Posted on by Abe Austin · 1 Comment

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 18:24-28

24 Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: 

25 And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants. 

26 Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you: 

27 (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) 

28 That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.

In my last post I mentioned how the deepest evils that God expressly forbade in this chapter are associated throughout the Bible with nations that are soon to be destroyed. And, as it turns out, God makes that point explicit in these verses. He directly points out that these are the practices that the current inhabitants of Canaan are ripe with, and that is why He will drive out those perverse people with the armies of Israel. He even dramatically describes the earth “vomiting” out those people who engage in such wickedness within it.

As we know, eventually the Israelites would also fall to these and other works of wickedness, and they would indeed be spued out of the land as well. In fact, it would occur to them more than once. It is not entirely clear whether this pattern that God is describing applies to all people in all places, or only to specially sanctified lands, such as Canaan. The Book of Mormon does make similar language about the Americas. At the very least, after the ministry of Jesus Christ we know that all the world became the field of spiritual harvest. We also know that in the last days all manner of wickedness will prevail and the earth will vomit out those depraved actors in all places as a result.

Thus, whether it was the case in ancient times or not, at least now it seems clear that every people and every land are under this threat of destruction and expulsion for engaging with these sins. There does seem to be a time of ripening before the sword comes down, and that delay can give people a reason to deny the correlation, but the wise will heed the word of God and see the pattern for what it is.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 4:11-12

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

This is very powerful imagery that God evokes: the earth’s mouth having to receive the blood of an innocent, and thereafter refusing to yield its increase to the one who was responsible. God speaks of the earth as a sentient being, capable of taking offense and returning a consequence.

What we do to this earth matters. Our actions works their way into its soil and change its behavior. If nature seem chaotic and violent, might it not be because it is ruled by violent and evil stewards? How might the forces of nature change if all mankind suddenly gave up any violent disposition? Joseph Smith once counseled that ‘men must become harmless, before the brute creation.’ Perhaps if we achieved peace with all our fellowmen then the earth would be willing to have peace with us, too. Then, at last, the lion might lie down with the lamb.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Captive Heart- John 16:33

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

COMMENTARY

In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
We have spoken about how we tend to fear the world, and have a strong desire to conform to it. This eventually leads us to compromise our conscience, which results in us feeling broken and unworthy.
And so we are, for we have traded God for carnality, and have consigned our fate with the rest of this temporary, soon-to-die world. The pain that we feel is nothing more than the accurate and appropriate realization of our own condemnation. Our fates are now sealed with this world forever.
Or so they would be…if one had not come to overcome the world. When Jesus speaks of his conquering the mortal realm, it has two applications in our life. The first is that he is able to ransom our hearts from the fallen world tp which we have sold it. He brings us back to belonging to heaven, and not to earth. The second application is that he can overcome the fear of the world in our hearts, so that we do not feel so compelled to sell ourselves to it again in the future. He both frees us, and enables us to remain free.