Today I read 2 Corinthians 11 which I'm not exactly sure what Paul is trying to say in this chapter. The things I took away from it were to beware of false prophets and apostles, and that Paul suffered much in his days for the sake of righteousness. It says he was beaten with 39 stripes 3 times by the Jews, which is really impressive since some men don't even survive it happening once. It says he has been shipwrecked three times , he was beaten with rods three times, he was stoned and he spent a day and a night in the ocean, or sea. That is quite a lot for one man!
But going back to the topic of bewaring false prophets and apostles it has often amused me how people can be fooled by such people when the scriptures are before them. I guess they don't read the scriptures or understand them like they should. For example, most of you should be quite familiar with the man who predicted the end of the world, or the start of the Rapture back in April and then again in October. This man obviously does not understand the scriptures, because the scriptures tells us that no man knows the day or the hour of the Second Coming. If he had truly been a prophet and had understood the scriptures, then he would have known that his predictions were not right. People get so scared and so worried about it and got all worked up about it. And then nothing happened, at all.
It was the same thing in the 90's when Nostradamus had predicted the end of the world and it will be the same in 2012 when the Mayan calendar ends. No man knows when the Second Coming will happen. Not even President Monson knows when the Second Coming of Jesus will take place. The scriptures are purposefully vague on this matter. The scriptures even tell us to beware of those who say that Christ is in the desert or the secret places or saying lo there and lo here. When Jesus comes again, everyone will know about it.
It is the same thing when people come out with something new to try and disprove the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My Dad remembers when the salamander letters came out how it caused a lot of people to question their faith. He said that he got through it by just holding fast to his testimony because there was no doubt in his mind that God had told him that the Book of Mormon was true. And sure enough in time the salamander letters were proved false just like all attempts to disprove the Book of Mormon or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are. This is the work of Heavenly Father and it cannot be frustrated by the efforts of men or Satan. It will go forth as He has decreed it because Satan will lose. It has already been decided. We just need to decide which side we want to be on and stick to our guns. We cannot play for both teams, it will not work. The Spirit will not be our companion if we even attempt it. We have to decide now and stick with our decision.
Satan will never stop trying to lead men astray. It is his nature. He will continually try and frustrate the efforts of God. If we allow him to do so, he will succeed in claiming each one of us because it is extremely hard if not impossible to defeat him on our own. We need the help of the Savior in order to win this battle. We have to decide now what it is we want and make it happen otherwise we will fail. Choose the right, when a choice is placed before you. Choose happiness and eternal peace and progression. I know I have. Until tomorrow.
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