Remembering The Covenant: Back to the Start

The following post has been a labor of love over several years. By the time I finished it was 17 pages in a Google Doc. With no real way to cut it down and an acknowledgement that no one is likely to read a 17 page blog post I'm cutting it up to publish it in several parts (7 in total) in order to make it more likely that you'll reach the end. 😉

Part 6 can be read here: Remembering the Covenant: People of the Covenant

This is Part 7: Back to the Start.

Back To Mosiah

Now that we know God is working to fulfill His covenant, that the house of Israel stands poised to tread down those who have turned away from God and His truth, and that repentance and serving God are the keys to avoid being on the wrong side of that line, what does any of this have to do with Mosiah’s comments which I began with?

Mosiah basically said we can know when a nation is ready for destruction by the caliber of people chosen to lead it. He suggests that those chosen to lead it are a reflection of the caliber of people living in the nation. Another way of saying it is that the state of righteousness of a people can be judged by the righteousness of its leaders because a people will choose leaders which reflect their own personal beliefs and desires for how a nation should be run and governed. Thus if we see our politicians breaking commandments left, right, and center we must look to the people who put them in office and work to bring them to repentance first if we do not wish to bring upon us the destructions decreed by God and prophesied by the Lord in 3 Nephi 16.

And where should we begin with our repentance? Nephi suggests the following:

For the time speedily shall come that all churches which are built up to get gain, and all those who are built up to get power over the flesh, and those who are built up to become popular in the eyes of the world, and those who seek the lusts of the flesh and the things of the world, and to do all manner of iniquity; yea, in fine, all those who belong to the kingdom of the devil are they who need fear, and tremble, and quake; they are those who must be brought low in the dust; they are those who must be consumed as stubble; and this is according to the words of the prophet.

1 Nephi 22:23

We must begin by turning back to worshiping the true and living God and remove from us those religions (pop culture, politics, science, and in some cases actual churches) who have set themselves up to get gain of the world. We must seek leaders who are in control of their appetites and stop seeking to justify gratification of our own because we see our leaders do so. We must seek for those who will establish God’s righteousness as the law of the land and empower them to do so. This is where we must begin if we hope to not be wiped away when the Lord fulfills His covenant with the house of Israel.

A Message of Hope

For those of you who have made it this far in this post, I do not want to leave us with a spirit of fear and doom and gloom. That is not what the Lord would do. That is not what His chosen servants are doing. And that’s not what I want to do because there is hope to be had in and through the atoning blood of Jesus Christ.

In the very last verses of the Book of Mormon, Moroni extends to us the following invitation:

And again I would exhort you that ye would come unto Christ, and lay hold upon every good gift, and touch not the evil gift, nor the unclean thing.

And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever, that thou mayest no more be confounded, that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.

Yea come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

Moroni 10:30-33

Whatever else may come, for those of us intent on receiving and adhering to God’s revealed truth, hope comes through our continued search for Jesus Christ. If we come to Him we will be saved – saved from the disasters prophesied by the Lord discussed in this post and saved in the kingdom of God eternally.

Conclusion

So, after having read what I hope will be the longest post I ever write, please consider the following: During the next election season think twice about who you are choosing to put in office. Think twice about who you encourage others to support. Look first to the doctrines of God’s restored truth to determine who you want to choose to be put in office and let those doctrines be the shining pillars which guide your decisions for how you live and who you vote for now and always.

This is the end of Part 7: Back to the Start.

This concludes the series entitled: Remembering the Covenant.