Tag Archives: Babylon

Isaiah: Archetypes and Ascension

06 Friday Mar 2020

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Decades ago, a professor named William Brownlee discovered in the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah a seven part division of Isaiah’s book in two parallel blocks of chapters. At that time, scholars barely determined that biblical books even had literary structures. So Brownlee’s discovery was mostly passed over. Another professor, a colleague of Brownlee by the name of Roland Harrison, a mentor of Avraham Gileadi, suggested that Gileadi explore this structure for his doctoral thesis. And so a chiasmus of history was examined that became what Gileadi describes as Seven Spiritual Categories or Isaiah’s Ladder, which looks like this:

Isaiah 1-33
1a-2a-3a-4a-5a-6a-7a

Isaiah 34-66
1b-2b-3b-4b-5b-6b-7b

It is reminiscent of Jacob’s ladder as described in the book of Genesis:

Genesis 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
16 ¶And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not.
17 And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

Isaiah seems to codify his own ladder, which symbolizes the different ways of living that people choose, which either move them up the ladder to God or down the ladder toward destruction.

So using the code above (1a corresponding with 1b, etc), we have the following structure in categories corresponding with chapters:

-Ruin and Rebirth (1-5, 34-35)
–Rebellion and Compliance (6-8, 36-40)
—Punishment and Deliverance (9-12, 41-46)
—-Humiliation and Exaltation (13-23, 47)
—Suffering and Salvation (24-27,48-54)
–Disloyalty and Loyalty (28-31, 55-59)
-Disinheritance and Inheritance (32-33, 60-66)

There are distinctions within each level or set of choices we make that brings covenant blessings or covenant cursings. A ladder appears when we recognize these categories of people as an ascending order, from the lowest (or farthest from being like God) to the highest (most like Him). John made it clear in one of his epistles when we obtain the highest rung:

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

We find ourselves at any given time on one rung or another depending on the choices we make; or in other words, what spiritual laws we live or choose not to live. We are either ascending or descending. And if we are idle, well that isn’t good either. You gotta climb. We gain God’s presence when we enter heaven. Some people attain this state in this life.

This seven part structure presents models on each level, or on each rung. We participate in the role of each model as we ascend or descend. Isaiah’s “ladder” looks like this:

Jehovah-God of Israel
Seraphim-Angelic Emissaries
Sons/Daughters-Servants of God
Zion/Jerusalem-God’s Covenant People
Jacob/Israel-Believers in a Creator-God
Babylon-The Wicked of the World
King of Assyria/Babylon-Perdition

At the bottom is depicted the archtyrant who conquers and destroys. People on the lowest rungs resemble the archtyrant as they follow his example of despotism. The more we resemble him, the lower we descend. Conversely, the more we become like Jesus Christ, the higher we ascend. By looking at Israels’ history and its people we can compare ourselves to them and see where we are on the ladder. Isaiah provides that yardstick for us. We don’t need to wait until we die to ascend or descend. Knowing exactly where we stand NOW puts to rest any false “notions of grandeur” that we have about ourselves. I believe some of us are in the Jacob/Israel rung, some with one foot on the Babylon rung and others with one foot in the Zion/Jerusalem rung. Some of us are on the Zion/Jerusalem rung. Most of us are in the Babylon rung. A careful reading of chapter six of Isaiah indicates that he became a type of angelic emissary. God tends to call those in higher rungs to minister to those in lower rungs. For example, Jehovah ministers to Isaiah, Isaiah ministers to King Hezekiah, and King Hezekiah ministers to his servants who minister to the people of Israel. The higher one ascends, the more like angels they become.

Such archetypes can be found in many literary works and fiction. It’s kind of fun to plug in these archetypes into familiar stories, though not all types are always utilized.

The Matrix
Neo
The Oracle
Morpheus, Trinity
Zion, the last and only human city on Earth
People asleep in the Matrix
Agent Smith
The Architect

Star Wars
Luke Skywalker
Yoda
Obi-wan Kenobi, Princess Leia
The Rebellion, Biggs, Wedge, etc
The people in the Galaxy far, far away
The Empire, Darth Vader, stormtroopers, etc
Emperor Palpatine

The more a covenant people (ten tribes of Israel) resembles Zion, the less they have to do with Babylon, Mammon, and all materialism. Buying things where moth and rust corrupt is no longer part of their lives and money is used to liberate and elevate the poor and needy, the widows and fatherless. As such, idols and figures, no matter how ornate and beautiful are abandoned.

Sale

The less a covenant people resembles Zion, the more they resemble Babylon and all things worldly. Commerce and materialism abounds. Vanity is a commonplace and self indulgence becomes the doctrine.

brand

In this fallen world, it’s not difficult to tell where Israel ends and Babylon begins when money changers are exalted as mankind’s saviors.

SLC

Years ago, I watched a few videos in the series, How The Universe Works. I really enjoy watching these documentaries periodically to remind me how certain laws of physics must be obeyed. One example is gravity. While on a mission in space, an astronaut put some left-over salt and other food debris in a plastic bag filled with water for a fun experiment. Low and behold, these granules, as they randomly bumped into each other, stuck together. Before long, more and more of these granules and food stuffs began clumping. This discovery and the point of the experiment is that in the vacuum of space, matter tends to clump together due to gravity.

Because of the “Big Bang,” which sent into space unimaginable amounts of debris, gravity caused a lot of this debris to begin to attract other debris. Bits and pieces of elements begin to clump, forming larger clumps and so on. Eventually, as enough hydrogen and helium elements find each other and clump together because of gravity, they accumulate so much mass that fusion occurs. When fusion occurs there is an explosion. But because gravity is so powerful in this new mass, it holds the fusion back. So you have this constant struggle between fusion and gravity. And this tug of war creates a star just like our own sun. Meanwhile around the sun, more and more debris continues to collide and clump together, forming planets and moons. As the momentum of the Big Bang continues, all things continue moving outward into space, becoming organized into swirls of bodies. Moons settle into orbits around planets, planets settle into orbits around stars like our sun and more still, our solar system travels around what is called a singularity, which is at the center of our galaxy. All of this happens because of gravity.

It is gravity that has caused this “organization” of matter (stars, planets, moons, gases, debris) to swirl around a singularity (also known as a black hole). Vast arms of debris swirl around the center of the galaxy in a giant disc. This has all been happening for billions of years. But time is appointed only to man. Time is irrelevant to God who exists outside of time. In our Milky Way Galaxy, our tiny solar system lies a certain distance from the singularity in the center. If we were too close to this singularity, we’d suffer from the radiation of the many giant stars which orbit the singularity. We are located in just the right spot in one of the galaxy’s arm known as Orion’s Arm. Anyway, we are all still experiencing the after effects of the Big Bang, or as we like to call it, creation. It’s all slowing down, but it’s happening in terms of millions of years, even though we’re traveling through space at unimaginable speed from the momentum of creation.

Back to gravity. The closer to the center of the galaxy we look, the more we see giant stars orbiting the singularity at tremendous speeds. All these giant stars towards the center of the galaxy give off tons of radiation. The farther out the stars orbit the singularity, the slower the orbit around the singularity, like our sun. As such, there is allowance for planets and moons to do their thing, forming solar systems. And of course at the edge of our galaxy, everything is moving the slowest, but all are still held together by what is called dark matter, or else, we’d all be flung outward into space, with the galaxy dissipating into nothing.

An analogy can be made that each time we ascend, we must first descend (Jesus Christ descended below us all so that he could lift us all). We must first experience sacrifice/humility in order to grow spiritually to the next level. For example, each season a tree grows by shedding its leaves, then becomes dormant and then comes alive again the next season with new life, new leaves, etc. A cross section of a tree reveals rings, indicating how many seasons the tree has grown. The tree obeys certain laws of nature. It experiences cycles of death and cycles of rebirth just as Jesus Christ descended from His throne to be born and then die that a new creation (us) might come forth because of His own resurrection. The same analogy can be made with the universe. All matter must obey laws, too. Smaller bodies obey laws of larger bodies. Moons obey the law of gravity of planets. Planets obey the law of gravity of their suns. Suns obey the law of gravity of the singularity at the center of the galaxy. I find it fascinating that scientists have mathematically concluded that time cannot exist in a singularity. Just as with God, time does not exist. It is only appointed to us, who progress by obeying laws to those higher than us (Jesus Christ) who also obeyed laws higher than Him (the Father). We exit this temporal (time) existence when we ascend to where God is outside the confines of this massive vacuum.

In the above ladder, we also observe the descent into the Babylon level and also Perdition. Likewise in the universe there are rogue bodies such as asteroids and comets and other random debris, all of which are much smaller by comparison to planets and suns. These rogue bodies do not obey laws. They are lost without a pattern to follow. Such symbolism in creation testifies to the beauty and intelligence of a Supreme Creator who knows all things and does all things. And like the body of the sun, which we compare to the celestial glory, (in contrast with the terrestrial glory, 1 Corinthians 15:40), when fusion occurs, light and glory is manifested. The more we understand the profound writings of Isiah, the better we will understand our place in the grand scheme of creation.

You are here.

 

Great Are the Words of Isaiah

19 Wednesday Feb 2020

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It was about 2012 when I decided to make a serious study of the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament and for about two years, I focused on this book alone.

3 Nephi 23:1 And now, behold, I say unto you, that ye ought to search these things. Yea, a commandment I give unto you that ye search these things diligently; for great are the words of Isaiah.
2 For surely he spake as touching all things concerning my people which are of the house of Israel; therefore it must needs be that he must speak also to the Gentiles.
3 And all things that he spake have been and shall be, even according to the words which he spake.

Those are the very words out of the mouth of our Savior, Jesus Christ when He visited the people in the land Bountiful. I no longer wanted to skip over the Isaiah chapters in Second Nephi and because of my intensive studies of Isaiah’s words, I no longer wade through these Isaiah chapters with weariness, but rather, I relish reading them today.  There are four remarkable commentaries on Isaiah’s writings found in the Book of Mormon. They are given by Nephi, Jacob, Abinadi, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when He visited the people at Bountiful.

(Background) In a nutshell

The Assyrians occupied the upper Mesopotamia. For centuries they killed and conquered nations from Egypt to Persia and built their mighty empire on their ruins. Once conquered, the enemies were brutally tortured in order to make an example of any who would rebel. Walls and stone carvings depicted images of people being skinned alive, burned to death, children being blinded before their parents and many more violent and unthinkable barbaric brutalities.

It is no wonder that Jonah fled rather than accept his divine assignment to preach repentance to them at Niniveh. But the terror of his stay inside the belly of a whale caused him to finally humble himself sufficiently to fulfill his mission. And to his amazement, they did repent. But this only lasted about forty years before they were spilling blood again.

During the height of its power, Assyria made a continuous assault on the northern kingdoms of Israel and in 721 BC, succeeded in its conquest, carrying off of to Assyria the last major segment of the Israelites. After Assyria’s fall, however, these people migrated northward and became known as the “lost tribes of Israel.”

The fall of this empire was prophecied by Isaiah, but so strong was this empire and huge and vast, was the capital of Niniveh, that people laughed and scoffed at him. Where once, Assyria was a small northern province of Babylon, it had become a super power. By the time that Lehi would have been born, Assyria would have ascended to the height of its power. But by the time Lehi had married and raising a family, the tide of history shifted. Babylon became increasingly agitated and an uprising was soon at hand.

The fact that hordes of barbarians from the north began descending to loot the mighty Assyrians enabled Egypt to break away. Then Media began to rebel. The Babylonians to the South mobilized, demanding independence. About a decade before Lehi left Jerusalem, the great battle for Ninevah was fought. All dissident factions stormed the city, breaching its might walls.

The Assyrians regrouped, setting up a temporary capital at Haran, where Abraham formerly lived and attempted to create a counter-offensive. It was at this time that Egypt’s ruler, Necho II realized that as much as he despised Assyrian rule, he hated the thought of Babylonian conquest more. He mobilized his armies up the highway along the Mediterranean coast of Palestine and found a surprise at the narrow pass near Megiddo. They found Josiah, king of Judah, commanding an army and blocking the way. Obviously the mountain kingdom of Judah did not want the Egyptians to succeed.

Necho had nothing against them because they were among Egypt’s best customers. But Necho was not about to let them stop him. He sent ambassadors to Josiah, saying, “What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make hast: forebear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not.”–2 Chronicles 35:21

To make the long story short (trying to, anyway), Josiah refused and was killed in battle. This was about 609 BC and when Lehi was well on his way to achieving status as a prosperous citizen at Jerusalem. The fact that he lived down from the city in the land of his inheritance might have contributed to his safety while it is conceivable that Laban, with his “ten thousand” fought in the battle with Josiah.

The next few years war raged between Babylon and Assyria, supported by Egypt. Babylon had gained major traction when it’s king died and Nebuchadnezzar was crowned in his father’s place. In the process of mopping up and sweeping toward Egypt, Babylon swallowed up the tiny kingdom of Judah like a tiny crumb. He ordered his ministers to take some of the promising young Jews to be trained in the language, culture and governmental procedures of Babylon. One of the young men was Daniel and three other young Jewish men accompanied him. Eventually, through miraculous events, they proved themselves to be outstanding. Daniel ended up being the king’s top adviser and the others, administrators of Babylon.

What the Jews at Jerusalem did not know was that the Lord was setting up a series of circumstances, which would be most favorable to them. But the apostate king, Jehoiakim, despised the prophets. During the siege, he had to stop paying tribute to Egypt and begin paying Babylon, which he despised. Soon, though, he stopped paying tribute to Nebuchadnezzar. Before long, he was under attack and died. Nebuchadnezzar raided and looted the temple, then rounded up and carried away captive ten thousand people, including craftsmen and smiths. (See map below).

assyrianempire

With this historical background aside, here are some verses to ponder:

Isaiah 1:3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward…
10 ¶ Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats…
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

The ox and the ass are arguably the least intelligent of domesticated animals and yet they are both described as knowing their owner or master. Isaiah is speaking to a nation of idolaters. These are His children, His “covenant people.” Yet they do not know Him. The ox is a clean/kosher animal, which could be likened to the Israelites. The ass is an unclean animal and could be likened to all the gentiles (not of the ethnic lineage of Abraham). Both dumb animals know their owners and masters. Yet the Lord’s covenant people do not know Jehovah. The Master’s own covenant people are considered with a covenant curse. To “know” the Lord is a covenant relationship, but to NOT know Him is a covenant curse. In this passage, the Lord is exasperated by the vain temple ceremonies, which were supposed to teach His people how to come to know Him. The ancient temple ceremonies were supposed to keep the people of Israel in remembrance of the Savior’s coming sacrifice. Both ancient and latter-day rituals are symbolic of something else, but as such, they become stumbling blocks to those who are asleep.

As a side note, there is no graven image that is not a product of one’s hands. Idolatry results from consumer demand. The Hebrew word Abad means both to work  and worship. People worship the work of their hands. In this world, there is no economy without an exchange of products resulting from consumer demand. You can buy anything in this world with money. Mammon is the driving force behind the world’s economy. Babylon is the archetype of this system in the book of Isaiah. On the other hand, Zion does not require money. In Zion, all things are given and received freely. The Lord gave to us this earth and all things therein to be used freely and not by extortion or excess. Extortion and excess is exactly how the world operates. They take ownership of the things God has ordained for their use freely and charge a price for them. Excess is the result of one exalting oneself above another or others, thereby creating inequality in a society driven by an economy where money is the medium of exchange. In Zion, there are no rich because there are no poor because there is no money, there being no need for money. In Babylon, however, such behavior is the iniquity of a people. Idols, idolatry and commerce (economy) are all tools of Mammon.

Jehovah compares the ruling priests to Sodom and the laymen to Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah set the precedent for a condemned people and so Isaiah uses it as an archetype to compare His covenant people to. They were abusers and ripe for destruction. And yet the Lord saved Lot and his family. Whenever the Lord is about to destroy a people, He tends to “gather” those few who have not forsaken Him, even by angels. Angels came to take Lot and his family out, even prodding him to leave before they destroyed the city. Likewise did the Lord bring out Lehi from Jerusalem and his family. Lot’s wife probably could not believe that her beautiful city could be destroyed. She was not attuned to the Spirit and couldn’t feel the warning to flee. Her heart was set upon the world in which she lived. So she turned around and was turned into a pillar of salt, good for nothing but to be trodden underfoot. Laman and Lemuel were the same as Lot’s wife. And so will all be whose hearts are set upon their riches–their idols.

And this is only the first half of chapter one. Chapter one is quite an indictment of the filthiness of Israel. She is a harlot whoring after her lusts, forsaking her bridegroom, who is quick to forgive and mighty to save. And though, as we read later in the chapter, though her sins be red like crimson, they shall become white as snow.

If we as disciples of Jesus Christ spend time in reflection and introspection, how do we compare to these ancient people of the Lord? We might be surprised to discover that we are just like they were.

The Economics of Gifting

29 Wednesday May 2019

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As one who speaks three languages, I find it interesting that the word gift is almost never used as a verb, though gift giving isn’t uncommon among friends. It is less common among acquaintances and even less so with strangers. I have heard it more commonly used in Spanish (regalar) and also in German (schenken) in daily use. But gift giving is detrimental to economics. How can you get people to pay you for what others give away for free? This also applies to religion and it’s why the Pharisees hated Jesus; He was bad for their business. Why pay ministers when the Son of God offers salvation for free? He gave the earth to Adam and Eve to cultivate freely without price.

Matthew 6:25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

But fallen man exacts a price and he over exacts much. Modern economics deals with the production, consumption, and transfer of wealth, or in other words, money. You can buy anything in this world with money. But you must first get gain. This cannot happen except by extortion. Man robs God, takes ownership of the earth, then with his ill gotten gain, he does not transfer it unless he profits thereby. God has forbidden this or as we read in Matthew 6:24, you cannot serve God and Mammon (Hebrew Mamonut=finance, Mamonai=financier, Mamoni=monetary, etc.). This is the way of the world, or in other words, Babylon. It is the continual exchange of substance. But God has something else in mind:

D&C 59:18 Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;
19 Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul.
20 And it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion.

It is by such extortion that  makes thieves of beggars like Jean Valjean and harlots like Fantine who after selling her hair and her two front teeth in order to provide for her child, resorts in desperation to surrender her virtue by prostituting herself so that she might survive.

A young man who wanted to follow Jesus, having kept all the statutes from his youth up lacked just one thing to become the Lord’s disciple. He needed only sell all his possessions in order to give of all his worldly wealth thereof to the poor. But the young man coveted his own substance and abandoned the Lord because his heart was set upon his worldly treasures. Such can never hope to become pure in heart for it is the pure in heart that constitute Zion. The pure in heart are pure, that is, unmixed, unadulterated, unalloyed by any other substance or material.

D&C 101:18 They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion.

And who are the pure in heart that constitute Zion?

Moses 7:18 And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

“There was no poor among them.”

Isaiah 14:32 What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of his people shall trust in it.

And why does nobody suffer poverty in Zion? Because they are one. One heart and one mind. They are righteous, or in other words just. There is no injustice and there is no injustice because there is no excess and no extortion. Like the saints in the first  few chapters of Acts, they have all things “common” among them. All of it is God’s who multiplies and gives freely.

Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common…

Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

They embodied the two great commandments for they loved God and also one another as themselves. The same discipleship was found in the Book of Mormon after Jesus Christ’s visitation:

4 Nephi 1:3 And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.

Gift giving is kind. It is brotherly and selfless. It is faithful. Gift giving is Godly. Of such is the true disciple of Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

 

Babylon, The Final Frontier, Part 1

02 Friday Oct 2015

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I served a mission on the other side of the world and when I returned, I went to the mountains of Ephraim to dwell. I saw Babylon bigger and brighter than ever. And I partook thereof until decades later, having been born of the Spirit and experiencing a mighty change of heart, I saw with new eyes how idolatrous I had been. Back then I thought worshiping idols, at least as depicted in scripture, meant nothing more than adoring or reverencing statues as the ancient Israelites did with the golden calf built by Aaron. But it is so much more than that.

The primary commandment given to Israel was to have no other gods before the Lord. Jehovah acknowledged the existence of other gods, though they were all fictions of imagination. If we love the Lord, truly love Him, there would be no need nor even use to go whoring after anything or anyone else. But the Lord’s covenant people did so and still do so. I like what Gileadi had to say in his essay, Twelve Diatribes of Modern Israel:

The final test in the scriptures of whether a god is true or false is whether he saves his people in the Lord’s day of judgment.

And so it was:

Judges 10: 13 Yet ye have forsaken me, and served other gods: wherefore I will deliver you no more.
14 Go and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen; let them deliver you in the time of your tribulation.

Isaiah 37: 18 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations, and their countries,
19 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone: therefore they have destroyed them.
20 Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the Lord, even thou only.

Jeremiah 11:11 ¶Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
12 Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.
13 For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.

And so it will be:

D&C 112:24 Behold, vengeance cometh speedily upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, and of lamentation; and as a whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, saith the Lord.
25 And upon my house shall it begin, and from my house shall it go forth, saith the Lord;
26 First among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord.

Idolatry is the great obstacle. Babylon and her idols are alive and well among the Lord’s covenant people upon the mountains of Ephraim (as well as throughout the world). It is so difficult to not be stained by it all. I cannot help but dirty my hands as I contribute to feeding Mammon, though I weep for Zion. I hate money. I hate that I have to work for money in order to exist in a system, which has too great a hold of us all. The people of Limhi learned the hard way. Today there really are no more places of refuge in the world. Above all else, I am vexed by my own sinful and carnal state. I am truly my own worst enemy.

I recently came home from visiting my parents in Texas and as I drove north along I-15, I looked toward downtown SLC at all the tall buildings and also the construction going on. I remember a time when the temple was easily visible. Now it is shadowed and eclipsed by great and spacious buildings, which recently enticed the world to partake of glamorous materialism.

If those giant posters and billboards advertising to the world to come visit the heart of Salt Lake City are disturbing, even more disturbing are the overpriced brands advertised with very attractive models. But isn’t that how all commercials are? Everyone is smiling, all made up, wearing beautiful clothes in the happy settings of Utopian society.

I’m reminded of Hugh Nibley’s words in “What is Zion? A Distant View” where he says:

Elders of Israel are greedy after the things of this world. If you ask them if they are ready to build up the kingdom of God, their answer is prompt–”Why, to be sure we are, with our whole souls; but we want first to get so much gold, speculate and get rich, and then we can help the church considerably. We will go to California and get gold, go and buy goods and get rich, trade with the emigrants, build a mill, make a farm, get a large herd of cattle, and then we can do a great deal for Israel.

I have heard this many times from friends and relatives, but it is hokum. What they are saying is, “If God will give me a million dollars, I will let him have a generous cut of it.” And so they pray and speculate and expect the Lord to come through for them. He won’t do it: “And again, I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own property” (D&C 19:26). “Let them repent of all their sins, and of all their covetous desires, before me, saith the Lord; for what is property unto me? saith the Lord” (D&C 117:4). He does not need our property or our help.

Every rhetorician knows that his most effective weapons by far are labels. He can demolish the opposition with simple and devastating labels such as communism, socialism, or atheism, popery, militarism, or Mormonism, or give his clients’ worst crimes a religious glow with noble labels such as integrity, old-fashioned honesty, tough-mindedness, or free competitive enterprise. “You can get away with anything if you just wave the flag,” a business partner of my father once told me. He called that patriotism. But the label game reaches its all-time peak of skill and effrontery in the Madison Avenue master stroke of pasting the lovely label of Zion on all the most typical institutions of Babylon: Zion’s Loans, Zion’s Real Estate, Zion’s Used Cars, Zion’s Jewelry, Zion’s Supermart, Zion’s Auto Wrecking, Zion’s Outdoor Advertising, Zion’s Gunshop, Zion’s Land and Mining, Zion’s Development, Zion’s Securities–all that is quintessentially Babylon now masquerades as Zion.