Latest / Scripture Central / ”Stand Forever” Ep. 7 | Darkness | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

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”Stand Forever” Ep. 7 | Darkness | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge · Scripture Central

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  When you see others who depart from the faith, do not be shaken
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  or surprised. It was specifically predicted
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  long ago in order that you not be shaken or surprised.
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  Unbelief and disbelief are often used interchangeably, but they
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  are different. Unbelief is the absence of
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  belief. Disbelief, however, is much
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  darker. Many do not believe because they
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  don't want to believe. They eliminate, push away and
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  discount everything they don't want to believe everything that
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  makes them uncomfortable, everything that does not jive
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  with their notions and desires. It can happen quickly because it
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  is a choice. I don't know who and how many
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  fall into that dark hole, but one thing is clear.
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  There are severe consequences for turning against truth once
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  revealed alone, without God, darkness
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  prevails. Hello, I'm Larry Corbridge and
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  this is episode 7 of the Stand Forever series.
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  In the last episode, we considered chaos as one of the
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  dimensions of the natural state of things without God, without
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  his greatest gifts, his Son, his Spirit, and his life.
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  Today we consider another dimension of the natural state
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  of things, darkness alone, without God.
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  As I said, darkness prevails. The natural state of the
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  universe is darkness. Except for the Tree of Life,
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  Lehigh's dream is a fairly dark dream.
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  Darkness is a prominent feature. He was, he said, in a dark and
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  dreary ways. He traveled, he said, for many
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  hours in darkness. And even for those who found the
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  path and the rod of iron, there arose a great mist of darkness
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  to obscure their way. The natural state is darkness
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  after forming the heavens and the earth.
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  Darkness rained upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God
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  was brooding upon the face of the waters.
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  And they, the gods, said, Let there be light, and there was
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  light. Light dispelled the darkness
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  from off the face of the earth. Light dispels darkness, but not
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  the other way around. Darkness cannot extinguish
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  light. If you are filled with light,
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  there shall be in the Lord's words no darkness in you.
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  Again, in the Lord's words light proceedeth forth from the
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  presence of God to feel the immensity of space, the light
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  which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which
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  is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of
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  God. Without God there is no light
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  and darkness prevails. That is true for all of us,
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  individually and spiritually as well as universally and
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  physically. Darkness exists only in the
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  absence of light. It is what is without light.
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  But don't think of darkness as inert, at least not in the
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  spiritual sense. Jesus referred to the power of
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  darkness in our day. The Lord said, For all flesh is
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  corrupted before me, and the powers of darkness prevail upon
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  the earth among the children of men.
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  In one of the accounts of the First Vision, Joseph Smith
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  described the powers of darkness that combined against him.
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  Saying it, he was seized upon by some power which entirely
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  overcame him, and a thick darkness gathered around him.
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  So let's think about the darkness that comes from sin.
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  Sin leads to darkness. When light dims, darkness
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  emerges, and in the dark we are lost and stumble.
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  As said in Proverbs, when we leave the paths of
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  righteousness, we walk in the ways of darkness.
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  Also in Proverbs, the way of the wicked is as darkness.
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  They know not at what they stumble.
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  A man scuffled with his wife, and in the aftermath of the
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  struggle he was horrified by the darkness that followed.
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  He said this I was alone and afraid I would be eternally
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  alone because of my actions. I despaired.
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  I was very depressed emotionally and felt totally overcome with
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  dark feelings and thoughts. The room I was in felt enveloped
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  in darkness. I felt lost, Isaiah said of
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  people who do not seek unto their God.
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  There is no light in them, and they shall look unto the earth
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  and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish, and they
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  shall be driven to darkness, he said.
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  Speaking of our day, Isaiah also said Darkness shall cover the
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  earth, and gross darkness. The people, your iniquities have
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  separated between you and your God.
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  We wait for light, but behold obscurity for brightness, but we
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  walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the
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  blind, he said, and we grope as if we had no eyes.
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  We stumble at noonday as in the night.
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  We are in desolate places as dead men.
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  Again. Those are the words of Isaiah.
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  It is foolish, of course, to wait for to hope for light while
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  walking in darkness. The Lord also said the light of
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  the body is the eye. If if thine eye be evil, thy
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  whole body shall be full of darkness.
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  If therefore the light that is in the be darkness, how great is
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  that darkness? Ignorance and unbelief are also
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  shrouded in darkness. The Scriptures record that Enoch
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  beheld, and lo, all the nations of the earth were before him,
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  and there came generation upon generation, generation.
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  And behold, the power of Satan was upon all the face of the
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  earth, And he saw angels descending out of heaven, and he
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  heard a loud voice, saying, Woe, woe be unto the inhabitants of
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  the earth. And he beheld Satan, and he had
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  a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the
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  earth with darkness. And he looked up and laughed,
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  and his angels rejoiced. Satan, who is the Prince of
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  darkness, laughed. And God wept.
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  And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the
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  residue of the people, and he wept.
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  And Enoch bore record of it, saying, How is it that the
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  heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the
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  mountains? The Lord said unto Enoch, Behold
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  these thy brethren, they are the workmanship of mine own hands.
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  And I gave unto them their knowledge in the day I created
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  them, and in the garden of Eden gave I unto man his agency.
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  And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given
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  commandment, that they should love one another, and that they
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  should choose me their father, choose me their father.
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  But behold, they are without affection, and they hate their
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  own blood. But behold, their sins shall be
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  upon the heads of their fathers, Satan shall be their father, and
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  misery shall be their doom. And the whole of heavens shall
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  weep over them, even all the workmanship, workmanship of mine
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  hands. Wherefore should not the heavens
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  weep, seeing these shall suffer? What is the great chain in
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  Satan's hand, which covers the whole earth with darkness?
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  Is it sin? Not entirely, Alma, said he,
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  that will harden his heart. The same receiveth the lesser
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  portion of the Word, And he that will not harden his heart to him
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  is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto
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  him to know the mysteries of God, until he know them in full.
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  And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the
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  lesser portion of the word, until they know nothing
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  concerning his mysteries, and then they are taken captive by
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  the devil and led by his will down to destruction.
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  Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.
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  It is also what Mormon calls the dark veil of unbelief.
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  The Lord said to Isaiah, My people are gone into captivity
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  because they have no knowledge, and their honorable men are
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  famished and their multitude dried up with thirst.
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  The chains of hell are forged by the links of ignorance and
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  unbelief. The absence of knowledge of the
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  Word of God, which is light. The great and honorable of the
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  world are famished without knowledge of the primary truths.
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  And public opinion is also a dry well.
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  People turn to Google to answer every question, but the Google
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  well is also dry of answers to the most important questions.
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  Unbelief and disbelief are often used interchangeably, but they
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  are different. Unbelief is the absence of
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  belief, usually because of ignorance.
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  Disbelief, however, is much darker.
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  It is the unwillingness to believe, or the rejection of
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  truth. Unbelief is a vacuum.
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  Disbelief is rejection, and of the two disbelief is far, far
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  more devastating. It is recorded in the book of
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  Moses that Adam and Eve blessed the name of God and they made
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  all things known unto their sons and their daughters.
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  And Satan come came among them, saying, I am also a son of God.
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  And he commanded them, saying believe it not.
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  That is meaning what their parents Adam and Eve had taught
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  them, and they believed it not. And they love Satan more than
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  God. That's disbelief.
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  How does that happen so quickly? It can happen quickly because it
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  is a choice. Many do not believe because they
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  don't want to believe. They adhere to the vacuum of the
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  of the religion of disbelief. But nature abhors a vacuum and
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  fallacy quickly fills the void. When truth is attacked, little
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  to nothing is offered to replace it except the stark cold void of
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  disbelief. It is belief by default, belief
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  by elimination. They eliminate, push away and
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  discount everything they don't want to believe, everything that
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  makes them uncomfortable, everything that does not jive
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  with their notions and desires. And then they look around and
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  pick up anything that is left on the ground and they put that in
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  their little bag. The Lord said He will show no
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  greater things to those who contend against or deny His
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  word. And even more troubling, he has
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  said, For behold, if ye deny the Holy Ghost once it has had place
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  in you, and you know that ye deny it, behold, this is a sin
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  which is unpardonable. I don't know who and how many
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  fall into that dark hole, but one thing is clear.
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  There are severe consequences for turning against truth once
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  revealed. Darkness and death never fall so
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  hard and cold. As for those who deny truth once
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  revealed by the Holy Ghost, the degree of darkness is probably
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  commensurate with the degree of light denied.
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  But the darkness of disbelief is deeper than the darkness of
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  unbelief or sin. It is one thing to fall short of
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  the truth, but it is far worse, far worse to deny it.
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  People who live a life of wild abandoned usually do not deny
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  the truth. They don't live it, but they
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  usually don't deny it. They usually retain their
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  testimony and know their courses.
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  Often when they come to their senses, they usually correct
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  their course. But it is different for those
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  who disbelieve and turn against the truth more than those who
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  get off course but honestly acknowledge it.
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  Darkness settles in. They ask no questions.
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  They seek no answers. They quickly forget what they
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  once knew and soon become a cold shell of their former self.
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  One person with a long history of immorality said this.
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  After a couple of years passed, I realized the depth and power
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  of my testimony would not allow me to stay away from the church.
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  So I began going faithfully. I broke off the relationship
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  with the other person and started on the road to be re
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  baptized and to see if I might eventually be found worthy to
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  have my blessings restored. This is a typical account.
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  I have wondered why the flame of knowledge and conviction is not
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  entirely extinguished with ongoing sin for some, while
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  others become embittered, lose knowledge and the flame dies.
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  They grow cold and never return. What makes the difference?
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  There are only two options. When, of course, one is to
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  acknowledge the deviation, the other is to deny it.
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  The first is recognition or acknowledgement of truth even
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  while not living it. The second is denial.
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  It attempts to justify sin by refusing to even acknowledge it.
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  The Lord continues to reach out to those who are honestly off
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  course to nudge them back. While I don't think the Lord
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  refuses to speak to those who deny Him, they refuse to listen.
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  That's the problem and it is devastating.
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  Nephi recorded saying this. Behold, my beloved brethren,
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  thus came the voice of the Son unto me, saying, After you have
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  repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father, that
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  you are willing to keep my commandments by baptism of
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  water, and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy
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  Ghost, and can speak with a new tongue, yeah, even with the
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  tongue of angels. And after this should deny me,
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  it would have been better for you that ye had not known me.
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  Nephi also spoke about many who hardened their hearts against
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  the Holy Spirit, saying, But behold, there are many that
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  harden their hearts against the Holy Spirit, that it hath no
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  place in them. Wherefore they cast many things
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  away which are written in our day.
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  Think about the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the
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  Pearl of Great Great Price, the Bible, and the words of living
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  prophets, and then continuing and esteem them as things of
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  naughty. Mormon adds that after a people
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  have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God and have had
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  great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and
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  then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become
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  more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though
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  they have never known these things.
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  Jacob links denial of the Holy Ghost with a hardened heart,
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  saying. Wherefore, my beloved brethren,
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  I beseech of you in words of soberness, that ye would repent,
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  and come with full purpose of heart, and cleave unto God as he
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  cleaveth unto you, and while his arm of mercy is extended towards
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  you in the light of day, harden not your hearts.
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  Yeah, today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your
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  hearts, for why will you die? A hardened heart is a primary
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  consequence of disbelief. What does it mean to harden
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  one's heart? It calls to mind the now famous
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  struggle of Justice Potter Stewart of the United States
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  Supreme Court, who said although it is difficult to define
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  hardcore pornography, he said, I know it when I see it.
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  While a heart and heart may be difficult to to define, you know
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  it when you see it. The healthy heart in the
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  spiritual sense is an open heart.
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  It is open to limitless possibilities.
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  It is open to the reality. That reality is immensely
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  greater than what little we know and experience.
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  The reality that our experience is barely a speck in the broad
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  expanse of the universe, and that our perception is extremely
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  limited. A healthy heart is open to the
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  reality that with God all things are possible.
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  A healthy heart is open to the voice and spirit of the Lord.
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  Paul said today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your
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  hearts. A heart heart is closed is a
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  closed heart. It is close to anything that
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  does not fit neatly within one's preferences or experience and
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  knowledge. It is close to a vast universe
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  of limitless possibilities, bound as the Ant who thinks the
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  entire universe is its hill and the patch of ground around it.
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  Dark and dire consequences flow from a hard heart.
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  And rejecting the words of the prophets.
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  Speaking of our day, an Angel told Nephi, For the time cometh,
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  say at the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and marvelous
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  work among the children of man, A work which shall be
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  everlasting either on the one hand or the other.
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  Either to the convincing of them unto peace and life eternal, or
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  unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and
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  the blindness of their minds. Unto their being brought into
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  captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and
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  spiritually, according to the captivity of the devil, of which
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  I have spoken. Jacob asked.
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  For behold, after you have been nourished by the good word of
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  God all day long, will ye reject these words?
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  Will ye reject the words of the prophets?
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  And will ye reject all the words which have been spoken
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  concerning Christ, and after so many have been spoken concerning
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  Him? And deny the good word of
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  Christ, and the power of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and
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  quench the Holy Spirit, and make a mock of the great plan of
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  redemption which He hath laid for you.
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  Will you? Will you go away, or will you
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  stand forever? Deception is also leads to
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  darkness. One of the great challenges of
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  life is to see clearly and not be deceived.
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  Satan is the father of lies to deceive and blind man, and to
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  lead them captive at his will. Even as many as do not hearken
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  unto God's voice, beginning with ye shall not surely die.
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  Deception and confusion are as much Satan's intent as
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  temptation, and temptation usually follows the other two.
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  Except for the life and mission of the Holy Messiah, probably
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  nothing has been more clearly prophesied and described than
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  this time, our time, the last days.
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  Those two, the Savior and the dispensation of the fullness of
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  times, are the primary prophetic focal points from the beginning
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  of time, and we live and breathe and do in the second one.
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  Considering what has been prophesied, we should not be
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  surprised, but never complacent by what unfolds around us.
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  Here is only a small portion of what we of what was foreseen
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  that we may now see in real time.
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  Now this is kind of a long list, so just stay with me.
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  Their land also is full of idols.
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  They worship the work of their own hands, that which their own
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  fingers have made. And many false prophets shall
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  rise, and shall deceive many. For many shall come in my name,
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  saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many.
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  And there shall be signs. And upon the earth, distress of
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  nations with perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear.
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  In the latter time some shall depart from the faith, giving
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  heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils.
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  Now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter
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  time some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
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  spirits and the doctrines of devils.
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  Know this also, that in the last days perilous time shall come,
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  for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous boisters,
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  proud blasphemers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce
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  despisers of those that are good traitors, heady, high minded,
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  lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of
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  godliness, but denying the power thereof.
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  From such turn away, ever learning, and never able to come
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  to the knowledge of the truth. Men of corrupt minds reprobate
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  concerning the faith. Yeah, and all that will live
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  godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, but evil men
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  and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being
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  deceived. When the Lord described the
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  signs of His coming and the end of the world, when He described
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  our day, He also mentioned wars and rumors of wars, nations
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  rising against nations, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and
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  especially deception, saying, For in those days, this day
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  there shall also arise false Christs and false prophets, and
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  shall show great signs and wonders in so much that if
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  possible they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect
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  according to the covenant. Again, that's a long list, but
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  those prophecies are not general in nature, Speaking of
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  tendencies of people over time. They are prophecies specific to
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  our day, this day. And so when you see others who
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  depart from the faith, do not be shaken or surprised.
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  It was specifically predicted long ago in order that you not
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  be shaken or surprised, but reassured in your own conviction
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  as you see the Word of God fulfilled before your very eyes.
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  And a false Christ is more than a person.
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  It may be an idea, a principle, even a true good principle could
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  be a lifestyle or an obsession on anything above and beyond
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  God. It includes anything or anyone
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  that becomes the North Star, the basis for making choices instead
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  of or above God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, or
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  distracts from worship of them. False prophets include anyone
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  advocating obeisance to anyone or anything above God our
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  Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel.
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  I'm not sure, as I've said before, of all implied by the
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  qualification, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
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  But I do think it means at least everyone, everyone in our day
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  will be challenged, even the very elect.
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  There are many who deceive, and this, the spectrum of deception
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  is broad. At one end we meet those who
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  attack the Restoration, Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon.
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  Next, we see those who believe in the Restoration but claim the
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  Church is somehow now deficient and has gone astray.
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  There are others who also claim to believe in the Restoration
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  but are disillusioned with doctrine that conflicts with
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  shifting attitudes of our day. There are some who, without
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  authority, lay claim to visions, dreams and visitations to right
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  the ship and give us a higher path or prepare the church for
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  the end of the world. Others are deceived by false
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  spirits. At the far end of the spectrum,
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  we come to an entire universe of distractions.
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  Never has there been more information, misinformation and
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  disinformation. More stars to which your wagon
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  may be hitched. More goods, gadgets and games.
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  More options, places to go, things to see and do, to occupy
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  your time and attention away from that which is most
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  important. And all of that and much more is
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  disseminated instantaneously throughout the world by
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  electronic media from one extreme to the other.
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  We live in the dispensation of the fullness of times.
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  Everything is before us, the full spectrum of the depths of
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  darkness and evil, to eternal splendor, brilliance, beauty,
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  magnificence, grandeur, glory and exaltation, and everything
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  in between. Jesus said Lay not up for
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  yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust death
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  corrupt and where thieves breakthrough and steal.
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  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven things of
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  eternal value, where neither moth nor rust death corrupt, and
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  where thieves do not breakthrough and steal.
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  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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  Never in the history of the world has this instruction to
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  pursue the ultimate treasures of eternal value been more critical
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  or timely than today. Never has it been easier to get
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  lost in little things. We we call most of those things
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  diversions, and rightly so, because in fact they divert us
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  from things of greatest importance.
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  In such a flood of information and things, the challenge is not
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  only to sift between good and evil, rather to sort between the
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  mundane and the monumental as well.
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  There isn't much that matters greatly in this life, but there
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  are a few things that are monumentally important, even
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  more important than life. We are prone to deception and
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  often cannot see far ahead on our own.
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  We don't see where to go or what to do.
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  We easily lose our way and become lost in the dark.
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  The challenge to see clearly and not be deceived has never been
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  greater. This is a day of deception.
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  So, in summary, sin, unbelief, disbelief, and deception are all
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  factors that contribute to darkness.
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  Without God, darkness prevails. The essential problem in life is
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  separation from God our Father.