Every one has favorite scriptures. These are read, reread, shared, and enjoyed. But what about those neglected scriptures on the other end of the favorite spectrum? You know, the least favorite scriptures. I decided to focus on them. I first considered doing my top twenty but realized there simply would not be enough time. I next thought of doing my top ten, but I was still concerned about time. So I have reduced my topic to my top five all time least favorite scriptures.
Now what I want you to understand is that these scripture do have a message and a very powerful one. What makes them my least favorite scriptures is that their message is NOT one I particularly want to hear. Still, the message must be heard.
Setting
Before we get into them, I do need to put these scriptures in a setting. God knows the future and has shared with us what he knows. We have many prophecies that detail what is ahead. Much of what is coming is not pretty. Why? Three reasons:
We learn the first reason from what God revealed to the prophet Enoch. He said: "Behold, I am God,... Wherefore, can stretch forth my hands and hold all the creations I have made and mine eye can pierce them also, and among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not bee so great wickedness as among thy brethren" (Moses 7:35, 36). When it comes to righteousness, this planet is dead last. Why?
That brings us to the second reason, why much of the future is not pretty and the first reason why this planet dead least in righteousness.
Hugh Nibley tells an old story about an confrontation between Lucifer and God in which God cursed that old serpent. According to Nibley, Satan has proven he is a master at that and some of my least favorite scriptures are an outgrowth of his skill.
The third reason that much of the future is not pretty and the second reason this planet is dead last in rightness is because of people willingly follow Satan. Why are they? Because he promises them that they can find joy in wickedness and happiness in sin. This allows people to yield to the lusts of the natural man and follow their own carnal desires.
The result of this: Wickedness expressing itself by getting nastier and nastier. And why? During the decades of the 60's and 70's the secular Church found its footings. This church is the of the Great and Abominable Church of the Devil but in post-modern guise. It has sold its central doctrine well. And what is that? The supreme good of selfishness. What is the consequences of buying into this doctrine? Elder Neil A. Maxwell explained it very well.
"Surging selfishness . . . has shrunken some people into ciphers; they seek to erase their emptiness by sensations. But in the arithmetic of appetite, anything multiplied by zero still totals zero! Each spasm of selfishness narrows one's universe that much more by reducing his awareness of or concern with others. . . ."
By focusing on him or herself, a selfish person finds it easier to bear false witness, to steal, and covet, since nothing should be denied him [or her]. . . . [Thus] selfishness . . . causes us to be discourteous, disdainful, self-centered while withholding from others needed goods, praise, and recognition. . . .
Selfishness is actually the detonator of all the cardinal sins. It is the hammer for breaking the Ten Commandments, whether by neglecting parents, the Sabbath, or by inducing false witness, murder, or envy...
[Today] gross individual selfishness has been fully acculturated. [As a result societies are becoming disordered], without mercy, without hope, perverted, and past feeling (see Moro. 9). Society thereby reflects a grim, cumulative tally which signals a major cultural decline. . . .
Cultural decline is accelerated when single-interest segments of society become indifferent to the general values once widely shared. This drift is facilitated by the indifferent or the indulgent as society is led carefully down to hell" (see 2 ne. 28:21) (General Conference Report, April 3 & 4, 1999, 27-30).
Be warned, selfishness abounds as the central ethic of today's most popular religion system. As a result, love has waxed cold and lust is burning hot. Impurity and immorality are in pandemic proportions. The result is a people capable of wickedness to a degree never seen before in the cosmos. Their actions have made and are making this planet dead last in righteousness.
Top Five Least Favorite Scriptures
Thus, we have the ground in which my five least favorite scriptures stand. So let's take a look at my top five least favorite scriptures:
Five and five prime:
"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)
"And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land. (D&C 45:31)
The word scourge means to drive as with a whip, and connotes chastisement and affliction. So the Lord is going to chastise and afflict the earth in an attempt to get the people to repent. Part of that scourging will be a wide spread desolating sickness. One cannot help but think of AIDS and SARS, but there are others waiting in the wings panting to come on stage.
Four:
"And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people. For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds. And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people." (D&C 88:88 91)
This scripture looks as the physical side of the last days. The prophet Enoch learned that this earth is a living cognizant sphere aware of what is going on (see Moses 7:48-49). In modern scriptures, we find that she is righteous and that she reacts to the wickedness of her children. We are living at the time the earth is, indeed, reacting to what is going (see D&C 88:25-26). There is an old saying that, You don't want to mess with mother nature. Well, you surely do not want to mess with mother earth. But we have and now she's angry. Already, there is an underlying feeling of insecurity that is growing and will all too soon express itself in wide spread fear.
Three:
"For if I, who am a man, do lift up my voice and call upon you to repent, and ye hate me, what will ye say when the day cometh when the thunders shall utter their voices from the ends of the earth, speaking to the ears of all that live, saying Repent, and prepare for the great day of the Lord? Yea, and again, when the lightnings shall streak forth from the east unto the west, and shall utter forth their voices unto all that live, and make the ears of all tingle that hear, saying these words Repent ye, for the great day of the Lord is come? And again, the Lord shall utter his voice out of heaven, saying: Hearken, O ye nations of the earth, and hear the words of that God who made you. O, ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not! . . . Behold, the day has come, when the cup of the wrath of mine indignation is full." (D&C 43:21 26)
Here the message is in the verbal tense used, would have gathered. It expresses the idea of an act that could have taken place once, but cannot be done so now. The message of this scripture is that there is a point of no return and when people push in wickedness beyond that point, no one will be able to stop the destruction. When long suffering finally ceases to be a virtue, God will act and the earth will feel his fury. .
Two:
"And it shall come to pass afterward, [that] I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come." (Joel 2:28 31)
The Lord says he will show wonders. The Hebrew here is mofaith. The word denotes signs, portents that are conspicuous in nature and in magnitude. What will this wonder be? The scripture says: pillars of smoke. I wish the word here was ammoud column, pole, pillar. That is the way smoke is supposed to behave. That is not, however, the word God used. Instead that word he used is taimarah, the palm tree. Thus, Joel sees a great wonder consisting of smoke and fire ascending not in columns but spreading out at its top like date palm trees.
The only other place this metaphor is used is in the Song of Solomon 3:6 to describe a spice caravan coming into a town with the sweet odors spreading every where. In Joel's context, one cannot help but think of radio active dust and poisonous vapors.
One:
"And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled." (Rev 6:9 11)
The point of this scripture is that the roll of martyrs is not yet full. The era of persecution is not yet over. Those martyrs will come from the sixth and seven seal. That's our generation.
A martyr is one who gives her life for Christ. One does not have to die to be a martyr. In fact, the more difficult is not dying for Jesus but living for him. In these last days, God is calling his people to be witness, strong and articulate. But be warned: When a society legalizes immorality and perversion it does not just marginalize righteousness, it penalizes it.
The Message
As you can see, much of the future is not very pretty. Why has God told us these things? For very good reasons. A big one is to prepare is for what is to come. He has promised, if we are prepared, we need not fear (see D&C 38:30). God has also shown us the future so we can put our energies where they will be most effective. If a person knew his house was going to be burglarized, he would be fooling raising his fire insurance. But knowing what's coming he can install dead bolts if not purchase a house security system. So, too, it is with us.
Though some of the future is not pretty, much of it is down right gorgeous and we have a key role to play in that part. Indeed we need to hear that side of the story:
Lets set the background. First, a lesson from the waters of Marah." And when they [Moses and the Israelites] came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them" (Ex 15:23 25). The word marah means bitter, nasty, undrinkable. By placing the tree in the water, it became that is sweet, pleasant, drinkable.
The message of this story is in the phase and God showed Moses a tree. The healing agent was not a few herbs or a bush or a sapling. It was a full grown tree AND it was already there. All God had to do was show it to Moses and all was well. The point is, long before Moses arrived at Marah, God had prepared the way for Israel to be saved. I assure you the trees we will need are already there, strong and healthy and ready to turn the moments of marah, bitterness, into times of sweetness. When the time is right, God will reveal them to the prophet and our bitter moments will be turned to most sweet ones.
My second point is that you are here for a reason. It appears that you were among the most valiant in the pre-mortal world, you were sent down now because God could count on you to do what is necessary during a time when what is necessary will be the most difficult task to perform. God is asking us to once again show that determined valiance we did the pre-mortal world.
We must understand that, just because conditions are getting rough does not mean we get a pass. We have be preserved for this day for a reason. It is because we can make a difference. There is a simple parable that has shaped my thinking and my actions.
After a huge storm, thousands of starfish had been washed ashore and lie dying on the beach. An old man observed a boy pitching starfish after starfish into the sea. He approached the young boy asking, "Why are you doing that? There are so many your efforts wont make any difference!" The young boy looked at the starfish in his and tossing it into the sea replied, "It does to that one." We cannot save all the starfish perishing on the shore, but we can save some and with Gods inspiration directing us, we can save the one he wants saved.
Be Pure and Courageous
We are the saviors on mount Zion, but that means having the courage to stand up for what we believe. I have seen such courage many times but the most dramatic was while I served in the Untied States Army. There were six Latter-Day Saints in my training company. One was a school mate of mine, Lee Gillman. Like me, he was just an ordinary teenager. There was nothing really special about him. Neither of us were athletes, or particularly bright, or popular, or school officers just ordinary kids making our way along. Then came the day.
It was a Sunday evening about six weeks into our basic training at Fort Ord, California. We had received our first weekend pass and many enjoyed the time off by going to Tijuana, Mexico. That evening the men began to gather back to the barracks. We Latter-day Saints were together getting ready for inspection the next morning. We were chatting, polishing our boots, and paying little attention to what was going on around us when we were surrounded by a self-appointed committee who announced that they were going to show us Mormons what a real women looked like. This group, while in Tijuana, had picked up some pornographic pictures and decided we needed to see them. In those days, such items were not easily come by.
Lee was the one who spoke up first and told them to bug off, that we were not interested. Due to his objection, he became the target of their growing ire, so they forced him down and held a picture over his face. He closed his eyes. That made them mad and one of the guys tried to pry his eyes opened. That suddenly galvanized the rest of us and we can to the rescue. Before things got really bad, however, some with cool heads shouted the only two words that could stop a brawl, "SERGEANTS COMING!" By the time we realized it was a ploy, those same cool heads intervened and separated us thus giving everyone space to cool down.
I was quite upset by all this and went to the latrine to be alone. I sat in the stall frankly much longer than was necessary, primarily getting my feelings under control. I was not really paying attention to what was going on until I heard the word Mormon. Instantly, I was very alert. Not knowing what had preceded the word, I just sat and listened. Shortly there after I heard one of the guys say, "Yeah, they really are different," to which another responded, "Yeah, their different alright. They are clean." Then after a pause the first guy said, "I just wish I were clean." "Yeah," said the other, "So do I."
Interestingly, we never had any problems after that. Indeed, there were some of the guys who became our self-appointed guardians who really kept the other guys off our back. More importantly, it opened a discussion we these and others that allowed us to share the gospel.
Now there is a lesson in all this. You really don't have to be Johnny Lingo, the best of the best, in order to make a difference. You just have to be you but YOU must stand up for righteousness.
My experience illustrates the importance of two key virtues of our day: courage and purity. Purity, because it is that virtue which brings us closest to God." Blessed are the pure in heart, Jesus promised, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5:8). Courage because many do not like the light. The reason is that the visual purple of sin has caused light to burn their eyes. We must not be surprised if they try to extinguish it, nor should we lower its blaze. Indeed, we must hold it ever higher because we are becoming among the few who will. With that as background, lets look a most glorious future.
A Most Glorious Future
The end of my second least favorite scripture, the one about palm tress of fire and smoke dancing across the lands, actually leads to one of my most favorite." And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call." (Joel 2:32)
The Lord has elaborated on Joel and explained why deliverance will be in Zion. He has told us that he will establish a city of righteousness,
"And it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God; And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it, and it shall be called Zion. And it shall come to pass among the wicked, that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety. And there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven; and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another. And it shall be said among the wicked: Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand. And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion, singing with songs of everlasting joy" (D&C 45:66 71).Notice that those in Zion totally escape the horrors sweeping the world.
There is one last but very important point I need to emphasize with an experience. While living in San Diego, I visited the home of one of my fellow teachers. He and I went out to his garage and I was surprised to see the large amount of food storage he had. His had only a family of three, yet he had tons of food stored. I mentioned that to him. He pointed through the open door of the garage and said, See my neighbor over there? He helps me with my plumbing problems and see my neighbor down there? He helps me with my mechanical problems. They don't know what I know, so they don't store, but I'm not going to let them go hungry.
We must have his attitude. We are not building Zion just for us, but for all the honorable and good people of the earth, so they can have a place of refuge. They do not know the palm trees of fire are coming, We do and we need to build a place from them and their babies. And consider the thanks they will heap upon you because in a time of terrible immorality and impurity, you had the courage not only to keep your selves pure, but to promote the purity everywhere.
May the Lord bless us with that courage to remain pure and the courage to be courageous, I pray in Jesus name, Amen.