1 John 2:24-29

“Do not be so proud to think that you are beyond the adversary's influence. Be watchful that you do not fall prey to his deceptions. Stay close to the Lord through daily scripture study and daily prayer. We cannot afford to sit back and take our salvation for granted.” –Joseph B. Wirthlin

This Friday before last I was the recipient of an e-mail entitled “For my LDS buddies, Tribute to a Prophet.” It saddened me greatly, on two counts: 1) it seems indicative of a trend that always troubles me; 2) while it may be a tribute to something, it is certainly no tribute to a prophet. A portion of President Hinckley’s labors went into refuting unsound rumor.

Here is the message in full:

You were generals in the War in Heaven and one day when you are in the spirit world, you will be enthralled by those you are associated with. You will ask someone in which time period they lived and you might hear, "I was with Moses when he parted the Red Sea, " or "I helped build the pyramids'" or "I fought with Captain Moroni." And as you are standing there in amazement, someone will turn to you and ask you which of the prophets' time did you live in? And when you say "Gordon B. Hinkley" [sic] a hush will fall over every hall and corridor in Heaven, and all in attendance will bow at your presence. You were held back six thousand years because you were the most talented, most obedient, most courageous, and most righteous.
Elder Boyd K. Packer

I miss President Hinckley.

The first and best reaction to provide you with is President Packer’s. Please visit the genuine Church News link given there, since it constitutes an absolute rejection.

In the interest of time (and reader interest) I haven’t provided every reference for every quote in my entries, but they’re available upon request. In fact, it’s unlike me not to cram them in, regardless. It is not without very good reason that I will always have exact citation when quoting upon spiritual matters.

These entries are no cut-and-paste venture. (Sunday’s was entirely typed afresh, with at least two typos that I’m aware of.) However, here I will benefit by pulling in my initial journal reaction to this sort of teaching, when I encountered it on August 22, 2001:

From some murky origin comes a saying that has gone abroad, namely that some day individuals of past ages will bow down in awe to the youth of this generation. How false! How inflated! I understand this may be an exaggeration of someone's statement at an Especially For Youth conference. I wish teachers would find more appropriate ways to praise and/or encourage the youth. I don't know but that it will only grow in popularity, for nothing seems to check it. The tendency of my peers to imbibe false doctrine never ceases to amaze me. So it might be all the more a problem by the time you read this.

I will say, quite simply, that we ought to stand in awe of the sacrifices of past generations and quit making excuses to equate our circumstances to theirs. Admittedly, we are not thrown to the lions and must be faithful in other ways, but need we fabricate reasons why our daily trials are like theirs? Very few of us indeed stack up to the standard provided in Hebrews 11 and Ether 12. The point is not for us to match their deeds -- which are varied -- but to match their faith. Do we?

When a future day of blessed reunion comes, we will fall upon one another's necks. There will be no falling upon our knees. That is reserved for our King. Should such a lapse occur, the response will no doubt be as it was anciently: "See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God" (Revelation 19:10).

Doctrinally, I haven’t got the time to debunk the passage. (I have the space, but no one really wants me to use it!) I merely quote something in passing which is abundantly supported elsewhere: “Some of our Father’s sons developed spiritual talents to a marked degree, and they were foreordained to spiritual callings in mortality whereby their talents would be utilized to administer salvation to our Father’s children” (The Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, 12). Yet even this should give no rise to a certain Protestant notion of determining election (for it is only God who knows the end from the beginning), since we have an interesting prophetic illumination:

I have seen many in the world that never have been able to discern the difference between foreknowledge and foreordination. I thought that I could always discern the difference. If I know that an act will transpire tomorrow, it by no means follows that I had decreed it. It is the design, wish, desire of our Heavenly Father that every soul in this congregation should be crowned in the celestial kingdom. Will they be? No. I know that some will not. But does it follow that some are ordained to go to hell? No. It is the design of the Gospel to save this congregation, all the Latter-day Saints, and all the world besides that will believe the testimony of Jesus and become obedient to the Gospel of salvation. And none need to turn round and say, "It is the design of the Lord, I shall be saved;" for its being the will and design of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and of every Saint that ever was or ever will be, that you should be a Saint, will not make you one, contrary to your own choice. All rational beings have an agency of their own; and according to their own choice they will be saved or damned. (Brigham Young, JD, 6:97; see Hel. 12:25-26)

So much for James Michener’s confused preacher:

We are the sweet selected few,
The rest of you be damned;
There's room enough in hell for you,
We don't want heaven crammed. (character Lanning Harper, in Texas [New York: Fawcett Crest, 1985], 308)

As for this business of generals, I don’t think we have any point of reference to be bothering ourselves much with the division and organization of the conflict, but it seems more than a little unrealistic to flatter ourselves that all served with equal valiance. (And, again, I’ve commented recently on the odd temptation to rest upon laurels, especially imagined ones!) Still, if some distinguished themselves above others, that strongly suggests that—even if “average” was stupendous—there was a more average plane among the rest. But I am not into this comparison game, in a world where there’s quite enough confusion and battle already.

On a tangent, I also learned long ago, much to my sorrow and distress, as well as constant internal derangement, that I simply could not view dating as an opportunity to boast. If someone wanted to marry a braggart, at least they’d be taking one of many off the market. I would sooner be viewed as a mute imbecile—when acting in the spirit of my best self—than inappropriately interject commentary. (Though it might say something if in the course of the conversation I can’t ever find a way to discuss what matters most to me.) I like to see honor, valor, commitment, etc. demonstrated, rather than spoken of endlessly...or, perhaps, that much at all. There is also much to be said for delightful discussion of doctrine, followed by mutual inclination to go and do.

One of my temptations in life has sometimes been a disposition to seek attention. Yet I am coming to learn this: of what value is it? Heaven knows the wrong kind of attention isn’t worth getting! I arrived at a difficult conclusion back in July: “I . . . passed up a ‘perfect’ opportunity to disclose personal bragging rights about something. It occurred to me that saying it would in no way assist the other's salvation, and I cannot really guess how it might damage me. I trust that the next person to truly extol my virtues will have to have truly gotten to know me.”

I cannot be altogether certain I’ve escaped what Pascal noticed: “Few men speak humbly of humility.” I just know that, having been around some monsters of arrogance, I really don’t want to wind up like that. Who wants to be around someone who makes themself the starting and finishing point of every conversation? What a call to fight off my natural man! I do want to clarify at this time that my strict attention to what great men have said has occasionally, and inexplicably, been taken as a sign of pompousness. I suffer from pride, it’s true, but I can almost invariably strip it out of my reverence for gospel truth, something I constantly and freely confess is so much larger than myself that my own personality means nothing.

At any rate, I prefer at this time in life to improve my observation skills, what I’ve jokingly called for over a decade my project of studying human nature.

A wise old owl lived in an oak;
The more he saw the less he spoke;
The less he spoke the more he heard:
Why can't we all be like that bird? (Author Unknown, in Jack M. Lyon, Linda Ririe Gundry, Jay A. Parry, and Devan Jensen, ed., Poems That Lift the Soul [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book (Shadow Mountain), 1998], 122)

Some of my expressed views, from a December 2002 talk:

President Taylor lectured, “I hear a great deal said about which is the ‘biggest’ man. . . . I think that the man who can be most like a little child will be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Greatness does not consist of talking of things, but in doing them.” President Lee counseled, “There is no end to the amount of good we can do in this church if we are not concerned about who gets the credit for it.”

Ultimately we will be known by our fruits, thus judged by our works, and rewarded accordingly. There are two classes, with plenty of gradations: the dos and the do nots. Every mortal lacks the ability to establish permanent residence in the “do” category, but one’s heart can live there, with one’s hands following suit according to ability. We can do everyone a favor by letting our lips be the last things to lay hold of our duty.

I had opportunity to speak further on this war in heaven matter before a congregation in April 2002, and I still don’t feel inclined to modify my language one bit:

We children of our Heavenly Father are sandwiched between premortal and postmortal life. So much hinges upon what we do here, but this is nevertheless such a “small moment.” President Harold B. Lee quoted the phrase: “What we are hereafter depends on what we’re after here.” Honestly, if someone had served as a general during the war in heaven, that would have little bearing if they refused to serve the Lord here and now. Failure to keep the second estate is good grounds for a fall from grace. The Kingdom is built by service and not by rank, as many apostles have humbly attested. Indeed, how can there be distinction—in terms of worth—between those who are equally children of God? The lines won’t be irreversibly drawn until God passes final judgment. Everyone deserves to be treated like a celestial candidate, regardless of attainment or ability.

“Be loyal to the royal within you,” said President Lee. So it is that we distinguish ourselves by living worthy of our divine potential. Knowledge of divine identity alone cannot save us, without our coming unto Christ. In his famous discourse on faith with works, James wrote almost sarcastically, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble.” This verifies that knowledge by itself is not power, and “of him unto whom much is given much is required; and he who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation.” God placed us upon this earth to “prove [us] in all things, whether [we] will abide in [His] covenant, even unto death.” We are not told to endure as long as we’d like. In fact, we are told to endure to the end, and to “endure it well.” . . . Brigham Young’s counsel is challenging: “So live that when you wake in the spirit-world you can truthfully say, ‘I could not better my mortal life, were I to live it over again.’” Knowing that we can always do better doesn’t help much, but there’s something to be said for at least living without regrets.

The Proclamation further reassures us that “in the premortal realm, [we] knew and worshiped” our Father, accepting His plan of progression. “Ultimately,” we can “realize [our] divine destiny as an heir of eternal life.” Charles W. Penrose, of the First Presidency, once said: “We haven’t heard the story, fully, of the . . . pre-existence of our Savior, nor of our own. We imagine a great many things concerning what we were and what we agreed to do and what we promised. . . . One certain thing is this: that we are here, born on the earth in the latter days for the purposes of God . . . and the things that he has promised us will all be fulfilled if we will do our duty, if we will learn his word today and keep his commandments now.”

Returning to my blast against false reports within the Church, President Benson said many things about correctness in one’s information-gathering. I include a few direct statements:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,” said the prophet Hosea (see Hosea 4:6). Let us not let it happen to us. First, let us do our homework, because action without the proper education can lead to fanaticism. But after we have done our homework, let us take action, because education without action can only lead to frustration and failure. . . .

Students, study the writings of the prophets. Fortunately, a consistent position has been taken over the years by the prophets of the Church on vital issues facing this nation. Pray for inspiration and knowledge. Counsel with your parents. Let Sunday be the day to fill up your spiritual batteries for the week by reading good Church books, particularly the Book of Mormon. Take time to meditate. Don’t let the philosophies and falsehoods of men throw you. Hold on to the iron rod. Learn to sift. Learn to discern error through the promptings of the Spirit and your study of the truth. . . .

Study the scriptures and study the mortals who have been most consistently accurate about the most important things. When your freedom and your eternal welfare are at stake, your information best be accurate. (TETB, 301, 304-305)

President Monson has weighed in on the subject, one of three vital characteristics for a Latter-day Saint (Ensign, Mar. 1996, 2,4):

I would like to suggest that if we are really to be a chosen generation, we have the responsibility to be prepared, to be productive, to be faithful, and to be fruitful as well. . . .

I’d like to suggest that when we search for truth, we search among those books and in those places where truth is most likely to be found. I’ve often referred to a simple couplet: “You do not find truth groveling through error. You find truth by searching the holy word of God.” . . .

You and I have the responsibility to learn the word of God, to understand the word of God, and then to live his word. By so doing, we will find that we have learned and accepted the truth. The Prophet Joseph Smith provided direct counsel. He said, “I made this my rule: When the Lord commands, do it.” . . .

This is a day when time is precious. This is a time when we cannot afford not to be engaged in an earnest search for truth. May we fill our minds with truth.

Accuracy and discernment was in large part the burden of President Joseph Fielding Smith’s message. I have encountered a book taken far too seriously by certain scholars and eager students alike, founded upon unacceptable premises (that is, if one accepts Joseph F. Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith as prophets of God—and at last report, the author was unapologetic about downplaying their statements), pretending to pass for a doctrinal treatise. On the matter of issues that should have been laid to rest long ago but never will die, because Satan keeps reviving them, consider Joseph Fielding Smith’s tone:

Several times within the past three months I have been approached by individuals and have received communications through the mails, making inquiry concerning a certain purported revelation said to have been given many years ago to President Joseph F. Smith, in which he saw the destruction of many great cities and many countries of the world and other very unusual things. Inquiry has also been made regarding a purported vision given to the Prophet Joseph Smith in relation to the same things, and which has been in circulation for many years. It is evident that these things are again being circulated and many of the people are becoming agitated over them wondering if they are true or not, and some of the people have been deceived.

At the October Conference of the Church in the year 1918, which was the last General Conference attended by President Joseph F. Smith, I made some remarks in relation to these two so-called visions and pointed out the fact that they were not true. At the close of my remarks President Smith arose and also spoke of them. Let me say that this communication that has come into my hands recently, and about which I have been asked for advice, was being circulated very extensively at that time. It is a purported revelation given to Joseph Smith many years ago. . . .

Now, I think we are fortunate in having President Smith's own expression in regard to these purported revelations. It seems strange to me that now, some twelve years later, we still find them in circulation. But the thing that astonishes me more is the fact that members of the Church seem to be bewildered and in wonderment whether or not these purported revelations were indeed given to the Prophet Joseph and to President Joseph F. Smith. . . .

Who is it that is deceived in this Church? Not the man who has been faithful in the discharge of duty; not the man who has made himself acquainted with the word of the Lord; not the man who has practiced the commandments given in these revelations; but the man who is not acquainted with the truth, the man who is in spiritual darkness, the man who does not comprehend and understand the principles of the Gospel. Such a man will be deceived, and when these false spirits come among us he may not understand or be able to distinguish between light and darkness.

But if we will walk in the light of the revelations of the Lord, if we will hearken to the counsels that are given by those who stand in the councils of the Church, empowered to give the instructions, we will not go astray.

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew, as the Lord revealed it to the Prophet Joseph Smith, not as you find it in the Bible, but as you find it in the Pearl of Great Price, we find this expression:
"And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived, for the Son of Man shall come, and he shall send his angels before him with the great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together the remainder of his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

I repeat: "And whoso treasureth up my word shall not be deceived." Therefore let us go to with our might in the labor of this Church, and in the study and understanding of the principles of the Gospel, these principles of light, and as we study them the Lord will reveal to us further light, until we shall receive the fulness, in due time, of the perfect day, and we shall not be under the necessity of being subject to doubt and seeking for advice when confronted by matters of this kind, because the Spirit of the Lord itself will teach us. (CR, Apr. 1931, 68-69, 71)

This raises an interesting point, difficult to the immediate understanding, but critical if we are ever to attain the point where we may speak (under inspiration) without reservation, unafraid that an accidentally—or insidiously?—conceived pet doctrine might be exposed at such time as a general authority takes the pulpit about it. It is absolutely critical in order to escape the deceptive spirit of our times.

From President Packer:

It is important to know the gospel, for instance, according to the leaders of the Church. But an even better starting place is to know the gospel according to one's own self; that is, to take a subject such as the Word of Wisdom and really search our own minds as to how we feel about it. We should read what we can find in the scriptures about the subject and then write down our feelings. Then we may compare those feelings against what leaders of the Church have written or said.

If we are sincere, we will find our conclusions being sustained by their conclusions. If we are searching inside ourselves in the right way, and we have included prayer as part of that search, we are tapping the same source of intelligence that the leaders of the Church are tuned-in upon.
Then we may become independent witnesses of that principle from our own inquiry. Then our obedience is not blind obedience. Then our agency is protected and we are on the right course. Then we will do things because we know they are right and are the truth. We will know this from our own inquiry, not simply because someone else knows it. (Teach Ye Diligently, revised ed. [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1991], 119)

I have had so many wonderful experiences with strengthening testimony of truths that I can and always do bear testimony that “personal revelation will come only in confirmation of the prophets, and not in contradiction.” It seems to me that the greater my (legitimately acquired) confidence in the prophets, the faster the Spirit attests to the truth of what they’ve said, in an upward spiral.

As for exercising our agency mightily (and individually) within the gospel framework, I’ve often referred others to President Faust: “I strongly urge you that if there is any question in your minds or hearts about whether your personal conduct is right or wrong, don't do it. Each of us has moral agency, and the gift of the Holy Ghost will sharpen our impressions of what is right and wrong, true and false. It is the responsibility of the prophets of God to teach the word of God, not to spell out every jot and tittle of human conduct. If we are conscientiously trying to avoid not only evil but the very appearance of evil, we will act for ourselves and not be acted upon.” (Ensign, May 2003, 51)

(I can’t resist the urge to remark that conservatives are often misunderstood over the issue of wishing to avoid the very appearance of evil. Frankly, it should be refreshing to know individuals about whom one never need wonder where they stand, or what they’d do or say—none of this constant vacillation in an enormous realm of gray! In support, see, for example, Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, 678.)

Now, to share what President Joseph F. Smith said in the October 1918 Conference:

This wonderful, mysterious revelation that I have been said to have received a great many years ago, was given in French, and I never knew but two or three words in French in my life; consequently, I could not have been the originator of that revelation. I want you to understand that. I have denied it, I suppose, a hundred times, when I have been inquired of about it. It was gotten up by some mysterious person who undertook to create a sensation and lay the responsibility upon me. I am not guilty. When the Lord reveals something to me, I will consider the matter with my brethren, and when it becomes proper, I will let it be known to the people, and not otherwise. . . .

Now, these stories of revelations that are being circulated around are of no consequence except for rumor and silly talk by persons that have no authority. The fact of the matter is simply here and this. No man can enter into God's rest unless he will absorb the truth in so far that all error, all falsehood, all misunderstandings and mis-statements he will be able to sift thoroughly and dissolve, and know that it is error and not truth. When you know God's truth, when you enter into God's rest, you will not be hunting after revelations from Tom, Dick and Harry all over the world. You will not be following the will of the wisps of the vagaries of men and women who advance nonsense and their own ideas. When you know the truth you will abide in the truth, and the truth will make you free, and it is the only truth that will free you from the errors of men, and from the falsehood and misrepresentations of the evil one who lays in wait to deceive and to mislead the people of God from the paths of righteousness and truth.

President Wilford Woodruff:

“The Elders have a world of truth to preach about. There is enough revealed to fill the whole earth as long as you live. Preach the truth as you understand it. Do not speculate on things you know nothing about, for it will benefit no one. If you listen to false doctrine you will be led away by false spirits. Remember and observe this, and you will be all right. Keep in the paths of truth, and all will be well with you” (CD, 2:60-61).

I was once subjected to an entire semester with a—put in initial caps so as not to falsely advertise—Persuasive Writing teacher (at BYU, no less) who took every opportunity to cast doubt about matters upon which prophets have pronounced plainly. This teacher always alleged sympathy for the wrongdoer, in seeming oblivion to this sentiment:

Some of our good Latter-day Saints have become so exceedingly good (?) that they cannot tell the difference between a Saint of God, an honest man, and a son of Beelzebub, who has yielded himself absolutely to sin and wickedness. And they call that liberality, broadness of mind, exceeding love. I do not want to become so blinded with love for my enemies that I cannot discern between light and darkness, between truth and error, between good and evil; but I hope to live so that I shall have sufficient light in me to discern between error and truth, and to cast my lot on the side of truth and not on the side of error and darkness. The Lord bless the Latter-day Saints. If I am too narrow with reference to these matters I hope that the wisdom of my brethren and the Spirit of Light from the Lord may broaden my soul. (Joseph F. Smith, CR, Oct. 1907, 6)

By the end of the course, I was quite grateful that the conservative mindset finds ready and complete backing in the revelations. Thanks be to God that she didn’t succeed in her objective, stated directly to me, of changing my mind. It was also gratifying to encounter more clever couplets (attribution rather more certain than the opening quote):

Academic Freedom
They say we're anti-intellect,
Afraid to even think--
Our paranoid, deep fear of truth
Has caused our minds to shrink.
We're bigoted and prejudiced,
Withdrawn, afraid, regressive.
They must speak out and save the Church;
Someone must be progressive.
But them! How could we dare believe?
No! No! They're nowhere near it.
For shame that we should think the thought
That they are anti-spirit.
A Narrow-Minded Bigot (Boyd K. Packer, in Lucile C. Tate, Boyd K. Packer: A Watchman on the Tower [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1995], 265)

I was appalled in another classroom setting to witness the birth of a Second Coming myth and realize that no one else noticed or cared. My whole life I’ve thought the average church member understood that the Second Coming was in the top five things you don’t speculate about!

Somewhat in keeping with 2 Jn. 1:7-11, 2 Tim. 1:13-14, 2:15-16, 3:16-17 (JST), and Titus 3:11, I hope that we can all find greater courage to shun false teachings. President Joseph Fielding Smith, about one of his overriding concerns:

Sometimes those who are serving as bishops and presidents of stakes, and in other leading positions, I fear, may overlook this fact, and in the choosing of teachers in classes, as teacher trainers, or wherever it may be, think of the man’s educational qualifications as they would be looked upon in the world and forget the spiritual and doctrinal qualifications which are more essential. . . .

What do we accomplish if we spend our time and means preaching in the world to make converts to the gospel, if we place instructors before the youth in the stakes and wards who destroy the faith in the hearts of the young people in the divine message intrusted to our care?

How careful our instructors . . . should be to guard the revealed truth from heaven! How fearful we should be lest we teach that which is false and thereby lead souls astray, in paths that lead to death and away from the exaltation in the kingdom of God. . . . There is no greater crime in all the world than to teach false doctrines and lead the unsuspecting astray, away from the eternal truths of the gospel. . . .

What a dreadful thing it would be to be going forth to teach, to lead men, to guide them into something that was not true. . . .

He who blinds one soul, he who spreads error, he who destroys, through his teachings, divine truth, truth that would lead a man to the kingdom of God and to its fulness, how great shall be his condemnation and his punishment in eternity. For the destruction of a soul is the destruction of the greatest thing that has ever been created. (DS, 1:312-314)

Don’t get me wrong, perceiving me as Mr. Doom and Gloom or Mr. Know-It-All. I have had many exceptional teachers. I hope I won’t be blamed for being discriminating in how I place my trust. I had the opportunity to thank one teacher of sound doctrine last year, along these lines, “My home ward’s instructor seems more intent on entertaining the students. I really appreciate how much you clearly want to bear testimony to them.”

To supply a TKO from Pres. J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: “In matters of gospel doctrine, there is no such thing as academic freedom in your teaching of youth. You declare the word of God as written in the scriptures, and as interpreted by his Prophet, Seer, and Revelator. Otherwise there is chaos and apostasy, and we shall follow the route of the primitive, post-Apostolic church” ("Reflective Speculation," BYU seminary + institute address, 21 Jun 1954, 1).

So why do I seem so particular even about small things, to the point of appearing to raise contentions over points of doctrine? For starters, while many would change their tune if corrected, often the only difference between a mistake and open heresy is timing and opposition. Persisting in a false belief often occurs, regardless of OR in the absence of that correction factor. Also refer back to the Johnson quote, which I hinted was prelude to more dissertation.

These are “perilous times,” wherein so many are “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:1, 7). The winds of doctrine, ready to blow the unprepared about (Eph. 4:14; see Hel. 5:12), move with increasingly gale force. A previous entry utilized the scripture admonishing us to “be not moved.”

To quote Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith on a strain he used often, “I do not believe, as some seem to think, that the world is growing better. I cannot make that thought appear consistent with the word of the Lord, for he has emphatically said otherwise. If the world is becoming more righteous, then the coming of the Lord will of necessity have to be postponed, because he is going to come in the day of wickedness, in the day of judgment, and when vengeance against the ungodly is in his heart. At that time he will cleanse the earth of its unrighteousness, and we are told there will be ‘few men left’” (CR, Oct. 1930, 24). President Marion G. Romney issued similar warning (and don’t fail to look up D&C 45:57):

"They that are wise and have received the truth" are they who, when they hear the gospel, accept it. They who "have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide and have not been deceived" are they who have not only had the gift of the Holy Ghost bestowed upon them, but who have thereafter so lived by faith as to have received the guidance of the Holy Ghost to such an extent that they have not been deceived. Such are they who, whether resurrected or living in mortality, shall abide the day of Christ's second coming. (George J. Romney, Look to God and Live: Discourses of Marion G. Romney [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1971], 51)

I’ve often felt that if Latter-day Saints applied themselves to understanding the plainness of the book of Revelation (see Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 290) and other legitimate prophecies, they’d be sufficiently alarmed that they’d have no more time to waste on passing around useless myths. However, remember what was just reiterated at Worldwide Leadership Training, a theme taken up by President Packer before, that Latter-day Saints should be prepared, not afraid.

One of the things I’ve most admired about Pres. Joseph Fielding Smith—aside from his sheer consistency, for he endorsed his lifetime of systematic theology after becoming president of the Church—is the focused necessity of his warnings. Note the incisiveness of this remark: “The thing that [is] needed as much as anything else among the Latter-day Saints [is] a better understanding or comprehension of the gospel. . . . I say to you, my brethren and sisters, you cannot keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in righteousness unless you know what they are. The Lord has commanded us to search the scriptures, for the things which they contain are true and shall be fulfilled, and so I say to you, and this is my closing message: Search the scriptures; make yourselves familiar with that which the Lord has revealed for your salvation, the salvation of your house, and of the world” (CR, Oct. 1920, 58-59). To fast forward to April 1971 Conference:

We are engaged in the Lord’s work; this is his church; he is the author of the plan of salvation; it is his gospel which we have received by the opening of the heavens in this day; and our desire and whole purpose in life should be to believe the truths he has revealed and to conform our lives to them. No person in or out of the Church should believe any doctrine, advocate any practice, or support any cause that is not in harmony with the divine will. Our sole objective where the truths of salvation are concerned should be to find out what the Lord has revealed and then to believe and act accordingly.

Elder McConkie was not the only man of apostolic stature in this dispensation of whom this might be said (as it was in the January 1973 Ensign): “He is impatient with half truth and intolerant of untruth. The way to righteousness is a clearly marked road of scriptural and revealed truth. He will have nothing else.”

I’m disappointed that the Conference Report containing the kernel of these quotations appears to be lent out at the moment. I choose to heedlessly advance some of Elder Mark E. Petersen’s thoughts:

But in spite of all the work that is done in the Church in the way of conversion and teaching, and so much wonderful work is done, there are some instances where people go in reverse and fall away. Sometimes they accept the teachings of false leaders and false teachers who lead them astray.

Often I have asked myself why it is that some people apostatize from the truth. I have never believed that a person falls away suddenly, all at once, any more than a person who has been righteous and honest all his life would go out and suddenly rob a bank. There is some preparatory work done in advance. There is some "softening-up" process which leads to the apostate condition. Big sins generally are preceded by little ones, and I believe that this is true with respect to people who fall away from the truth. . . .

I have heard of a man who claims to be a very good Latter-day Saint. He claims that he loves the Church, but he also loves the world, and he lives as closely as he possibly can to the line of disobedience without actually violating the letter of the law. He does not realize that he must avoid even the very appearance of evil. He does not realize, possibly, that by living as close to the line of disobedience as he can, he sows seeds of doubt and distrust in the minds of others.

There are those who live in open rebellion against the word of God and violate the commandments continuously and intentionally, and of course they always leave doubt in the minds of others, with some disrespect for them themselves.

And then there are the seeds that are sown by some of our teachers and preachers within our own organization, who like to advance some new doctrine, or some new interpretation, or some speculative theory, or advance something that is sensational, because to advance the sensational seems to feed their ego inasmuch as they become the center of a discussion.

Most of our teachers and preachers are wonderful. They teach the truth; they bring about conversions in the minds and hearts of those who listen to them. But there are these few teachers who sow seeds of doubt by speculative and unsound doctrines, and as they do so they "soften up," to use the army expression, some of their hearers who might later be taken over by the apostate teachers who come among them.

It is my full belief that whenever any of us accepts a position of any description in the Church, we accept along with it the responsibility of that office, whatever it may be. I believe that if a person accepts a position as a teacher in one of our organizations, or if he accepts the responsibility of preaching from the pulpit, such person accepts the responsibility which goes with that call. He becomes a representative of the Church in that position. Every teacher and every preacher therefore is duty bound, upon accepting such a call, to represent the official views and doctrines of the Church, and to teach those official doctrines in his class or from the pulpit, with the one thought in mind that conversion is to come about in the hearts of those who listen to him. I do not believe that conversion to the truth comes through the teaching of half-truths or untruths.

Our classrooms and our assembly rooms have been built at great expense with only one thought in mind, and that is that in them we may teach the truths so that we may convert those who come there, so that they in turn will live the gospel and work out their salvation in the earth.

I do not believe that the classrooms or the pulpits of our Church are for laboratory purposes in which to experiment with new doctrine and speculative notions. They are exclusively for the use of those who are willing to convert men and women and boys and girls to the truth.

There is only one man in all the world who has the right to introduce a new doctrine to this Church, and that man is the President of the Church. So teachers, until you become the President of the Church, will you be willing to content yourselves with the present officially accepted doctrines of the Church?

I do not believe that we can escape the responsibility of starting someone off on the wrong way if we teach wrong principles. I do not believe that any of us can afford to take that responsibility.

I do not believe, therefore, that we can bring into our classes or our sermons views and doctrines which are not accepted and officially advocated by the Church. . . .

I do believe that the Lord has given to the Latter-day Saints a fair amount of intelligence. I do believe that he expects us to use that intelligence in studying his revealed word and following his prophets here on earth, so that we will not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine.

I do believe that he expects our teachers and preachers to use the common sense he has given them to teach the simple truth which saves, rather than the speculations and theories of men, which only confuse the mind and lead some of our people right out of the Church.

I do believe that by proper teaching of the revealed truth we can convert ourselves and our children and all others who are willing to listen to us.

I do believe that people are converted to the truth only by the truth and not through the teaching of half-truths and untruths.

I do believe that only in loyally teaching and living the true principles of the gospel can we fulfil the responsibility which God has given us, and this is my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. (reprinted in Messages of Inspiration: Selected Addresses of the General Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1957], 99-106)

AGAIN, I am perturbed because in my estimation half truths can be lethal. As far as the elect are concerned, they may be more deadly than total untruths. Many outright philosophies of man are easily discerned, but what of these rumors and mixed truths, which are the devil’s specialties? (Refer to D&C 46:7-9.) I’ll let President Kimball teach us:

The adversary is subtle; he is cunning, he knows that he cannot induce good men and women immediately to do major evils so he moves slyly, whispering half-truths until he has his intended victims following him, and finally he clamps his chains upon them and fetters them tight, and then he laughs at their discomfiture and their misery. . . .

And the Savior said that the very elect would be deceived by Lucifer if it were possible. He will use his logic to confuse and his rationalizations to destroy. He will shade meanings, open doors an inch at a time, and lead from purest white through all the shades of gray to the darkest black. (TSWK, 151-52)

Do we doubt the extent of Satan’s dominion? Elder Holland just used the phrase “cling to the doctrine” at least thrice in Worldwide Leadership Training, and once more, “cling to the revelations.” (Lehi’s dream is highly descriptive of our path of safety!) Then I encountered a portion of Mormon 8:33, with especial application to apostasy, “Why have ye transfigured the holy word of God, that ye might bring damnation upon your souls? Behold, look ye unto the revelations of God . . .” The Prophet Joseph Smith, one individual very accustomed to fighting Satan, cautioned, “The devil has great power to deceive; he will so transform things as to make one gape at those who are doing the will of God.” (Remember that phrase, that he “transformeth himself nigh unto an angel of light”?)

Again, and I’m not simply saying this on the basis of the few quotes utilized above, our steadiness in the truths of the gospel has direct correlation to our usefulness to the kingdom of God in these crucial last days. Here’s my plea for us to adhere to another recurring theme of Worldwide Leadership Training: let’s stop taking our pattern from the world, and turn back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think that includes a certain depth of discipleship that spurns fables, seeking instead that which doth not rust nor corrupt, which will not pass away with the rest of the world. Who and what can abide the day of the Lord?