"Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
"Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
"The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
"And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up" (Isa. 28:4).
Gileadi's translation of the original Hebrew is helpful:
"Woe to the garlands of glory of the drunkards of Ephraim! Their crowning splendor has become as fading wreaths on the heads of the opulent overcome with wine.
"My Lord has in store one mighty and strong: as a ravaging hailstorm sweeping down, or like an inundating deluge of mighty waters, he will hurl them to the ground by his hand.
"The proud garlands of the drunkards of Ephraim shall be trodden underfoot.
"And the fading wreaths, the crowns of glory on the heads of the opulent, shall be like the first-ripe fruit before summer harvest: he who sees it devours it the moment he has hold of it" (Gileadi, The Apocalyptic Book of Isaiah 28:1-4).
The drunkenness with which Ephraim stumbles is not from wine or strong drink. Rather, it is error and blindness (Isa. 29:9-10). The sun has gone down over the prophets, and the day is dark over them (Micah 3:6). There is no answer from God (Micah 3:7). "They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us" (Micah 3:10-11). "And thus, with the sword and by bloodshed the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn" (D&C 87:6).
The crown of pride is above all, yea is more proud than all the earth (3 Ne. 16:10). It shall be trodden under foot (Isa. 28:3; 3 Ne. 16:15). That which was beautiful has become a fading flower. The valleys are fat. The consumption decreed shall make an end of all nations (Isa. 28:22; D&C 87:6).
"Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?
"For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:
"That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.
"Therefore thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale" (Isa. 29:17, 20-22).
Excellent. You could add this one:
ReplyDelete``What Constitutes the Kingdom of God Whare there is a Prophet a priest or a righteous man unto whom God gives his oracles there is the Kingdom of God, & whare the oracles of God are not there the Kingdom of God is not, In these remarks I have no allusion to the Kingdoms of the earth we will keep the Laws of the Land, we do not speak against them we never have & we can hardly make mention of the State of Missouri of our persecutions there &c but what the cry goes forth that we are guilty of larceny Burlary, arson treason & murder &C &C which is fals 3 we speak of the Kingdom of God on the earth not the Kingdom of men, The plea of many in this day is that we have no right to receive revelations, But if we do not get revelations we do not have the oracles of God & if they have not the oracles of God they are not the people of God But say you what will become of the world or the various professors of religion who do not believe in revelation & the oracles of God as Continued to the Church in all ages of the world when he has a people on earth I Tell you in the name of Jesus Christ they will be damned & when you get into the eternal world you will find it to be so they cannot escape the damnation of hell'' (Joseph Smith in Words of Joseph Smith, 22 Jan 1843)
Gileadi also teaches that wine is symbolic of money. The word opulent goes hand in hand with money too. So they are drunken with money, and then I ask myself, "well who is Ephriam?". The immediate answer that comes to mind is the only large body of saints that know they belong to the family of Ephriam would be the LDS through their Patriarchal Blessings. I then see for example, those who reside in and support opulence at the heart of the church in SLC....City Creek.
ReplyDeleteAn "inundating deluge of mighty waters" through SLC?? Hopefully not. I pray there is repentance and a realization that this is us as a people, and there is a return to God. We could be so much more!
With the current economic situation, the unchecked and irresponsible printing of money, a collapse is unavoidable. I guess the supply of wine (money) will soon be drying up and we will then be sober.
garmel