Nothing Fails Like Success?

If there is a priority (after the books of scripture) that one should study to prepare for things to come, it may be Dallas Willard's The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus's Essential Teaching on Discipleship.¹

Can we, in the following quotes, recognize ourselves and the déjà vus manifest within nigh every Christian ministry in existence today?

There is a real point to saying that in religious matters, nothing fails like success.²

What, then, is the general pattern? Intense devotion to God by the individual or group brings substantial outward success. Outward success brings a sense of accomplishment and a sense of responsibility for what has been achieved— and for further achievement. For onlookers the outward success is the whole thing. The sense of accomplishment and responsibility reorients vision away from God to what we are doing and are to do— usually to the applause and support of sympathetic people. The mission increasingly becomes the vision. It becomes what we are focused upon. The mission and ministry is what we spend our thoughts, feelings, and strength upon. Goals occupy the place of the vision of God in the inward life, and we find ourselves caught up in a visionless pursuit of various goals. Grinding it out. This is the point at which service to Christ replaces love for Christ. The inward reality of love for God, and absorption in what He is doing, is no longer the center of the life, and may even become despised, or at least is disregarded. “No time for that” becomes the governing attitude, no matter what we may say. The fire of God in the human soul will always look foolish to those who like its effects but do not understand where those effects come from.³

So we can summarize the process by which the mission and its goals replace the original vision as the ultimate point of reference for the people involved. Vision of God and of oneself in God inspires a combination of humility and great aspiration for God. This combination leads to remarkable efforts in dependence upon God. Great effects are achieved because God acts with efforts made in dependence upon him and for his sake. The effects take on a life of their own. Surrounding people see nothing but the effects, which indeed are very remarkable and worthy of support. Sometimes the human support may also be of God. But the effects of all this have to be carefully watched, to prevent them from corrupting the heart away from an appropriate vision of God and the humble valor flowing therefrom.⁴

King Solomon began well. ... He became very great (2 Chronicles 9). But to strengthen his position he formed alliances ... (1 Kings 11: 1– 6). By the time he died, he had evolved a government that was bitterly oppressive, ... It is not unreasonable to think that what really happened to Solomon was a building program.⁵

Isn't the repetitious story of “Nothing fails like success” the continual lament in scripture⁶ where individuals, kings, leaders, and peoples cycle and recycle through the pattern of becoming distracted to other loves from an initial or renewed deep love of God and His vision? And what is the love of God?

The love of God, and only the love of God, secures the vision of God, keeps God constantly before our mind [“that they do always remember Him”⁷]. Thomas Watson tells us that “the first fruit of love is the musing of the mind upon God. He who is in love, his thoughts are ever upon the object. He who loves God is ravished and transported with the contemplation of God…. God is the treasure, and where the treasure is, there is the heart.”⁸

Wasn't displaced love the severe criticism levied against the first of the seven churches profiled in Revelation chapter two.⁹

UNTO the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, ... ;
I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. (New Testament | Revelation 2:1-5)

God acknowledged their works, their labour, their patience, their hatred of evil, their discernments, their endurance, and yet, there was a great omission with potential severe consequence: they had left their first love.

Perhaps there is something vital for us all to learn about first works and first love from The Great Omission.

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1. Willard, Dallas. The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship. HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
2. Ibid., p. 93 (bold emphasis added)
3. Ibid., p. 95-96 (bold emphasis added)
4. Ibid., p. 97
5. Ibid., p. 97-98
6. http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2014/01/gods-lament.html
7. How oft do we hear these words (at least two times every Sunday?), saying amen to them, and then not really pondering thereafter about what “always” means? See Book of Mormon | Moroni, chapters 4 & 5; Doctrine and Covenants 20:75-79
8. Willard, p. 100
9. http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2011/08/which-church.html

Does He Really Mean It ?!

When you, therefore, shall see the abomination^[*] of desolation^[**], spoken of by Daniel the prophet, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, then you shall stand in the holy place; whoso readeth let him understand.

[Understand what? The timing? the coded references? the latter-day places?]

Then let them who are in Judea [?] flee into the mountains; Let him who is on the housetop flee, and not return to take anything out of his house; Neither let him who is in the field return back to take his clothes; (Pearl of Great Price JS-Matthew 1:12-15; see also New Testament Matthew 24:15-18 and Mark 13:14-16, provided in footnote † below).

When that time of the AoD comes, what are we going to be tempted to “return back” to retrieve?

▪ Purse / wallet / ID?
▪ Cash reserves?
▪ Vehicle keys?
▪ 72-hr. emergency kit?
▪ Food storage?
▪ Camping gear?
▪ A weapon?
▪ Better shoes / clothes?
▪ Some electronic device?
▪ Scriptures?
▪ Medicine?
▪ Some irreplaceable treasure: ________________?

Will the urge to “return back” be dictated by common sense, rationality, “necessity,” preconditioning, emergency management training? Is the “thing” retrieved going to be something telestial? terrestrial? Is it going to be worth it? Or will this command to “flee, and not return to take anything” constitute a test of infinite trust—to flee from everything lesser toward something greater? a choice of confidence between the visible and the invisible?

NOTE: the above questions relate to the time when we “shall see the abomination of desolation.” In this case, it appears we are to follow the command to flee without turning back for anything. For other emergencies, I think we are to follow the Spirit. So, the critical question seems to be: Will we know the AoD when we see it??

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* Abomination synonyms: ? atrocity, disgrace, horror, obscenity, outrage, evil, crime, monstrosity, anathema, bane; detestation, loathing, hatred, aversion, antipathy, revulsion, repugnance, abhorrence, odium, execration, disgust, horror, hostility
** Desolation synonyms: ? misery, sadness, unhappiness, despondency, sorrow, depression, grief, woe, bleakness, starkness, barrenness, sterility; wildness; isolation, loneliness, remoteness;

† New Testament Matthew 24:15-18 ~ When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
New Testament Mark 13:14-16 ~ But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judæa flee to the mountains: And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.

God’s Lament

(Bold emphasis added in scripture quotes)

Here is a small compilation from the olden days (circa 700 BCE to 1800s CE):

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. ... Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. (Old Testament Isaiah 1:2, 23)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Old Testament Isaiah 53:6)

Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter. (Old Testament Isaiah 56:11)

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; (Old Testament Isaiah 65:2)

They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers. (Old Testament Jeremiah 44:10)

... they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: (Old Testament Amos 2:4)

... ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock: (Old Testament Amos 6:12)

For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. (New Testament Romans 10:2-3)

For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's. (New Testament Philippians 2:21)

[Y]ea, the more part of them had turned out of the way of righteousness, and did trample under their feet the commandments of God, and did turn unto their own ways, and did build up unto themselves idols of their gold and their silver. (Book of Mormon Helaman 6:31)

They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall. (Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:16)

And my vineyard has become corrupted every whit; and there is none which doeth good save it be a few; and they err in many instances because of priestcrafts, all having corrupt minds. (Doctrine and Covenants Section 33:4)

Behold, thus saith the Lord unto my people—you have many things to do and to repent of; for behold, your sins have come up unto me, and are not pardoned, because you seek to counsel in your own ways. (Doctrine and Covenants Section 56:14)

And the anger of God kindleth against the inhabitants of the earth; and none doeth good, for all have gone out of the way. (Doctrine and Covenants Section 82:6)

Does any of this sound déjà vu, even from Moses’ day?

And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. (Old Testament Deuteronomy 31:16)

Does God lament anymore? or have we got it all under control? or are our gods too subtle for recognition? or too necessary to the “good” life? or so entwined in our culture, we can’t see for not looking?

And if we're not hearing God's Lament from our bishop's, pastors, elders, preachers,  et al. could it be because we won't? Could Isaiah's words apply today?

Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever: That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD: Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits: Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us. (Old Testament Isaiah 30:8-11)

Is it time for a review of Spencer W. Kimball's, "The False God's We Worship"?

https://www.lds.org/ensign/1976/06/the-false-gods-we-worship?lang=eng

Is it time to listen to latter-day witnesses, as in Chris Hedges, former foreign correspondent, and hundreds of others?

Curtis White in The Middle Mind argues that most Americans are aware of the brutality and injustice used to maintain the excesses of their consumer society and empire. He suspects they do not care. They don't want to see what is done in their name. ["The rows of flag-draped coffins," "the horribly maimed bodies and faces of veterans," "the hundreds of thousands who have been killed in Iraq," and elsewhere over 230 years of history.¹] It is too upsetting. They don't want to read about the nation's growing legions of underemployed and poor, or the child laborers in sweat shops who make our clothing and our shoes. Government and media censorship ... are appreciated. Most prefer to be entertained. (Chris Hedges, I Don't Believe in Atheists, p. 85-86, © 2008)

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Note to all believers in God, everywhere: If we think these laments apply only to our wayward neighbors, perhaps we should find one of those ubiquitous mirrors from the prior post. And that includes this writer. I write these things out of self-reflection and to witness of what I, too often, experience and see in myself and others of all faiths and persuasions.

1. http://www.dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2008/06/memo-to-cindy-mccain-et-al.html

Lesser Things?

Since reading the following (humor-intended?) comment in a discussion group, I have been thinking about the perspective prison that many of us seem to accept without question. The comment was:

“... no Internet? But wait—you may be right! 2 Nephi 13: 18, 20 does say that “In that day the Lord will take away . . . their tablets . . .” I guess if Nephi says I have to give up my iPad, then so be it. But at least he didn’t say anything about my iPhone!”

My reply was: “Perhaps the new (and everlasting[!!]) technology [of a Zion society] will surpass our tablets and iphones (D&C 130:9-10) in ways we cannot imagine, which is highly likely considering Isaiah 55:8-9.”

I wonder if our perspective prison is that we think all our mechanical/physical technology is going to be translated into the next phase (with celestial improvements, of course)? But what if OUR technology is ALL utterly telestial? What if we have become so focused on the marvels of lesser things that we have forgotten there is a “technology” vastly superior composed of light and faith? (Ref.: D&C 88 and Lectures on Faith, Lecture One.)

What if all these marvels of lesser things have tragically distracted us from the real marvel of celestial “technology” and our divine destiny*? What if:

Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made: [?] (Old Testament Isaiah 2:8)

What do our fingers make? Yes, many “good” things? But what is the preponderance? What do our fingers make appear? Words, images, music, texts, tweets, sounds, etc. etc., etc.? For what purpose?

Yes, God can and does use our lesser technology for His good purposes. At some point, His question to us will probably be: Did you?

Has there ever been a time when our hands have been so constantly in use? So continually making choices? When our eyes have been so persistently focused and refocused? On what? To edification? To the glory of God or the obsession of self?

Are we but déjà vu the children of Israel (all Twelve Tribes), and countless others who were given lesser gifts and powers because they were not prepared to (and could not) abide greater ones?**

Again, just asking (for self-reflection).

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* http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.ca/2012/08/offspring-or-something-less.html
** (Doctrine and Covenants Section 84:23-27): Now this Moses plainly taught to the children of Israel in the wilderness, and sought diligently to sanctify his people that they might behold the face of God; But they hardened their hearts and could not endure his presence; therefore, the Lord in his wrath, for his anger was kindled against them, swore that they should not enter into his rest while in the wilderness, which rest is the fulness of his glory. Therefore, he took Moses out of their midst, and the Holy Priesthood also; And the lesser priesthood continued, which priesthood holdeth the key of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel; Which gospel is the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments, which the Lord in his wrath caused to continue with the house of Aaron among the children of Israel until John, whom God raised up, being filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb.
See also, (Book of Mormon Alma 12:9-11): And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him. And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full. And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.