Daily Thoughts

In the Book of Mormon we read about the great righteousness of the people of Ammon.  They were numbered among the people of Nephi and the people in the church of God.  They had great zeal towards God and men and were honest and upright and firm in their faith in Christ.  They refused to take up arms against their brethren and were willing to suffer death before they would smite another person with the sword.  They were beloved and highly favored by the Lord.  Alma 27:27-30 "And they were among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who were of the church of God. And they were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end. And they did look upon shedding the blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence; and they never could be prevailed upon to take up arms against their brethren; and they never did look upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of Christ over it. Therefore, they would suffer death in the most aggravating and distressing manner which could be inflicted by their brethren, before they would take the sword or cimeter to smite them. And thus they were a zealous and beloved people, a highly favored people of the Lord."

In the Old Testament I read that they numbered all the children of Israel,  but there were none except Caleb and Joshua who had also been numbered when the children of Israel were numbered in the wilderness of Sinai because the Lord had told them that they would die in the wilderness.  This was because they were unwilling to trust in the Lord to go and conquer their enemies and enter into the promised land.  Numbers 26:63-65 "These are they that were numbered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the children of Israel in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho. But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun."

Some verses with a thought booklet say that the proud and wicked will be burned, but to those who reverence the Lord, He will come with healing in His wings. When the Lord comes, it will be a dreadful day to the unrepentant wicked, but for the righteous it will be a day of peace and salvation.   Malachi 4:1-2 "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall."
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