Daily Thoughts

In the Old Testament I read about how famine, pestilence and war would come upon the people because of their wickedness. Ezek. 5: 11-17 "Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God ; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity. A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them. Moreover I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break your staff of bread: So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the Lord have spoken it."

In the D&C, the proper mode of baptism is set forth. No one should be baptized until they've arrived at the age of accountability, which has been set at 8 years of age. They need to be old enough that they are capable of repentance and of understanding the covenants they are making. Also, baptism needs to be done by immersion, going all the way under the water. D&C 20: 71-74 "No one can be received into the church of Christ unless he has arrived unto the years of accountability before God, and is capable of repentance. Baptism is to be administered in the following manner unto all those who repent— The person who is called of God and has authority from Jesus Christ to baptize, shall go down into the water with the person who has presented himself or herself for baptism, and shall say, calling him or her by name: Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.Then shall he immerse him or her in the water, and come forth again out of the water."

A verse with a thoght booklet talks about catching the little foxes before they can ruin the vineyard with its tender grapes. We need to catch problems when they are small, before they get worse. If we're hiking up a mountain and take the wrong trail we may find ourselves going in the right general direction so we think our mistake was minor and keep perservering up the mountain. But we might get halfway up after hours of hiking and find our way blocked. Then the only thing to do is hike back down and get on the right path that we should have taken to begin with. When we make little mistakes in life we might think we can just keep going and things will sort themselves out. But we need to get back on the right path before we can move forward. Even a small mistake can begin to take us in the wrong direction and we need to make an immediate course correction before we get even farther off our path. Often we need God help to show us the way to get back on the right track. Song. 2: 15 "Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes."