Mosiah 3:25 - It's Not Mine to Judge

I love the words of King Benjamin!  I read Mosiah 3 this morning.  I’ve read this numerous times in the past and written references to other scriptures that reinforce the things of which he spoke.  I think one of my favorite passages is “Have you received His image in your countenance?”  This comes from Alma 5:14.  Actually, my reference took me to Alma 5:16-21 where it talks of how a person is when they have partaken of the gift of the Atonement.  Then I read back to verse 14. 

Repeatedly, I am thinking of my return to activity in the Gospel.  When I look back, it was such a natural progression for me.  I never looked back.  I enjoyed the effects that living the gospel was having on me.  I felt the Spirit guiding me and teaching me and I was overcome more than a few times with awe and gratitude at what was happening in my life.  Why was this so natural for me?  Why was I so blessed?  I watch some of my children struggle and know that I was probably not the “norm” in this regard.  They have issues with the Lord and the Church.  I never did.  Their thinking is this:  If the Church is true, why are there bad people (aka men) who are allowed to hold the Priesthood and make bad calls? 

I wish I had a good answer to that question.  My reading this morning took me to D&C 121: 37 where it clearly states the condition of those men who use their Priesthood unrighteously.  It doesn’t necessarily cover a bishop who doesn’t see that a member of his flock is doing so though.  When a supposedly righteous priesthood holder is abusing a wife, why wouldn’t the spirit alert the bishop?  The absolute only explanation is that perhaps that Bishop wasn’t listening to the Spirit, as he should.  We are all human and make mistakes, even though we are trying to become Christlike.  This I know for sure, a Priesthood holder who abuses or uses unrighteous dominion has lost his power as a Priesthood holder.  D&C 121:37 makes this quite clear.  It would be a natural conclusion to me that this person has also lost the Spirit in his life as well.  So their countenance changes.  I've seen that.  That being said, how in the heck does he continue to pull the wool over a Bishop’s eyes?  Why doesn’t a Bishop see the façade?  It is mysterious, but not an uncommon scenario.

So this brings me back to the words of King Benjamin and the comfort they bring.  Those with evil intent will be “. . . consigned to an awful view of their own guilt and abominations, which doth cause them to shrink from the presence of the Lord into a state of misery and endless torment, from whence they can no more return; therefore they have drunk damnation to their own souls.”  If not today, then some day the Judge over all of us (Jesus Christ) will make these judgments.  It is not for us to do so.  This is the beauty of the Gospel!  We don’t have to judge.  We don’t know a person’s heart, nor do we know their heartache.  Something causes poor behavior whether it was incorrect teachings, abuse as a child, mental illness . . . oh the list goes on.  But it is not ours to worry about.  We can put our efforts to better use.  This is for the Savior to carry, and we gladly let him do so. 

Formula to Prosper - Book of Jarom

Book of Jarom

Jarom is obedient to the commandment of his father to keep a record of the people.  He covers some pretty important ideas in a very short 15 verses.

Obedience

Righteousness 

Industrious      

       Preparedness         

=  Prosperity

That’s pretty plain.  And I look at the state of our country and the world today and I can see disaster looming.  This country is not obedient to anything but the whims of their own laws.  Righteousness is something to be bickered about, i.e. who is Christian; who is not.  Industrious seems to be a thing of the past.  Now it is a race to see how much you can get for how little effort.  Being prepared?  I’m afraid we’ve all gotten into the mode of thinking this country is so great, we’ll always be taken care of.  Some very frightening philosophy indeed.  If that’s hard to believe, watch what happens on the news when there is a natural disaster.  Two hurricanes in the past fairly recent years come to mind.  The grocery stores were totally cleaned out and people were desperate to buy water and food and supplies to see them through a storm – one storm!  I do believe we need to do better than that. 

I’m not certain why I felt writing about today’s reading was something I wanted to do.  I just saw the formula for a prosperous life and wanted to somehow record it.  It’s a pretty simple formula, if you ask me.

Dried up Blossoms in the Wind - Our Children

I checked my website.  I’ve never felt to comment on any of my thoughts from 2 Nephi 15 before.  This is a good time. 

There is a lot of concern for the children of Israel in this chapter.  In the first half, it would seem there is an apostasy, aka dark ages (v1-6).  Verse 7 seems to verify that thought.  Verse 8 there is a concern for abuse of the land.  After all, we are stewards of our land.  How are we caring for it?  Certainly, the hills in Utah Valley are having homes built very close to each other. (v8 join house to house).  There are oil spills, pollutions.  As I sit here, the smog is so thick I cannot see the trees behind the house across the street.  Are we responsible for these pollutions!  No doubt about it.

My biggest thought though was on verses 24-25.  “Therefore, as the fire devoureth the stubble (symbol of wicked) and the flame consumeth the chaff (wicked), their root (parents, ancestors) shall be rottenness, and their blossoms (their children) shall go up as dust; because they have cast away the law of the Lord of Hosts, (gospel) and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

“Therefore, is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the hills did tremble, and their carcasses were torn in the midst of the streets.  For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.”  (His hand could be stretched out in love or anger.)

Why do you think this scripture jumped out at me this morning?  Well, I get a very up close and personal look at how turning away from gospel truths affects the “blossoms”, our children.  Interesting the word chosen was “dust”.  What happens to dust?  It is blown toward any direction the wind blows.  It is the children who suffer when their parents (the stubble) turn away from the gospel teachings.  I’ve heard of it in the children of my nieces and nephews, and I’m watching it in some of my grandchildren.  It is the children who suffer.  They have no anchor (my own metaphor) and any wind of doctrine will blow them in any direction.  There is nothing they’ve been taught to give them the tools to navigate troubled times, and we ALL know this life is filled with troubles currently.  The calamities spoken of in the scriptures of the last days are here.  We see earthquakes, war, famines, pestilence, and parents despising their children.  It is here folks! 

The only place I gain any comfort is in knowing our Savior’s hand is stretched out continually beckoning all His children to come unto him.  Our agency was critically important to us in the pre-existence.  Our Savior lived to set an example for us to follow.  He died so that we could choose to follow that example.  Doing so brings light into our lives so we can see the path of happiness in this life.  But we have to want that better life.  In order to want that life, we must be exposed to it.  My heart aches when I see a parent lead their children away from the gospel into a world of darkness where they are as dried up blossoms in the wind before the storm.    

Satan's Lies

I’m just a little troubled this morning.  I had a conversation with my daughter last night that was disturbing.  Her ex-husband pretended to be a righteous man.  Because she wasn’t any stronger in gospel doctrine than she is, he was able to fool her that he was good.  She knew she was doing the right thing because she married in the temple.  Well, that was when it ended.  I knew there was trouble early on in their marriage when she wanted to go back to the temple.  She had only been once before her marriage and again on the day they were married.  His reply was very concerning:  “The Lord doesn’t expect everyone to go to the temple every week.  There are different circumstances.  Some people are hundreds of miles from the temple.  Are they less blessed because they can only get there once?  Of course not!  We pray about it as a family and we go as the spirit directs.”  They were literally living in the shadow of the temple, yet he said the Spirit directed them that it wasn’t necessary to attend regularly – or at all.  If she’s been to the temple a half dozen times in ten years, that would be an exaggeration.  For whatever reason, his narcissistic behavior was determined to ruin her and he did a pretty good job. 

As we were talking last night, she said, “I don’t believe you have to be Mormon to be good.”  Well, this is a truth.  The world is populated with very good people who never even heard about the church.  However, this belief of hers is a lie that Satan promotes to do his evil upon the earth.  It matters not to Satan how bad we are.  A little is as good as a lot.  Keeping us out of God’s kingdom is his goal.  Having us have a miserable experience on this earth is his goal.

As I was reading scriptures this morning, I read 1 Nephi 13, a very sobering chapter indeed.  It speaks to us about the evil in the latter days (now) that have certainly come to pass, not the least of which is the disintegration of the family.  Also, the vanity of the women in the church is a sobering read (v16-23).  Interesting to me the wording in v23 of the tools women use to “hide” themselves such as their jewelry, fine clothing, glasses, etc.  It mentions “hoods and veils” will also be removed and leave those who are “hiding” exposed.  Interesting to me that her dominant clothing is mostly the two hoodies on top of each other and her hat.  She is hiding. 

I wasn’t particularly comforted from reading this chapter, and wanted to re-read 2 Nephi 28 which I’ve labeled as Satan’s “playbook”.  How blessed we are to know through the Book of Mormon how Satan works.  It’s not every day you can have such knowledge about your opponent.  It is this chapter that explains better what I was trying to tell my daughter last night.  In verse 22 it says “And behold, others he (Satan) flattereth away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he saith unto them: I am no devil, for there is none – and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.”

This sweet daughter of mine has bought into Satan’s lies, i.e. There is no hell!  Heavenly Father loves all His children and why would he deny one over another?  Satan has whispered in her ear that her husband, who was (from the outside looking in) a righteous man, was in fact evil.  If righteous can be so evil, then she wants nothing to do with it.  Oh, why can’t I articulate this better?  It is so frustrating.  She says, “Why didn’t the bishop see his evil?  Why was it so easy for him to get a temple recommend when necessary when he was emotionally beating the very life out of her?”  To me, that is a very good question, but not one with which to base my standing with God.  People are human, and therefore they are fallible.  God is not!  If we want the blessings God has promised us, we must do all in our power to keep His commandments and the covenants we have made with Him.  Some blessings may not come in this life.  I’m convinced many women go to their grave never exposing the evil that goes on behind closed doors, yet remaining faithful to their covenants to a husband as well as the Lord. This is part of the imperfect world we are living in.  I feel God’s love and that is something that is withheld from no one who will reach out to Him, repent of evil doings and start replacing that evil with small but consistent good.  It comes.  It takes time.  I know this from experience.  My conversion is one of the most sacred experiences of my life.  I know these things are true and are within reach for everyone!

I am Enough - Moroni 6:4

I really don’t have time for this today, but my thoughts as I read Moroni 6 turned to the “30 Days of Service” our ward has completed the last 30 days, and my feelings on it.

As I read Moroni 6:4, I referenced in the margin Ephesians 2:19 “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God;”  My margin reference said Helaman 6:3: “Nevertheless, the people of the church did have great joy because of the conversion of the Lamanites, yea, because of the church of God, which had been established among them. And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy.”  Ironically, the note I put on that verse was Moroni 6:4.  Key words in that verse are cleansed, remembered, nourished, watchful.  And what I felt last night at our gathering was rejoicing and joy and fellowship with some pretty wonderful people.

I hope I can articulate adequately my thoughts.  We had our gathering last night as the culmination of our 30 days of service.  I admit this is a little annoying to me because when I first heard it my thought was: “Oh!  Just one service a day?  Piece of cake!”   There are some days I feel like the only thing I did all day was serve.  That’s where I am in my life.  That’s what I’m supposed to be doing.  There are other days I get involved in my own business and I serve nobody.  Or at least that’s how I feel.  Clyde points out that is totally false.

These verses I’ve pointed out show what I felt last night at our meeting.  There was such a feeling of love present that it was tangible.  You could not have come away feeling anything but love.  People came together to share some of their feelings on the experience.  I would call it more of a “30 days of focus” for me, as that’s what I was doing.  I changed very little of what I was doing.  I did try to speak cheerfully to strangers more often. I would have loved this activity as a mom of younger children.  It would have been very impacting.  But what did I get out of it?  A continuation of the feelings I get all year long as I try ever so hard to not let a day go by without helping someone along the way.  Often, that is my mom and meeting her needs.  But that is still service, and I know the Lord is pleased.  I have grown as I’ve served her.  I have come to appreciate the sacrifices she has made through the years in my behalf.  She did the best she knew to raise a family, and that is all that is asked of any of us.  We do our best.  And to the Lord, (as we talked about in SS yesterday), it is enough.  I am enough.  As long as I’m yoked with the Savior, what I do is enough.  I am enough. 

One reason this is so is because as I do all I can do, I begin to feel the love the Savior talked about.  My heart enlarges with this love.  And it is love the Lord wants us to have for each other. Why?  Because then we want to help each other.  We reach out to each other more.  We try harder to lighten the load of others.  It becomes our quest to do so, and we become more like our Savior whose entire life was dedicated to helping us return to our Heavenly Father.  I know this is true, and although there will be days when maybe I don’t do as well as I’d like, I know I always do something.  And it is enough.