Are Mormons in trouble?

There are a lot of things that the early lds church members weren't perfect at. And likewise, there are a lot of things that modern day church members struggle with.   But there is ONE specific thing that caused The Lord to put "the whole church" under condemnation.  He said "this condemnation resteth upon the children of Zion, EVEN ALL." D&C84
 
And interestingly enough, President Benson said we're under condemnation for the same thing. What is that one thing and why is it that? And not something else seemingly more grievous?

It is for taking The Book of Mormon lightly.
Well, what's the big deal with the BOM? Lots of things, but one of them is, it tells the story of our cozy little Mormon church slipping away into apostasy, and eventual downfall. (Unless repentant) If a person is reading the BOM without an understanding of who the Gentiles are, and who The Remnant is, then they are missing a very loud message that's taught all throughout. It's explained quite clearly who's who in the title page. 

When it's understood that we are grouped in with, and considered Gentiles-as far as the context of the BOM is concerned.. The book then becomes very sobering indeed! In fact, it becomes our greatest condemner. When ironically enough, we continue to pass it out to all the world. 

I'm afraid that the wheat and the tares are not going to be as easily discernible as people think. There is corruption in our church, and many people will falter when that corruption starts to be revealed. They will throw the baby out with the bath water, because their testimony is based on the righteousness of the top 15 etc.  Whereas, if it's rooted in Jesus Christ and the BOM, then when the walls start to crumble, they will still be left standing. It won't matter one whit who's doing what! Things like tattoos, double earrings, mild barley drinks, coffee, long hair, beards, white shirts, ties, etc. etc. have become our measuring sticks against one another.  When those things are incredibly unimportant.

I would love to see someone get up in General Conference on Saturday wearing jeans and a button up shirt. It'd be amazing! That's the equivalent of what Christ did in his day. We are becoming Pharisees, and can't even see it. The warnings are there in the BOM as plain as day. "And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon."

Our friend, and wilderness prophet Hugh Nibley, also had a lot to say about it...

Satan is very tricky

"There is a precedent for the bit of faking--a most distinguished one. Satan, being neither stupid nor inexperienced, knows the value of a pleasing appearance--there are times when it pays to appear even as an angel of light. He goes farther than that, however, to assure that success of his masquerade (given out since the days of Adam) as a picturesquely repulsive figure--a four-star horror with claws, horns, or other obvious trimmings. With that idea firmly established, he can operate with devastating effectiveness as a very proper gentleman, a handsome and persuasive salesman. He "decoys" our minds (a favorite word with Brigham Young) with false words and appearances. A favorite trick is to put the whole blame on sex. Sex can be a pernicious appetite, but it runs a poor second to the other. For example: We are wont to think of Sodom as the original sexpot, but according to all accounts "this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom": that great wealth made her people cruel and self-righteous.  The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism. Long hair, beards, necklaces, LSD and rock, Big Sur and Woodstock come and go, but Babylon is always there: rich, respectable, immovable.."

Hugh Nibley

Judge not according to the appearance

"It is not difficult to discover the plot of the drama of the restored gospel. But the prince of this world does not like certain aspects of the play, and so his people have undertaken to rewrite the script. What has today happened is an old story and is crassly obvious--they have switched villains on us. They have cast an obnoxious young lightweight (a very minor devil) to the role of the Evil One while the one most qualified to play it prefers to take the part of a dignified, upright, mature, and often charming gentleman. It was clever to put a pathetic, long-haired, dirty, neurotic, mixed-up, idealistic, sex-hungry fool in the role of the heavy while an actor of infinitely greater skill and experience takes the highly respectable part of the arch pillar of society. But no one whose knowledge of life and letters has taken him as far as a season of TV westerns or soap operas would be fooled for a minute by the shift. The well-groomed, well-dressed, well-fed, successful, respectable man of the world (in the western, it's the banker, mine owner, or local land baron) points a finger trembling with righteous wrath and scorn at the miserable, half-baked tramp or cowboy who gives himself away all over the place. The sorriest thing about Babylon's masquerade and the switched villains is that there is nothing the least bit clever or subtle about it. It is all as crude, obvious, and heavy handed as it can be, and it only gets by because everybody wants it to. We rather like the Godfather and the lively and competitive world he moves in: what would TV do without it? What other world have our children ever known? We want to be vindicated in our position and to know that the world is on our side as we all join in a chorus of righteous denunciation; the haircut becomes the test of virtue in a world where Satan deceives and rules by appearance." 

The Lord has said, "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment

(John 7:24).

Hugh Nibley

Matthew 23 -JS

Matt 23 

Bold are JS additions

1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude,
and to his disciples, saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:

2 All, therefore, whatsoever they bid you observe, they will make you observe and do; for they are ministers of the law, and they make themselves your judges. But do not ye after their works; for they say, and do not.
3 For they bind heavy burdens and lay on men’s shoulders, and they are grievous to be borne; but they will not move them with one of their fingers.
4 And all their works they do to be seen of men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi, (which is master.)
5 But be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master, which is Christ; and all ye are brethren.
6 And call no one your creator upon the earth, or your heavenly Father; for one is your creator and heavenly Father, even he who is in heaven.
7 Neither be ye called master; for one is your Master, even he whom your heavenly Father sent, which is Christ; for he hath sent him among you that ye might have life.

Who are the sinners

"Brigham Young has this to say on the Puritan ethic, which shifts the burden of guilt from wealth to sex:

When the books are opened, out of which the human family are to be judged, how disappointed the professedly sanctified, long-faced hypocrites and smooth toned pharisees will be, when the publicans and harlots enter into the kingdom of heaven before them; people that appeared to be full of evil, but the Lord says they never designed to do wrong; the Devil had power over them, and they suffered in their mortal state a thousand times more than you poor, miserable, canting, cheating, sniveling, hypocritical pharisees; you were dressed in purple and fine linen, and bound burdens upon your weaker brethren that you would not so much as help to lift with your little fingers. Did you ever go without food, suffer with tooth-ache, sore eyes, rheumatism, or the chills and fever? You have fared sumptuously all your days and you condemned to an everlasting hell these poor harlots and publicans who never designed an evil. Are you not guilty of committing an evil with that poor harlot? Yes, and you will be damned while she will be saved." 

 Hugh Nibley

$$ IN GOD WE TRUST $$

Temple and Cosmos -Nibley

"In our day, as in various other times in history, the sanctity and the authority of the temple have been preempted in the religion of mammon, for example. Our banks are designed after the manner of ancient temples, with imposing fronts, ceremonial gates and courts, the onyx, the marble, the bronze—all are the substances of ancient temples. The sacred hush that prevails, the air of propriety, decorum, and dedication; the pious inscriptions on Zions Bank's walls are quotations from Brigham Young (the one man who really had it in for business). The massive vault door, through which only the initiated may pass, gleams chastely in immaculate metal. The symbol makes the reality of all that is safe and secure—that is, the Holy of Holies. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. This is the Lord speaking. We declare that our trust is in God, and we give ourselves away by stamping that declaration where it belongs—on our coins and bills."

Know Your Enemy

Darkness is real.

“The things of God are of great import; and time, and experience,and careful, and ponderous, and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, oh man, if thou wilt lead a man unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost heavens, and search into and contemplate the darkest abyss, and the broad expanses of eternity; thou must commune with God!”

– Joseph Smith

*this post has been erased, and replaced by this quote that sums it up.  :)