Cunning Plans of the Devil

And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men. (Alma 28:13)

What are the cunning plans of the devil? Can we see them at work in our lies? Do we see the attempts to flatter or stir up to anger or other strong emotion? Do we notice the attempts to bind down with apathy or discouragement or hopelessness?

Ensnaring hearts makes me think of feelings that are easy to get into, but which are hard to get out of.

I decided I needed more insight on this, so I decided to look at “snare” in the Topical Guide.

The children of Israel were commanded, “if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.” (Ex. 23:33) Since that service to the other gods involved ritual prostitution, that was definitely true. Getting into that sin would be hard to get out of.

Gideon, after his military success, made an ephod and all Israel went whoring after it, and it became a snare unto Gideon and to his house (see Judges 8:27). Material goods can be a snare when everybody loves it but us. If we want to get rid of it because it is having a bad influence and nobody will let us, or we don’t see what’s so great about it.

Saul gave his daughter Michal to David to wife, calculating that she would be a snare to him (see 1 Samuel 18:21) possibly because of her idolatry (see 1 Sam. 19:13). When spouses aren’t equally yoked, the less faithful one can pull down the more faithful one. The same can be said of friends as well.

David curses the wicked in Psalm 69:22, “Let their table become a snare before them; and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.” How might a table be a snare? I think it means what is on the table, not the table itself. In his day, food might have been a snare if people began breaking the Law of Moses concerning clean and unclean foods. It would lead them into thinking they could break other laws as well.  A table can also be a snare to people who have a hard time knowing when to stop eating.

Our mouth can snare us. “A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.” (Proverbs 18:7) People are affected by their own words, and we can get stuck in patterns of speech that aren’t very kind or healthy. We can get stuck in patterns of criticism or gossip.

Proverbs 22:24-25 warns against making friends with an angry man lest we learn his ways and become ensnared in them. So anger becomes a snare too. I think we can see today how people can get pulled a habit of anger.

Proverbs 29:8 says scornful men bring a city into a snare, but wise men turn away wrath. Scorn causes people to do all kinds of things to avoid being derided, even if it is wrong. It can affect entire communities.

Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” Worrying about what others will think can become a pernicious trap that keeps us timid and powerless.

Jeremiah 50:24 warns Babylon that a snare is laid for them and they are trapped because they fight against the Lord. Rebellion becomes a snare.

In Luke 21:34-35, Jesus warns that in the last days drunkenness, excess, and cares of this life would become a snare to the world before the second coming. So pleasures can be a snare as well. (It would certainly be a cunning plan of the devil to make fun into a snare that traps people.)

1 Timothy 6:9 says that they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare. So greed and avarice can be an instrument of entrapment by the devil. The law of sacrifice is one of the Lord’s methods for getting His people loose from that kind of trap.

Alma the elder told the people in Mosiah 23:9 that he was caught in a snare with the iniquity of King Noah and the priests. He got loose by accepting the truth Abinadi taught, by standing up for Abinadi (which caused a break between Alma and the others), and by repenting.

Is there anything that is spiritually trapping you these days? Humility and repentance is the key to get out.

Religious Misunderstandings Ironed Out in Joshua 22

1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh,

2 And said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:

3 Ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God.

4 And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan.

5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the Lord charged you, to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away: and they went unto their tents.

7 ¶ Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given possession in Bashan: but unto the other half thereof gave Joshua among their brethren on this side Jordan westward. And when Joshua sent them away also unto their tents, then he blessed them,

8 And he spake unto them, saying, Return with much riches unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.

9 ¶ And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the country of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the word of the Lord by the hand of Moses.

10 ¶ And when they came unto the borders of Jordan, that are in the land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to.

11 ¶ And the children of Israel heard say, Behold, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar over against the land of Canaan, in the borders of Jordan, at the passage of the children of Israel.

12 And when the children of Israel heard of it, the whole congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together at Shiloh, to go up to war against them.

13 And the children of Israel sent unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, into the land of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,

14 And with him ten princes, of each chief house a prince throughout all the tribes of Israel; and each one was an head of the house of their fathers among the thousands of Israel.

15 ¶ And they came unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, unto the land of Gilead, and they spake with them, saying,

16 Thus saith the whole congregation of the Lord, What trespass is this that ye have committed against the God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the Lord, in that ye have builded you an altar, that ye might rebel this day against the Lord?

17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this day, although there was a plague in the congregation of the Lord,

18 But that ye must turn away this day from following the Lord? and it will be, seeing ye rebel to day against the Lord, that to morrow he will be wroth with the whole congregation of Israel.

19 Notwithstanding, if the land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto the land of the possession of the Lord, wherein the Lord’s tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us: but rebel not against the Lord, nor rebel against us, in building you an altar beside the altar of the Lord our God.

20 Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.

21 ¶ Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel,

22 The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord, (save us not this day,)

23 That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, let the Lord himself require it;

24 And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel?

25 For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part in the Lord: so shall your children make our children cease from fearing the Lord.

26 Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice:

27 But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings; that your children may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord.

28 Therefore said we, that it shall be, when they should so say to us or to our generations in time to come, that we may say again, Behold the pattern of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifices; but it is a witness between us and you.

29 God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord, and turn this day from following the Lord, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the Lord our God that is before his tabernacle.

30 ¶ And when Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation and heads of the thousands of Israel which were with him, heard the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the children of Manasseh spake, it pleased them.

31 And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said unto the children of Reuben, and to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh, This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.

32 ¶ And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes, returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad, out of the land of Gilead, unto the land of Canaan, to the children of Israel, and brought them word again.

33 And the thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of Israel blessed God, and did not intend to go up against them in battle, to destroy the land wherein the children of Reuben and Gad dwelt.

34 And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called the altar Ed: for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is God. (Joshua 22)

This is an interesting story with details that are best understood with reference to earlier stories in the Old Testament.

The chapter starts as the children of Israel have finished conquering the land of Canaan (or as much as they could conquer). Joshua lets the Reubenites, Gadites, and half of Manasseh go to their possessions on the east side of the Jordan river. (They had actually been the first ones to obtain inheritance, but on condition that they would continue to fight alongside the rest of the tribes until everyone had obtained land of inheritance.)

V1-8 is Joshua’s dismissal of these tribes with a charge that they remember to keep the commandments and love the Lord.

-Take diligent heed to the commandment and the law

-love the Lord

-walk in His ways

-keep the commandments

-cleave to Him

-serve Him with all heart and soul

I have to wonder if Joshua was worried these tribes would forget God on the margins of the land.

V9-10  The 2 ½ tribes build an altar by Jordan, and it is said to be a very great altar, perhaps very large, visible all over.

V11  Rumor of the great altar is spread all around, and it causes consternation and worry and indignation. Why? Because in Leviticus 17:8-9 is a commandments that those who don’t bring their sacrifices to the Tabernacle’s altar are to be cut off (excommunicated). The tribes on the west side of Jordan jump to the conclusion that the 2 ½ tribes on the east side built this altar for sacrifice in opposition to the commandment. They worry this altar is a sign of idolatry starting in the eastern tribes.

V 12-14  The news of the big altar at Jordan in defiance of the commandments causes the western 9 ½ tribes to get ready for battle. To them, this altar, if built by one man, wouldn’t have been permitted by the man’s neighbors, if they were righteous. Therefore, it was built by the whole people on the east, therefore that whole group must be corrupted and require an army to invade and put things right.  To make sure the evil is stamped out, they send Phineas, the son of Eleazar the priest.

Here’s some quick background on Phineas.  Phineas is the same guy who speared two idolaters in their tent for committing ritual prostitution with the Moabites (see Numbers 25:1-15). Phineas was commended for his zeal in that act, and so he is sent to make sure that no idolater escapes punishment.

Also with Phineas are sent 10 princes of the western tribes to talk with the eastern tribes, according to the commandment in Deut. 13:12-15, to inquire diligently and see if the whole place is given to idolatry and find out if the rumors are true or not. (If the rumors are true, then the army gets called in to destroy the people.) It is a fact-finding expedition before the boom is lowered.

V16-20  The fact-finding expedition lays out the accusations—that the eastern tribes have rebelled against God by building an altar. They express the general worries that the eastern tribes will bring a plague on the rest of Israel just like Peor and Achan did in their idolatry and greed, which caused others to die too. (Achan was a fellow who took spoils from the conquest of Jericho and hid them in his tent in defiance of the command that the spoil was to be consecrated to the Lord. Because of his disobedience, Israel lost badly in their next military engagement, and he had to be detected by lot.(Joshua 7))

It is notable that they temper the accusations against the 2 ½ tribes with the supposition that maybe the eastern tribes have built the big altar in an effort to sanctify their land (maybe they thought their land was unclean), but princes say if the eastern tribes think that, they can come back and live on the west side of Jordan so they can be in a holy land too. This shows the western tribes were trying to think about what honest, good motives the eastern tribes might have had for building that big altar. This would go a long way toward softening the confrontation. People always want to be thought of as doing what’s right, and expressing some sense of trying to understand others as having good motives helps keep peace.

V22-29 The eastern tribes are very strong in denial of idolatry. They call upon God to punish them if their hearts are wrong and they ask to die that day if they are false to God. This is very serious stuff.

Instead, they say they have built the altar to try to prevent future problems. They worry that the western tribes’ descendants would someday exclude the eastern tribes’ descendants from worshipping the God of Israel at the Tabernacle and thereby turn the easterners from following the Lord. Their solution was to build a big altar in the exact pattern of the Tabernacle’s altar of sacrifice to show both sides that the eastern tribes worshipped the same God, that they knew what was done in the temple, they knew how it looked, and their knowledge was their license to participate. The altar was not for sacrifice, but to look at.

V30-34 Phineas and the 10 other princes are pleased with the explanation, and they go back to tell everyone else. Phineas’s declaration is notable too:

“This day we perceive that the Lord is among us, because ye have not committed this trespass against the Lord: now ye have delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of the Lord.” (v31)

In what way had the eastern tribes saved Israel from God?

1)    They had given a good explanation that saved everyone from a fratricidal war. Yay for peace!

2)    They had brought up an important issue—the dangers of disunity in the future that might arise from barriers of geography, in this case the river Jordan—and taken steps to avoid it, such that descendants of Israel would remember to not exclude some marginal groups, thinking they were unfaithful. Excluding the faithful with hasty judgments has eternal consequences and Israel didn’t want to make that mistake.

In what way did Phineas see that the Lord was among them?

He realized that the eastern tribes had acted to try to increase unity and faithfulness. Efforts to do that are inspired by God. Further, by trying to find out what was going on, the fact-finding group got to learn of those unification efforts, and thereby they learned how God was working among the margins to increase unity, as well as in the center.

Seeing it this way—as efforts to unify and prevent future error—is what pleased all the rest of Israel when they heard it. Efforts to unify in righteousness always please the faithful.

So what do we learn from this story?

--It is important to find out the facts before lowering the boom with punishment.

--For those who are tasked with confronting those who appear to have transgressed commandments, it is important to share how things look and also try to imagine how it might have been thought a good thing. Imputing good motives to people helps keep relationships constructive.

--Anticipating future problems and putting in place solutions to mitigate them is helpful.

--It would be wise to avoid thinking that members outside or far from major member population centers are any less faithful than those at the center.

--Willingness to explain one’s actions to others helps keep the peace. Sometimes we may think we don’t need to explain, but people want to understand and people be understood.

--Efforts to increase unity among the righteous are inspired by God.

I think this is a helpful story because today our church isn’t just a little area. It is a global church and we are spread out all over, speaking so many different languages. More than ever it is important to avoid making prideful assumptions that put down other members. The Lord wants us to be unified in faithfulness and righteousness in spite of the distances between congregations and language barriers, and His Spirit works to increase that unity. We strive for unity in doctrine, unity in worship, unity in faith, unity in good works.

Jesus’s warning to those who don’t repent

In 3 Nephi there are repeated sections when Jesus warns the future Gentiles that they must repent or face calamity:

11 Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done even as Moses said) they shall be cut off from among my people who are of the covenant.

12 And my people who are a remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

13 Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off.

14 Yea, wo be unto the Gentiles except they repent; for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;

15 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds;

16 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy land, and thou shalt have no more soothsayers;

17 Thy graven images I will also cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt no more worship the works of thy hands;

18 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities.

19 And it shall come to pass that all lyings, and deceivings, and envyings, and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.

20 For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel;

21 And I will execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

22 But if they will repent and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I will establish my church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant and be numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their inheritance; (3 Nephi 21:11-22)

This block of verses is peculiar because they seem so violent or seem to promise violence against those who do not repent and believe in Christ.  I’ve puzzled over these verses for years, and my opinion continues to evolve about what they mean.

Recently I was reading them and a key thing I noticed in them is the repeated phrase “cut off.”  (I have marked the repetitions of this phrase.)

Who will be cut off?

--whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles

--Adversaries and enemies

--Horses and chariots

--Cities and strongholds

--Witchcrafts and soothsayers

--graven images and standing images

--Those who will not repent and come unto Christ

It is also implied that the same cutting off will be done to “groves,” which were usually a term used to refer to places of immoral fertility rites.

What does it mean to be cut off?

When something is cut off, it is separated from a unified whole.  When people are cut off from the Lord’s people, it means they are excommunicated.

You can’t cut off someone who wasn’t a member in the first place, so this section is not directed to nonmember Gentiles, but to members of the Latter-day church of Christ.

The list of those who will be cut off is sometimes very clear and other times vague, so it makes sense to examine closer each of those characteristics or things that will be cut off to see what we can learn.

The Lord will cut off “whosoever will not believe in my words, who am Jesus Christ, which the Father shall cause him [Joseph Smith] to bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles” (v11) – This could be interpreted to mean those who do not believe the Book of Mormon or the Doctrine & Covenants.  But there is no specific hunt for these people. Rather, they betray themselves through their public unbelief and efforts to lead others not to believe either. Eventually their case comes to the attention of priesthood leaders and they have to be dealt with.

Adversaries and enemies shall be cut off (v13). This sounds like anti-Mormons inside the church and members who fight the church over specific issues.  Again, they betray themselves and have to be dealt with eventually.

Horses and chariots shall be cut off out of the midst of Israel (v14). Horses and chariots are implements of war, but as the saying goes, guns don’t kill people, people kill people. Objects don’t get excommunicated, but the people who use them do.  Here we have to tread carefully because there are faithful Saints in the military, so this can’t be a blanket condemnation of the military. But perhaps there are people whose default problem-solving method is force and violence, and it is so much a part of who they are that they refuse to change. These are abusive and oppressive types. They are certainly in danger of being cut off if they do not repent.

Cities and strongholds will be cut off (v15). Cities evoke the idea of a large group of people who are very closely associated with each other. I think this tells us that even those who are part of a large group inside the church that are fighting the church are not immune from the danger of apostasy and subsequent excommunication. Even if a whole ward or a stake was to apostatize and set themselves against the brethren, they can still be cut off.  I haven’t heard of a case where this happened, but this tells us it is certainly possible.

Witchcrafts and soothsayers will be cut off out of the land (v16). Here we have false prophets and those who seemingly bewitch others with counterfeit gospels and mysteries. Sooner or later they will be known by their fruits, which will not be good, and if they don’t repent, they will be removed.

Graven images will be cut off (v17).  This is another case where the thing is standing in for the person who made it and/or worships it. Modern idolatry is all about messed up priorities.  Whenever someone puts something at a higher priority than God, it will sooner or later lead them to sin, and if they don’t repent of it, they will remove themselves or be removed from the church.

Groves will be plucked up out of the cities (v18). I’ve already explained what groves mean.  Here the groves are another thing standing in for the person in question, someone who has committed immoral acts.  Those who don’t repent of their immorality and abominations will be cut off.

A list of other sins shall be done away – lying, deceiving, envying, strifes, priestcrafts, and whoredoms (v19).  Saying that the sins shall be done away I think emphasizes that the sins can be removed and the people purified, which is what we all hope for, rather than for the penalty of excommunication being imposed.

“whosoever will not repent and come unto my Beloved Son, them will I cut off from among my people, O house of Israel” (v20) – In the end, it doesn’t matter much what sin causes the problem. If someone isn’t willing to repent of it and come to Christ, that will lead to them being cut off.  The thing is, when one is faced with this, it will feel simultaneously as though the sin in question is no big deal and not worth the attention of a discipline hearing, but also it will feel like that sin is a major part of the person’s character, such that giving it up will feel like a betrayal of who one is.  (Interesting how such contrasting feelings combine to discourage from repentance. I’ll give you three guesses as to who would promote those feelings.)  The truth is the opposite – it is worth having leaders look into it, and giving it up is an affirmation of one’s identity as a child of God, and one is better without that sin.

So why is it important for us to know about this?

Again, we should tune into the fact that a person can’t be cut off from the covenant people of Israel unless they were once a part of them in the first place.  The warning isn’t to outsiders, but to church members.  It is a warning from Christ Himself that He will not suffer the members to go on indefinitely in their sin just because they belong to the church.  Complacent members are liable to think that the acceptance and welcoming tolerance of church leaders gives one a free pass to sin as one likes and still enjoy full fellowship. It is true that any person is always welcome, but membership and full fellowship in the church has its conditions, which Christ sets, which include repenting of one’s sins.

Christ’s words affirm this watch-care will be part of the Latter-day church of Christ.  I for one am grateful for it, since being called on the carpet at one point by a priesthood leader once saved me from dwindling towards apostasy.  I had to make a choice to humble myself, and the Spirit fought with me until I realized my errors and repented.

All the ways the Lord saved Abraham from being sacrificed

15 And as they lifted up their hands upon me [Abraham], that they might offer me up and take away my life, behold, I lifted up my voice unto the Lord my God, and the Lord hearkened and heard, and he filled me with the vision of the Almighty, and the angel of his presence stood by me, and immediately unloosed my bands;

16 And his voice was unto me: Abraham, Abraham, behold, my name is Jehovah, and I have heard thee, and have come down to deliver thee, and to take thee away from thy father’s house, and from all thy kinsfolk, into a strange land which thou knowest not of;

17 And this because they have turned their hearts away from me, to worship the god of Elkenah, and the god of Libnah, and the god of Mahmackrah, and the god of Korash, and the god of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; therefore I have come down to visit them, and to destroy him who hath lifted up his hand against thee, Abraham, my son, to take away thy life.

18 Behold, I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee.

19 As it was with Noah so shall it be with thee; but through thy ministry my name shall be known in the earth forever, for I am thy God.

20 Behold, Potiphar’s Hill was in the land of Ur, of Chaldea. And the Lord broke down the altar of Elkenah, and of the gods of the land, and utterly destroyed them, and smote the priest that he died; and there was great mourning in Chaldea, and also in the court of Pharaoh; which Pharaoh signifies king by royal blood.  (Abraham 1:15-20)

In these verses we can see about six different ways the Lord saved Abraham when he was about to be sacrificed.  Some of them were related to his precarious position and others were of a type that continued longer.

1) His bands were loosed so he could move freely.

2) He was told the Lord would destroy “him who hath lifted up his hand against thee.”    The Lord smote the murderous priest who was trying to kill Abraham, to confirm the wrongness of human sacrifice and His protection of Abraham.  This saved him from being the subject of a continued manhunt once he was saved from that particular prospect of becoming a human sacrifice.

3) The Lord threw down the altars of all the false gods to show His displeasure with their human sacrifices and discourage them from such usage in the future.

4) He was told he would be taken by the Lord away from his father’s house, since they were obviously wicked and consenting to his death.  This would take him from their evil influence.

5) He was told the Lord would lead him by the hand, which would be really reassuring when Abraham didn’t know what would happen.  (Think of a blind person led by the hand or elbow, following gentle tugs.)

6) He was told the Lord would take him and put upon him “my name, even the Priesthood,” which would increase his spiritual safety, since he would have to be worthy and spiritually prepared for that.

So many different ways of saving!  Some of them were immediate, some were more long-term and ongoing.  This makes me wonder if we can see in our lives all the different ways the Lord is saving us.

Today let’s try to discern those different ways the Lord’s salvation is in our lives.

Inquiring of the Lord with idols in our hearts

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1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

2 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;

5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6 ¶Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to inquire of him concerning me; I the Lord will answer him by myself:

8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 14:1-8)

This block of verses have some puzzling things in them.  The elders of Israel come to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord through him, but the Spirit tells Ezekiel that the elders did not inquire sincerely and that they still have idols in their hearts.

The Lord tells Ezekiel something strange He will do to people who do this – “I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.” (v4-5)  He says further that “I the Lord will answer him by myself: And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” (v7-8)

What is it these people are doing?  They are likening the words of the prophets to themselves, but because of the idols in their hearts (things they love more than God, sins they prefer more than God) they are likening the words of the prophets in a way that will justify them in committing their favorite sins.   This is what it means when the Lord says He will answer them according to their idols.  It is not that the Lord wants them to interpret His words as they do, but they take an edifying message and twist it to their purposes.

However, that doesn’t free them from the negative consequences, and the Lord declares these people will eventually be cut off from among the people, which means they will leave the church or be excommunicated.  You see, any time someone prefers a sin or idol to God and interprets God’s words to encourage them in that, they set a course that will lead them by degrees out of the church.

How does this help us today?  It shows us God knows perfectly well that people bent on keeping their favorite sins use His words to justify themselves and He also knows the consequences and warns all of us against trying that trick (and all of us may find ourselves in that situation at once time or another.)  We have everything to lose and nothing to gain by doing that.

How much better it is to use the word of God to show us what sins we have to give up and then use the Atonement!  This reminds me how important it is to pray with real intent and sincerity when praying for guidance.