Today's Favorite Verse: 2 Kings 15:3-4, 28

Today's Favorite Verse: 2 Kings 15:3-4, 28
"And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done;
Save that the high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places.
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."

In this history of the kings it's a constant back and forth, they either did right in the sight of the Lord, or did evil by not departing from the sins of Jeroboam. His sins were idolatry, worshipping a golden calve, changing God's ordained worship practices. His other sins included building high places for worship, appointing priests from outside the tribe of Levi, and altering the timing of religious festivals to align with his own political will. At this point I've lost count of how many generations and kings since Jerobaom I am at. This one wicked king is the standard all others are based after him. One thing I wondered is why when the king that does right in the sight of the Lord, doesn't take the opportunity to remove the high places so they can no longer practice idolatry? Then I thought about how just removing items of worship from among them doesn't remove them from their hearts. I wonder if when it says the high places were not removed it means the king could not change the heart of the people?

Day 3853

Today's Favorite Verse: Jeremiah 48:35, 42

Today's Favorite Verse: Jeremiah 48:35, 42

"Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods.

And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD."

The people of Moab were destroyed for their practice of idolatry in holy places. There maybe people that live there today but they are not the people once called the people of Moab. It made me ponder on how serious a matter it is to abuse the temple and holy places with false doctrines and practices. I would not want to stand in their shoes.

Day 2952

Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 35:2-3, 19

Today's Favorite Verse: Genesis 35:2-3, 19

"Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

And let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem."

Rachel stole the images that were her father's when Jacob fled with his family. Her father Laban came after them and searched for his idols, but Rachel stayed seated on the camel where she had hid them. Jacob must have found out for now he is calling his household to put away the strange gods and cleanse themselves. After this event this chapter tells of Rachel's death in childbirth. I pondered on how timely it was that she followed a prophet and became clean. We never know when death will take us. The cleansing process needs to be continual.

I pondered on how you really cannot become clean until we first put away the strange gods, idol worship, and walking after the philosophies of the world. All of these tools of the adversary will prevent us from having the Holy Spirit as our guide. I will be forever grateful that when I began to read the scriptures that the spirit told me not to read books about the scriptures, but to read the scriptures. I can see now that if I had done differently, I could have been so tempted to go down very strange roads, on paths I would not want to be following. There are many false prophets out there, that will turn you into a copy of them for a price. There will come a day of reckoning and sifting among the saints. We must be made clean in preparation for the Lord's second coming.

"They seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance is that of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylon the great, which shall fall."

(Doctrine and Covenants 1:16)

Day 2194

Today's Favorite Verse: Zechariah 10:2

Today's Favorite Verse: Zechariah 10:2
"For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd."

I don't like to get political in my scriptures but I sure could see somethings happening that I could liken this verse to. The idols speaking vanity reminded me of people holding their cell phones and listening to the news or social media. "The diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams." A dream doesn't have to be something seen while sleeping. It can be a fable or ideal that is told to support a lie. It reminded me of this false narrative that has appeared in the last few months, that the world will end in 12 years unless we do xyz. Where did they get that date?

How many people are being sheeples and listening to vain lies. All because it feeds upon pride and control. They comfort in vain, telling people you will be educated, feed, housed and clothed if you follow us. With all this I see groups of lost people very troubled because there is no truth to guide them. They will go from one fabled dream to another. All because they no longer seek the Lord, the good shepherd, or his word. If anything I have seen greater wisdom in God's commandments and doctrine as I witness the confusion that is falling upon the masses. The more they try to define their own rules the more convoluted and debased they become.

Day 1496

Today's Favorite Verse: Jeremiah 19:5

Today's Favorite Verse: Jeremiah 19:5
"They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind:"

This is so horrific, to think of people burning their children in a fire as an offering to Baal. Yes, there are a lot of sick people out there but as a people we don't accept people burning their children. So how could I liken this to something people do find acceptable today?  Immediately I thought of parents with bowed heads worshiping over their cell phones and tablets, totally ignoring their children. Yes, we have idols in our day and we sacrifice our children to them. That I am sure does not please God, for we are teaching our children to worship them too.

Day 1339

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 115:4, 8

Today's Favorite Verse: Psalms 115:4, 8
"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them."

In between these two verses the idols are described with mouths that don't speak, eyes that don't see, ears that don't hear, noses that don't smell, hands that don't feel, feet that don't walk, and they don't speak through their throat.

I think the key is what happens to the person with the idols, they become like them, dead to all anything that is real. Which made me think of Elder Bednar 2009 BYU-Idaho talk "Things as They Really Are", and later printed in the June 2010 Ensign.

He gives an apostolic voice of warning, with much pleading and concern on a subject with immediate and eternal implications. He exposes the tactics of the adversary in our day. This statement really struck me.

"If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, then one of his most potent tactics is to beguile you and me as embodied spirits to disconnect gradually and physically from things as they really are. In essence, he encourages us to think and act as if we were in our premortal, unembodied state. And, if we let him, he can cunningly employ some aspects of modern technology to accomplish his purposes."


Day 1168

Today's Favorite Verse: Judges 18:18,30-31

Today's Favorite Verse: Judges 18:18,30-31
"And these went into Micah's house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image. Then said the priest unto them, What do ye?
And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan, the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of captivity of the land.
And they set them up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh."

I read this chapter over and over again trying to figure out what was going on. I could feel no light in it. In reading the scriptures that didn't make sense. Then I realized what I was reading, it was the story of how the children of Dan turned to idolatry. How horribly sad, they had the house of God in Shiloh, yet they went after idols instead. At first I thought they took them and would melt down the idols for their silver. Instead it was to set them up and worship them themselves. I don't even know which was worse in the first place. Ever person in this story had some major issues going on. No wonder I could find no light with the examples they presented.


Day 804