A Division Among the People?

Restored post

Friday, September 9, 2011

It's coming, and it's coming fast. It's galloping toward us.

"For the time speedily cometh that the Lord God shall cause a great division among the people, and the wicked will he destroy and he will spare his people." 2 Nephi 30:10 God will cause a division. God will (or has already) caused a division.

We stand on the edge. Floods and earthquakes are increasing in number and intensity. They are God's warnings to us. I know, it is not politically correct to say that, nevertheless, it doesn't make it any less true. God would lose most popularity contests, actually. People don't like to hear anything that doesn't tell them, "You're righteous. You're good. You're going to be spared/go to heaven, no matter what you do. It doesn't matter how you act. You're a good person." or, conversely, that there is no God, so it doesn't matter anyway. (I am not excluding myself. Don't even think that I am trying to say I'm better than anyone else. I'm not.)

I believe God has already set in motion the division of the people. I believe the time is short. I believe the disasters are warnings to us. I believe the general acceptance of violence and perversion among us is a sign that we are fast losing ground. It's a wild ride, and the only safety is in Jesus Christ.

By this, I don't mean lip service. I mean obedience. I mean giving our all. Christ wants our hearts. Confessing with the mouth, without humility, without true sincerity, without obeying him means nothing.

Don't let any man or woman stand between you and Christ. He employs no servant at the gate to heaven. He employs no man or woman to stand between you and him. He may raise up men with authority to perform necessary ordinances of salvation. He is a God of order, not of confusion, so that authority will be orderly and clear. But those men who are authorized to perform ordinances are not authorized to stand between you and God. Your job, first and foremost (if you are a believer in Christ, a disciple of Jesus) is to follow Him, even if it goes against your family, your church, your friends, and anything else.

Because that is true, it is vital to know that you are truly following Christ, not a sham, not a deception. How to know that? That is the question. I would say sincere prayer. Sincere studying. The best books to study, in my experience, would be the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Conversing with the Lord Through the Veil, and Come, Let Us Adore Him.

But the best thing - the most effective way to know Christ is through humble, sincere prayer. Not just one prayer, but constant prayer. Praying often. Praying "real". Reaching out.

Jesus Christ is divine. He is powerful. He is merciful to those who come to Him. He is merciful to those who extend mercy to others. He is the Son of God.