THE GLORY OF A GOD

 

There are some in the Church who believe that the destruction of the wicked at the Second Coming will happen due to natural elements that will occur because of our destruction of the planet. This is a mistaken belief which undermines ‘the perfect workmanship’ of Christ’s hands that is our planet and denies His power and glory as a resurrected and exalted being that He now is which will be evident at His coming.

We are told that the righteous will be caught up to meet Him and in the process be transfigured while the wicked will remain on the earth. Why will the righteous be transfigured? So that they can withstand the brighteness of His glory and not be consumed. It makes for logic that those who remain in their raw, mortal state will not be able to withstand such light and will be destroyed by it (see D&C 5:19; McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary)

For those who want a more scientific approach, here it is. We are also told that when the Saviour appears, the sun will hide its face in shame (D&C 133:49). Why the shame? Because the Lord’s brighteness will outshine the sun.

According to science, the energy of sunlight can reach extremely high levels, with the highest-energy sunlight recorded reaching nearly 10 trillion electron volts….hence the ozone layer. If it were not for the ozone layer which acts as a shield to protect life on earth, we would all be fried to a crisp. When the Saviour comes, He will be more powerful than the sun and will come right through that ozone layer.

A reader with a more scientific mind, calculated that “every molecule in a resurrected body is ‘oscillating’ nearly the speed of light and if that’s so then if a normal healthy mortal puts out 100 watts of body heat, then an ‘exalted’ being will radiate 36.525 megawatts of heat. At that level of energy state, we are talking about hard X-rays and Gamma rays and blinding lights! The scriptures back that up by saying ‘a man will wither and die in His presence unless he is ‘quickened’” (Jon, Sieffert).

When the Saviour returns, this will be the result of the light and heat He will radiate:

1.      Mountains will flow down at His presence (D&C 133:40,44; Micah 1:4)

2.      The waters on the earth will boil (D&C 133:41)

3.      All nations will tremble at His presence (D&C 133:42)

4.      The sun will hide, the moon will withhold its light, and the stars will be hurled from their places (D&C 133:49)

5.      The wicked will be burned by the brighteness of fire of the glory of the Lord (Malachi 4:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:8; D&C 5:19)

How both glorious and terrible will be His appearing!!! He will come and subdue all enemies under His feet (D&C 76:61). He will need no sword or weapon or natural elements. He will accomplish this simply by being who He is, by the glorified nature of His person. This is what righteousness and perfection is, it destroys the wickedness and evil.

How great is our Saviour, our Redeemer, our King! There is none greater than Him. May we rise to meet Him in His glory and bend our knees to confess He is our everything!

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Come Unto Me by Yongsung Kim)

THE GLORY OF HIS SPIRIT

 

Most of us have wondered at some stage why the world is so wicked. We usually come up with answers relating to prophecies for our day and Satan’s power over the earth as his dominion. Both of these are true. However, Satan’s power could never had come to this boiling point if it wasn’t for one important warning found in the Doctrine and Covenants that has been ignored by the masses:

“Now the Lord has withdrawn His Spirit from the world. Do not let this thought become confused in your minds. The Spirit He has withdrawn from the world is not the Holy Ghost (for they never had that!), but it is the light of truth, spoken of in our scriptures as the Spirit of Christ, which is given to every man that cometh into the world, as you find recorded in Section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

“Now because of the wickedness of the world, that Spirit has been withdrawn, and when the Spirit of the Lord is not striving with men, the spirit of Satan is. Therefore, we may be sure that the time has come spoken of in Doctrine and Covenants 1:33-35…..Peace has been taken from the earth. The devil has power over his own dominion.

“The Spirit of the Lord has been withdrawn. Not because the Lord desires to withdraw that Spirit, but because of the wickedness of mankind, it becomes necessary that this Spirit of the Lord be withdrawn.  (President Joseph Fielding Smith, The Predicted Judgments, BYU Speeches of the Year [Provo, 21 March 1967] pp 5-6)

I am certain if we look around we will see the madness that surrounds us. People have lost their reason proclaiming bad to be good in the name of human rights and free will. Self-focus has become the obsession as people pursue ‘their truth’ and negate the one and only truth. Men’s hearts have grown cold and hatred rules us. Satan’s power and influence over the world is undeniable.

It would be a bleak world indeed if it wasn’t for one glimmer of hope: “The world is rapidly coming to its end, that is, the end of the days of wickedness. When it is fully ripe in iniquity the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven to take vengeance on the ungodly, for His wrath is kindled against them.” (President Joseph Fielding Smith; D&C 29:9-11)

The Saviour will return and He will bring the glory of His Spirit with Him. The ungodly will be destroyed, Satan will be bound and darkness will no longer cast its shadow on the world.

Consider the privilege it will be for those of us who will be in New Jerusalem enjoying the Saviour’s presence: “When the New Jerusalem is eventually built, and Jesus Christ returns to earth in glory, the need will disappear for the sun and the moon to give light to God’s covenant people. The Lord Himself will be an everlasting light” (Isaiah 60:19-22; Orson Pratt, in Journal of Discourses, 14:355-56).

We will want to be in New Jerusalem then. Hang in there. He is coming…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In Clouds of Glory by Greg Collins)

 

 

 

 

 

THE ENEMY

 

The most profound thing that Mormon uttered which also summed up his earthly life was said in exhortation to his son Moroni: “….for we have a labour to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness” (Moroni 9:6)

Is there anybody that has ever fought the enemy of all righteousness more than Mormon? I cannot fathom atrocities such as he was exposed to in the most-evil of all societies (Moroni 9:8-10).

Mormon described his people as brutal, strong in their perversion and delighting in everything that is not good. He went on to say that ‘tongue could not tell, neither could it be written’ of the suffering among the women and children (Mormon 9:19).

I cannot fathom it. I live in a peaceful country where the worst I have seen are street protests. I hear of crimes in the news but I have not witnessed anything evil. Mormon did. He was exposed to it all to the point where he cried to God to ‘hide their sins, and wickedness and abominations from before His face!” (Moroni 9:15).

Mormon knew the enemy and he knew him well. He wrote the whole Book of Mormon in such a way that we will come to know the enemy and ‘be more wise than they have been’ (Mormon 9:31)

I might not be a witness to his atrocities but I know that the enemy is working today in secret ways, in corridors of power and in personal battlefields. He seeks our destruction and when he succeeds, he laughs and he and his angels rejoice (3 Nephi 9:2).

We are on the spiritual battlefield today. We are fighting an enemy that cannot be seen. We cannot fight him with ammunition. Our line of defense is to fortify ourselves against the powers of darkness so that we might be endowed with the power of God that Nephi saw in his vision of us (1 Nephi 14:14).

We must stand up for righteous values by shunning the wrong and promoting the right. As we do so our efforts will reverberate throughout the earth. Even though small in number, we will 'come forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (D&C 109:73; 105:31). Evil can only be fought with righteousness.

The adversary knows us. He observes our behaviour and our choices and our words. He knows what buttons to push.  He sees those moments when we are the weakest. He waits for those moments. He lives for those moments.

Very often we refer to Satan as our foe but I propose that we are HIS foe. He has no power but what we give him. Therefore, we are more powerful than him. We, the strong, the valiant, the noble sons and daughters of God are the foe of evil and destructive forces of faith because we bear the image of the Son of God in our countenance.

We are the children of Christ. We are the warriors of today, called at such a time as this to prepare the way for Him to crush the enemy under His feet….

There is a desire in my soul

That wants to conquer Goliath

And watch him fall….

This warrior within me never sleeps

And yearns to hear the angels’ call,

A call to battle to make the devil fall.

And when Christ comes in clouds so holy

He will conquer that enemy

And we will confess His glory.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)