Friday, April 16, 2010

Vapors of Smoke

I was reading in Mormon chapter 8 last night about the gospel coming forth during our times. Today when I saw the news about the volcanic ash blocking air traffic and people needing to stay at home to reduce health risks, the prophecies about "vapors of smoke" seemed to pop into my mind. Moroni's words are some of my favorite in the Book of Mormon. He says in Moroni 8:26-41 about the gospel coming forth in the latter days (our time).

26 And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it; for aout of the earth shall they come, by the hand of the Lord, and none can stay it; and it shall come in a day when it shall be said that bmiracles are done away; and it shall come even as if one should speak cfrom the dead.
27 And it shall come in a day when the ablood of saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret bcombinations and the works of darkness.
28 Yea, it shall come in a day when the power of God shall be adenied, and bchurches become defiled and be clifted up in the pride of their hearts; yea, even in a day when leaders of churches and teachers shall rise in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them who belong to their churches.
29 Yea, it shall come in a day when athere shall be heard of fires, and tempests, and bvapors of smoke in foreign lands;
30 And there shall also be heard of awars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes in divers places.
31 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great apollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be bmurders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it cmattereth not, for the Lord will duphold such at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the egall of bitterness and in the fbonds of iniquity.
32 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be achurches built up that shall say: Come unto me, and for your money you shall be forgiven of your sins.
33 O ye wicked and perverse and astiffnecked people, why have ye built up churches unto yourselves to get bgain? Why have ye ctransfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring ddamnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the erevelations of God; for behold, the time cometh at that day when all these things must be fulfilled.
34 Behold, the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.
35 Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
36 And I know that ye do awalk in the pride of your hearts; and there are none save a few only who do not blift themselves up in the pride of their hearts, unto the wearing of cvery fine apparel, unto envying, and strifes, and malice, and persecutions, and all manner of iniquities; and your churches, yea, even every one, have become polluted because of the pride of your hearts.
37 For behold, ye do love amoney, and your substance, and your fine apparel, and the adorning of your churches, more than ye love the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.
38 O ye pollutions, ye hypocrites, ye teachers, who sell yourselves for that which will canker, why have ye polluted the holy church of God? Why are ye aashamed to take upon you the name of Christ? Why do ye not think that greater is the value of an endless happiness than that bmisery which never dies—because of the cpraise of the world?
39 Why do ye adorn yourselves with that which hath no life, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked, and the sick and the afflicted to pass by you, and notice them not?
40 Yea, why do ye build up your asecret abominations to get gain, and cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans to mourn before the Lord, and also the blood of their fathers and their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance upon your heads?
41 Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon cometh that he avengeth the ablood of the saints upon you, for he will not suffer their cries any longer.