Wednesday, June 29, 2016

...and leadeth them away carefully down to hell

2 Nephi 28:21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

Note: Apostle George Albert Smith, who later became the President of the Church, described how Satan leads people “carefully down to hell” as follows: “Now, I want you to note that: ‘And thus the devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.’ And that is the way he does it, that’s exactly the way he does it. He does not grab you bodily and take you into his territory, but he whispers, ‘Do this little evil,’ and when he succeeds in that, another little evil and another, and, to use the expression, ‘He cheateth their souls.’ That’s what he does. He makes you believe you are gaining something when you are losing. So it is every time we fail to observe a law of God or keep a commandment; we are being cheated, because there is no gain in this world or in the world to come but by obedience to the law of our heavenly Father. Then again that peculiar suggestion, ‘And he leadeth them carefully away down to hell’ is significant, that is his method. Men and women in the world today are subject to that influence, and they are being drawn here and there, and that whispering is going on and they do not understand what the Lord desires them to do, but they continue in the territory of the evil one,subject to his power where the Spirit of the Lord will not go” (in Conference Report, April 1918, p. 40).

Monday, June 20, 2016

Finding Joy in the Journey

This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and nonexistent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now.  –President Thomas S Monson October 2008