the impervious american

“And there were exceedingly many prophets among us. And the people were a stiffnecked people, hard to understand. And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions, and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily to destruction. And after this manner do I write concerning them” (Enos 1.22-23).

​Note: Please don’t get me wrong. Notwithstanding scriptural rhetoric ascribing such things to God, I am not saying that “God sent a pandemic to call a generation to repentance.” I do not believe in any such god—little g. But a pandemic can certainly serve to turn one’s heart back to God and the principles he has given us.
He has given us ethical principles by which to live. In his infinite wisdom, he has given us principles that he knows make for stable, healthy functioning societies. Because we have ignored these principles, selling our souls for vanities of all kinds, built up churches and abusing our more vulnerable fellow citizens in the process, when a challenge to our society naturally comes, we are unprepared for the challenge. We have been too busy sinning to build and upkeep the watchtower. So, the enemy has come upon us unawares.[1]
 
 
“After this manner do I write concerning them.” This is how Enos ended his lamentation concerning the impervious hardness of his people. There is not the slightest doubt that Enos would say much the same if he time-traveled into American society as it has devolved today.
 
No matter how much evidence has bombarded them on a daily basis over the past three years, somewhere between 30 and 35% of the American electorate have been impervious to warnings concerning Caligula’s deeply immoral, profoundly dishonest, and grossly incompetent governance.
 
As I, from my self-isolation, watch the coronavirus pandemic unfold, I fear that the day of “exceeding harshness” in “preaching and prophesying”—a day in which I and many others have been raising a warning voice—has come to end. Because the preaching and prophesying has gone largely unheeded, it may just be that the real thing is now upon us. The “preaching” may come from the “voice of pestilence.”[2] One fears that it is just this kind of lamentation that we will now hear far too often.
 
“Yet hear the word of the LORD, O ye women,
      and let your ear receive the word of his mouth,
and teach your daughters wailing,
      and every one her neighbour lamentation.
 
’For death is come up into our windows,
      and is entered into our palaces,
to cut off the children from without,
      and the young men from the streets.’”[3]
 
I am reminded of another nation that were brought to lamentation after repeated warnings and unheeded calls to repentance. This lamentation was heard through thousands upon thousands of open windows.
 
“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead.”[4]
 
Jeremiah did not wish the lamentation for his fellow citizens. When it came, it brought him no pleasure.
 
“Oh that my head were waters,
   and mine eyes a fountain of tears,
that I might weep day and night
   for the slain of the daughter of my people!”[5]
 
Moses did not wish this upon the recalcitrant Egyptian empire. He warned thrice, thrice more, and thrice again. No, none hopes for any such repeat performance today.
 
Yet, nothing has penetrated the impenitent hearts of Caligula’s disciples. One hopes that it will not take a deceased friend, grandfather, mother, father, sister, son, or daughter to awake their sense of decency and decide that this evil Caligula is unfit for governance and must be removed from office—removed for the health and safety of the body politic. However, with news today that a sizable number of Caligula’s advisors have reprehensively advocated for more aggressive military actions against an Iran reeling from the coronavirus almost brings one to despair, fearing that the day of repentance has passed a stubborn nation by.


[1] Actually, it was not “unawares.” The dastardly evil man in the White house was warned months ago, but he would not take heed, sinfully being more concerned with his own prestige and stock portfolio than the lives of his fellow citizens.

[2] See DC 43.25

[3] Jeremiah 9.20-21

[4] Exodus 12.30

[5] Jeremiah 9.1

“And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him. O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world! Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom's paths! (Helaman 12.3-5).