Daily Thoughts

In the D&C we read about what would have happened to the church and its members had the practice of polygamy been stopped.  Wilford asked the question which would have been better--to have it stopped in that way or the way that it was, by the giving of the Manifesto.  But then he says that he would have let the temples go out of our hands and all the men sent to prison if he had not been commanded by the Lord to stop the practice of polygamy.  D&C Official Declaration 1 "The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it, you would have had no use for … any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all ordinances would be stopped throughout the land of Zion. Confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble would have come upon the whole Church, and we should have been compelled to stop the practice. Now, the question is, whether it should be stopped in this manner, or in the way the Lord has manifested to us, and leave our Prophets and Apostles and fathers free men, and the temples in the hands of the people, so that the dead may be redeemed. A large number has already been delivered from the prison house in the spirit world by this people, and shall the work go on or stop? This is the question I lay before the Latter-day Saints. You have to judge for yourselves. I want you to answer it for yourselves. I shall not answer it; but I say to you that that is exactly the condition we as a people would have been in had we not taken the course we have.  I saw exactly what would come to pass if there was not something done. I have had this spirit upon me for a long time. But I want to say this: I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me. I went before the Lord, and I wrote what the Lord told me to write. "

In the New Testament we read about how Jesus said destroy this tample and in three days I will raise it up.  He was actually prophesying that after He was crucified, He would rise again in three days.  But His disciples misunderstood what He said, taking Him literally and thinking he was claiming to be able to raise up the temple in three days which had taken 46 years to build.  It was only after His resurrection that His disciples realized what He'd been trying to say.  John 2:19-22 "Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?  But he spake of the temple of his body.  When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said."

Some verses with a thought booklet tell us that the word of the Lord is like a lamp unto our feet--it shows us the right path to follow.  We need to never forget the law of the Lord.  Even if the wicked lay snares to trap us, we need to obey the Lord's precepts and always perform His statutes, even unto the end.  Psalms 119:105-112 "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.  I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto thy word. Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, and teach me thy judgments.  My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.  The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.  Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.  I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end."