Learn From the Past

Today I read Haggai 2 where the Lord speaks through Haggai and tries to help the priests and people understand that they are unclean before Him.  It is interesting that the priests would be so good at recognizing parts of the Law of Moses and what would make a person unclean, but they do not understand nor see the perversion of the people that is going on all around them as a whole.  It's almost like you can't see the forest through the trees.  They were so focused on the individual aspects of the law of Moses that they forgot to look at the purpose of the law and what it was meant to accomplish. 

The Nephites had the same problem if you will remember Abinadi's speech to King Noah's priests.  They thought that salvation came by the law of Moses and had to be taught by Abinadi that it was only meant to point the way to Christ.  Maybe I'm too harsh on the ancient Israelites though.  I have known about the Gospel my entire life and been brought up in the way of it and I still make mistakes.  Maybe I should be more understanding of their human weaknesses.  Then again, their frailties are recorded for us for a purpose.  I believe that purpose is to not repeat their mistakes.  We can be better than they were.  We have a correct understanding of God's character and as such we know how to please Him.  Let's not squander that knowledge.  Until tomorrow.

Built to Last

Today I read Haggai 1 where the Lord tells the Israelites, through Haggai that the time has come to build the temple anew.  I cannot even imagine building such great structures without modern techniques and how they were able to build such buildings.  It really is amazing how they worked together and by their own labors were able to build such things that have endured for milliennia.  Things like the Colosseum of Rome.  The Great Wall of China.  The Pyramids of Egypt.  These structures have stood for thousands of years.  It is much like the Salt Lake City Temple.  I think that building will stand until the end of time.  It too was built without modern techniques and machines to help.  It was all done by hand and took 40 years!  Perhaps because it was all done by hand, that is why the ancient cities and structures were so well built!  Perhaps our modern techniques are not so amazing after all.  Our buildings crumple after a few decades, our streets are in disrepair within a matter of months.  Perhaps there is much to be learned from the past and how they built their cities.  Until tomorrow.

Pure Language

Today I read Zephaniah 3 where the Lord tells Zephaniah about the millennium.  One thing I don't think I ever knew, or at least I forgot I knew it, is that everyone will speak a "pure" language when the Lord comes again.  I wonder if the the Lord will teach us the original Adamic language?  According to Moroni, that language was mighty in writing to the moving of those who read it.  I'm not sure what that means exactly although I do recall in one of my religion classes at BYU being told that Joseph Smith taught that the Adamic language could convey emotions in a way we can't comprehend.  I don't really know what that means, but I enjoy languages and the study of language.  I speak Mandarin from my time as a missionary and it just fascinates me how different Mandarin is from English.  How it conveys meanings in different ways.  I am sure the Adamic language is just fascinating.  I can't wait to study it and learn it someday.  Even if that day is after my mortal life is over.  Until tomorrow.

Pray for Your Fellow Man

Today I read Zephaniah 2 where Zephaniah talks about all the various cities and civilizations that will be laid waste because of their unbelief and wicked practices.  I sometimes will think on why Heavenly Father allows a civilization to reach full iniquity before removing them.  I know He does not like destroying the righteous although when He does, they receive their reward so it is not as sad.  And I know He spares civilizations because of the prayers of the righteous, so perhaps it is as simple as that.  Perhaps the righteous of each of those civilizations prayed for God to have pity on them.  It is interesting. 

I don't think I have ever prayed for God to have pity on my society.  I don't think  have ever prayed for their well being.  Now, when I was a missionary, I did pray that they would be receptive to the message of the Gospel and that they would have compassion on us missionaries, but I think that is the closest I have ever come.  And as I sit here thinking about it, I feel the urge to repent.  It seems to me, that not praying for my fellow man, shows a startling lack of compassion that needs to be rectified.  I wonder what someone else would get out of this chapter?  Would they feel the same as I do now?  I'm not sure, but I do know that my path is clear.  I have some repenting to do.  Until tomorrow.

The Lord Will Destroy Jerusalem

Today I read Zephaniah 1 where the Lord shows Zephaniah the destruction of Jerusalem and tells him it is a shadow of the Second Coming.  The more I read the Old Testament, the more I realize that the Lord is indeed fulfilling His promise to Amos, that He does nothing without telling the prophets about it first.  And that there are multiple witnesses to what the Lord says.  I have lost track of the number of prophets who foretold the destruction of Jerusalem.  Now, I'm looking at things from a different perspective, hindsight is always 20/20 they say.  Would I be inclined to believe it if someone came and told me that New York would be destroyed?  From a random person, probably not.  From President Monson?  I would.  But I already believe and know that President Monson is a prophet of God.  So the comparison is not really accurate.  If only everyone knew the proper order of things, but if we knew that, we would already be in the millennium and everything else would be better too.  I will just have to be patient I guess.  Until tomorrow.

Habakkuk Prays to the Lord

Today I read Habakkuk 3.  It's always interesting to read someone else's prayers.  It's not an experience we get to read about very often.  Enos recorded his prayer, Alma recorded one of his prayers, the Savior recorded one of His prayers and now we have Habakkuk.  Is it bad that most of my prayers feel unremarkable?  I can remember a few prayers in my life that I have said, but they were so personal that I would hesitate to put them down on paper for generations to read later.  That is something I need to work on then, to increase the meaning of my prayers.  I need to start putting an emphasis on them and make sure I am not just going through the motions with vain repetitions.  It can be a challenge.  When things are going well in your life, it is easy to fall into a pattern and make things routine.  We need to make sure our worship of our God does not become routine and that it remains sacred.  That is the bigger challenge these days with so many distractions.  Until tomorrow.

Do Not Enable Others to Sin

Today I read Habakkuk 2 where the Lord teaches us not to enable others to sin.  At least that is what I took away from this chapter.  The Lord tells Habakkuk that the person who enables his neighbor to get drunk is in peril, I am paraphrasing, but the Lord is not pleased when we allow others to sin.  It is not enough for us to be clean and obeying the commandments, we must not enable others to sin either.  Just like with parents who need to teach their children correct principles and will be held accountable if their children are not taught properly.  If we know our neighbor has a drinking problem, it is entirely unacceptable to give them liquor or alcohol of any kind.  Likewise if we know someone has a chastity problem, we need to make sure we are not putting them in situations where they will be tempted to do that which is wrong.  We are in fact our neighbors keeper.  We need to do our best to help those around us and do that which is right.  Until tomorrow.

The Truth Can Be Hard to Accept Sometimes

Today I read Habakkuk 1 where the Lord reveals to Habakkuk that He will use the Chaldeans to punish Israel.  Habakkuk wonders how the Lord can use the wicked for His purposes.  I suppose it can be hard to wrap your head around the Lord using the wicked to punish the righteous since we know that God cannot tolerate sin with the least degree of allowance.  However, I personally have never had any trouble accepting this idea.  Perhaps it is because growing up I read the Book of  Mormon and knew that the Lord did this on a regular basis.  I'm not really sure, but to me, the Lord using the wicked to punish the righteous makes perfect sense.  I mean, He uses the righteous to punish the wicked, so why not the other way around?  I wonder if Habakkuk had access to the scriptures to see that the Lord has done this before?  I do know it can be very hard to swallow new concepts the first time we hear them.  It can take time and prayer to overcome the natural man who pushes against the knowledge.  But I am sure Habakkuk was able to come to terms with the knowledge.  He was a prophet after all.  Until tomorrow.

The Downfall of Nineveh is Prophesied

Today I read Nahum 2 and 3 which deal with the destruction of Nineveh.  I wondered while I was reading these chapters if Nahum was after Jonah, or before.  I would assume after since it seems this prophecy is not contingent upon them repenting, but rather is a given that it is going to happen.  It is always sad to read about the destruction of a people in the scriptures, even when I know it is justified.  Perhaps if we knew more about the atrocities they committed that would make it more easy to bear for me. 

For example I find no remorse in me for the city of Ammonihah in the Book of Mormon.  They burned the righteous women and children alive and cast out the men who believed Alma and Amulek.  I have no remorse in me for such people who would do this.  And part of me wants to believe it was only the men that were that wicked, but then I think of the ancient Romans and their Colosseum and the gladiators.  Women attended those games and cheered for blood to be spilled just like the men did. 

Sin is very infectious, including the most perverse and evil sins.  First we are offended, then we tolerate, and finally embrace.  We have to flee sin when it comes at us, no matter what, just like Joseph of Egypt did.  He saved his soul by refusing to sin, even if he suffered bodily for his righteous choice.  We need to choose what we want out of eternity and live our lives accordingly.  I know what I want and am living for it today and each day!  Until tomorrow.

Nahum Tells of the Savior's Second Coming

Today I read Nahum 1 which is another book in the Old Testament that I have never read before.  Nahum talks about the Second Coming of Jesus in this chapter.  He talks about how the wicked will not be able to abide His coming and even the hills will burn with the heat of His coming.  When I was younger, I used to think that God would smite the earth with fire as a result of its wickedness.  Now however I understand that the fire is a natural result of the Savior's righteousness on the wicked, including the world.  Right now the world is in a telestial state, which cannot abide Jesus' righteousness.  Therefore it will be cleansed, just like a blacksmith would do with metal he is working with.  It will be purified by fire.  I had a mission companion that used to say tithing was fire insurance, because the scriptures state that if we pay our tithing, we would not be burned at his coming.  I think he was more right than he knew.  If we wish to survive in the Savior's presence, we need to be righteous and live as He does.  There is no other way.  Until tomorrow.

We Must Understand God in Order to Please Him

Today I read Micah 7 where Micah tells the Israelites that there are none of them that do good.  He tells them that the best of them are as a briar, or a thorn.  That may not seem so bad but when you compare a briar to a snake, you realize that it is like saying the prettiest dog of an ugly litter.  It reminds me of what we know of the middle ages.  None were on the earth except John the Beloved and the Three Nephite Disciples, that had the true Gospel.  As such, there were none that knew how to please God the right way because none had a correct understanding of His character.  Joseph Smith taught that in order to please Him, we have to have a correct understanding of who He is.  Otherwise, we will do the wrong things in an attempt to please Him.

Think of it this way.  A cat as a pet, thinks of his owner as a fellow cat.  Albeit a strange, very tall one, but still a fellow cat.  We know this because of the way that the cat treats his human.  When the cat is pleased, he purs, just like he did with his mother when he was satisfied to let her know he was happy and satisfied.  When he wants to bring his human a present, he brings something that would make him happy, a dead mouse, bird or other varmint.  The cat does not have a correct understanding of his human and so cannot properly please him.  Now, we understand the cat's intentions and shower him with love and praise but his gift does not truly please us.  Likewise, we might get praise from God and He might assist us if we are doing the best we can, but without a proper understanding of who He is, we cannot give Him good gifts that He finds truly acceptable and enjoyable.  We need to hold on to that knowledge and make sure we understand Him, otherwise, how can we become like Him?  Until tomorrow.

Israel is Ripened in Iniquity

Today I read Micah 6 where the Lord tells Israel of their sins and how they have failed Him.  The way all of the prophets seem to condemn the entire people of Israel, it actually makes me wonder if there were any righteous people at all.  I know in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities that were destroyed with them, there were not even 10 people found among them all that were righteous.  So knowing the nature of God, I would think that there were certainly righteous people among the Israelites or they would have been destroyed.

It is very similar to General Conference today.  The vast majority of the talks over the years are about repentance and forsaking sin.  But that does not mean that everyone listening needs to repent and falls into that category.  Far from it.  Heavenly Father has taught through His prophets that a society generally chooses what is right.  It is only when a society chooses wickedly that they are ripe for destruction.  So, obviously Israel falls into that category now that I think about it.  They were wiped out multiple times by other civilizations.  I suppose that means that they were ripened in iniquity and ready for destruction.  I would say that is really sad, but then I look at our own society, spiraling out of control all the while proclaiming how progressive we are, skipping merrily on our way to hell.  It can happen to anyone, any society at any time.  Until tomorrow.

The Birthplace of Jesus is Foretold

Today I read Micah 5 where among the normal rebukes for being wicked, the prophet testifies that the Savior will be born in Bethlehem.  It is interesting that with this information being available, more people did not flock to Bethlehem and live there.  I know there are several Latter-day Saint families that when they heard the new temple will be built in Independence, Missouri, they moved there so they can be ready to assist with the building of the new temple. 

Perhaps the knowledge wasn't known.  I know that it is easy to think of how things are today and impose those thoughts onto ancient times.  However, the ancient Israelites did not have the scriptures as we have them today.  I know they had some scriptures that were in the synagogue because the Savior read from Isaiah during worship in his home town.  But perhaps the writings of Micah was not available before the Savior's birth.  Whatever the reason, we know that by the time of the birth of the Savior, this knowledge was lost.  Even the priests of King Herod had to look it up when the Wise Men came to worship Jesus.  How sad that the 2nd most important event in the history of creation was forgotten by everyone who was around to witness it!  Until tomorrow.

Control Yourself

Today I read Micah 4 which seems almost an exact copy of Isaiah 2.  It talks about the last days.  The part I am most interested in states that the people will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, or in other words, there will be peace among the people and no contention among anyone.  I really look forward to such a day.  I am very tired of contention and war and people not having their emotions under control. 

It is sad really how bad things are in this world and how out of control people are.  We have people killing total strangers because they don't know how to process their own emotions.  Some might have a chemical imbalance or a mental disability, but that is for God to decide how in control of their own faculties they are.  For the rest of us, we need to learn to temper our emotions and to do what is right.  It is not ok to let our emotions run wild and unchecked.  We don't allow our children to do it, so why should we allow our adults?  Get it together and be in control.  Until tomorrow.

Do Not Preach for Gain

Today I read Micah 3 where the Lord condemns those that use their spiritual gifts for money.  Specifically those that preach for money.  Now, at first glance, one wonders how the vast majority of the world could miss this.  But when you read the chapter, it is not extremely clear that the Lord is talking about them specifically.  It is very easy to see how one could miss it.  Fortunately, the Book of Mormon clears up any misconception about this concept.  The Book of Mormon frequently condemns those who preach the word of God to get gain.  They call it priestcraft in the Book of Mormon.  Sadly, in this day and age, you can find it everywhere. 

I cannot think of any other religion beyond the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who receive no remuneration for their service to God.  Sadly, the world sees no challenge with this.  They do not seem to understand how a person would avoid preaching certain topics when their payment depends on their congregation being happy.  To me it is self evident, that to preach only that which would keep the people happy would make sense when they pay your bills and can fire you if they don't like what you have to say.  Such a person cannot be trusted to teach the true principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Rather, let us teach as the Lord has said, to preach for the betterment of all men, not for our own gain.  This is what Christ did before us.  Shouldn't we desire to emulate Him?  Until tomorrow.

Search for Truth, Not What We Want to Hear

Today I read Micah 2 and 2 thoughts occurred to me.  The first was "wo unto them that call evil good and good evil" and the second was about a conversation I had with my wife last night.  The more I read the Old Testament and see how people in every generation would ignore the truth and search out people who would tell them whatever they wanted to hear no matter what, the more I realize it is a shadow of today.

The reason there are so many instances in the Old Testament and so many chapters on the destruction of Israel because they would not listen, is because that is what we have going on today.  It happens in every generation.  Think about the people who go through doctor after doctor until they finally find one that will tell them what they want to hear.  They refuse to accept the truth even if it is coming from the mouth of two or three witnesses.  But the moment they hear what they want to hear, they believe it, even if it is just the one person saying it.  They ignore ALL the other people and focus on the one person, because it is the "truth" they want to hear and believe. 

It is really easy to fall into this trap, and we need to make sure that we are searching out truth and knowledge and not what we want to hear.  There will always be someone saying what we want to hear, but we need to put it to the test that God has given us.  Does it contradict the laws of God?  Are there more than one witness saying it?  Do we feel the Spirit when we hear it?  If the answer is yes, no, and no, then we need to be wary.  And of course we can always pray and ask God.  He will tell us if it is from Him or not.  Until tomorrow.

Micah Tells of the Destruction of Jerusalem

Today I read Micah 1 where the Lord prophesies of the downfall of Samaria and Jerusalem due to their wickedness.  It is sad how apparently the Israelites forgot all about the law of witnesses.  How the word will be established from the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses.  Well, the Israelites had about 100 witnesses and still they did not believe.  What is it about pride that blinds us to the truth?  Why is it that when we are full of pride the truth only angers us and causes us to lose ourselves even more in our incorrect ways?  It is only when we humble ourselves, or are compelled to be humble that we can see clearly again and see the truth.  It is sad that it requires such strong intervention at times from the Lord.  Sad that we will not choose to be humble and not puffed up.  Only we can make the choice to be humble though.  If we will make the choice, life will be much better for us though.  Until tomorrow.

Jonah is Taught His True Purpose in Coming

Today I read Jonah 4 where Jonah gets angry with the Lord for sparing the city of Nineveh.  He thought that the Lord was going to destroy the city of Nineveh no matter what was done and so after the people repented, he grew upset that the Lord was not going to destroy the city.  The Lord explained to Jonah that the people were like cattle, meaning they had not been told the right way of doing things and so had to be led.  That was the purpose of Jonah coming, to teach them the right way of doing things.  The Lord loves all of His people and wants everyone to be righteous and happy.  That is why we have prophets, to tell us the will of the Lord.  To help us understand what will make us truly happy.  If we will but listen, we can have true joy in this life.  Until tomorrow.

The Example of a Righteous Leader

Today I read Jonah 3.  I have always liked this chapter because, to my knowledge, it is the only instance in all of the scriptures where an entire people repent.  The Lamanites during the mission of the sons of Mosiah is a close second, but this is the only one I know of where everyone does it.  And that is a really awesome thing.  So often in the scriptures we read about how the people refused to repent and ignored the prophet, or called them a false prophet.  But the people of Nineveh did not do that.  I believe that in large part, it was due to the example of their king. 

Mosiah taught the people in the Book of Mormon that a wicked king leads his people to do much iniquity.  The flip side of that coin though is that a righteous king leads people to do that which is right.  People look to the example of their leaders.  We can see that in the history of the United States of America.  When JFK told the country that they should not ask what the country can do for them, but rather what they can do for their country, people took it to heart.  Now that our leaders are saying we need to take care of the people, people are responding to that too.  Just like children emulate their parents, people emulate their leaders.  If you are in a position of authority, then you need to make sure you are on the ball because your every move will be scrutinized.  Make sure you are setting the right example.  Until tomorrow.

The Obedience of a Fish

Today I read Jonah 2 where Jonah repents and the fish spits him out on dry land.  Now some might look at this chapter as how wonderful it is that Jonah is repenting, well who wouldn't at this point?  I mean he is in the belly of a great fish, most likely a whale, with absolutely no hope of rescue and very long, painful death ahead of him.  Who wouldn't repent at this point?  There is nothing really significant about that.  What strikes me about the story rather is what the fish does.

The last verse of the chapter states that God spoke with the fish and then the fish vomited Jonah out of its stomach.  It doesn't say the Lord caused the fish to get sick or that the Lord compelled it, but rather the Lord spoke to the fish.  The phrasing of this verse suggests to me that the Lord had a conversation with the fish and then the fish made a conscious choice to obey what the Lord was asking it to do.  How intriguing that an animal would be more obedient than a man!  Jonah was given a command and ran away.  A fish was given a command and obeyed without question.  We could certainly learn a lot from the example of our non-human roommates on this planet!  Until tomorrow.