What would you do for a dollar? For a million dollars? For a comfortable and convenient lifestyle?What if you could do it all in the name of God? In the name of Him who gave everything for peace and lived His life in poverty? What would you do?
Would you say you had been called by God Himself to bring a message of prosperity?
Would you say that you could forgive sins if the donation plate is full?
Would you say that the work suffers because people are not paying enough tithing?
Would you preach peace and love in a time when you should be preaching repentance and fear of the Lord, all in the name of receiving more money - in fear of your potential loss of income?
Would you adapt your sermons to accommodate those whose chosen lifestyles are expressly repugnant to the Son of Man in an effort to appeal to a wider audience?
Would you relax your morals and standards to the point where good becomes evil and evil good?
There is much good that is done by other churches around the world. I would not like to take anything away from that.
But Joseph was told that these churches have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof. These churches do not preach revelation - either personal or prophetic. They do not preach miracles - unless it's the dramatic babbling and confusion that happens when people are overcome by the "spirit". They do not preach healings unless it is dramatic and public. They do not preach about authority or repentance unless it furthers their own ends, which is ultimately to get more money from their followers. It's just job security.
They have minted the gospel of peace and sold their birthright for a mess of pottage.
They have given that which is most sacred to those who are unworthy because of their money.
They adorn themselves with costly and beautiful apparel and do not consider the poor (Nephi also uses the phrase "grind the faces of the poor" which I think is very dramatic and accurate).
They preach that God will prosper those who pay enough into the gilt (oh, guilt indeed!) boxes of the collection plates.
They set themselves up as examples of this prosperity while glutting themselves on that very prosperity, parasite-like.
They have become the envy of those who attend their churches.
And they neglect the poor and needy.
For all of this there will be an ultimate account required.
God told Nephi that there would be a great division among the people, and that there would be two churches only, the Church of the Devil and the Church of the Firstborn. The Devil deceives the whole world and the world groans under the darkness that is foisted on it by these evil men.
Let us find a way to reach these people and bring them the true light of the gospel.
Comments
I think it really goes back to the notion that God rewards materially, therefore if you are doing well you must be good, and if you are not doing well, you must be a bad person. Not much has changed since Job, apparently.