Yeah, that's unpleasant

Have you ever wondered what the end of it all is going to look like? Will it be 10,000 worldwide tornadoes, or a firestorm where 10,000 fiery comets smash the earth at the same time? And how many seconds or minutes before that moment will the righteous be taken up?

I had an old girlfriend that was really into the last days. She mentioned it multiple times per day, and lived with a constant fear. I saw it a bit differently. In any case, if you have a curiosity, there are scriptural accounts of it that are must-read stuff.


The end of days

So we're getting toward the end of the chapter in Doctrine and Covenants 133 verse 62. The Lord has explained that there were times when he took his word away, and now he's talking about what happens to those who repent and sanctify themselves before the Lord. This is all happy stuff.

Being cut off

But verse 63 takes a turn. "And upon them that hearken not to the voice of the Lord ... they shall be cut off from among the people".

So wait - from among the people? Is this members of the church? Is this those that might say they follow the Father? Being cut off in other scriptures sounds like being excommunicated.

Again, the Lord shows the ability to carefully craft words - at least as viewed by me. He doesn't say he cuts that person off, he says that person is cut off. Who does the cutting? The person or people themselves. They cut themselves off as they cut themselves out. This tells me that if you are cut off, don't blame the Lord for being mean - blame yourself for taking yourself out of the shepherd's flock.

It's the saints

Verse 66 backs up the concept that we're talking about the saints here. "In that day when I came unto mine own, no man among you received me." and 67 backs this up again. In these verses, we're talking about the saints. verses 72 and 73 make it sound even worse - for those who once called themselves saints.

Don't not hearken

So, with that terrifying warning, I go back to the original verse. What does it mean to not hearken to the voice of the Lord? Once again, I am sure there are a million layers to that. Not listening to the Lord's leaders would probably be one of them. Choosing to rebel against the Lord after having received whatever level of confirmation, perhaps because the church and its teachings become inconvenient or perhaps politically incorrect, unpopular or not parallel with a person's selected lifestyle. Or - perhaps just not listening because that stuff isn't interesting or perceived to be relevant to a superficial life style.

What does it mean to not listen to the voice of the Lord? One of those layers for me might be this: when provided guidance by the spirit of God, I must listen. This means that if I get a message to get in my car, drive down the street to the north, take two rights and look for the man in the driveway, I must follow that. Is that uncomfortable? Sure is. It really is. The question is, will I follow the Lord or will I follow my fears?

On a side note, I know of a person who desperately loves a girl. He spends a whole lot of his time thinking of her. They are perfect for each other. They are so drawn to each other, and time doesn't change any of that - time has happened.

But based on results, he is more set on his chosen lifestyle than he loves her. This is a lifestyle that has netted him little, and left him an angry and lonely man. Yet he won't abandon that - even for the woman who appears to the one that completes him. I believe that he has chosen his vices over his happiness.

Vices vs happiness?

We all do that, to some extent. We choose our vices, our pain, our loneliness, because it's ours. And we reject the Lord and his love, his happiness, his balance to life, his soul filling lifestyle because that's not how we've defined ourselves. Yes, I do it too. We all do.

If Joseph Smith actually had written this book himself, he certainly had very different writing styles - the Book of Mormon could not have been written more differently than this book. Section 133 is written powerfully and technically. As always, little words are found that make a great difference in what can be drawn, and the layers of meaning - at least the ones I can see - are many. This book reads like a technical manual, but the power of the words is at a level that I believe no human could create. The power of the text fills my soul.

May we all get better at following the Lord. Recognizing and following his voice, and giving up our pain for his love.