Yeah us!!!!
COVID-19 cases and deaths dropping! More and more people worldwide are returning to work and beginning to return to some semblance of normalcy! Entire states are contemplating lifting mask mandates! Businesses are reopening! People are getting out in the springtime weather and visiting cafes, movie theaters, sports events and more.
Because of these circumstances, I think it’s perfectly natural and expected that people are optimistic about the COVID-19 trendlines these days.
Yet despite all the COVID-19 demise celebrations remains many alarming facts:
- Leaders and judges pass and endorse laws allowing the murder of unborn children.
- They accommodate and fund countries who are violently opposed to God, Christians and freedom.
- They corrupt our laws, processes and procedures and eliminate divinely-inspired constitutional rights, provisions and principles, leaving a country founded upon principles which consider good/legal as evil, and evil/illegal as good.
Along with the mass media, these leaders and judges also:
- Ignore and remain silent as anarchist groups foment riots and violence in our neighborhoods.
- Espouse sexual education and even genetic sexual manipulation of kindergarteners and encourage them to reconsider their God-given genders.
- Give preferential treatment for individuals based on the color of their skin, not the content of their character.
- Embrace socialist and communist ideologies.
- Mock, degrade and even inhibit the free exercise of religion, especially Christianity.
Within the church,
Did you get that? Our nations are murdering babies, boldly challenging sexual and even gender-based norms, stamping out not only Christianity but also religion, morals and ethics. And the priesthood is increasingly powerless to stop it.
So, what has God done historically when mankind defiantly chooses evil over good?
He sends us warnings.
The First Wave
Typically, God has sent prophets to urge people to turn away from sin and cast themselves upon the mercy of God. He did this with Samuel (1 Samuel 7:3), Isaiah (Isaiah 1:24-27), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4:1-4), Lehi (1 Nephi 1:18-20), Ezekiel (Ezekiel 33:11), Daniel (Daniel 2:18; 9:3, 9, 17-18, 23), Habakkuk (Habakkuk 3:2), Joel (Joel 1:13-14; 2:12-17), John the Baptist (Matthew 3:5-12), James (James 5:1-6), John the Revelator (Revelation 2:5, 16, 21-22), Yeshua (Luke 13:1-5), Nephi (1 Nephi 7:13, 11:36), Jacob (Jacob 2:33, 3:1-3), Mosiah (Mosiah 7:31, 29:27), Alma (Alma 1:12, 4:11, 9:18, 10:18-27), Helaman (Helaman 8:5, 26), Samuel the Lamanite (Helaman 13:5-6), Mormon (Mormon 6:22), Ether (Ether 8:23-25) and Moroni (Moroni 8:27, 9:22).
About a year before COVID-19 hit, in his April 2019 General Conference address “We Can Do Better and Be Better,” President Nelson actually said “I plead with you to repent.” Yet I haven’t observed any major course corrections in humanity nor the church.
The Second Wave
Yet when prophets’ pleas have been ignored -- even after a short time -- God has sent a second wave of warnings. They may come in the form of plagues (Zechariah 14:12, 15, 18; 2 Chronicles 21:14; Exodus 9:14; Numbers 11:33; Revelation 16:9, 21) or pestilences (Exodus 9:14).
The conditions for the alleviation of these divine calamities is three-fold: mankind must repent of:
- Its sins (Mosiah 12:2-7; Helaman 11:15; D&C 97:26)
- Its unbelief in God (2 Nephi 6:15) and
- Not remembering Him (Helaman 12:3).
The remedy for these plagues and pestilences: "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:13-14)
It’s interesting to note that in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, it’s “my people” who are “called by my name” who are the fulcrum in healing lands.
Let’s assume for a minute that we can and should take God literally, and that we, His people, can help turn this thing around.
Are we, as a church membership, humbling ourselves?
Are we praying more than ever?
Are we seeking -- and encouraging others to seek -- the face of the Lord?
Are we turning from our wicked ways?
If we are not, if things seem to be drifting more in the direction of evil than good, darkness than light, faith in the arm of flesh over faith in God, then how can we possibly expect the Lord to heal our land?
The Third Wave
"And if the time comes that the voice of the people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction even as he has hitherto visited this land." (Mosiah 29:27)
- I see no evidence that we, collectively, as church members, are humbling ourselves.
- Seeking the face of the Lord is considered “a familiar tactic of the adversary.”. Many who do so are considered zealots, troublemakers and even apostates.
- If we had turned from our wicked ways, then we would be seeing greater manifestations of priesthood power, which we are not (see Pres. Boyd K Packer, “The Power of the Priesthood,” April 2010 General Conference; and Pres. Russell M Nelson, “Ministering with the Power and Authority of God,” April 2018 General Conference)
- I am also convinced that the voice of the people (elected officials?), in many countries, now chooses iniquity over righteousness, and many laws which have and are being passed are corrupted.
"For as their laws and their governments were established by the voice of the people, and they who chose evil were more numerous than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction, for the laws had become corrupted." (Helaman 5:2)
If these points are accurate, then is the time that the judgments of God will come upon us. Then is the time God will visit us with more great destructions.
What should we be looking for in these judgments?
"For I, the Almighty, have laid my hands upon the nations, to scourge them for their wickedness.
And plagues shall go forth, and they shall not be taken from the earth until I have completed my work, which shall be cut short in righteousness" (D&C 84:96-97; emphasis mine)
When will they hit?
"For a desolating scourge shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out from time to time, if they repent not, until the earth is empty, and the inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming." (D&C 5:19; emphasis mine)
Where will it hit?
"for a desolating sickness shall cover the land" (D&C 45:31; emphasis mine) (Note: COVID-19 was bad, but it wasn’t “desolating,” which is defined as “to bring to a complete end the physical soundness, existence, or usefulness of”
How bad will it be?
"The Lord’s scourge shall pass over by night and by day, and the report thereof shall vex all people; yea, it shall not be stayed until the Lord come; For the indignation of the Lord is kindled against their abominations and all their wicked works." (D&C 97:23-24; emphasis mine) (Note: “vex” means “to disturb the peace of mind of (someone) especially by repeated disagreeable acts”)
What is the nature of this plague / desolating scourge / desolating sickness?
“So the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth, and a foul, loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image.” (Revelation 16:2) (Note: The word 'sore' in the Greek is helkose, which means 'ulcer'. It may be very foul-smelling, painful ulcers that are malignant)
"Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet." (Habakkuk 3:5)
What should we do during these plagues / pestilences / scourges?
"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain." (Isaiah 26:20-21)
How long will we need to stay in our “chambers”?
"And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man." (Revelation 7:5)
Interestingly, a friend of mine who is very close to the Lord had the following dream last year:
“Last night, I had a very vivid dream about the next pandemic.
In it, I was attacked by about 10,000 demons. When they first appeared, I was able to fight them off. But soon thereafter, all the demons -- one sector at a time -- got a unique and customized upload of information (almost like a wifi signal). I actually watched them get the upload, and I knew what it was. As it was ending, I thought "Oh crap!" And sure enough, they were far tougher and smarter.
I knew during the dream that each demon represented not COVID-19, but the NEXT virus. Each demon had barbs or hooks on them which released poison when touching someone. When they touched me, the poison was released and immediately started negatively influencing each cell in my body. (I could see what was happening inside my body as well as the sensations; it was excruciatingly painful). As I fought them, each sector of demons would get a new information upload and adapt to my counterattacks. The poison changed my blood cells so they would look like the current COVID-19, only instead of viruses with spikes with suction-looking ends, there were barbs, like a scorpion or a wasp. It seemed during the dream that this battle lasted for about a day and a half. I was able to wake up during one of their upload times. After waking up, I was severely traumatized and it took a while to begin shaking it off.
How do you fight a virus that mutates and adapts to any counterattack? You don't. Mankind doesn't. Only God can. And the #1 thing God says to do, throughout all the scriptures, is to humble yourself, turn your heart to God and repent.
You know how when you look at a tree, you know it's a tree? Or you look at a mountain, and you know it's a mountain? When I saw this virus, I knew what it was. The next one.”
“the torment of a scorpion”...”there were barbs, like a scorpion or a wasp”...Interesting!
“Exercising Faith” -- The Best (and Perhaps Only) Viable Option
According to the General Handbook of Instructions, members should be “Seeking competent medical help, exercising faith, and receiving priesthood blessings” which “work together for healing, according to the will of the Lord.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/general-handbook/38-church-policies-and-guidelines?lang=eng#title_number126)
Via the scriptures, we know that COVID-19 isn’t the last pandemic we’ll have to survive. Regarding the next pandemic,
- Do you want to “roll the dice'' that the “wisdom” of man -- modern medical science -- will know what to do about it (the preceding scriptures imply medical science will be powerless against these “desolating scourges”)? Or that you’ll even have access to doctors even if they did know? Or that there will be enough doctors even alive to treat the living?
- Do you want to “roll the dice” that a fellow ward member will have the requisite power in the priesthood, faith in God and (most crucially) a tight enough relationship with Him to clearly hear, understand and articulate His will, while using first-person pronouns, to bless you? Or that you’ll even be able to access another priesthood holder in the event of another lockdown (which the scriptures clearly state will happen again)?
Yes, “seeking competent medical help” and “receiving priesthood blessings” are important considerations. But in the path of an incurable curse upon mankind, can you guarantee they will be enough?
The only thing that’s left is “exercising faith” -- specifically, the Gift of Healing...
...a gift that, as you may be sensing by now, you urgently need.
Neither you nor I know when the next pandemic is going to hit. But we do know that (1) it will, (2) because mankind generally remained spiritually deaf to God’s warning this time around, it’ll likely be worse than COVID-19, and (3)
“if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” (D&C 38:30)
Prepare Yourself for THE Wedding
“Every bride seeks to appear beautiful in the eyes of her groom. But it's often an involved process, an expensive and a long process.
In the ancient Hebrew marriage, the bride and groom would stay separated for a year. The groom would prepare a place for the bride. And the bride would prepare herself for the groom. Her mission was to get ready and make herself beautiful.
That's why you and Messiah are separated, because this is the time given you to prepare for marriage, to become beautiful in His eyes.
If you're looking at yourself, your heart, your attitude, your spirituality... it can be pretty ugly... but don't be discouraged. For it's in seeing her lack of beauty that the bride becomes beautiful in the Lord.
This is the time of your preparation. You have to become beautiful.” (Rabbi Jonathan Cahn, Message #405 “The Sound of The Bridegroom,” March 8, 2021)
The Lord has been crystal clear not only about how to survive these future waves of plagues / pestilences / scourges, but also how to spiritually beautify yourself prior to the wedding of the Groom and His bride:
- Pray
- Call upon God’s name
- Humble yourself
- Repent of your sins
- Repent of your unbelief in God
- Repent of your not remembering God
- Seek His face
Here’s another scripture which I believe meets this criteria:
“Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am;” (D&C 93:1)
Want to dive into D&C 93:1 in more depth? Click here and scroll down to the sections which begin with “D&C 93:1.” There, you’ll see dozens of posts to help you start beautifying.
This post is just the "tip of the iceberg" in our discussion of "The Gift of Healing Part 3." Want more in-depth insights? Click here to start the process of joining our Facebook group today! (Be sure to follow the instructions to a tee).
