Luke 3"God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham"
We talked recently about Jesus walking on the water. Peter did the same and Jesus said that he had little faith. That scripture has haunted me. Honestly I think I am afraid of my potential. If that is a little faith, what could we do if we have... moderate faith, what if we have a lot of faith?
The implications I think are a little frightening.
What this specifically has me thinking about though is control of the elements. One of Jesus' first miracles was to physically, chemically change water to wine. He was able to walk on water, he could have changed stone into bread, God is able to make Jews out of rocks, Moses brought water from stone, parted the Red Sea, changed the Nile's water to blood. Elijah stopped the heavens, and stayed the sun. Faith can move mountains. Literally.
Why? How? Joseph Smith speaking at King Follett's funeral asked those present to pray that the wind would die down so that everyone could hear. "For the effectual prayers of the righteous avail much. There is strength here"
We know that in the "last days" that there will be much physical, elemental destruction. Floods, earthquakes, famines, fires, pestilences. All of these seem to have controlled directly by prophets at some time. Will they all come down upon us because of the general lack of faith. Noah's flood for that matter, came at a time when there was only a handful of people good enough to save.
That brings to mind another question I have had rolling around in my head. As a missionary I memorized Doctrine and Covenants Section 2.
1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.We recited that, and I found myself wondering... "Why" Why would the earth be wasted at his coming if our hearts were not turned to our fathers? Someone suggested that by wasted it meant the earth would not have served its purpose, but the Portuguese translation says destruido--destroyed.
2 And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.
3 If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.
I don't know the answer, but now I wonder, what if the earth would tend naturally towards destruction, what if the only thing holding it together is the faith of the righteous. The spirit of Elijah is powerful, and the Priesthood restored by him more so. Maybe if all that was lacking, on the great and terrible day, there wouldn't be enough faith to keep the earth in tact.
Do we have an obligation to learn to control the elements? Many modern prophets have encouraged us to pray for rain. Lorenzo Snow famously spoke of the correlation between tithes and rain in St. George Utah. Should we be able to "Call down" mild summers? Are natural disasters a sign of a collective lack of faith?
3 comments:
the black plague happened at the end of the dark ages, and yeilded the renaissance
Mark, we are told that Heavenly Father uses natural disasters to humble his people and bring them unto him, your thoughts might suggest that because of the lack of faith, not because of Heavenly Father's . . .discipline, the natural disaster would naturally come about. I think I like that thought. Then Heavenly Father would not stop it from happening because he knows it has potential to bring back some of his children.
(speaking of the last days) "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:22
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