Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament I read about the great wickedness of Manasseh and how he turned from the righteousness of his father Hezekiah. He brought back the idols and false worship that his father had destroyed and brought carved images into the House of the Lord. He made the people err and do worse than the heathens whom the Lord had helped them defeat in battle. Manasseh and his people refused to listen to the Lord. 2 Chr. 33: 1-10 "Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem: But did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, like unto the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel. For he built again the high places which Hezekiah his father had broken down, and he reared up altars for Baalim, and made groves, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them. Also he built altars in the house of the Lord, whereof the Lord had said, In Jerusalem shall my name be for ever. And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom: also he observed times, and used enchantments, and used witchcraft, and dealt with a familiar spirit, and with wizards: he wrought much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger. And he set a carved image, the idol which he had made, in the house of God, of which God had said to David and to Solomon his son, In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen before all the tribes of Israel, will I put my name for ever: Neither will I any more remove the foot of Israel from out of the land which I have appointed for your fathers; so that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances by the hand of Moses. So Manasseh made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to err, and to do worse than the heathen, whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people: but they would not hearken."

In the D&C we read the prayer given at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, including some verses that talk about the great suffering the people had endured at the hands of wicked people who persecuted them. However, in spite of the pain caused by wicked mobs, the prayer asks for mercy for them if repentance is to be found and notes that every soul is precious in the sight of God. However, if they will not repent, justice must be served. D&C 109: 43-44, 48-51 "O Lord, we delight not in the destruction of our fellow men; their souls are precious before thee; But thy word must be fulfilled. Help thy servants to say, with thy grace assisting them: Thy will be done, O Lord, and not ours. Thou knowest, O Lord, that they have been greatly oppressed and afflicted by wicked men; and our hearts flow out with sorrow because of their grievous burdens. O Lord, how long wilt thou suffer this people to bear this affliction, and the cries of their innocent ones to ascend up in thine ears, and their blood come up in testimony before thee, and not make a display of thy testimony in their behalf? Have amercy , O Lord, upon the wicked mob, who have driven thy people, that they may cease to spoil, that they may repent of their sins if repentance is to be found; But if they will not, make bare thine arm, O Lord, and redeem that which thou didst appoint a Zion unto thy people."

A verse with a thought booklet tells us that if we know to do good and don't do it, it's a sin. So if we have knowledge of something we should be doing or something good that is within our power to do, we'd better do it! James 4: 17 "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
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