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How To Stay Spiritually Anchored When Culture Tries to Shift Truth · ToddTalks--Spirit By Design: Your Weekly Survival Guide

• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to Todd Talk Spirit by Design.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Today, we're tackling a difficult question.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: A question that many people are asking whether they realize it or not.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: A question you may have asked without thinking about it.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: What is this question?
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it so hard to stand for eternal truth today?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like truth itself is under attack.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um why does it seem like truth has become negotiable?
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that truth is not negotiable.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is eternal.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: But why do so many people feel pressured to compromise beliefs that they once held sacred?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Why do even faithful disciples sometimes find themselves wondering if they're the ones who are out of step in the world?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: The reality is that standing for truth has never been easy.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at Peter.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: When asked if he knew Christ, he denied him three times.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: Noah stood alone.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Moses stood alone.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: The Savior himself stood virtually alone.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: This challenge isn't new.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So today, in today's episode, we're going to explore why truth feels optional in modern society, why identity confusion makes discipleship harder, how social pressure influences belief, what the scriptures and modern prophets teach about standing firm, and most importantly, how we can become spiritually anchored in a world that seems to spin adrift?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the defining question of our generation isn't political.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: It isn't economic, it isn't technological, it is spiritual.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's where we come in.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Does objective truth actually exist?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I say yes.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: For thousands of years, civilizations generally accepted that truth existed outside of ourselves.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: People might disagree about what truth was, but they believed it existed.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Today many people have adopted a different philosophy.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Your truth, my truth, their truth, isn't hers truth.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: They them's truth, whatever.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: If you notice something, if truth belongs to everyone individually, then truth does not exist.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Truth ceases to be truth.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: It simply becomes preference.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: President Russell M.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Nelson taught there really is right and wrong.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: There really is absolute truth.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: That statement sounds almost revolutionary today, but it's the truth.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because we live in a culture increasingly uncomfortable with absolutes.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: But the truth is, I like using this, the truth is that there are eternal truths.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine you're hiking through a dense forest, you become lost.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Someone offers you a compass, but then says, use whichever direction feels right to you.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: What good is that compass?
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: The value of the compass is that it always points north, whether you like it or not.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Truth works the same way.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't change because we dislike it, doesn't move because culture moves, truth remains fixed.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: The question is whether we align ourselves to truth or attempt to redefine it.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: The world increasingly teaches adjust the truth to fit your life.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Christ teaches adjust your life to fit truth.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Those are completely opposite from philosophies, and the world and Christ's teachings are only getting further apart.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: We live in an age of constant noise.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Never before has humanity been exposed to so much information.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: You have the entire Library of Congress at your fingertips.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Greater information than the great libraries of Alexandria.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Thousands of voices compete for your attention every single day.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: The news, social media, podcasts, influencers, algorithms.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Heck, I'm one of those podcasters.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Advertisements, political narratives.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: The adversary doesn't necessarily need to convince us that truth is false.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes he just needs to drown the truth out in the noise.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: The prophet Elijah discovered that God was not found in the earthquake.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Not in the fire, not in the wind, but in the still small voice.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: The challenge today is that many people no longer have enough stillness to hear it.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I've done several episodes about this meditation, prayer, finding moments of peace where you can listen for personal revelation, listen for the still small voice to talk to you.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Tower of Babel wasn't just about language, it was about confusion.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: They were trying to reach God, and because of their pride, their languages were confounded.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't just the confounding of the language that caused confusion.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Today we live in a modern babble.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: People have access to more information than any generation in history, yet many less clarity than ever before.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I would say that we have had a dumbing down of society.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Common sense is not common anymore.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: Knowledge has increased, wisdom has not kept pace.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is why daily prayer, scripture study, meditation, and worship matter more than ever.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: They create silence, and silence is where revelation speaks to you.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: But we have an identity crisis, which is the root of the problem.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Many people believe we have an anxiety epidemic, a depression epidemic, a loneliness epidemic, and those things are certainly real, but underneath most of them lies something deeper an identity crisis.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: The adversary has always attacked identity.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: When Moses encountered God, Satan's first attack was, who are you?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: When Jesus was baptized, the Father's declaration was, This is my beloved son.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Immediately afterwards, Satan attacked his identity.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: The battles never changed.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: If Satan can confuse your identity, he can influence your behavior.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the identity crisis among the youth today.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: It is said that twenty-four percent of Gen Z identifies as LGBTQ plus, whatever.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's an identity crisis.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: You are a child of God.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: The restored gospel answers that question clearly.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: You are not an accident, you are not random, you are not mistaken, you are not a mistake, your identity is not a mistake, you are not merely a collection of chemical reactions, you are the spirit child of heavenly parents.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: You existed before birth, you have divine potential, you possess eternal worth.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: President Russell M.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nelson taught the most important identity we can embrace in this life is that of being a child of God.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: When that truth becomes rooted in your soul, many other questions become easier.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you know who you are, you know how to act.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Regardless of what society is trying to push into your brain.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: But, and there was a but, there is pressure to belong, especially in junior high and high school, and elementary school even these days.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Human beings crave belonging.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: We always have.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's why social pressure can be so powerful.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Consider the story of a Benedite, one man, one voice, standing before a king and priests.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone around him opposed him.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: He knew exactly what would happen, yet he stood anyways.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Because he feared God more than man.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: One of the greatest tests of discipleship is deciding whose approval matters most.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Gods or the crowds.
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_00: I've done it.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not easy.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: George Washington.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: I told the story in the episode about George Washington.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: About how during the French and Indian War Washington rode directly into battle.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: When the fighting ended, he discovered bullet holes throughout his coat.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: Two horses had been shot from under him, yet he remained unharmed.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Years later, Native American leaders recordably described believing a divine hand had protected him.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Washington emerged with a deep belief that God had preserved him for a purpose.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: People who know they have a purpose often display unusual courage.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Let me repeat that.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: When you feel like you have a purpose, you often display unusual courage.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Conviction strengthens courage.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Purpose strengthens conviction.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And courage allows people to stand when others fall.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: But in this world, there seems to be a cost for everything.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Standing for truth costs something.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Always.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Ask Noah, Daniel, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Truth often requires sacrifice, patience, obedience, discipline.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: The natural man, who's an enemy to God, dislikes all four.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: That is why discipleship is not passive, it's transformational.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: See, the Lord never promised discipleship would be comfortable.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Last episode I talked about the story of Job, who lost everything.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord did promise it would be worth it.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So, and I'm pausing for effect here.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's a great deception that Satan uses.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's one of his most effective lies.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: And that is, if God loves you, he won't ask you to change.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Gospel teaches the exact opposite.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: God loves us enough to help us change.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is not given to condemn us, it's given to transform us.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: If we're going to make it to return to live with God, we need to change.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Repentance isn't punishment, it's progress.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Commandments aren't restrictions, they're instructions for becoming a better version of yourself.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: In modern Revelation, the Lord declared, Stand ye in holy places and be not moved.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Notice he didn't say stand in easy places.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: He said holy places.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Holy places aren't merely locations, they're conditions.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: A temple can be holy, a home can be holy, a heart can be holy.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Your life can be holy.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: The purpose of holy places is not to hide from the world, it is to strengthen.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: It is to strengthen yourself so that you can emerge or engage the world without becoming part of it, without becoming like it.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Lot and Abraham were from the same family.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Lot moved near to Sodom.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty soon he was in Sodom.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Then pretty soon he was governing Sodom.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then his wife got turned to salt, fleeing when he was fleeing Sodom.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham, meanwhile, became the father of a great nation.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: So there are four anchors that we can use to stand firm.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Anchor number one, daily revelation.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: President Nelson said that we will not be able to survive in this time period without daily personal revelation.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: If all your spiritual experiences are old, your faith will eventually weaken, your testimony will decrease.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: We need fresh spiritual experiences daily.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: Fresh revelation, fresh confirmation.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: God still speaks.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: He speaks to you, he speaks to me.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: The question is whether we're listening.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Anchor two, covenants.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: We make covenants in order to promise the Lord that we will do things.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: Covenants create commitment.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Commitment creates stability.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: The world says follow your feelings.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Covenants say honor your commitments.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Feelings change.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: The truth doesn't.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Prayer, scripture study, temple worship, church services, meditation.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: These habits may seem small, but they're the spiritual equivalent of daily deposits into a bank account.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Eventually, these spiritual habits become spiritual reserves of strength capable of sustaining you through the storms.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And there will be storms.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Believe me, I've lived on this earth fifty-two years almost.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: There are storms, there will be storms.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I've faltered, sometimes I've stayed strong.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: And as I've built my life on these habits, as I've built my trust in the Lord, as I've built my life on revelation and on my testimony of Jesus Christ, battling the storms has become much easier.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Anchor 4 is Jesus Christ.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, our faith cannot rest on culture.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: It cannot rest on politics and it cannot rest on leaders.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: It must rest on Jesus Christ.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: When Peter stepped out into the water, he walked as long as his eyes remained fixed on Jesus.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: The moment he focused on the storm and became afraid, he began to sink.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: That principle still applies today.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: No group illustrates better that faith in Jesus Christ than the two thousand stripling warriors.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Young, inexperienced, outnumbered, yet they stood firm.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Because they believed.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: They trusted.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: They remembered what they had been taught.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Heelman recorded that they fought with miraculous courage because they had been taught by their mothers.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Notice they borrowed faith initially.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Then they acted.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Then their own faith came into being and became their own.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Every generation must do the same.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: You see, the future belongs to those who are spiritually anchored.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: I believe we are entering a time when spiritual conviction will matter more than ever.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: Not because darkness is winning, though it may seem like that at times.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: In a confused world, people are drawn to certainty, not arrogance, not self-righteousness, but humble conviction.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: People who know God, people who love God, people who follow God, those individuals become lights in darkness.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_00: And the world is getting darker.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So be the candle on the hill.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Be the light.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Be the city set on the hill that shines brightly.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it so hard to stand for truth today?
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because truth often asks us to stand against convenience, against culture, against pride, against fear.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: But standing for truth has always been a path of discipleship.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: The good news is that God is that God never asks us to stand alone.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: He gives us revelation, he gives us covenants, he gives us scripture, he gives us temples, he gives us the Holy Ghost.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And above all, he gives us his Son, Jesus Christ.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: The question is whether the world will continue to change.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: It will.
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: It will continue to push craziness.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: The question is whether we will remain anchored while it does.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: As the storms increase, may remember remember the Lord's counsel.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Stand ye in holy places and be not moved.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: May you become the kind of disciples who are so deeply rooted in Christ that when truth becomes unpopular, you choose it anyways.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Truth is determined by God.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's not determined by popularity.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: Again, truth is determined by God, not by popularity, not by your feelings.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining me on this episode of Todd Talks, Spirit by Design.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, remember, your spirit wasn't designed to drift, it was designed to anchor itself in Jesus Christ and become something eternal.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Have a blessed day.