Today's Favorite Verse: Alma 12:11

Today's Favorite Verse: Alma 12:11
"And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell."

I paused at people getting less until they know nothing. It must be something I reflected on earlier because this was in my notes.

"Lessor means they loose it. Like a dinner. Those that desire more will receive it until they are given all. Those that want lessor want only a small portion. Then they want less and less until they waste away and die."

"Elder Dallin H. Oaks explained that if we reject revelation through the Holy Ghost, we limit how much we can learn: “We teach and learn the mysteries of God by revelation from his Holy Spirit. If we harden our hearts to revelation and limit our understanding to what we can obtain by study and reason, we are limited to what Alma called ‘the lesser portion of the word’” (The Lord’s Way [1991], 42)."
(Book of Mormon Student Manual, "Chapter 25: Alma 8-12")

I also found this quote by Brigham Young. I looks like a plan the adversary is using for our day.

"The votaries of the bad excuse themselves for their persecutions of the good by supposing that they, themselves, as individuals, or their nations, are about to suffer some great wrong from the upholders of the good. As an example of this I will quote from the Gospel according to St. Luke—“And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him (Jesus Christ) unto Pilate. And they began to accuse him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, saying that he himself is Christ a king.” This is the cunning of the devil, and a means by which he leads down to destruction great numbers of the human family. He gets the political world to believe that they are, or are going to, be infringed upon; he makes the religious world believe that the sanctity and rights of their holy religion are in danger, and thus he gets them to make his cause their own; they are lashed into a frenzy of excitement and hatred against the Saints; every high-toned, honorable and truthful feeling of the human heart is blunted or entirely subdued in them; they plan for the destruction of God's people, and, in many instances, the blood of the Saints—the blood of innocence has been shed by their hands. It is written in the book of Revelation: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels with him."
(Brigham Young, "Opposition in All Things", JD 11:233)

Day 3456

Today's Favorite Verse: Jarom 1:3

Today's Favorite Verse: Jarom 1:3
"Behold, it is expedient that much should be done among this people, because of the hardness of their hearts, and the deafness of their ears, and the blindness of their minds, and the stiffness of their necks; nevertheless, God is exceedingly merciful unto them, and has not as yet swept them off from the face of the land."

I had this note added to this verse, "Parents & family picking up returning missionaries during COVID-19". It reminded me of how the church gave guidelines for returning missionaries during the pandemic, which included a 14-day self isolation. After the first arrivals we watched horrific news broadcasts that showed families swarming the airport to welcome them home. It was so embarrassing for all of us, especially the church. The families had been told the returning missionaries needed to self isolate for 14-days upon arrival. It was crazy how families ignored it and brought huge groups to welcome them home. The Church and governor had to both reprimand them and set up even stricter guidelines. When we think rules don't apply to us and that we can ignore them, then we are showing a hardened heart, deafness, blindness and stiff necks, which is absolute pride and arrogance. It showed me how you may think you are doing a "good thing" but in reality you are showing behavior totally unbecoming a saint.

Church: ‘Substantial numbers’ of missionaries may return to home nations; mission lengths may be reduced; all MTCs will stop accepting new missionaries Utah Area presidency asks families to not congregate at airports as unprecedented numbers of missionaries return home Pickup for missionaries in Salt Lake will be limited to one car, drivers to stay in car

Day 3413

Today's Favorite Verse: Jacob 6:5

Today's Favorite Verse: Jacob 6:5
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, I beseech of you in words of soberness that ye would repent, and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he cleaveth unto you. And while his arm of mercy is extended towards you in the light of the day, harden not your hearts."

Before I was reading this I was reading in Exodus 9 and 10 and noticed the footnotes. Every time it said "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh" in the footnote it is corrected and says "And Pharaoh hardened his heart". At one point Moses is told "for he hath hardened his heart, and the hearts of his servants, therefore I will show these my signs before him;" (JST Ex. 10:1) The Lord God does not harden his heart against his children. His arms of mercy are always extended towards us if we will repent. It is man that will harden his heart against God. Pharaoh was given every opportunity to repent and soften his heart. Sometimes we pass through hard things before we are humble enough to do it.

Day 3410

Today's Favorite Verse: Joshua 11:20

Today's Favorite Verse: Joshua 11:20

"For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses."

This verse just didn't sound right. The Lord doesn't cause people to harden their hearts, just to destroy them. I looked at the Joseph Smith Translation and now it makes sense.

"For it was of the LORD to destroy them utterly because they hardened their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that they might have no favour, that they might destroy them in battle as the LORD commanded Moses."

(JST Joshua 11:20)

Sometimes you can just tell something wasn't translated correctly. As I was reading this I thought of the conversations I've had lately trying to identify what has happened to people. My daughter today was saying it was racism. I didn't agree with this because it's not always a matter of race, or culture. Then I realized it was hardheartedness. That causes people to fight against anyone that does not think as they do. That causes selfishness, and the inability to forgive and repent. They lose that natural love and compassion for others. Then I was really sad because after reading this I realize if people have truly become hard hearted it means we are ripe for destruction.

hardheartedness = an absence of concern for the welfare of others

Day 2357