“For the world shall fall ill to the iniquity of mankind; yea, the greed of men shall be as a poison that will drain the earth of its life, and she shall become sick.” -Neum 13:4
I grew up being told that we live in the last days. Looking at the view I was raised in, if the last days began with Joseph Smith’s First Vision, then we have been in the last days for over 200 years now. I grew up reading the thoughts of past leaders of the church my family had joined when I was a small boy. For 200 years, these men saw the end just around the corner.
When compiling the large plates, Mormon said:
“And ye may know that the words of the Lord, which have been spoken by the holy prophets, shall all be fulfilled; and ye need not say that the Lord delays his coming unto the children of Israel.” -3 Nephi 13:55 RAV, 29:2
Yet after 200 years, many have begun to say just this. Yet we still seek the signs of His second coming, as the Spirit tells us that Jesus will return again. One of the signs we see today of His return is climate change. There are those that seek to deny the reality of climate change, yet we see church and state uniting in their desire to take action. Even with all the hype, nothing substantial is happening. Growing up in the 70’s, I saw the nations of the earth come together and take action, action that worked, to save the ozone layer that protects us from the sun’s deadly rays. Why are we not doing this today? The sad reality is that just as Neum predicted, the greed of mankind is stopping us from fixing this problem. And it is a problem we have created, and that God warned us was coming if we did not repent.
Blessing and Curses
In the scriptures, God covenants to bless us, and we covenant to obey Him (3 Moses 27:7, Exodus 19:8). However, He also says that there will be consequences if we do not obey.
Blessings
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“If thou walk in my statutes, and keep my instructions, and do them, then I will give thee rain in due season; and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit; and thy threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and thou shall eat thy bread to the full and dwell in thy lands safely.” -4 Moses 6:7-8/Leviticus 26:4-5
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“And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand.” -3 Moses 31:11-12/Deuteronomy 28:11-12
Curses
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“But if thou will not hearken unto me and will not do all these instructions, and if thou shall despise my statutes, or if thy soul should abhor my judgments, so that thou will not do all my instructions, but that thou break my covenant, I also will do this unto thee: I will even appoint over thee terror, consumption, and the sickness of chills and fever, that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart; and thou shall sow thy seed in vain, for thy enemies shall devour thee and the fruits of the land in which thou should labor. And I will set my face against thee, and thou shall be slain before thine enemies; they that hate thee shall reign over you; and thou shall flee when none pursueth you; I am YHVH, thy Elohim.
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“And if thou will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish thee seven times more for thy sins; and I will break the pride of thy power; and I will make thine heaven as iron and thine earth as brass; and thy strength shall be spent in vain; for the land shall not yield her increase; neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits; I am YHVH, thy Elohim.
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“And if thou walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon thee according to thy sins. I will also send wild beasts among thee, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy thy cattle, and make thee few in number; and your highways shall be desolate; I am YHVH, thy Elohim.
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“And if thou will not be reformed a by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto thee and will punish thee yet seven times for thy sins. And I will bring a sword upon thee that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant; and when ye are gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among you; and thou shall be delivered into the hand of the adversary. And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven; and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight; and thou shall eat and not be satisfied. And if thou will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto thee also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise thee seven times for thy sins; I am YHVH, thy Elohim.” -4 Moses 6:17-31/Leviticus 26:16-28
In other words…
- We will live in fear
- We suffer from “sickness of chills and fever“
- Our crops will fail
- We will see more wars and conflict
Add to these the words of Jesus as found in Matthew 24, particularly “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold,” and we see that we are living in a world filled with the natural consequences of our actions and our inactions (Matthew 24:12).
Living in Faith, not Fear
I do not want to be a doomsday prophet. I think our scientists are already doing that work for us. We see currently two extremes: fear of inaction and fear of action. Those that fear action want us to do nothing as they believe climate change is a hoax made to lead people away from God. Those that fear inaction love to talk about climate change, but are doing nothing to fight it.
Fear of Action
Even if climate change were a hoax (and it is not) then helping the planet would not lead people away from God, but to God. The first commandment we are given comes from Genesis:
“Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” -Genesis 1:28
Some have claimed this means we can destroy the planet as God gave us free reign, but let’s look at how this commandment reads in the plates of brass:
“And I blessed them and said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and take charge of it; watch over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth, in righteousness.” -1 Moses 3:42-43
Are we showing righteous dominion when we destroy the earth for any reason? No. And it is even worse that we are doing so today to increase the wealth of a select few.
Fear of Inaction
Unfortunately, fear is a powerful driver of humanity. Talking about climate change gives certain people an amount of power and control. Doing nothing about it allows them to keep that power and control. It creates a sense of urgency with no action. The citizens become fearful that nothing is done and give power to those that say they will help, then those that claimed they would help blame the naysayers when they do nothing to fix the problem.
Living in Faith
The problem with both of these types of fear-mongering is that there is no faith. There is no faith in God and there is no faith in ourselves. While there are those that say there is nothing we can do, please do not believe them. Prayers help, prayers push positivity, the light of Christ, out into the world. Volunteering to clean in your community helps. Being informed as to what we are buying, trying to live more sustainably, these things help. Please do not allow yourselves to be talked into inaction. Zion is not merely a people, it is a way of life. It is who we are on the inside and the outside, from our core to our actions.
“Wherefore did I give Adam and Eve dominion to care for this, my creation; for ye are my creation, and when ye shall care for the earth and my creation, ye are in my service, but when thou rejecteth my creation, and seek to force my creation into submission, thou doth reject me an my work, seeking not for my glory, nor for the glory of the Father or for the Mother. And I say unto thee, O man: Forget not thy origins; for without me and without this earth, thou shall not survive; therefore, I say unto thee: Seek not to build up for thy own gain, for Zion shall not be there; but seek Zion in thy heart, and ye shall build Zion.” –Building Zion 27-30
