Like Israel of old
I foolishly sought man’s protection
And trusted in the arm of flesh
Until you showed me the strength
Of Your invincible arm
And how much easier You can make
My journey’s difficult path.
How foolish I was to trust in man’s might,
How foolish to seek mortal comfort
And settle for feeble sentries of the
heart.
- Cathryne Allen
(Art by LDS Bookstore)
It always amazes me how the Saviour never washes His hands of Israel no matter how unfaithful they have been. Even when they fall into captivity, He plans and puts into place the process of rescue well before it is supposed to take place. He is a God of order and success. The return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem 70 years after their captivity began, as predicted by Jeremiah in his book (25:11,12; 29:10) is the prime example of this.
Behind the fulfilment of this prophecy was a Persian king that Jehovah prepared who conquered Babylonians by the name of Cyrus. It is suggested by historians that when Cyrus conquered Babylon that he found Daniel there in his governmental capacity, and that Daniel pointed out to him the prophecy of Isaiah that was given 140 years before the fall of Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:28, 45). Adding seventy years after the fall, makes 210 years of prophecy before Cyrus even appeared in Babylon. Astonishing, isn’t it?
The prophecy states that the Lord would raise up a mighty king who would free the Jewish captives in Babylon and allow them to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the holy city. Cyrus was so impressed with this prophecy about himself that he sent out the proclamation amongst the Jews in Babylon that ‘the Lord God of heaven had charged [him] to build him a house at Jerusalem’ (Ezra 1:2) and asked who among all of God’s people wanted to return. He actually offered freedom to anyone who wanted it.
Now this is the most astonishing bit. Approximately 50,000 people chose to return to Jerusalem while MOST chose not to return having been absorbed into the Babylonian way of life and the comfort of bondage. And this is why. In 605 BC King Nebuchadnezzar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire (now Iraq) was the beginning of Babylon’s greatness and glory. Using slaves from various areas of the empire, he inaugurated a massive building program to make Babylon the greatest city in the world. Opulence, greatness and glory was the object.
The grandeur of Babylon was incredibly impressive but with such opulence and wealth also came moral decay, wickedness and iniquity. Will Durant, a secular historian wrote that “even Alexander [the Great], who was not above dying of drinking was shocked by the morals of Babylon (Our Oriental Heritage, p 244).
Babylon became the antithesis of godliness. The very name of this city stood as the symbol for worldliness, spiritual wickedness and Satan’s kingdom. Scripturally it is known as: “the great whore” and “the mother of harlots and abominations (Rev 17:1; 5; D& C 133:14; 1:16; 1 Nephi 13:5-9; Babylonia and the Conquest of Judah, Old Testament Student Manual p 244).
There is one thing that stands out to me regarding Israel who fell into bondage with Babylon. God himself was in charge of this catastrophe promising Israel that He would bring a nation against them because of their sins and rejection of Him as their God (Jeremiah 25:7-9). So this is what stands out…..He did not give them into bondage to just any nation but the worst there was, Babylon, a nation so spiritually corroded that it stands out as an obvious product of Israel’s idol worship.
In other words, if they wanted to worship false idols and gods, this is what they got…..spiritual decay and spiritual bondage. This is a classical example of cause and effect. You want other gods? You get what other gods can give you!
The name “Babylon” is today synonymous
with ‘the world’. In Section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the saints are
commanded to ‘come out of Babylon’ in preparation for the Second Coming (v
5,7). So powerful is its grip that ancient Israelites did not want to leave it.
I wonder how many of us will heed the
call this time…..
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
It seems I cannot stop writing about this subject.
My close friend commented on one of my posts recently
and pointed out how well it was done. I replied: “Of course it was because I’m
a super-duper writer, a scriptorian and a spiritual giant!!! And the humility
is off the charts!!!”
We both laughed but the reality is that I AM a good
writer because I went to the University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in
English; I AM a scriptorian, a miniature one but nevertheless….because I have
studied the scriptures intently for the past 30 years; and I AM a spiritual
giant because I have a gravitational pull towards the truth and anything of the
spirit. I live for all three so I should by all means excel in all three.
Let me explain why this is important to me. I have
come to my 60s feeling very inadequate about myself. I have written before
about the reality of my upbringing in poverty in a socialist country. I was
brought up with an ingrained idea that I am not as good as my friends who came from
better households because their parents belonged to the communist party and
were privy to jobs others could never get. Added to this was my generational
poverty from ancestors who lived under the feudal system with overlords who
subjected them to the idea that they can never rise above servitude. All this
had an impact on me.
Fast forward to the age I became a member of Christ’s
Church and His avid disciple at the age of 18. Since then my eyes have been
opened to who I am and who I have always been as I have studied the teachings
of the Church and the scriptures, endured many trials and difficulties which
afforded growth and learning, and have had many revelations and insights into
my pre-earth life and my character. I am daring to trust that I am much more than I was raised to believe.
I wrote in a previous post about the Saviour’s
necessity to proclaim who He is, and to make His godly attributes and traits
known, so that we can have faith in His saving power. Never at any time when I
have read the scriptures did I get the impression that He was doing so out of
pride. He was simply saying, this is who I am, believe in me.
We should, like Him, follow suit in recognizing our
innate qualities and our growth. Most especially, following Christ and having a
close relationship with Him, should lift us higher than our earthly flaws and
humanity. We need to stand on higher ground so that we are able to lift others,
like He has done. Humility should be just another attribute that we can be
endowed with as we strive to become like Him.
Paul who called himself ‘the least of the apostles’ and
the ‘chief of the sinners’ (1 Cor 15:9; 1 Timothy 1:15), became the greatest
missionary in history because he knew who made a new person out of him and
therefore he could say: “…but by the grace of God I am what I am” (1 Cor 15:10)
Humility
springs in my heart
Like
a well overflowing
With
life giving water;
It
quells the pride of my soul
And
helps me see
I
could never be the Me;
But
for Thy grace
And
Thy devotion
To
make of me what
I
am meant to be.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
What
are children to a mother
If
not gifts from heaven’s door;
As
jewels from God’s own bosom
Gifted
to her heart forever more.
Entrusted
with the greatest charge
Sealed
with hope of tender care;
From
His hands
To
mothers given
As
gifts of worth beyond compare.
- CATHRYNE
ALLEN
How can I tell you
What my mortal lips cannot say?
How can I show you
What my mortal heart cannot hold?
All that I feel
And all that I am
I owe to you,
My God,
My Exemplar,
My all.
- Cathryne Allen
His
gift, the beauty of the earth,
To
soften the blow of turbulence
So
relentlessly near;
With
every movement of the trees
And
the rustle of its leaves,
He
whispers:
“I
am here”
- CATHRYNE
ALLEN
“For a man to
lay down his all, his (1) character and reputation, his honour, and applause,
his good name among men, (2) houses, his lands, his (3) brothers and sisters,
his wife and children and even his (4) own life also….requires more than mere
belief or supposition that he is doing the will of God; but actual knowledge,
realizing that, when these sufferings are ended; he will enter into eternal
rest, and be a partaker of the glory of God” (Jerry A. Wilson, Lecture 6:5, The
Great Plan of Happiness, Insights From the Lectures on Faith, p 68)
Just as the
Saviour paid an enormous price for the gift of eternal life that is on offer to
all of us, we are asked to sacrifice our all here in mortality, to basically
become like Him and be worthy of such a gift.
Paul called
all things that he sacrificed and walked away from ‘but filth and dross for the
excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ’. A real Jew, circumcised, of the
stock of Israel, a Pharisee of the tribe of Benjamin, as he called himself
(Philippians 3:5,8; Romans 11:1), walked away from his Jewish upbringing,
family, lucrative career, and social standing amongst the Romans, and chose to
believe in the gifts of eternity.
As well defined
as the path of sacrifice is in the above quote, I wish to write about another form
of sacrifice and that is the sacrifice of ego and self-importance because I
believe this is the power base of all other forms of sacrifice. This is the
root out of which all forms of sacrifice can grow.
I have a
friend currently on vacation in Bali. She has been very impressed with the people’s
kindness and helpfulness. She has learnt a lot of their customs, among which is
the traditional responsibility among Balinese people to care for their aging
parents. She found it amazing that ‘the poorer they are, the more caring and
loving they are.
I replied to
her that it is a proven truth that when you are not spoilt and encumbered by
the comforts and luxuries of the world, you care about things that truly matter
much easier and better. I also pointed out that we are so intent on ‘having
things’ and we do not realize how that pursuit encourages and motivates
self-importance to the detriment of the important things like giving of
yourself to others which is one of the sacrifices we are asked to make.
We live in a
world of ego called “me, myself and I”. Somehow, we have lost the sight of
sacrifice as we seek to elevate ourselves instead. The nature of our world is
undergirded by possession of worldly things, of houses and lands, of honour and
applause. We cannot survive without two incomes, professional unfulfillment, a
house in a well to do neighbourhood, private schools, latest cars…..and so
called holidays essential for our mental health.
While
Balinese people live on scooters from the age of 17 and care for their aging
family members, a lot of us are relying on aged care homes to care for our parents
and grandparents so we can ‘get on with our lives’.
If we are to
secure that gift of eternal life by emulating the life of Him who can give it
to us, we need to place the self on the altar of sacrifice more often that we
do as sacrifice of self reveals the face of eternity and the view is glorious
because of the greatest sacrifice there ever was:
“For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
