Helaman 12:2-3
Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in
the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold...;
sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies;
softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against
them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his
people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget
the Lord their God – yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly
great prosperity. And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people
with ... they will not remember him.
The leaders of the Lord’s Church clearly have identified
some of the collective or generational tests we can expect to encounter in our
day and generation. As the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in
1977, President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) raised a prophetic voice of
warning in a meeting of regional representatives. I now quote extensively from
President Benson’s message and invite your focused attention on his timely
counsel:
“Every generation has its tests and its chance to stand and
prove itself. Would you like to know of one of our toughest tests? Hear the
warning words of Brigham Young, ‘The worst fear I have about this people is
that they will get rich in this country, forget God and His people, wax fat,
and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand
mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution and be true. But my
greatest fear is that they cannot stand wealth.’”
President Benson
continues: “Ours then seems to be the toughest test of all, for the evils are
more subtle, more clever. It all seems less menacing and it is harder to
detect. While every test of righteousness represents a struggle, this
particular test seems like no test at all, no struggle and so could be the most
deceiving of all tests.
“Do you know what peace and prosperity can do to a people—It
can put them to sleep. The Book of Mormon warned us of how Satan, in the last
days, would lead us away carefully down to hell.
“The
most important thing I can say to you by way of introduction is that we are in
an unusual and extremely important transition in our missionary work in The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” he said. This transition is
due to several reasons:
1. Convert
baptisms have plateaued. “We must find new ways to do missionary work that
will bring the increases in missionary baptisms of which we are capable.”
2. Significant
advancements in technology can accelerate the work, “but we haven’t yet learned
to use them effectively.” These technological advances “are begging to be used
in the work of the Lord and we are overdue in finding ways this can be done to
advance the effectiveness of our missionary work.”
3. There
is a need to protect our youth from “the powerful worldly influences that
detract from their spiritual preparation and from their missionary
effectiveness.” The rising generation is subject to increasing temptations and
distractions—including technological distractions, decreased opportunities
for youth to learn how to work, and family disunity.
4. The
greatly increased diversity in mission circumstances is a final example of new
complications in the supervising, calling, training, and oversight of
missionaries, he said. The Church now has 422 missions that encompass more than
160 countries.
How to Counteract
this Trial
At the mission presidents’ seminar this week,
the following quote was shared more than once.
President Boyd K. Packer famously said: “True doctrine,
understood, changes attitudes and behavior. The study of the doctrines of the
gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve
behavior” (Oct. 1986 general conference).
As you evaluate your own behavior, have you
ever asked yourself, “What specific doctrine, correctly understood, would
motivate me to accept and make necessary changes in my life?”
Once you have identified that doctrine, then
you have a clear indicator of where your personal scripture study should
effectively focus. Then your increased understanding can lead you to necessary
behavior modifications.
For missionaries or any of us who want to see a loved one make
necessary changes in their lives, the added step to this process is once you
correctly understand the doctrine, then you carefully, clearly, and lovingly
teach that doctrine.
As
our spiritual desires increase, we become spiritually self-reliant. How, then,
do we help others, ourselves, and our families increase our desires to follow
the Savior and live His gospel? How do we strengthen our desires to repent,
become worthy, and endure to the end? How do we help our youth and young adults
let these desires work in them until they are converted and become true
“saint[s] through the atonement of Christ”?3
We
become converted and spiritually self-reliant as we prayerfully live our covenants—through worthily partaking
of the sacrament, being worthy of a temple recommend, and sacrificing to serve
others.
Helaman 3:29 We
see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the word of God, which is quick and
powerful, which shall divide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the
wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and narrow course
across that everlasting gulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked.
