Marci Haws Cole
Concerning the retribution of God: Isaiah, in chapter 5 of that book, sings a song of the Lord's vineyard, which represents Israel. In the first few verses, Isaiah describes the blessings the Lord pours out on Israel: "And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein." When His vineyard, Israe,l brings forth wild grapes, or in other words, becomes wicked, the Lord describes what happens to those blessings: "I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it."
I think that these scriptures illustrate the fact that the Lord does not usually destroy wicked persons or people, He merely removes His Spirit, His strength, and His protection from them, and they are left to their own strength, to the buffetings of Satan, and to the wrath of their enemies. Sometimes, this does lead to destruction, and usually that destruction is foretold by God's prophets who speak for God who knows the end from the beginning.
A good example of prophetic warnings can be found in The Family: A Proclamation to the World, which I have mentioned in previous posts which says, "... Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets." We as a church believe that these calamities will occur as natural consequences of wickedness, and the removal of God's protection and blessings. Such warnings are put forth to encourage people to repent, and when they do, God, ever merciful, reinstates His blessings. I think that when the scriptures speak of God's hate, anger, retribution, etc, they are usually referring to this removal of blessings. As a church, we believe that though God's children have strayed, his "hand is stretched out still."
Isn't that great insight? I really liked it. In further reading, I came across these verses:
11 ¶Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
12 And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the operation of his hands. (We are consumed by selfishness and go about living our lives with little or no regard to the blessings that the Lord has available to us.)
13 ¶Therefore my people are gone into captivity, (by our own actions, we withdraw from the Lord and we lose our blessings) because they have no knowledge (we have forgotten the Lord, we have not taught our children about the Lord. We forget who we are) and their honourable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst (perhaps thirst for truth and knowledge?).
14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. (By our actions we have chosen to follow the adversary and rejoice in wickedness).
15 And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled: (Our rejoicing will eventually be brought to the stark realization of our mistakes. We will be humbled as we recognize that we have removed ourselves from the Lord. Wickedness never was happiness.)
16 But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgment, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness. (God does not change, his judgements are just. It is we that change.)
20 ¶Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! (This is selfishness. We become so wicked that we come to believe that we know better than our Creator.)
25 Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them (there are consequences for bad behavior): and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. (There are consequences, but the Lord still stretches forth his hand, gives us every opportunity to choose righteously.)
26 ¶And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:
The Lord is merciful. It is His children that stray away from Him. His hand is stretched out all the day long, it is us that reject Him. We see so much of this happening today.
I have often said that I believe we (Americans specifically) have come to the end of the pride cycle. We have become too haughty and selfish. All around us mighty men and women call good evil and evil good. We live in a day and age when all that matters is whatever makes you feel good. The family is under great assault, Christians are ridiculed and in other countries murdered. ISIS is an evil organization that is terrorizing any and all people who believe in Jesus Christ. My five year old child is taught in school that some families have two moms or two dads and that there is nothing wrong with that. All that is promiscuous is celebrated and embraced. Children are taught that it is their right to experiment with their sexuality and there are no consequences for doing so. Little girls are encouraged to be sexy. Pornography is everywhere. It is the plague of our day. Our job as parents is to teach our children what to do when they do encounter pornography, because there is no way to completely shield them from it. We protect as best we can, but it is literally everywhere. Politicians believe that they know better than parents and they are shoving their liberal agenda down our children's throats. Preachers are threatened with jail time or hefty fines if they refuse to marry same-sex couples. Homosexual marriage is recognized in so many states now, it is only a matter of time before it is recognized in all states. So much is happening. So much sadness and despair. I could go on and on and on... We cannot go on like we are and not fall. This nation will fall. We have removed ourselves from God and He will withdraw his protection from the wicked.
“For behold, this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore he that doth possess it shall serve God or shall be swept off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. …
“Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:10, 12).
Way back in 1979, President Ezra Taft Benson warned Americans of what lies ahead (his particular warning was that of communism):
Never before has the land of Zion appeared so vulnerable to so powerful an enemy as the Americas do at present. And our vulnerability is directly attributable to our loss of active faith in the God of this land, who has decreed that we must worship Him or be swept off. Too many Americans have lost sight of the truth that God is our source of freedom—the Lawgiver—and that personal righteousness is the most important essential to preserving our freedom. So, I say with all the energy of my soul that unless we as citizens of this nation forsake our sins, political and otherwise, and return to the fundamental principles of Christianity and of constitutional government, we will lose our political liberties, our free institutions, and will stand in jeopardy before God.
No nation which has kept the commandments of God has ever perished, but I say to you that once freedom is lost, only blood—human blood—will win it back.
There are some things we can and must do at once if we are to stave off a holocaust of destruction.
First: We must return to worship the God of this land, who is Jesus Christ. Second: We must awaken to “a sense of [our] awful situation, because of this secret combination which [is] among [us]” (Ether 8:24). We must not tolerate accommodation with or appeasement toward the false system of Communism. Third: We must do as the Lord commanded us by revelation in 1833: “Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil” (D&C 98:10).
Men who are wise, good, and honest, who will uphold the Constitution of the United States in the tradition of the Founding Fathers, must be sought for diligently. This is our hope to restore government to its rightful role.
Last: We must study the inspired Constitution and become involved in the political process ourselves. I testify to you that God’s hand has been in our destiny. I testify that freedom as we know it today is being threatened as never before in our history. I further witness that this land—the Americas—must be protected, its Constitution upheld, for this is a land foreordained to be the Zion of our God. He expects us as members of the Church and bearers of His priesthood to do all we can to preserve our liberty.
Again, His hand is stretched out still. I just hope America will wake up and grab hold of His hand before it is too late. Yet, the righteous are not to fear, because He has promised to bless the righteous. But, that doesn't mean we are free from suffering.
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