Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament I read that Jehoram began to reign and did evil in the light of the Lord. 2 Kgs. 8: 16-18 "And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign. Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the Lord."

In the Book of Mormon I read how prophets tried to cry repentance unto the people but they refused to listen to them and would not believe them, but cast them out from among them or cast them into pits and left them to die. Then the Lord sent a great dearth upon the land in which there was no rain, followed by poisonous serpents. This finally humbled the people so that they repented and the Lord preserved them from famine. Isn't it sad that it took such extreme measures before the people were willing to humble themselves and repent? If they had listened to the prophets who first called them to repentance they could have avoided a lot of suffering. How well do we listen to our prophets today? Ether 9: 28-35 "And there came prophets in the land aagain , crying repentance unto them—that they must prepare the way of the Lord or there should come a curse upon the face of the land; yea, even there should be a great famine, in which they should be destroyed if they did not repent. But the people believed not the words of the prophets, but they cast them out; and some of them they cast into apits and left them to perish. And it came to pass that they did all these things according to the commandment of the king, Heth. And it came to pass that there began to be a great dearth upon the land, and the inhabitants began to be destroyed exceedingly fast because of the dearth, for there was no rain upon the face of the earth. And there came forth poisonous serpents also upon the face of the land, and did poison many people. And it came to pass that their flocks began to flee before the poisonous serpents, towards the land southward, which was called by the Nephites Zarahemla. And it came to pass that there were many of them which did perish by the way; nevertheless, there were some which fled into the land southward. And it came to pass that the Lord did cause the serpents that they should pursue them no more, but that they should hedge up the way that the people could not pass, that whoso should attempt to pass might fall by the poisonous serpents. And it came to pass that the people did follow the course of the beasts, and did devour the carcasses of them which fell by the way, until they had devoured them all. Now when the people saw that they must perish they began to repent of their iniquities and cry unto the Lord. And it came to pass that when they had humbled themselves sufficiently before the Lord he did send rain upon the face of the earth; and the people began to revive again, and there began to be fruit in the north countries, and in all the countries round about. And the Lord did show forth his power unto them in preserving them from famine."

Some verses with a thought booklet tell us that some people thought Jesus was "beside Himself" or crazy; whereas accused Him of being in league with the devil. C.S. Lewis once said that every person who hears about Jesus is faced with the choice of believing that Jesus is who He says He is and deserves our complete obedience, or believing He is an imposter who is not to be trusted, or believing that He is out of His mind. In other words, He is either mad, bad, or God. What do we believe about Jesus? Is He insane, a liar who serves the devil, or is He the Son of God who deserves our complete devotion? We need to make Jesus the center of our lives and be obedient to Him. Mark 3: 21-22 "And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself. And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils."


------------------------------------------------