Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 5:18

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 5:18

"Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light."

This verse made me stop and sit and ponder on it. I wondered why was there a woe associated with desiring the day of the Lord? Then I realized it was the motive. What was the end of the desire? It was to seek the destruction of others. They are not looking at it as the light and glory of His coming, but the darkness it will be as a dreadful day for others. This is not something we should be gleeful over. This is something to feel great sorrow that this is the fate of the unrepented.

I am always a little troubled when I hear people speak of the wickedness of the world, and then in the next breath say they can't wait for the second coming. I am at a loss for words, because I'm not sure they understand what that all means.

"Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."

(Mosiah 28:3)

Day 3043

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 4:7

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 4:7

"And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.

So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD."

The Lord used a warning voice by pouring out famine, pestilence, swords, and burning upon Israel. Even with all that "yet have ye not returned unto me". The Lord use calamities and disasters as a voice of warnings, as a opportunity for us wake up and turn back to him. It is a stiff-necked people when they don't listen. It reminded of a television interview I saw once after a shooting, and the people were saying "Don't pray for me. I don't want your prayers. Prayers do nothing." I felt so sorry for them because prayers help so much. What I noticed in these verses is that God would cause rain to fall on one city, and not on others. People turn to others in times of disasters. We are only made satisfied when our hearts are turned to Him.

"How oft have I called upon you by the mouth of my servants, and by the ministering of angels, and by mine own voice, and by the voice of thunderings, and by the voice of lightnings, and by the voice of tempests, and by the voice of earthquakes, and great hailstorms, and by the voice of famines and pestilences of every kind, and by the great sound of a trump, and by the voice of judgment, and by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not!"

(Doctrine and Covenants 43:25)

Day 3042

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 3:7

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 3:7 "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." But = until I love this verse. It really is one of my favorites. I know that God will reveal his secrets to his prophets. There is no way God would stop speaking to man and make them pass alone through all that is to come in the last days before His Son's second coming. We need prophets now more than ever. How grateful I am to know that Christ's church has been restored once again upon the earth, and that today there is a prophet that leads and guides us. That prophet is Russell M. Nelson. "We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." (Article of Faith, 9)

Day 3041

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 2:12

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 2:12

"But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not."

Nazarite: A consecrated man. A man under a vow to abstain from wine, from any cutting of the hair, and any contact with the dead. The vow might be lifelong, or for a short, definite period.

(Bible Dictionary)

One of the sins Israel had committed was corrupting the Nazarites, by giving them wine to drink. Then they turned around and didn't want prophets to prophesy. They were rejecting and corrupting what was holy.

This made me ponder on what happens to those that lead others astray.

This is a statement on church discipline.

"Sometimes members’ actions contradict Church doctrine and lead others astray. While uncommon, some members in effect choose to take themselves out of the Church by actively teaching and publicly attempting to change doctrine to comply with their personal beliefs. This saddens leaders and fellow members. In these rare cases, local leaders have the responsibility to clarify false teachings and prevent other members from being misled. Decisions are made by local leaders and not directed or coordinated by Church headquarters."

(Newsroom, "Church Responds to Church Discipline Questions", 11 June 2014, Church statement)

"Whoso causeth the righteous to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall himself into his own pit: but the upright shall have good things in possession."

(Proverbs 28:10)

"Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones."

(Luke 17:1-2)

Day 3040

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 1:3

Today's Favorite Verse: Amos 1:3

"Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:"

The phrase "Thus saith the Lord" is mentioned 5 times in this chapter. Each time Amos says "for three transgressions, and for four". Meaning they reached their limit and then some. Each time he also says "I will not turn away the punishment thereof". Meaning they are not repentant and their punishments replaces any blessings they could have had. As I was reading this I thought about the wo's in the scripture. The more wo's the closer they were to destruction. I wouldn't want a prophet of God to place a wo or say "thus saith the Lord" on my head. It's not a good place to be. If it's said you better listen for he is speaking the words of God.

Day 3039

Today's Favorite Verse: Joel 3:11-12

Today's Favorite Verse: Joel 3:11-12

"Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD.

Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about."

What stood out to me in these verses is the word heathen. I decided to look at its definition.

"a person who does not belong to a widely held religion (especially one who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim) as regarded by those who do."

"a person who does not know about and worship the God of the Bible : pagan. 2. : an uncivilized person."

"A person who has no religion and does not believe in anything spiritual. An atheist doesn't believe in God, but a heathen doesn't believe in anything. We are all rational and rebellious heathens here. (by extension) A wild or immoral person."

I cannot imagine being a heathen, and not only having no faith in God, but not believe in anything. That would be very empty. It made me think about the character of such a person. It seems every day I learn of more people leaving their churches and faiths behind them. I do not know if that also means they don't believe in anything? Are they an atheist or a heathen? It made me wonder how many children are being raised heathens now. That is really sad. No wonder so many kids are depressed. Then I remembered this and had hope for children that were never taught about God.

"And then shall the heathen nations be redeemed, and they that knew no law shall have part in the first resurrection; and it shall be tolerable for them."

(Doctrine and Covenants 45:54)

"And it shall be more tolerable for the heathen in the day of judgment, than for that house; therefore, gird up your loins and be faithful, and ye shall overcome all things, and be lifted up at the last day. Even so. Amen."

(Doctrine and Covenants 75:22)

Day 3038

Today's Favorite Verse: Joel 2:28-29

Today's Favorite Verse: Joel 2:28-29

"And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit."

When the angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1823 he quoted Joel 28-32 and said it was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be. (Joseph Smith-History 1:41) That was 200 years ago. I am reminded of what President Henry B. Eyring recently posted.

"There are many reading this today who feel a pressing need for a blessing of personal revelation from our loving Heavenly Father.

For those in a war-ravaged place in the world, it will be a desperate need to know whether to move their family to safety or whether to stay where they are. For many it’s praying to know how to help the Lord rescue a lost sheep.

We all know that human judgment and logical thinking will not be enough to get answers to the questions that matter most in life. We need revelation from God. And we will need not just one revelation in a time of stress, but we need a constantly renewed stream.

Heavenly Father hears your prayers. He loves you. He knows your name. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and our Redeemer. I promise that He pours out revelation upon all of us through the Holy Ghost as we seek His guidance."

(President Henry B. Eyring, Facebook post 7/16/2023 at 9:00 am)

The thoughts of those now in war-ravaged places praying, and the wars spoken of in Joel, it feels like we are in the days prophesied.

Day 3037

Today's Favorite Verse: Joel 1:14-15

Today's Favorite Verse: Joel 1:14-15

"Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,

Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come."

This made me reflect back on the last solemn assembly I attended. It was in the early days of the pandemic, in April 2020 on Palm Sunday. General Conference was all online. In the Saturday session we learned that a solemn assembly would be held in the Sunday morning sessions. It was held to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith's First Vision of the Father and the Son. In the darkest days of the pandemic participating in the solemn assembly and the Hosanna Shout brought a feeling of light into our home that has stayed there.

I don't know when the last solemn assembly will be called before the Lord's Second Coming. What I do know is that a prophet of God will lead us and we will have an added strength given us for those days.

Day 3036

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 14:2

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 14:2

"Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips."

I wondered what it meant to "render the calves of our lips"? The footnote scriptures didn't really clarify it.

"Thou shalt offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in righteousness, even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit."

(Doctrine and Covenants 59:8)

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise."

(Psalms 51:17)

I still didn't understand how calves lips applied. Then I read this.

"This verse deals with one’s resolves to do better. To present the sincere prayers of one’s lips as an offering to the Lord was as precious as the best offerings in the Mosaic law, which were young oxen or bullocks; hence, “the calves of our lips.”

(Old Testament Student Manual Kings-Malachi, "The Ministry of Hosea: A Call of Faithfulness (Hosea)", (10-38) Hosea 14:2 "The Calves of Our Lips")

Day 3035

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 13:9

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 13:9

"O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help."

I was talking today with my son on how we saw the wicked destroying the wicked. It really is them destroying themselves. They dig a pit for another and then fall into it. If only we could stop playing these games that only hurt others, and rightfully ourselves. If we would turn to the Lord, repent, and follow Him how great would be our peace.

Day 3034

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 12:10, 13

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 12:10, 13

"I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.

And by a prophet the LORD brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved."

The ministry of Moses was a similitude of many things pointing to Christ. One of which was also the Lord being brought out of Egypt, where his parents had taken him to preserve his life from Herod.

"When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt:

And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son."

(Matthew 2:14-15)

In the last couple of days I have been listening to some old general conference talks from the 1980's that I remembered. I was struck with how much we were warned about then has now come to full fruition. Fruit that is not always desirable. If only we had listened. I don't want to make the mistake now.

Day 3033

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 11:3

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 11:3

"I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them."

How would you not know the Lord healed you? The footnote verses remind us of the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. How fiery flying serpents over came them. Because of the ease of the way many didn't not look and live. It appears when the Lord performs a miracle we need to keep it in our hearts and acknowledge him.

Day 3032

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 10:2

Today's Favorite Verse: Hosea 10:2

"Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: he shall break down their altars, he shall spoil their images."

This verse made me think of this.

"No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon."

(3 Nephi 13:24)

The footnote included this one.

"A double minded man is unstable in all his ways."

(James 1:8)

"President Marion G. Romney observed "Now there are individuals who try to serve the Lord without offending the devil."

(Marion G. Romney, "The Price of Peace" Ensign, Oct 1983, 6)

Day 3031