40 Day Walk with Christ - Day 23-24

Read Helaman 1-9
Mark & Ponder Helaman 5:12
Scripture of the day: "And blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And blessed are they who do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. And blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And blessed are all the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (3 Nephi 12: 5-8)
Thought for the day: "Be patient in little things." (William S Plumer)

A couple of things:  the pride cycle is repeated over and over again in the Book of Mormon but it usually takes quite a few years to get through the cycle.  They reading today spans 30 years and they go through the whole cycle multiple times.  It's quite ridiculous.  How can people go from righteous to wicked to righteous to wicked?  And it's not just a little less righteous like "I forgot to read my scriptures today" it's oh whoops I murdered somebody.  I don't get it.

Another thing I don't get that I've seen numerous times through the war chapters: they have this big war, thousands and thousands of people are killed and then when it's all over and the bad guys surrender, they just let them depart to their own land in peace?  I'm sorry but if some terrorists come over here and kill a bunch of people and then we catch them, I sure ask heck hope we don't let them depart in peace. 

Helaman 5:12 is one of my favorite scriptures in the Book of Mormon.  If we build our foundation about the rock of our Redeemer we cannot fall.  It doesn't matter what happens in this world, how evil the men around us become, what Satan throws at us, what trials we have to go through.  If we center our lives around the Savior we will always prevail. 

Read Helaman 10-14
Mark & Ponder Helaman 10:4-5
Scripture of the day: "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men. And ye ought to say in your heart - let God judge between me and thee, and reward thee according to thy deeds." (D & C 64:10-11"
Thought for the day: "We are required to forgive all men, for our own sakes, since hatred retards spiritual growth." (Orson F Whitney)

The signs of Christ's birth and death were unmistakable.  The prophets told the people what would happen and then it happened.  How could you not notice if the sun went down and then came back up 10 hours later but it never got dark.  Likewise, how could you miss thunderings, lightnings, tempests, earthquakes, etc in the midst of 3 days of darkness.  The Lord made it so obvious and told the people it was coming for a reason: "that whosoever will believe might be saved, and that whosoever will not believe, a righteous judgment might come upon them; and also if they are condemned they bring upon themselves their own condemnation."  The Lord is wants us to believe; He wants us to follow Him and He gives us every opportunity to do so.  If we choose not to we won't be able to claim ignorance.