Enoch's Vision

Today I read Moses 7, this is a truly fascinating chapter that details the vision Enoch is given by the Lord showing him all the generations of the world. This vision is unlike any other that the Lord has shown mankind and includes things that no other man has seen, or at least recorded. To me personally the neatest thing that Enoch is shown, is he actually got to hear the earth itself talk. How amazing would that be? Unfortunately though, from Enoch's vision, the earth is not happy because of the wickedness of mankind. Despite that, I personally think that is the coolest thing, that Enoch got to hear the thoughts of the earth.

The majority of this chapter is taken up by this vision and the wickedness of mankind. This vision also contains perhaps the creepiest thing in all the scriptures too. Enoch sees the earth veiled in darkness caused by a giant chain that Satan is holding and he and his angels are laughing and rejoicing. As creepy as this image is, it seems very true to me. I can't help but think that with all this evil and unrighteousness going on in the world right now, Satan must be extremely happy. Fortunately there are plenty of people, LDS and non-LDS alike that are still trying their best to do what is right. And as long as there are still righteous people in the world, Satan is losing!

As a mortal with finite understanding, it is hard if not impossible to completely understand the things of God. For example, the Lord tells Enoch that if mankind could number the particles that make up this earth and millions of earths just like it, that would not even be a beginning to God's creations. My mind can't even wrap around that concept. I can't even imagine how many earth's there are like that, and our God is of course just one of the Gods out there creating worlds and universes like this. It really blows my mind to even think about it. I think that is why most of the time, the Lord will only tell His prophets about this planet, because our minds cannot handle all the rest.

The other part of this chapter that I find interesting is that once Zion was established, the unrighteous people of the world started trying to fight against it. I do not understand what it is about the righteous that unrighteous people feel the need to destroy. Perhaps it is because the righteous people's lives make a mockery of the unrighteous people's lives, I really don't know. But any time there have been people that worship God in the correct fashion the world has persecuted them and tried to stamp it out. It happened in the meridian of time when Christ established His church among them and it happened when Joseph Smith restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It happened in Adam's time when Enoch established Zion.

However, unlike with Joseph Smith and the early Saints, in Enoch's time, Enoch was so mighty in the Priesthood and his people were so righteous, that the Lord fought their battles for them. When the armies arrayed themselves against Enoch and his people, the Lord moved mountains and changed the course of rivers to protect them and to destroy the wicked so that eventually the wicked got the point, there is no use trying to fight against Zion. It has long been a debate between my dad, my mom and I about this. My dad contends that if America were righteous enough, we would not need a standing army, that the Lord would fight our battles for us and he likes to cite this chapter as his reference. Whereas my mom and I like to point out that the Nephites in the Book of Mormon were commanded to take up arms to defend themselves against their oppressors as were the Israelites before them. Perhaps he is right, but I personally do not think we will ever get that righteous until the millennium and then it won't be needed.

This vision really is quite singular and worth the read if you haven't read it in a long time. The Lord has showed many people many things, but none that are recorded, that we know of, were greater. Moroni tells us that the vision of Mahonri Moriancumer was actually shown more than any other man, but we do not have a record of that vision yet. Perhaps some day we will and then we will see. But for now, there is none greater that we have record of and it is well worth the read as I have said before. I invite you all to read it if you have not done so or if it has been a long time since you last read it. Until tomorrow.