(Note that this article is the concluding article in the blog with the same title [Mini Book], but it needs to stand alone as a separate blog and be re-posted periodically so as to warn the reader.)
I began writing this in April 2020 amid the Coronavirus Pandemic. The pandemic is still with us and will probably be with us for at least another year, maybe two. It is a reminder to me of what has been prophesied, and a reminder to me of why I have to add my voice to the warnings of others. Having seen what is to come and why, places a responsibility on me to warn others, especially my family and friends (D&C 88:81). In doing so I borrow liberally from the scriptures and from His words. If you do not agree it will be with Him and His words that you disagree.
But who am I to warn others? Perhaps you will ask as did an Amalekite of Aaron:
"Thou also sayest, except we repent we shall perish. How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people? Behold, we have built sanctuaries, and we do assemble ourselves together to worship God. We do believe that God will save all men" (Alma 21:6).
If you asked you would be right. I don't know the intents of your heart, but like Aaron, I have "searched the scriptures diligently, that (I) might know the word of God" concerning these endtime prophecies and our role in them, collectively and individually, and because He has shown them to me, I cannot stay silent.
Keep in mind as you read this it is not the messenger that you should believe, but the message. As my friend Tim Merrill said: "The messenger does not prove the message is true; rather the message proves whether the messenger is of God."
When Isaiah received his mission from the Lord he was told: "Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed" (Isaiah 6:9-10). Christ quoted these words when asked by His disciples why he spoke in parables (Matthew 13:11-13). And because of fat hearts, blindness and deafness, Isaiah remains sealed to us.
I can now see clearly these endtime prophecies, not only the events, but the catalyst for them. I have searched the words of Isaiah and the prophecies of Nephi, Jacob and Christ, each using Isaiah and other Jewish Prophets, which clearly identify the endtime scenario, and our role as Ephraimite Gentiles in these endtime events. All scriptures, including the Doctrine & Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price attest to the coming of the Lord's Day of Jehovah.
Let me make one thing clear: just as the Lord's people Israel suffered the Lord's covenant curses when they were taken by the Assyrians (10 Tribes) and were captured and taken to Babylon by the Babylonians (Judah), we too, as the Lord's latter-day people, will suffer the Lord's covenant curses in the Lord's day of judgment. And it will be for the same reasons.
The catalyst for the captivity of the Lord's people anciently by Assyria and Babylon is the same catalyst for a latter-day Assyrian/Babylonian king (as prophesied by Isaiah) to destroy the wicked of the Lord's people and the wicked of the world before the Lord's coming. Moreover, that catalyst is the apostasy and worship of other Gods by the Lord's people, and the failure to search and treasure up His words, to hear the Lord, see and repent.
"Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, 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 112:24-26 emphasis added).
Scriptural patterns of attacks on God's people by world powers, moreover--as with Assyria's and Babylon's world conquests and invasions of the Promised Land--show that they occur as a consequence of God's people's apostasy. In Nephi's scenario, God's people who apostatize are the Ephraimite Gentiles to whom the gospel has been restored, while those saved from destruction are the house of Israel (Jews, 10 Tribes and Lehi's descendants) and only Gentiles who repent, who will then be numbered among the house of Israel (1 Nephi 14:12; 3 Nephi 16:13).
I use the term Ephraimite Gentiles because Joseph Smith acknowledges the Mormons' Gentile identity in the Kirtland Temple's dedicatory prayer when he speaks of "us, who are identified with the Gentiles" (D&C 109:60). Gentiles also include Israel assimilated among the Gentiles, like Ephraim and other remnants of Israel. There is also another reason. According to Isaiah and the Book of Mormon Prophets we are identified as the Lord's people in the last days but only if we are worthy to be numbered among His people.
Perhaps Mormon Gentiles is a more accurate term to describe us based on what Isaiah and the Book of Mormon prophets have prophesied. For example, the 13 chapters of Isaiah quoted in 2 Nephi 12-24 (Isaiah 2-14), describe, among other things, the wickedness that existed among Judah/Jerusalem, and because Isaiah is an endtime prophecy as well as an historical prophecy ("all things that he spake have been and shall be" (3 Nephi 23:3), he is describing us as well in these 13 chapters when he describes the wickedness among the Lord's people. Nephi then continues describing us as Gentiles in Chapters 25 through 30 of 2 Nephi, and contrasts us with those who remain faithful in 2 Nephi 31, only to condemn those who will not search knowledge or feast upon the words of God in 2 Nephi 32. Nephi then emphasizes the critical importance of God's word to us as Gentiles and then says: "I also have charity for the Gentiles. But behold, for none of these can I hope except they shall be reconciled unto Christ, and enter into the narrow gate, and walk in the strait path which leads to life, and continue in the path until the end of the day of probation" (2 Nephi 33:9). The scriptures are replete with similar descriptions and warnings of the apostasy of the Lord's people both historically and, more importantly to us prophetically.
This means that in its endtime context, Isaiah 2–14, as quoted in 2 Nephi 12–24, apply specifically to the Mormon Gentiles who are God’s covenant people today, not to Israel’s natural lineages who as yet haven’t renewed their covenant allegiance to Israel’s God or been grafted back into their own olive tree. Although Isaiah 2–14 contains some of the most explicit depictions of wickedness of God’s people in the Book of Isaiah—and of the direful consequences of failing to repent—the Mormon Gentiles’ habitually glossing over these chapters presents yet another instance of our taking lightly the scriptures we have received.
Even though the Book of Mormon prophets have taken pains to ensure that the things they write are "given unto (men) in plainness, even as plain as word can be," they know that many readers "will not understand great knowledge" because they "will not search knowledge" but instead "suppose they know of themselves" (2 Nephi 9:28: 32:7). Indeed, it is because they have not diligently searched the words of Isaiah and of Book of Mormon prophets that Mormons misread them, which ignorance leads to their apostasy.
That kind of 'searching''--as distinct from reading or studying--is not an option for understanding them. It is a requirement built into the very fabric of prophetic writings, enlightening the mind of the person who persists in searching, but darkening the minds of those who labor under the premise that they already know. To rely on others--on "authorities" or "experts"--for one's understanding is to "rely on an arm of flesh" (2 Nephi 28:31). Searching the scriptures is God's commandment to all his people, not to a select few. The assumption by some that they "know the gospel" or "know the doctrine"--that if they haven't heard something a hundred times before, it cannot be true--is the very thing that prevents them from perceiving the truth.
As no people in modern times have been so blessed with an abundance of God’s Word as the Mormon Gentiles, do we realize our lives are on the line, depending on whether we live by it, not by a muddled or watered down version of it?
"Your minds in times past have been darkened because of unbelief, and because you have treated lightly the things you have received--which vanity and unbelief have brought the whole church under condemnation. And this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, even all. And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon and the former commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to do according to that which I have written--that they may bring forth fruit meet for their Father's kingdom (not wild fruit); otherwise there remaineth a scourge and judgment to be poured out upon the children of Zion" (D&C 84:54-58 emphasis added).
I do not see the Coronavirus Pandemic as one of these endtime events, but as a reminder and a warning to us that the "scourge and judgment to be poured out upon" us is coming, exactly as Isaiah, Nephi, Jacob, Jesus, Joseph Smith and others have described it, unless we, Mormon Gentiles, repent, and we will never repent until we receive and believe His words. And I repeat: "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" (D&C 112:25-26).
As Nephi describes us we are in an "awful state of blindness" as to those things which are yet to come and are also blind to the fact that these endtime judgments come about because of our apostasy. Refusing to search the prophecies not only make us "willingly ignorant" of what will transpire and will catch us unprepared for them, but is, I repeat, the very reason for our apostasy.
"All they who receive the oracles of God, let them beware how they hold them lest they are accounted as a light thing, and are brought under condemnation thereby, and stumble and fall when the storms descend, and the winds blow and the rains descend and beat upon their house" (D&C 90:5).
In Nephi's endtime scenario the Mormon Gentiles' final fate hangs in the balance depending on whether or not they harden their hearts against His words, and instead set their hearts upon the things of the world and put their trust in men.
Isaiah's endtime scenario shows that God's elect--those whom God delivers from calamities in the coming "Day of Jehovah"--are individuals, a man here and a woman there, who make individual choices that often differ from what God's people as a whole are doing as has been prophesied by those who saw our day. I used to think that it was because of the wickedness of the world that these endtime events would come, but while they also will suffer, the unrepentant Mormon Gentiles are the catalyst for the judgments, just as unrepentant Israel was the cause of the 10 tribes being captured by the Assyrians and the Jews being taken into Babylon, which are types (has been) of that which is to come.
Once a person has searched these prophecies, is there an obligation to warn others? Israel's God asks, "You have heard the whole vision; how is it you do not proclaim it? (Isaiah 48:6). And because I want others to know as I know, and because of His love in me, I add my voice and proclaim it as well. Because for the Mormon Gentiles, the effect of not searching Isaiah's vision of "the end from the beginning" (Isaiah 1:1; 46:10) has indeed caused his writings to "become as the words of a sealed book" (Isaiah 29:11).
It is critical that others are admonished to open it and understand the prophecies and their role in them. Little did we anticipate, however, that its unsealing would be so damning of us. For that reason it is better for us to unseal it now and not wait until the Day of Jehovah for it to be unsealed to us. For "it becometh every man who has been warned to warn his neighbor" (D&C 88:81), and so I fire this warning across the bow for the benefit of friends and family, and not just because I must, but because I don't want those I love to be caught unawares and find themselves on the wrong side of God's word.
And besides the Lord commanded us to warn the world of "the desolation of abomination in the last days," and to "teach them of a judgment which is to come" (D&C 84:117, 87).
My purpose is not to identify all of the events, even though you should know them so you are not caught unprepared, but to focus you on the specific causes of these endtime events. I have, however, summarized the events toward the end of this article. Think of Samuel the Lamanite and Abinadi who came from the Lord to warn the people. Likewise, the Lord's latter-day servant, whom Isaiah describes as being an arrow hidden in the Lord's quiver, will be like Samuel the Lamanite and Abinadi, even more like Enoch. Will we be like King Noah, who did not believe Abinadi, or like Alma who did? Will we be caught on the one hand or on the other, of the Lord's words? (3 Nephi 21:11). It is His words, if we do not search and heed them, that will condemn us (2 Nephi 33:14). This raises a specter of something Mormons may never have imagined of themselves, only of others, that this time around they are the ones whom God warns and calls to repentance lest they perish from the earth.
My purpose in writing this is to identify the conditions among the Lord's people in the last days that will bring on these endtime events. They are the same conditions among the Lord's people that brought on (1) the flood; (2) Sodom and Gomorrah; (3) the destruction of the Jaradites; (4) the 10 tribes being taken away by the Assyrians; (5) the Jews being taken captive by the Babylonians; (6) the destruction of Jerusalem at the time of Lehi; (7) the destruction in and around Zarahemla prior to Christ coming to the Nephites; (8) the destruction of the Nephites; and (9) many other examples found in scripture. It is always the failure to repent of the Lord's people that is the catalyst for these judgments, and we cannot say that the scriptures have not adequately warned us. When the Lord said that all things that Isaiah said have been and shall be, we cannot look back at the Lord's ancient people and say that the prophets were speaking only of them. They were also describing and speaking about us, and by identifying these conditions, we also learn why we must repent so as not to be found on the wrong side of His two-edged sword, or His word.
The backdrop is the Allegory of the Olive Tree in Jacob 5. The wild branches grafted into the mother tree are the Gentiles, including the Mormon Gentiles. Because the wild branches ultimately bring forth only wild fruit, they will be cast out and destroyed in the Lord's day of judgment. When asked by the Lord why these branches have brought forth wild fruit or have become corrupted, the servant answers:
"Is it not the loftiness of thy vineyard—have not the branches thereof overcome the roots which are good? And because the branches have overcome the roots thereof, behold they grew faster than the strength of the roots, taking strength unto themselves. Behold, I say, is not this the cause that the trees of thy vineyard have become corrupted" (Jacob 5:49)?
Although the wild branches bear good fruit for a time, in the end they bring forth wild fruit. At that point—when “the end soon cometh”—the Lord of the vineyard directs his servant to call “other servants” to assist him in grafting branches from the three daughter trees (the house of Israel--Jews, 10 Tribes, Lehi's descendants) back into their own olive tree. What triggers that event, however, is that the mother tree has “brought forth much fruit” but “none of it which is good” because of the wild branches’ “overrunning the roots” and “taking strength unto themselves” (Jacob 5:29–69). The idea of loftiness is synonymous with pride and self righteousness (compare Isaiah 2:12, 17; Jeremiah 48:29).
That being so, why is no one today inquiring into the tree’s “much evil fruit” (Jacob 5:37)? Mormon Gentiles have been quick to point out that the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith occurred on the heels of a centuries-long Christian apostasy. If that apostasy occurred because wild branches “overran the roots” and “took strength unto themselves” in the early centuries A.D., then what should one call the very same condition that precipitates the house of Israel’s endtime re-grafting back into its own olive tree? Have we considered the implication of so many wild branches in the end being “plucked off,” “hewn down,” and “cast into the fire” in God’s Day of Judgment (Jacob 5:35–73)?
When God is sidelined by our preoccupation with vain amusements and contemporary idols, would we not assume that the ensuing spiritual blindness would be that "awful state of blindness" spoken of by Nephi, and wouldn't this state of blindness leave us perilously unaware of that which is to come and our role in it?
I have written extensively about this apostasy, but here will give an extensive, although not even close to exhaustive, list of scriptural references of some of the conditions which signal the apostasy of the Lord's people, keeping in mind that apostasy is not so much a falling away from the truth as it is a perversion of it. These are the conditions that corrupt the vineyard and bring forth wild fruit!
Let's begin with a modern day scripture found in the preface to the Doctrine & Covenants. "They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall" (D&C 1:16 emphasis added).
Israel anciently and us of the Lord's people today are tempted to commit ourselves to something of pure human fabrication rather than to what is of God. We give way to humanism and subscribe to the philosophy that we fare "in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospers according to his genius, and every man conquers according to his strength" (Alma 30:17). We blame others, politicians, liberals, conservatives, non-members, but ignore our own role in the conditions that exist today.
We subscribe to relativism and the grading of sins by imagining that we are good because we have not committed any of the 'serious' sins. These false tendencies of the mind that hinder clear thought are the essence of idolatry. And worse, the values represented by these idols either replace or exist side by side with the worship of the true God, and in many cases are thought to be the values of the true God.
"Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator" (Roman's 1:21-23;25). Putting our trust in men, we adopt an ideology based on our values, or lack thereof, ignoring the Lord's definition of good and evil. Are you a conservative or a liberal? And all the while we let what the Lord has said fall by the wayside.
Going about to establish our own righteousness rather than the righteousness of God has always been a characteristic of Israel's apostasy (Roman's 10:1-4). It is the result of attempting to establish our righteousness by our behavior or outward performances rather than by faith in Christ (Roman's 9:30-33). The image we have of ourselves is that of the good guys in a world of bad guys. There is a reason the Lord describes this as vain imaginations. And as long as we think of ourselves as the good guys we will never see or hear the Lord's warnings to us!
Virtually every instance of the expression "imaginations of the heart" in the scriptures likens such imaginations with idolatry and following other gods. Moses gives us to understand that self-deception, or "drunkenness," follows a personal lack of "thirst" for the knowledge of God. Paul concurs with that interpretation. He says that imaginations--or reasonings and rationalizations--are a kind of conceit or pretense that exalts itself "against the knowledge of God" (2 Cor. 10:5). Then, though "they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened" (Rom 1:21). Moses concludes his warning by showing how the Lord will not withhold his anger and jealousy from such but will bring "all curses that are written in this book" upon them, separating them unto evil from his covenant people, blotting out their names from under heaven (Deut. 29:20-21).
Ironically, appearances of true worship persist in every stage of apostasy. Laying stress on outward observances is often a symptom of alienation from the true God. When false gods are the order of the day, people feel the need to scrupulously preserve the exterior of true worship. Those who reach that point confuse righteousness with actively congregating and religiously performing ecclesiastical duties. In such worship, institutional convention becomes the enemy of spontaneity, resulting in dead, stereotypical devotion.
What follows is a scriptural list (the Lord's warnings) of many of the symptoms of the Mormon Gentiles' apostasy as prophesied, by using types, or what has been and shall be.
"For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen, because their tongues and their doings have been against the Lord.... The show of their countenance doth witness against them, and doth declare their sin to be even as Sodom, and they cannot hide it. Wo unto their souls, for they have rewarded evil unto themselves" (2 Nephi 13:9; compare Isaiah 3).
And what was the sin of Sodom? "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" (Ezekiel 16:49). And Ezekiel says that Israel was "corrupted more than they (Sodom and Samaria) in all their ways" (Ezekiel 16:47 emphasis added).
"Their land (our land) also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; ...neither is there any end of their chariots: Their land also is full of idols, they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made" (Isaiah 2:7-8).
“These people approach me with their mouth and pay me homage with their lips, while their heart remains far from me, their piety toward me consisting of commandments of men learned by rote” (Isaiah 29:13). Mormon Gentiles carrying on as if a lesser law constitutes the whole law has led to their “ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
"Hearken and hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of baptism, who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, yet they swear not in truth nor in righteousness. Nevertheless, they call themselves of the holy city, but they do not stay themselves upon the God of Israel, who is the Lord of Hosts; yea, the Lord of Hosts is his name" 1 Nephi 20:1-2; Isaiah 48:1-2).
"For they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be" (2 Nephi 32:7), causing the prophets to mourn because of their unbelief, ignorance, and stiffneckedness.
Especially the words of Isaiah.
For the Gentiles to lightly pass over the Book of Mormon’s Isaiah passages—which lie at the heart of its message—is thus to belittle Nephi’s, Jacob’s, and Jesus’ words. Such neglect shows a lamentable disregard for their painstaking labors on behalf of us and their descendants, leaving the Mormon Gentiles ignorant of Isaiah’s message at the very time comprehending it turns into a matter of life and death. They simply ignore the Savior's command to search the words of Isaiah (3 Nephi 23:1).
They draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me because their hearts are 'set' upon the things of the world, on their diversions, comfort and security. JS--H 1:19).
"Forasmuch as this people draw near unto me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men" (2 Nephi 27:25).
"They wear stiff necks and high heads; yea, and because of pride, and wickedness, and abominations, and whoredoms, they have all gone astray save it be a few, who are the humble followers of Christ; nevertheless, they are led that in many instances they do err because they are taught by the precepts of men" (2 Nephi 28:14).
"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion! Wo be unto him that crieth: All is well! Yea, wo be unto him that hearkeneth unto the precepts of men, and denieth the power of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost! Yea, wo be unto him that saith: We have received, and we need no more!" (2 Nephi 28:24-27).
And the list goes on.
"Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man (any man), or maketh flesh his arm, or shall hearken unto the precepts of men, save their precepts shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost. Wo be unto the Gentiles, saith the Lord God of Hosts! For notwithstanding I shall lengthen out mine arm unto them from day to day, they will deny me..." (2 Nephi 28:31-32).
"For behold the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep. For behold, ye have closed your eyes, and ye have rejected the prophets; and your rulers, and the seers hath he covered because of your iniquity" (2 Nephi 27:5; Mosiah 29:27).
"And the Gentiles are lifted up in the pride of their eyes and have stumbled, because of the greatness of their stumbling block,... and preach unto themselves their own wisdom and their own learning, that they may get gain and grind upon the face of the poor.
He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion. ...But the laborer in Zion shall labor for Zion; for if they labor for money they shall perish" (2 Nephi 26:20;29).
"Behold, O God, they cry unto thee, and yet their hearts are swallowed up in their pride. Behold, O God, they cry unto thee with their mouths, while they are puffed up, even to greatness, with the vain things of the world. Behold, O my God, their costly apparel, and their ringlets, and their bracelets, and their ornaments of gold, and all their precious things which they are ornamented with; and behold, their hearts are set upon them, and yet they cry unto thee and say--We thank thee, O God, for we are a chosen people unto thee, while others shall perish" (Alma 31:27-28).
"And the people began to be distinguished by ranks, according to their riches and their chances for learning; yea, some were ignorant because of their poverty, and others did receive great learning because of their riches. And thus there became a great inequality in all the land, insomuch that the church began to be broken up..." (3 Nephi 6:10;14; see also Alma 4).
"Yea, and we may see at the very time he doth prosper his people...; doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts and do forget the Lord their God and do trample under their feet the Holy One--yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity" (Helaman 12:2).
"But if it be not built upon my gospel, and is built upon the works of men, or upon the works of the devil, verily I say unto you they shall have joy in their works for a season, and by and by the end cometh, and they are hewn down and cast into the fire from whence there is no return" (3 Nephi 27:11 emphasis added).
And still more.
"And now I speak unto all the ends of the earth--that if the day cometh that the power and gifts of God shall be done away among you, it shall be because of unbelief. And wo be unto the children of men if this be the case; for there shall be none that doeth good among you, no not one" (Moroni 10:24-25).
"And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches...making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation..." (Heleman 4:12 emphasis added).
"And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah" (3 Nephi 23:1 emphasis added). This is the litmus test, a key indicator, and we are failing. As a group Mormon Gentiles know very little about Isaiah's teachings and prophecies. To us it is still a sealed book.
"And the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin. And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me. For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin. And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me. And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now" (D&C 84:49-53).
And this from Moroni who saw our day.
"Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold,
Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me,
and I know your doing.
And I know that ye do walk in the pride of your hearts;
and there are none save a few only who do not lift themselves up in the pride of their hearts,
unto the wearing of very fine apparel,
unto envying,
and strifes,
and malice, and
persecutions,
and all manner of iniquities;
and your churches, yea, even every one,
have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
For behold, ye do love money,
and your substance,
and your fine apparel,
and the adorning of your churches,
more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
O ye pollutions,
ye hypocrites,
ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker,
why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye ashamed to take upon you the name of Christ?
Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that misery which never dies—because of the praise of the world?" (Mormon 8:35-38).
This from a latter-day prophet:
"Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and his blessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise of faith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things more immediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God to material things. Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the power of Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the “arm of flesh” and in “gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know” (Dan. 5:23)—that is, in idols. Whatever thing a man sets his heart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn’t also happen to be the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry."
He says further: "And so it often seems to be with people, having such a firm grasp on things of the world—that which is telestial—that no amount of urging and no degree of emergency can persuade them to let go in favor of that which is celestial. Satan gets them in his grip easily. If we insist on spending all our time and resources building up for ourselves a worldly kingdom, that is exactly what we will inherit" (The False Gods We Worship, Spencer W. Kimball).
And Moroni adds his voice.
"This [record] cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye may know the decrees of God--that ye may repent, and not continue in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done" (Ether 2:11-12).
And this is another very clear warning to us.
"But inasmuch as they keep not my commandments, and hearken not to observe all my words, the kingdoms of the world shall prevail against them. For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men. And inasmuch as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under the foot of men" (D&C 103:5; 8-10). Note the link between salt losing its savor and wild fruit.
And this from Joseph Smith:
"I will proceed to tell you what the Lord requires of all people, high and low, in order that they may escape the judgments of God which are almost ready to burst upon the nations of the earth. Repent of all your sins [there it is; faced with destruction, the answer is to repent]. Not many years away, the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not had a parallel in the history of our nations. Pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake will sweep the wicked of this generation off the face of the land to open and prepare the way for the return of the lost tribes of Israel. Repent, repent is the voice of God to Zion, and strange as it may appear, yet it is true, mankind will persist in self-justification until all their iniquity is exposed, their character past redeeming. Hear the warning voice of God lest Zion fall and the Lord swear in his wrath the inhabitants of Zion shall not enter into his rest. Intemperance, immorality, extravagance, pride, blindness of heart, idolatry, loss of natural affection, love of this world, indifference toward things of eternity are increasing among those Latter-day Saints who profess to believe in the religion of heaven. Who but those can see the awful precipice upon which the world of mankind stands in this generation and can labor in the vineyard of the Lord without feeling a sense of the world's deplorable situation?"
There are many other references to the Mormon Gentiles' apostasy such as not knowing the Lord; being bound by the chains of hell because they don't search and treasure up the words of God; hearing but not hearing; their tablets for learning are filled with vomit (they just regurgitate what they have heard others say); they are indifferent to His Words and treat them lightly; they do not prepare themselves for the Lord hastening his work nor for His second coming and the events associated with His great and Marvelous work; they prefer to live by the world's economy rather than by the law of consecration, having rejected it; as Brigham Young said they do not know a-b-c about Zion; they talk in tenets (D&C 19:31); they prefer that their leaders speak unto them of smooth things (Isaiah 30:10); and they are in an awful state of blindness and bring forth wild fruit.
They believe they are the good guys and do not liken all scriptures unto themselves and therefore get nothing from the scriptures concerning their real condition.
We preach to ourselves, but seldom apply to ourselves, that the fruits of our labors or the lack thereof result from personal choices. And like the children of Israel, who, when they were given the opportunity to hear God directly, turned away and told Moses "speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die" (Exodus 20:19). This is another way of saying they put their trust in the prophet.
In short, the Mormon Gentiles settle for the treasures of the earth rather than the treasures of heaven.
Our darkened minds and the condemnation that rests upon us--because we accept only our cosmetic rendering of the scriptures, misread their meaning, and underrate their importance--are even now sealing upon our heads God's imminent judgments.
The endtime events.
In D&C 88:73 when the Lord says, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time," He is referring to His great and marvelous work (1 Nephi 14:7; 3 Nephi 21:9) which is identified by Isaiah, Nephi, Jacob and Jesus, the commencement of which was the Restoration and the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon. There are an additional fourteen events associated with the Lord's great and marvelous work that have not yet happened and are indeed endtime events which will take place in domino fashion before the Lord's second coming. They are (1) God's "setting his hand the second time" to restore the house of Israel; (2) God's "baring his arm" in the eyes of all nations; (3) his servant fulfilling a mission to the nations; (4) the Gentiles' rejecting the fulness of the gospel after having received it (1 Nephi 22:18-20); (5) God's performing his "great and marvelous work" among the nations (1 Nephi 22:8); (6) Gentiles, including former believers "fighting against Zion;" (1 Nephi 22:14, 19); (7) the spiritual kings and queens of the Gentiles' nurturing the house of Israel (1 Nephi 22:6, 8); (8) the house of Israel [Jews, 10 Tribes & Lehi's Descendants] receiving the fulness of the gospel (1 Nephi 22:11-12); (9) God's righteous people being endowed with power (1 Nephi 22:17); (10) the House of Israel's returning from the four directions of the earth (1 Nephi 22:12, 25); (11) the destruction of the wicked (1 Nephi 22:13-19); (12) the deliverance of the righteous (1 Nephi 22:16-17, 19); (13) the house of Israel's receiving lands of inheritance (1 Nephi 22:12); and (14) the Father's fulfilling his covenants with the house of Israel (1 Nephi 22:6, 9, 11).
The vision is in the details of each event associated with the Lord's Day of Judgment. Hence the need to search out the details. Exactly how each event plays out and the players involved require knowing the details of not only Isaiah, Book of Mormon prophecies, but the prophecies of Christ, other Old Testament prophecies, the Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Revelation.
These prophecies not only identify the events, but also identify the players involved in the events and how each event will play out. For example, the Lord making 'bare his arm' is the introduction of his latter-day servant whom Isaiah described as an arrow hidden in the Lord's quiver. Jesus also identifies this servant with his great and marvelous work (3 Nephi 21:9-10). Enoch is a type of the latter-day servant. (Moses 6 & 7)
From Isaiah's implicit chronology, the following series of events appear to describe the end of the world. As a result of the apostasy of God's people, calamity will overtake the world. The king of Assyria (also called the king of Babylon), both code names for an endtime world power, and his armies will shake and terrify the nations. He will seek to annihilate and exterminate entire peoples. He will feign peace and deceive the nations, then treacherously and unexpectedly attack them. Like an inundating deluge of mighty waters, his armies will invade and destroy all nations, of which America is part of the early harvest (Isaiah 28:2-4).
The Nephite civilization in the Americas perished for similar reasons. To their ancestors, who migrated from Jerusalem, God said, “This land is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes...But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord, . . . he will take away from them the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them to be scattered and smitten..." (2 Nephi 1:7; 9-11).
Now, you might ask why have our living prophets not warned us? You might be inclined to ignore this warning and not believe it because you have not heard it from the pulpit. Let Isaiah tell you why you should heed this warning.
"Who among you foretold these things? It is him Jehovah loves, who shall perform his will in Babylon; his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. I myself have spoken it, and also called him; I have brought him, and I will prosper his way. Come near me and hear this: I have not made predictions in secret; at their coming to pass, I have been present. Now my Lord Jehovah has sent me; his Spirit [is in me]” (Isaiah 48:14–16).
"Jehovah has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep: he has shut your eyes, the prophets; he has covered your heads, the seers” (Isaiah 29:9–10).
“Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm top and reed, in a single day; the elders or notables are the head, the prophets who teach falsehoods, the tail. The leaders of these people have misled them, and those who are led are confused” (Isaiah 9:14–16).
“Their watchmen are altogether blind and unaware; all of them are but dumb watchdogs unable to bark, lolling seers fond of slumber. Gluttonous dogs, and insatiable, such indeed are insensible shepherds. They are all diverted to their own way, every one after his own advantage. Come, [they say,] let us get wine and have our fill of liquor. For tomorrow will be like today, only far better!” (Isaiah 56:10–12).
“Because of this my Lord said to me, Go and appoint a watchman who will report what he sees” (Isaiah 21:6).
“I have appointed watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem, who shall not be silent day or night. You who call upon Jehovah, let not up nor give him respite till he reestablishes Jerusalem and makes it renowned in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6).
“Hark! Your watchmen lift up their voice; as one they cry out for joy: for they shall see eye to eye when Jehovah reestablishes Zion” (Isaiah 52:8).
All one has to do is search conference talks for references to Isaiah and Book of Mormon prophecies and except for an occasional quote from Isaiah there are no warnings.
Compare the detail in these prophecies to what we hear from our shepherds who should warn us.
Avraham Gileadi's summary of these events is worth paying attention to. I have seen clearly these events and can attest to their accuracy.
"This king of Assyria will serve as the instrument of God's wrath to cause destruction in America and throughout the earth. Like a flooding scourge, his armies will sweep through the land, leaving havoc and disaster in their wake. They will turn the whole world into a wilderness. The king of Assyria will tread peoples underfoot and cruelly oppress the nations he conquers. He will plunder their wealth and annex all lands. He will do away with the borders of nations. He will subjugate all peoples to himself alone and make himself ruler of the world. Like a god, he will ascend above the clouds and set his throne high in the heavens, considering himself the equal of God.
The "Day of Jehovah" will desolate the earth. Disturbances will occur in the heavens above. The earth will burst open and flow with lava. The earth will be jarred from its orbit and reel to and fro like a drunkard. Whole cities will turn into flying chaff and dust in an instant. They will be consumed amid thunderous quakings, tempestuous blasts, and conflagrations of devouring fire. They will billow upward in mushrooming clouds of smoke. The earth will be scorched and people will be as fuel for the fire. Towers will collapse and mountains will be removed.
A shroud of darkness will overshadow the earth like sackcloth. The light of the sun, moon and stars will be hidden. Incurable plagues will break out that will eradicate people like vermin. People's corpses will cover the land, lying like litter about the streets. Those who survive will flee in panic and live in utter destitution. People will hide underground and in caves and dens, lamenting for not having repented in time. Chaos, anarchy, and lawlessness will rule the land because their whole society had become corrupt.
The Assyrians will ruin the lands of God's people. They will attack them in war and destroy their armies. They will take them captive and yoke them down with heavy burdens. They will strike them with rods and subject them as did the Egyptians of old. God's people will be enslaved and suffer bondage because they rejected their God and refused to respond to His love. At that time, the Assyrians will lay siege to God's people in Zion and command them to surrender or perish. Then, God will come down on Mount Zion as he did on Mount Sinai. He will wage war on the besieging Assyrian host and consume them by his fire. God's voice will terrorize the Assyrians and they will perish.
At this point, we turn from the negative aspects of Isaiah’s prophecy—God’s punishment of the wicked—to its positive aspects, God’s deliverance of the righteous, or those who believe the words of God. Even while rebellious people suffer calamities, those who repent and prove loyal to God experience salvation. In effect, God’s punishment of the wicked and deliverance of the righteous are inseparable and occur simultaneously, so you will see that many of the following events overlap with the ones previously mentioned. Of course, many additional, connected incidents round out this end-time scenario.
Just as we read about terror, captivity, and destruction for the wicked, so an entirely different experience comes to those who repent of evil, including the repentant Mormon Gentiles. (3 Nephi 16:13). These respond to God’s call and return from exile. As God scattered Israel in all directions, so he gathers them home again from every country. As God called Abraham to leave his kindred and people behind and come into the Promised Land, so these assemble from the ends of the earth. As Lot and his daughters escaped the burning desolation of Sodom and Gomorrah, so these come out of all nations barely in time to escape the nations’ desolation.
The angel of destruction will pass over them as he passed over the Israelites in Egypt. God will save his people even as he destroys his people’s oppressors. They will return to the Promised Lands (the old and new Jerusalems) in a mass exodus as at the exodus out of Egypt. This time, however, Israel’s path will lead through all elements that may stand in the way. God’s people will walk through fire, through the sea, and through rivers. They will wander through wilderness and desert as they did of old. Mountain ranges will provide roads of return. God will guide his people home and protect them from enemies. He will lead them by springs of water and supply them with food. The heat of the sun will not oppress them. Wild animals will not harm or molest them. A cloud of glory will cover and protect them as it protected Israel from the Egyptians. It will form a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. The new exodus of God’s people will not be in a panic or in fear. It will be like Israel’s festal pilgrimage to Zion anciently. Those whom God delivers from destruction will sing songs of salvation as they march homeward. They will play flutes, drums, and stringed instruments as they wend their way toward the mountain of God. They will come rejoicing to Zion at the end of the world, their sorrows and tribulations left behind. Because people ridiculed them and put them to shame for being faithful to God’s covenant, God will endow them with everlasting joy. Because they were robbed, oppressed, and dealt with unjustly, God will award them an everlasting inheritance.
God will raise up for his covenant people a deliverer, (who, with others like the 144,000 and repentant Gentiles) will lead them as Moses led Israel. Like Moses, the deliverer will free Israel from her oppressors. He will call God’s people out of all countries to Zion. He will teach them God’s law and establish justice and righteousness among them. His work of delivering God’s people will be as the dawning of the light before the rising sun. God will anoint and empower his servant and facilitate his work of delivering God’s people. God’s servant will reconstitute Israel’s tribes (Jews, 10 tribes and Lehi's descendants) and assign them lands of inheritance as did Joshua. He will unite Ephraim and Judah as did David. He will restore the nations’ lands as did Cyrus. He will defeat the invading Assyrian armies in battle just as Gideon defeated the Midianites. He and God’s people will rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. They will restore the desolated cities as did the ancient Israelites. They will resettle the lands of their inheritance and from there spread abroad to all parts of the earth.
God will appoint righteous judges and leaders who will rule his people with justice and equity. God himself, in the person of Jehovah, will reign in their midst. His loving presence among them will be like the light of the sun. God will make a new covenant with his people—an unconditional covenant—as he did with Israel’s ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Israel’s God will dwell with his people in Zion as he dwelt with Israel in the Sinai wilderness. Zion will become as the Paradise of God when God re-creates the earth and regenerates his people. God’s people will live a long time, as their ancestors did in ancient times, and enjoy a millennial peace.
What has been shall be again.This linking together of past events to create a sequence of end-time events tells us what Isaiah means by the “Day of Jehovah.” That day consists of a cycle of new events patterned after the old that comprehends the past and the future in one. God will not do something that will catch His righteous people unawares. He will do the same as He has done before. The future is contained in the past, so let the past teach us about the future. What has been done shall be done again. Do not be caught unawares!"
(Endtime Prophecy, Avraham Gileadi)
Two conditions thus lead up to Jehovah coming: (1) the wickedness of the wicked reaching a point that justifies their destruction; and (2) the righteousness of the righteous—those who prove faithful to Jehovah under all conditions—reaching a point that requires their deliverance.
Although we have the scriptures, how many of us believe them? We read of men and women and their valiant exploits yet resign ourselves to being worshipers of the world. We perceive the disparity between our experience of God and the miracles and mass conversions they performed but refrain from inquiring why we don’t do those things. Is it because we are unable or that God can’t use us? Or is it that we are unwilling to pay the price—that we would rather pretend our blessings equal theirs though the facts tell otherwise? One would assume that if we hadn’t personally experienced our Savior we would seek him until we found him as those ancients found him who walked and talked with him.
In the end, while some Gentiles to whom the gospel is restored repent and are “numbered among the house of Israel”—among Lehi’s descendants and others (1 Nephi 14:1–2)—many are “cut off from among my people who are of the covenant” (3 Nephi 21:11). They become as the salt of the earth which has lost its savor (3 Nephi 16:15). These events occur sometime after the gospel has been restored, when the Gentiles who received it by and large apostatize. In short, it is the Gentiles’ ultimate rejection of the fulness of the gospel that causes it to turn back to the house of Israel (2 Nephi 28:32; 3 Nephi 16:10–16; 20:28–31).
Who today anticipates that the olive tree’s chief natural transplants—the Jews, Israel’s Ten Tribes, and Lehi’s descendants—will once again comprise the main olive tree and bear good fruit (Jacob 5:73–6:13)? Doesn’t “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” signify this (Luke 13:30; 1 Nephi 13:42; Jacob 5:63; Ether 13:12)?
"Yea, today, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts; for why will ye die? For behold, after ye have been nourished by the good word of God all the day long, will ye bring forth evil fruit, that ye must be hewn down and cast into the fire? Behold, will ye reject these words? Will ye reject the words of the Prophets; and will ye reject all the words which have been spoken concerning Christ, after so many have spoken concerning him; and deny the good word of Christ, and the power of God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of redemption, which hath been laid for you" (Jacob 6:7-8 emphasis added)?
Will God forever put off the end of the world with its anticipated tribulations for his elect because they happen to inconvenience you and me? Do we imagine that without being tried in all things we will simply drift into a glorious millennial age of peace through the great goodness of our God because we dutifully attend church and show kindness to friendly neighbors?
My purpose is not to pass judgment or to try to convince you, although I would hope you would believe His words, but to alert you to and warn you of, the conditions which precipitate the Lord's day of judgment. My prayer is that you immerse yourselves in His words and search them as if your life and the lives of your children depend on it, because they do!
My hope is that if applicable to you, you will awake from a deep sleep, and not remain in an awful state of blindness, and will turn your heart and mind to Him, repent and "stay upon" Him, so that you will receive His mercy and not His judgment. My hope is that you will live a higher law based on receiving the love of God in your hearts, and this love will cause you to teach these things to your children and others, and acquaint them with these endtime prophecies so that they too will be prepared for them and teach them to others!
We need not concern ourselves about a man that would wreak such devastation in order to conquer the world. Nor should we be afraid of him and his seemingly invincible armies. Instead we should repent of our sins that are the cause of such evil. His great and marvelous work will result in us being on the one hand or on the other (2 Nephi 14:7).
Who is it, therefore—“even as Moses said”—that will be “cut off from among my people who are of the covenant” when Jesus’ servant brings forth his words to “us, who are identified with the Gentiles” (3 Nephi 21:10–11; Doctrine & Covenants 109:60)?
Can any words be more clear than these from the Savior?
How oft have I called upon you
by the mouth of my servants,
and by the ministering of angels,
and by mine own voice,
and by the voice of thunderings,
and by the voice of lightnings,
and by the voice of tempests,
and by the voice of earthquakes,
and great hailstorms,
and by the voice of famines
and pestilences of every kind,
and by the great sound of a trump,
and by the voice of judgment,
and by the voice of mercy
all the day long,
and by the voice of glory and honor
and the riches of eternal life,
and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation,
but ye would not!
Behold, the day has come,
when the cup of the wrath
of mine indignation is full.
Behold, verily I say unto you,
that these are the words
of the Lord your God.
Hearken ye to these words.
Behold, I am Jesus Christ,
the Savior of the world."
D&C 43:25-27;34
(If you want to know for yourself, and if you need a place to begin, search all of 2nd Nephi, and I emphasize search. Search for links, recurring themes and patterns. Liken what you find unto yourselves and hear the voice of the Lord in His words and begin to "see with your eyes" and "hear with your ears.")
