MUSINGS ON THE CHURCH IN A DARKENING WORLD...

I am continually stunned and then stunned again at the magnitude and pervasiveness of the corruption that permeates virtually every aspect of our society - even our LDS Church. No surprise concerning the church. In our early days, our people - called to lay the foundations for the latter-day Zion, build the New Jerusalem and promised no worldly power would prevail against them if they were obedient to God’s commands - were driven off the land of Zion because they had fallen short of their calling and were not worthy to remain upon it. Like ancient Israel, they then began their purgative tenure of many years in the wilderness…

Moreover, regarding the end-time judgments to be poured out upon the earth, the Lord has told us in the D&C those judgments will start with the church before they roll out upon the wider world. Why? If the church were a pristine and purified body, ready to receive the Lord, what need would there be for such judgment? 

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face. Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord. And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord; First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord." - D&C 112:23-26

Then there's President Nelson's now famous pronouncement that if each of us is not spiritually independent, we will not survive the spiritual challenges ahead: 

"In coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually... without the constant influence of the Holy Ghost". 

No more free lunch. No more mindlessly "following the prophet". According to the prophet himself, that's not where the answers and safety will be. The critical guidance ultimately will come only from one's own direct connection to heaven through the companionship and guidance of God the Holy Ghost. Only through that inspired personal lens will the truth be known. No one else will see it. No one will escape the test... 

Indeed, in reality, our relationship with the truth through the Holy Ghost has always been the challenge:

"And when ye shall receive these things [the Book of Mormon], I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true. And if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." - Book of Mormon, Moroni 10:4-5

"For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way [baptism], and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do." - Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 32:5

"Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." - 2 Peter 1:20-21

I often think about what Jesus said regarding the great deceptions of the last days - so good that "even the elect would be deceived - if that were possible". (Matthew 24:24). Where might those near-perfect deceptions spring from? Leadership, it seems to me, is a likely source, as the referenced scripture itself suggests:

"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect."

Of course, this problem of an improper, obsequious, mindless, dependent orientation to leadership is not a new one. Joseph Smith, who died in 1844, said this (near quote):

"The minds of the people [church members] are darkened because they are following the prophet [referring to himself], depending upon him to do for them that which they should be doing for themselves." - Quoted in "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith", by Joseph Fielding Smith

And Brigham Young said this:

"Those men and those women who know no more about the power of the Holy Spirit than to be led entirely by another person, suspending their own understanding, pinning their faith on another's sleeve, will never be capable of entering into the Celestial Glory, as they suppose.  They cannot govern themselves, to say nothing of governing others..."

I have long argued that what we are witnessing today in America - and in the church - is the weighing in God's cosmic balance - for the last time - the intellectual, moral and spiritual substance of the people, individually and collectively. Can't fool Mother Nature.  Inexorably, we'll end up, individually and collectively, where our intellectual, moral and spiritual substance takes us. 

Collectively, things aren't looking good...

Hope some of us are doing better individually…

Right vs. wrong, truth vs. lies, reality vs. fantasy, law vs. lawlessness, order vs. chaos, liberty vs. tyranny, patriots vs. traitors, light vs. darkness, good vs. evil, God vs. the Godless…

Your turn to choose…

If you can be fooled, you will be…

These are the times that try men’s souls…

Torquemada