OR
Destructive Precepts of Men
Some years ago President Joseph F. Smith, a prophet of the Lord, warned that “there are at least three dangers that threaten the Church within.” (Gospel Doctrine, p. 312.) He also counseled the authorities of the Church to warn the people unceasingly against them. These dangers are:
Flattery of prominent men in the world,
False educational ideas,
Sexual impurity.
I should like to comment briefly on these three dangers.
First, the flattery of prominent men in the world:
The Master warned, “Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26)
As Latter-day Saints we have been driven, mobbed, misunderstood, and maligned. We have been a peculiar people. Now we are faced with world applause. It has been a welcome change but can we stand acceptance? Can we meet the danger of applause? In the hour of a man’s success, applause can be his greatest danger.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with being honored by men if one is being honored for a good thing, if one comes to these honors through righteous living, and if, while holding these honors, one lives honorably. One should strive to have wide influence for good.
However, virtue is not the only basis for being singled out and promoted. As the world gets more wicked, a possible way to attain worldly success may be to join the wicked. The time is fast approaching when it will require great courage for Latter-day Saints to stand up for their peculiar standards and doctrine—all of their doctrine, including the more weighty principles such as the principle of freedom. Opposition to this weighty principle of freedom caused many of our brothers and sisters in the preexistence to lose their first estate in the war in heaven.
We are far removed from the days of our forefathers who were persecuted for their peculiar beliefs. Some of us seem to want to share their reward but are ofttimes afraid to stand up for principles that are controversial in our generation. We need not solicit persecution, but neither should we remain silent in the presence of overwhelming evil, for this makes cowards of men. We should not go out of the path of duty to pick up a cross there is no need to bear, but neither should we sidestep a cross that clearly lies within the path of duty.
We are in the world, and I fear some of us are getting too much like the world. Rather than continue as a peculiar people, some are priding themselves on how much they are like everybody else, when the world is getting more wicked. The Lord, as he prayed for his apostles, said, “. . . the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14) As Latter-day Saints, we too have been called out of the world.
Some things are changeless—priceless. We must anchor ourselves to the eternal verities of life, for life is eternal. The honors of men more often than not are fleeting. Anxious to run after the honors of office or succumb to the pressures of public glamour and worldly acclaim, some of us are no longer willing to stand up for all the principles of the gospel. We seek to justify our unrighteousness by claiming that if only we can get title or position, then think of the good we can do. Hence we lose our salvation en route to those honors. We sometimes look among our numbers to find one to whom we can point who agrees with us, so we can have company to justify our apostasy. We rationalize by saying that some day the Church doctrine will catch up with our way of thinking.
Seeking the applause of the world, we like to be honored by the men whom the world honors. But therein lies real danger, for ofttimes, in order to receive those honors, we must join forces with and follow those same devilish influences and policies that brought some of those men to positions of prominence.
More and more the honors of this world are being promoted by the wicked for the wicked. We see this in publicity and awards that are given to movies, literature, art, journalism, etc. We find in our own newspapers widely read columnists who advocate one-world socialism, who have been consistently caught in falsehoods, and who continually parrot the communist line. Less and less we see the virtuous rewarded by the world, and when they are, ofttimes it almost seems to be done insidiously in order to get us to swallow the many evils for which the wicked are even more profusely honored.
Yes, President Joseph F. Smith was right. Today we are being plagued within by the flattery of prominent men in the world.
Second, false educational ideas:
During the past several years many of our institutions of learning have been turning out an increasing number of students schooled in amorality, relativity, and atheism—students divested of a belief in God, without fixed moral principles or an understanding of our constitutional republic and our capitalistic, free enterprise economic system. This follows a pattern that was established years ago at some of our key colleges that produced many of the teachers and leaders in the educational field across the country today.
The fruits of this kind of teaching have been tragic, not only to the souls of the individuals involved, but also to the parents and even to our country.
When a survey was recently made among students asking which they would prefer, nuclear war or surrender to the communists, those campuses scored highest for surrender who had been most permeated by these cowardly teachings of false economic principles, atheism, and amorality. On one very liberal college campus 90 percent favored surrender. Other surveys on moral standards are equally alarming. More disturbing is the fact that the more college courses the students take on these campuses, the worse their thinking seems to become. Freshmen who have just left home or work do not seem as fully permeated with the brainwashing as do the seniors.
Some alumni of various schools have expressed concern. One alumnus from Yale wrote a book a few years ago entitled God and Man at Yale. Another group from Harvard established the Veritas Foundation and wrote a book, Keynes at Harvard, explaining the degree to which the destructive Fabian economic philosophy has permeated educational institutions and government. Concerned educators have begun to write books. Professor E. Merrill Root authored Collectivism on the Campus and Brainwashing in the High Schools. Dr. Max Rafferty wrote Suffer Little Children and What They Are Doing to Your Children.
In school history textbooks of recent years, some of the greatest phrases in American history have been dropped. This Week magazine surveyed history books issued before 1920 and since 1920. Patrick Henry’s famous words, “Give me liberty or give me death,” appeared in twelve out of the fourteen earlier texts, but in only two out of forty-five recent texts. Perhaps this might help explain the percentage of students who are willing to surrender to communism.
The whole process can be quite insidious. Young people know that the best jobs are available to college graduates. They want to do well at school. When exam time comes, they must give back to the teacher what the teacher wants. Now, under the guise of academic freedom—which some apparently feel is freedom to destroy freedom—some teachers reserve to themselves the privilege of teaching error, destroying faith in God, debunking morality, and depreciating our free economic system. If questions reflecting the teacher’s false teachings appear on the exam, how will the student answer who believes in God and morality and our Constitution? One student put on his exam paper what he knew the professor wanted to see, but then the student added a little P.S., which said, “Dear Professor So-and-so: I just want you to know I don’t believe one word of what I just wrote above.”
These kinds of professors are not concerned about the truth or even giving both sides of a question that only has one right answer. They weigh the scales on the side of falsehood. If they can see there is another side, it usually gets but passing and belittling reference. To give the impression that they are objective, these professors often invite someone to present a different point of view in one lecture, while the professor spends the whole semester pointing out the other side.
Now truth, if given as much time and emphasis as error, will invariably prove itself. And if our young students could have as much time studying the truth as they and some of their professors have had time to study error, then there would be no question of the outcome. The problem arises when under the pressure of a heavy course of study and the necessity of parroting back what certain professors have said, the student does not have the time or take the time to learn the truth. If he does not learn the truth, some day he will suffer the consequences. Many an honest student, after graduation, has had to do some unlearning and then fresh learning of basic principles that never change and that he should have been taught initially.
These false educational ideas are prevalent in the world, and we have not entirely escaped them among teachers in our own system. There are a few teachers within the Church who, while courting apostasy, still want to remain members of the Church, for being members makes them more effective in misleading the Saints. But their day of judgment is coming, and when it does come, for some of them it would have been better, as the Savior said, that a millstone had been put around their necks and they had drowned in the depths of the sea, than to have led away any of the youth of the Church.
The Lord has stated that his church will never again be taken from the earth because of apostasy. But he has also stated that some members of his church will fall away. There has been individual apostasy in the past, it is going on now, and there will be an even increasing amount in the future. While we cannot save all the flock from being deceived, we should, without compromising our doctrine, strive to save as many as we can. For as President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said, “We are in the midst of the greatest exhibition of propaganda that the world has ever seen.” (Conference Report, October 1941, p. 16.)
Parents, stay close to your children; you cannot delegate your responsibility to the educators no matter how competent they may be. Parents have a duty to train their children, to talk over their problems with them, to discuss what they are learning at school. And it is neither wise nor safe to leave the determination of our educational system and policies exclusively to the professional educators.
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.
Yes, false educational ideas are a serious threat today.
Third, sexual immorality:
Sexual immorality is a viper that is striking not only in the world, but in the Church today. Not to admit it is to be dangerously complacent or is like putting one’s head in the sand. In the category of crimes, only murder and denying the Holy Ghost come ahead of illicit sexual relations, which we call fornication when it involves an unmarried person, or the graver sin of adultery when it involves one who is married. I know the laws of the land do not consider unchastity as serious as God does, nor punish as severely as God does, but that does not change its abominableness. In the eyes of God, there is but one moral standard for men and women. In the eyes of God, chastity will never be out of date.
The natural desire for men and women to be together is from God. But such association is bounded by his laws. Those things properly reserved for marriage, when taken within the bonds of marriage, are right and pleasing before God and fulfill the commandment to multiply and replenish the earth. But those same things when taken outside the bonds of marriage are a curse.
No sin is causing the loss of the Spirit of the Lord among our people more today than sexual promiscuity. It is causing our people to stumble, damning their growth, darkening their spiritual powers, and making them subject to other sins.
Recently a young man commented that if he quit reading books, watching TV, seeing movies, reading newspapers and magazines, and going to school, there was a chance he might live a clean life. And this explains, in large part, the extent to which this insidious evil has spread, for the world treats this sin flippantly. These evil forces build up your lust and then fail to tell of the tragic consequences. In so many movies the hero is permitted to get away with crime so long as he can joke about it, or explain he was powerless to do anything, or else the close of the movie shows forth one minimal virtue that is supposed to cover over the grossest of sin. Many of our prominent national magazines pander to the baser side, then try to cover for themselves by including other articles too.
So garbled in values have our morals become that some youth would not dare touch a cigarette, but freely engage in petting. Both are wrong, but one is infinitely more serious than the other.
Parents should give their children specific instructions on chastity at an early age, for both their physical and their moral protection.
May I suggest some steps to avoid the pitfalls of immorality:
1. Avoid late hours and weariness. The Lord said to retire to your bed early (D&C 88:124), and there are good reasons for that. Some of the worst sins are committed after midnight by tired heads. Officers in the wards and stakes, branches and missions, should not keep our people, especially our youth, up late at night even for wholesome recreation.
2. Keep your dress modest. Short skirts are not pleasing to the Lord, but modesty is. Girls, do not be an enticement for your downfall because of your immodest and tight-fitting clothes.
3. Have good associates or don’t associate at all. Be careful in the selection of your friends. If in the presence of certain persons you are lifted to nobler heights, you are in good company. But if your friends or associates encourage base thoughts, then you had best leave them.
4. Avoid necking and petting like a plague, for necking and petting are the concession that precedes the complete loss of virtue.
5. Have a good physical outlet of some sport or exercise. Overcome evil with good. You can overcome many evil inclinations through good physical exertion and healthful activities. A healthy soul, free of the body- and spirit-dulling influences of alcohol and tobacco, is in better condition to overthrow the devil.
6. Think clean thoughts. Those who think clean thoughts do not do dirty deeds. You are responsible before God not only for your acts but also for controlling your thoughts. So live that you would not blush with shame if your thoughts and acts should be flashed on a screen in your church. The old adage is still true that you sow thoughts and you reap acts, you sow acts and you reap habits, you sow habits and you reap a character, and your character determines your eternal destiny. “As [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov 23:7)
7. Pray. There is no temptation placed before you that you cannot shun. Do not allow yourself to get in positions where it is easy to fall. Listen to the promptings of the Spirit. If you are engaged in things where you do not feel you can pray and ask the Lord’s blessings on what you are doing, then you are engaged in the wrong kind of activity.
Yes, avoid late hours; dress modestly; seek good associates; avoid necking and petting; have a good physical outlet; think good thoughts; pray. May the Lord bless us as a people. We have taken upon us sacred covenants. We must be faithful. We are in the world, it is true, but we must not partake of the evils of the world. Let us ever be on guard against the flattery of prominent men in the world, false educational ideas, and sexual impurity.
Source: General Conference, October 3, 1964
I love this article!! This part especially rings true of the church today:
“We are in the world, and I fear some of us are getting too much like the world. Rather than continue as a peculiar people, some are priding themselves on how much they are like everybody else, when the world is getting more wicked. The Lord, as he prayed for his apostles, said, “. . . the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14.) As Latter-day Saints, we too have been called out of the world.”
Little by little, it seems as if we are trying to integrate ourselves into the world with small changes like the recent announcement that women working for the church no longer have to wear pantyhose, and sister missionaries can shorten the lengths of their skirts. Why not continue doing things the way the Lord commanded in the first place? Why do we have to “fit in” with the world? That seems to be nothing more than a worldly desire and not the path that will lead back to the Lord.
Well, we’ve been doing things the way the world would do it instead of sticking to our guns on principle, doctrine and values. Time to go back to what we used to preach and believe in.
I think we are seeing what Benson said about more leaving in the future. With all that is avialable the internet about church history, people are seeing some history of the curch that they were unaware of and losing testimonies because of it.
nice article. from someone who is not a church member, but who attends regularly, may I offer this. There is a satanic conspiracy that has enveloped this world. It has infected EVERY government, and institution upon our world, which our Father in heaven gave us dominion over. I suggest to you that the church faces a heck of a lot bigger problems than people giving false flattery to the church, or people out kissing. There is a satanic plan in progress to have the major religions of the world destroy each other, jew verses muslim verses christian. The replacement to come after we all destroy each other is one world government with one world religion. Sound familiar? it should. Ezekiel, Daniel, and many many others warned us about this, and the truth is out there plain to see, that is if you have the courage to face it.
Read some other talks by Benson he gets into all of that as well….
That’s the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard, partly on principle, and partly that you think multiple governments could conspire to create a New World Order and nobody would find out about it.
People have found out about it, because they admit it.
There is an incredible amount of information on One World Government. You just need to search the Internet and book stores. Why do you think we have a United Nations and Agenda 21 and added to it by Obama Agenda 2030. United Nations should be dissolved.
Why such an emphasis on Benson? Here’s a guy whose own peers repudiated him on a regular basis INSIDE the Q15 inside of the Corporation of the President. It seems to meet you post Benson because he spouts the fiery paleo-Conservative venom that powers your political motors. You’d love to see Taft, Hoover, and Benson reincarnated as the Tea Bagger “Trinity.” BTW– what hymns would you sing to these crazy blokes if they were reincarnated?
Please read the post by Mo Roni below. I don’t know who you are saying repudiated Pres. Benson for his principled and courageous stands but he had the endorsement that matters most to me when the Lord made him the Prophet not the other ghost voices you complain about. The leadership has many Judas’s in it now as it has at all times in the past even in the very presence of the Lord himself this existed. Is it possible that these others who disagreed with him were simply plainly wrong? I have studied many prophets and their fight against communism and Pres. Benson was a valiant servant of God not man and that left him hated by the world. He was hated by all the right people. And that’s good enough for me.
I think it is telling that in the last General Conference, President Benson was quoted more than anyone else, except the scriptures. I have met a lot of people that don’t like “Benson.” In each case, they are “pick and choose” Mormons who dislike it when the Brethren tell the Latter Day Saints what to think politically, sexually, or academically. Either President Benson was a Prophet and an Apostle or not. “Evil speaking against the Lord’s anointed” only points the soul in one direction: straight down.
Welp, to quote that Patrick Henry Bensen loves so much, give me liberty or give me death! I will never let anyone, anointed or no, tell me how to think, read, or say. I’ll worship and believe according to my conscience, thank you very much.
Conspiracy of Silence, a documentary lteisd for viewing in TV Guide Magazine was to be aired on the Discovery Channel, on May 3, 1994. This documentary exposed a network of religious leaders and Washington politicians who flew children to Washington D.C. for sex orgies.Many children suffered the indignity of wearing nothing but their underwear and a number displayed on a piece of cardboard hanging from their necks when being auctioned off to foreigners in Las Vegas, Nevada and Toronto, Canada.At the last minute before airing, unknown congressmen threatened the TV Cable industry with restrictive legislation if this documentary was aired. Almost immediately, the rights to the documentary were purchased by unknown persons who had ordered all copies destroyed.A copy of this videotape was furnished anonymously to former Nebraska state senator and attorney John De Camp who made it available to retired FBI Agent Ted L. Gunderson. While the video quality is not top grade, this tape is a blockbuster in what is revealed by the participants involved.
Awesome article! You should read President Benson’s other articles — like the one where he says that the practice of fluoridating water is a communist plot, or that democrats can’t make it to the celestial kingdom!
well, Mr. Benson was ill-informed. It isnt a communist plot, fluoride was used in nazi concentration camps as a tool to pascify and drug the inmates into compliance. It is a fact that elements in the CIA recruited nazis to come to the U.S.. The man that was given the task of organizing the CIA was the nazi that ran the gestapo, under naval rear admiral, darn it i forgot his names, sorry I’m bad at names. The german nation lost the war, however the Nazis continued it, while being absorbed int the U.S. government, witness NASA, organized and run by NAZIS. facts people. check the facts. check out Joseph P. Farrel and many books by him including brotherhood of the bell, and babylonian banksters.
–If– he said fluoridation was a communist plot, I don’t see the slightest inconsistency here. Pres. Benson considered socialism nothing less than communism light utilized in environments where communism could not plainly show it’s face. He considered it a tool to move free societies to communism and thus part of the communist plot. He was right then and he is right now like every prophet before him. Nazi’s were National Socialists which is nothing less than part of the communist plot based on what Benson clearly taught warned and testified too and he was right. He also railed against the communist tendrils establishing power inside of the united states to support and further that plot. –IF– you accusations about the CIA recruiting and utilizing NAZI’s is true that would also be consistent with what Pres Benson warned us about. Be careful in attacking a prophet of God because it’s like kicking against the pricks.
i have never attacked a prophet of my father in heaven. i am sorry if that is the impression i gave. i am truly sorry that by my disagreement that socialism is different than communism it gives the impression i am attacking mr. benson, as that is not the case. there are many many things i disagree with, that doesnt mean i am attacking anyone. i am truly sorry, please accept my apology
The problem with socialism is that is an easy next step into communism.
Do some research Fredco. Fluoride destroy’s tooth enamel, and is a carcinogen. Pres. Heber J. Grant said “If Americans don’t stop supporting the secret combination, there will be NO EXALTATION for them in the eternities”. Both democrats and republicans in the Church are now supporting the latter-day secret combination by accepting government subsidies like Social Security, Food Stamps, WIC, AFDC, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. The LDS anti-Christ Harry Reid is a prime example of a democrat who fully supports the secret combination running our government. Mitt Romney is a prime example of a Republican who does.
Why doesn’t somebody compile a sourced list of all the repudiations of Ezra Taft Benson’s statements made by his peers in the Quorum of the 12 and let’s finally see some EVIDENCE that they didn’t agree with him in substance. I mean seriously… produce the statements.
The best I’ve ever read is that someone heard this or that. Or some relation (i.e. their grandmother) told them that ETB was a “bircher” or racist. You can say he was a space alien or you can say he was a prophet of God. You can say people didn’t agree or you can say he was right on target. Back it up please.
I think in general people are tired of this pattern of attack.
1. Attaching labels
2. Beating a strawman
3. Ad hominem attacks that have nothing to do with the subject.
It really rings hollow. I think folks are waking up to this so please do us a favor and contribute something substantive. Let’s see the statements. The obviously volatile nature of current events demands more reasoned argument. The three “dangers” President Smith pointed out obviously have had an effect on us this last century.
Well said.
Exactly right. I was getting ready to write something like this until I read down to yours and I couldn’t have said it better.
Excellent! If some of us didn’t jump to conclusions we wouldn’t get any exercise at all. I forget who said that. Maybe it was Wilford Woodruff.
Thank You Mo Roni–you took the words right out of my mouth–and much better than I would have worded them–again thank you, and I heartily concur! For someone who sees the world at a critical point, as I do, I want NO MORE attacks on men or women who support a point of view that does little more than blur the dialogue with emotional baggage! I want facts and only facts I can look up for myself–and BTW, don’t tell me to ‘do the math’ as a way to suggest the proof has already been made–show me or zip it! This is getting old, old OLD!
Yes I have never seen anything produced by the Quorum of the Tweleve or any General Authority that counters what Ezra Taft Benson taught. In Fact I do know on many occasions he was asked by President McKay to speak against Communism.
Please produce the evidence. And the source so I can research it myself because I don’t trust anyone these days accept Apostles and the Prophet.
Pres. McKay asked many people to do this not just Benson. Skousen had a direct charge to do exactly this from Pres. McKay as well. God endorsed Pres. Benson’s message when he made him the prophet. Even an apostle can fail but if the President tries to lead us astray the Lord will remove him from his place.
Notably, there were no more talks about communism by President Benson after he was set apart as the President of the Church.
FALSE
Really? I have searched and haven’t found a single talk on Communism from President Benson from the era he served as President of the Church 1985-1994. Can you show me where I am false Ezra?
“I Testify” for starters.
It is a common assertion, in an attempt to discredit any of his teachings, that President Ezra Taft Benson “mellowed” on his teachings against Conspiracy and in defense of liberty. His detractors claim that he did not teach those things once he became President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and therefore he must have changed his views, making his old views null and void.
This idea is one that is not only prevalent amongst more statist members of the Church, but also among many that consider themselves liberty lovers. This I cannot understand.
Of the things he wrote, and based on the talks that he actually gave, he was a defender of liberty and a warrior against conspiracy until the very end.
One of the first books that Ezra Taft Benson wrote as President of the Church was “The Constitution: A Heavenly Banner” (recently back in print and available through Amazon.com). It contains some of the strongest defenses of limited government and warnings against the dangers of statism by any modern leader of the Church, perfectly consistent with his teachings as an Apostle.
In it he reiterates the proper role of government, the source of rights, principles of agency and compulsion, the divinity of the Constitution, warns of the erosion of liberty, and so much more.
In 1987, President Benson gave a talk in General Conference entitled “Our Divine Constitution“, in which he reiterates many of the same points, as well as others in the strongest of terms.
In one of the dedicatory sessions of the Portland Oregon Temple he warned those in attendance of Secret Combinations.
In his book “A Witness and a Warning” (available at Amazon.com), President Benson gave very strong warnings about modern day secret combinations.
In his final address to the members of the Church, considered his final testimony, Ezra Taft Benson, testified of the principles of Liberty, Secret Combinations, and of the very real threats to freedom:
“I testify that America is a choice land. (See 2 Ne. 1:5.) God raised up the founding fathers of the United States of America and established the inspired Constitution. (See D&C 101:77–80.) This was the required prologue for the restoration of the gospel. (See 3 Ne. 21:4.) America will be a blessed land unto the righteous forever and is the base from which God will continue to direct the worldwide latter-day operations of His kingdom. (See 2 Ne. 1:7.)… I testify that wickedness is rapidly expanding in every segment of our society. (See D&C 1:14–16; D&C 84:49–53.) It is more highly organized, more cleverly disguised, and more powerfully promoted than ever before. Secret combinations lusting for power, gain, and glory are flourishing. A secret combination that seeks to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries is increasing its evil influence and control over America and the entire world. (See Ether 8:18–25.)” (Source: “I Testify”, General Conference, October 1988)
Until the very end of his personal ministry President Ezra Taft Benson testified nobly and boldly of Liberty and the threats to it, backing all of it up with strong scriptural foundations.
Ezra,
In spite of what you have provided here, I still don’t see a reference to Communism in a talk he gave after becoming the President of the Church. The “I testify” talk didn’t have a single mention of Communism. Good read though, thanks for giving me the chance to read it. You still have yet to show me where I am false. I am looking for a talk from the pulpit on Communism. I have never seen one from him after he was set apart as President of the Church.
I’m sorry you missed it.
It wasn’t in there. If it is you can surely quote it to me?
How in the world do pantyhose have anything to do with apostasy? If we want to go back to the way things were in the past, do you wear one-piece, neck to ankle garments and pioneer inspired dresses? Even pantyhose are a modern invention when looked through the prism of the early church.
I was aiming more at JulesGP, but good to know. :)
Someone tell me does the Latter Day Saint Church still practice this? Is this a mainstream practice, this belief in the Constitution, etc.? I have noticed Mormons in my area that are politically liberal and very much minimalist in their obedience to their doctrines.
What happened? I would be a Mormon tomorrow if all of this you write about was still the mainstream practice!!!
The church and doctrine are true. It alone stands on Truth and truth is an eternal principle which will never diminish with time or the weakness of people. If you allow the weakness of others to make a choice for yourself, good luck!!!!!. The gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly as stated, “the gospel of JESUS CHRIST”…The church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is exactly that, “The Church of JESUS CHRIST Of Latter Day Saints”. These truths and principles are to make bad men good and good men better (or women). Yes it is a practice of the church and will be FOREVER. The prophets of old have prophesied these things from the beginning, to our latter day prophets today. Each with a message for each generation. “Come Unto Christ” and prepare for his second coming.
Hi, I would like to include a link to this in my ward preparedness newsletter. May I do that? and Is this one of the articles that will be always accessible? Let me know. This is really good!
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I am totally aghast at this article. How in the world does a people choosing subjugation over nuclear war show a decline in morality??? I’ve never heard anything so warmongering or evil in my life. That nationalistic ideal is one of the most false idols to which we are willing to sacrifice anyone (including our own children) because it is somehow considered honorable.(???) And we’ve adopted this ideal in the LDS church! It’s preposterous. “Give me liberty or give me death” is a valuable, noble ideal. But it is pointed inward, meaning “my freedom is more important than MY life”…it says nothing about the evil teaching that MURDERING OTHER PEOPLE is worth my own liberty. We will never be forgiven if we place our own idols above the Lord’s counsel to forgive.
Yay Erin! Finally someone pointed out this amazing part of Pres. Benson’s talk. I think President Kimball would have had something to say of this when he said:
“The Lord gave us a choice world and expects righteousness and obedience to his commandments in return. But when I review the performance of this people in comparison with what is expected, I am appalled and frightened. We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel ships, planes, missiles, fortifications and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus in the manner of Satan counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 5:44-45.)
As also the First Presidency message of 1981 stated:
“We repeat our warnings against the terrifying arms race in which the nations of the earth are presently engaged. We deplore in particular the building of vast arsenals of nuclear weaponry.”(26)
As would J. Reuben Clark of the Quorum of the 12:
“Thus we in America are now deliberately searching out and developing the most savage, murderous means of exterminating peoples that Satan can plant in our minds. We do it not only shamelessly, but with a boast. God will not forgive us of this. If we are to avoid extermination, if the world is not to be wiped out, we must find some way to curb the fiendish ingenuity of men who have apparently not fear of God, man or the devil, and who are willing to plot and plan and invent instrumentalities that will wipe out all the flesh of the earth… [We] Americans wiped out hundreds of thousands of civilian population with the atom bomb in Japan… [Not] only did the people of the United States not rise up in protest against this savagery, not only did it not shock us to read of this wholesale destruction of men, women, and children, and cripples… it actually drew from the nation at large a general approval of this fiendish butchery.”
The comment about liberal education opting for surrender over nuclear war is not a fair question to put to a survey or vote. Its apples and oranges lame. I too, thought, how is choosing a life preserving position of surrender over nuclear annihilation a wrong decision? It didn’t say surrender your faith, your will to survive, or your determination to seek freedom when possible. But to choose here is too abstract to make a relative correlation when analyzed. The more appropriate wording there would have been “surrender or defend.” Nobody in their right mind chooses nuclear war. Using that wording, this liberal skewed poll will garner the answer it was designed for the question to fit. Polls do not always reflect truth but they point to an engineered result.
I’ll say first that I believe that President Benson was a prophet of God and that many prophetic statements in this talk are proving to be true. But… this talk is, in my opinion, riddled with ‘American doctrine’ and opinions of the time. The idea of destroying ourselves via nuclear war rather than subjecting ourselves to communist rule is completely absurd and to say that doing the opposite is cowardly just goes against reason.
Patrick Henry said “Give me liberty or give me death”. Prophets of God have always stood for doing whats right in the face of death. It is one who doesn’t understand the plan of salvation that puts life above principle
Does doing what is right include murdering untold numbers of non-combatant persons of your enemy as a nuclear war would entail?
Huh? it is not murder to defend oneself. You seem to be adding meaning to words that were not there. Benson referred to being more afraid of being nuked than doing what’s right, not bombing someone innocent. The example of Daniel and the lions den is a great example of doing what is right not being afraid of death
Nuclear war entails both sides firing missiles and will always involve the massacre of innocent non-combatants.
Do a search in the Book of Mormon on the word ‘liberty’. Remember the title of liberty? Liberty is essential and is worth fighting for. Otherwise, we may as well join Satan and all those who opposed liberty in the War in Heaven. War will always exist so long as Satan is not bound.
Julie, there are other answers to dealing with our enemies:
he Lord gave us a choice world and expects righteousness and obedience to his commandments in return. But when I review the performance of this people in comparison with what is expected, I am appalled and frightened. We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing for the coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to the fabrication of gods of stone and steel ships, planes, missiles, fortifications and depend on them for protection and deliverance. When threatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus in the manner of Satan counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior’s teaching: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)
The atomic bomb ended the war.
actually the Japanese surrendered TWICE before we nuked them. President Clark said our nations would pay for that evil act.
Can’t find what you were talking about. Source?
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/japan-surrenders
The biggest threat to the LDS church is the internet. When I had a question as a young man, I had my parents and teachers at church to ask. So I was mislead on a number of topics like race and polygamy. It wasn’t until the internet came along that I realized Joseph Smith had taken over 30 wives, some as young as 14, and up to 10 who were already married. The internet continues to educate and doesn’t rely on mushy, confusing “feelings”. It’s the new Nauvoo Expositor that can’t be destroyed.
I’m sorry your leaders weren’t informed on the subjects and mislead you by their ignorance. Truth is not a danger to the Church, relying on someone else to tell you what they don’t know is dangerous to you though.
14 is biological adulthood. That you think otherwise shows you have been brainwashed.
Excellent post! I just found this.
Another educational danger not mentioned here is the “two-Cumorahs” theory of Book of Mormon geography. Joseph Fielding Smith warned that this theory would cause the Saints to become confused and disturbed in their faith. The scholars ignored him, but he was right. Current LDS scholars and educators continue to promote this theory, despite the damage it is doing. See http://bookofmormonwars.blogspot.com/
Oh look. A little mob has gathered to mock Ezra Taft Benson. Fulanito, Fredco Eric, Curtis, Brett Nordquist, you should know that Christ insisted that he came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but you have gathered here to mock one. Have you never read Christ’s warning words “I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment”? Christ said that inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these his brethren, he will consider that you have done it unto him. Certainly, Ezra Taft Benson was one of his brothers. The people of Jerusalem mocked Christ. Will he count you guiltless for mocking his prophet, who he counts as his brother?
Or perhaps did you not read Jude’s words, which are about men that seem to have the same tendencies as yourselves?
Jude 1:8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and shall perish in the gainsaying of Core.
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Remember that in these last days the Lord promised in D&C 112 to bring vengeance and wrath “first among those among you, saith the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me, and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my house, saith the Lord”.
The words of the prophet are totally true. The fact has been proven that some people cannot accept success and approval. The do not know how to handle it. False education is in most colleges especially the New England colleges. They teach socialism, Nazism and ‘Communism. The teach of false God’s and atheism. Sexual problems are well known. President Kimball in the “Miracle of Forgiveness” totally covered it. The three areas are realms of Satan and he is a master at uses them. I agree with President Smith on each of the matters discussed and believe those area can be a very bad place to go if your heart and soul is not in the right place.