Replace wickedness, vengeance with righteousness, blessings
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There are times when the patience of the Lord comes to an end, related Chauncey C. Riddle, BYU philosophy professor, in his lecture, "Days of Wickedness and Vengeance."
These times are marked by three factors: 1. The wickedness of men is great. 2. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached to these wicked persons and they deliberately reject it. 3. The Lord invokes a temporal punishment upon these wicked persons that destroys them off the face of the earth."The Lord also specifically designates two times as such `days of wickedness and vengeance,' " he continued. "One such designated time is the meridian of time, as we see in the response to Enoch's plea to know when the Savior will perform the atonement: `And the Lord said: It shall be in the meridian of time, in the days of wickedness and vengeance.' (Moses 7:46.)
"The other days of wickedness and vengeance specifically denominated by the Lord are the latter days: . . . `And the Lord said unto Enoch: As I live, even so will I come in the last days, in the days of wickedness and vengeance, to fulfil the oath which I have made unto you concerning the children of Noah.' " (Moses 7:60.)
From Third Nephi chapters 6 and 7 Brother Riddle discussed the Nephite days of wickedness and vengeance. "We note that the beginning of the trouble among the Nephites was disputation; they ceased to see eye to eye because some became lifted up in pride and arrogated to themselves a self-righteousness that was a rejection of the ways of the Lord. Rejection of the Lord is the beginning of pride, which pride is enmity toward God."
He concluded: "Our Savior's mission in these last days at His Second Coming is to do just as He did with the Nephites: He will bless all those who manage to pass through the fire of the days of wickedness and vengeance . . . . To live in the days of wickedness and vengeance is thus to live and love in the very days of the greatest faith, righteousness and blessing which the world has ever seen, albeit on the part of but a few. You and I individually choose for ourselves whether for us these days will be days of wickedness and vengeance or days of righteousness and blessing."
