"SHELTER IN PLACE"

This is an old picture, but a great quote

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded to the current crisis brought on by the spread of the deadly COVID-19.  He spoke to Church News on March 28, 2020* He said, among other things, that we should not view this as a time of punishment, but as a blessing.  In our everyday hectic world, we rarely have time to just sit with our thoughts and contemplate those things of eternal importance.  He called this time of isolation as a "kind of mandatory Sabbath, a time when we step away from out normal routine, from life as usual, and consider our dependence on God and the blessings from Him we so often take for granted."

This is a humbling time for the world.  Despite all of the economic hardship, illness, and even death, I think it is a humbling that is long overdue.  We learn that we don't need movie stars, sports heroes, or any other celebrity.  We do need farmers and healthcare workers and even truckers.  Most importantly, we need God.

In the United States (and, indeed, most of the world) we have driven God out of our governments, our schools, our public forums, and even from our homes. What do we expect God to do? 

I love to study the history of this nation and I am in awe of the great men and women who sought out the Americas as if led by God (which the considered themselves to be.) The founded this nation on Christian principles.  Read from the diaries of Columbus, the prayers of William Bradford, the faith of George Washington, the writings of Thomas Jefferson, and the Christ-like compassion of Abraham Lincoln. These people knew that this is a Covenant nation. 

God has kept His part of the Covenant.  He did so in two World Wars when this nation with its industrial might and natural resources saved brought the world back from the brink of destruction. He kept us free. He wants to bless us, but we are tying His hands.  He cannot bless us nor save us in our sins.

Have we kept our part of the Covenant? To worship the God of this land, (whom I believe to be Jesus Christ)? To keep God's commandments? The answer is obvious: we haven't.  How can we expect God to bless America when we thumb our noses at him? I don't even need to delineate all of the specific politically correct but morally deficient decisions made over that last 70 years (most of my lifetime.) 

I have family living in Salt Lake City who experienced a 5.7 magnitude earthquake just a few weeks ago.  One of them said he thinks God is trying to tell him something, between the earthquake and losing his job due to COVID-19 that day before the earthquake.  He was speaking somewhat in jest, just like whistling in the dark, but I think that is exactly what God is doing.  I read the history of ancient Israel and ancient America and see the pattern of righteousness, blessings, turning away from God, sinning, and dire consequences designed to being about repentance.  I used to think, "How on earth could they not see the pattern themselves?  Why didn't they heed the warnings?" I don't ask that anymore.

Swarms of locusts in East Africa

Many of us do see the signs of the times.  Wars and rumors of wars, natural disasters, pestilence and even plague are going unheeded by those who don't see them for what they are.  God is preparing us for His Second Coming.  Are we standing on His right hand with the wheat and the sheep or on His left hand with the tares and the goats?

'Nuff said.  Watch General Conference this weekend.  Come, listen to a prophet's voice and hear the Word of God.

© April 2020 Dr. Kathleen Rawlings Buntin Danielson

* You can read Elder Holland's complete remarks on the following link.
A Personal Sabbath