I have quit going to family shin-digs. I have many fine siblings (a couple, not so much….) – but the overwhelming tone at these gatherings is how much everyone has managed to collect, obtain, get into debt for, screw somebody else out of. It is pretty disheartening – especially when you know what it takes to meet the terrestrial bar and you yourself are struggling with consumerism and trying to keep up with the Joneses….. (or was struggling). Now I just ask for sufficient for my needs and then ask what I can do to bless the lives of others with any largesse/excess from the success that I must confess is not of my own doing. Ess – whooooaaa.
The Book of Mormon and all of the leaders in this last dispensation warn of the dangers of having more than our needs require. That seeming blessing is the very cancer that brings about the final purging of this people – where-in we lose all our possessions in a massive calamity that is beyond comprehension to modern man. All that we clung to in our hour of blessing will be stripped from us and we will be reduced to the most pitiful of beggars – dependent on the Lord for 100% of what we have; for those who make it thru. This condition will be the seed event that prepares the survivors for the lessons they will have to have burned into their hearts in order to bring Zion about. We can either choose to begin the life of consecration now (of our own free-will and accord or agreement), or we can choose to have everything stripped from us (including our pride) by force of circumstance (remember that God will force no man – but He will provide conditions where-in a person is humble enough to make the correct choice. We should make the right choice up front. A choice using our own power or Agency is always more rewarding than having to arrive at that choice by force of circumstance.
Here is a meme from Awaken to our Awful Situation (a FB page I frequent):
Complete with some commentary by one of the Awaken mods, Heather:
Is the lap of luxury the most severe test we’ve ever had in the history of the church? In the big scheme of things, that “lap of luxury” has certainly attributed to the comfortable complacency in which many members seem to find themselves in, even now… ignorant of true history, ignorant of the warnings in the scriptures, distracted and “busy” doing very little of that which is spiritually and eternally significant… like preserving liberty. But what they sure do know is the score of a certain football game from twenty years ago, or all the latest fashions from hair to clothing to the perfect eyebrow, or what Kanye West named his baby…
This has directly resulted in the condemnation, lack of freedom, and incredible bondage in which we now find ourselves… And still – many members remain blind and cannot handle a conversation of actual substance pertaining to our current political, economic, religious, educational, etc. situation. When we stand before our Maker and He asks us about our life’s role in the preservation of freedom… that same freedom for which we so valiantly fought in the premortal life… what will we say? What can we say?
“President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) compared the test of “luxury” with other tests of life: “We’re tested and we’re tried. Perhaps we don’t realize the severity of the tests we’re going through. In the early days of the Church, there were murders committed, there were mobbings. The Saints were driven out into the desert. They were starving, they were unclad, and they were cold. We’re the inheritors of what they gave to us. But what are we doing with it? Today we’re basking in the lap of luxury, the like of which we’ve never seen before in the history of the world. It would seem that probably this is the most severe test of any we’ve ever had in the history of this Church” (Dahl, “Fit for the Kingdom,” in Studies in Scripture, 5:369).”
“The devil knows that if the elders of Israel should ever wake up, they could step forth and help preserve freedom and extend the gospel. Therefore the devil has concentrated, and to a large extent successfully, in neutralizing much of the priesthood. He has reduced them to Sleeping Giants.” (Ezra Taft Benson)
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I have quit going to family shin-digs. I have many fine siblings (a couple, not so much….) – but the overwhelming tone at these gatherings is how much everyone has managed to collect, obtain, get into debt for, screw somebody else out of. It is pretty disheartening – especially when you know what it takes to meet the terrestrial bar and you yourself are struggling with consumerism and trying to keep up with the Joneses….. (or was struggling). Now I just ask for sufficient for my needs and then ask what I can do to bless the lives of others with any largesse/excess from the success that I must confess is not of my own doing. Ess – whooooaaa.
The Book of Mormon and all of the leaders in this last dispensation warn of the dangers of having more than our needs require. That seeming blessing is the very cancer that brings about the final purging of this people – where-in we lose all our possessions in a massive calamity that is beyond comprehension to modern man. All that we clung to in our hour of blessing will be stripped from us and we will be reduced to the most pitiful of beggars – dependent on the Lord for 100% of what we have; for those who make it thru. This condition will be the seed event that prepares the survivors for the lessons they will have to have burned into their hearts in order to bring Zion about. We can either choose to begin the life of consecration now (of our own free-will and accord or agreement), or we can choose to have everything stripped from us (including our pride) by force of circumstance (remember that God will force no man – but He will provide conditions where-in a person is humble enough to make the correct choice. We should make the right choice up front. A choice using our own power or Agency is always more rewarding than having to arrive at that choice by force of circumstance.
Here is a meme from Awaken to our Awful Situation (a FB page I frequent):
Complete with some commentary by one of the Awaken mods, Heather:
Is the lap of luxury the most severe test we’ve ever had in the history of the church? In the big scheme of things, that “lap of luxury” has certainly attributed to the comfortable complacency in which many members seem to find themselves in, even now… ignorant of true history, ignorant of the warnings in the scriptures, distracted and “busy” doing very little of that which is spiritually and eternally significant… like preserving liberty. But what they sure do know is the score of a certain football game from twenty years ago, or all the latest fashions from hair to clothing to the perfect eyebrow, or what Kanye West named his baby…
This has directly resulted in the condemnation, lack of freedom, and incredible bondage in which we now find ourselves… And still – many members remain blind and cannot handle a conversation of actual substance pertaining to our current political, economic, religious, educational, etc. situation. When we stand before our Maker and He asks us about our life’s role in the preservation of freedom… that same freedom for which we so valiantly fought in the premortal life… what will we say? What can we say?
“President Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) compared the test of “luxury” with other tests of life: “We’re tested and we’re tried. Perhaps we don’t realize the severity of the tests we’re going through. In the early days of the Church, there were murders committed, there were mobbings. The Saints were driven out into the desert. They were starving, they were unclad, and they were cold. We’re the inheritors of what they gave to us. But what are we doing with it? Today we’re basking in the lap of luxury, the like of which we’ve never seen before in the history of the world. It would seem that probably this is the most severe test of any we’ve ever had in the history of this Church” (Dahl, “Fit for the Kingdom,” in Studies in Scripture, 5:369).”
“The devil knows that if the elders of Israel should ever wake up, they could step forth and help preserve freedom and extend the gospel. Therefore the devil has concentrated, and to a large extent successfully, in neutralizing much of the priesthood. He has reduced them to Sleeping Giants.” (Ezra Taft Benson)
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