President Joseph Fielding Smith gave this admonition:
"Today we are troubled by evil-designing persons who are endeavoring with all their power to destroy the testimonies of members of the Church, and many members of the Church are in danger because of lack of understanding and because they have not sought the guidance of the Spirit of the Lord.
"Every baptized member of the Church receives the gift of the Holy Ghost, by the laying on of hands. This, however, will not save them unless they continue in the spirit of light and truth. Therefore it is a commandment from the Lord that members of the Church should be diligent in their activities and study of the fundamental truths of the gospel as it has been revealed.
"The Spirit of the Lord will not continue to strive with the indifferent, with the wayward and the rebellious who fail to live within the light of divine truth. It is the privilege of every baptized person to have an abiding testimony of the restoration of the gospel, but this testimony will grow dim and eventually disappear unless we are constantly receiving spiritual good through study, obedience, and diligent seeking to know and understand the truth."
(CR, Oct. 1963, p. 22)
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The Saints of the church who "pride themselves on their strict observance of the rules and ordinances and ceremonies of the Church if not careful can be led astray by false spirits, who exercise an influence so imitative of that which proceeds from a Divine source that even these persons, who think they are "the very elect," find it difficult to discern the essential difference. Satan himself has transformed himself to be apparently "an angel of light."
(Monte S. Nyman and Robert L. Millet, The Joseph Smith) Translation, p.24
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"The failure to take prophetic counsel lessens our power to take inspired counsel in the future."
Elder Henry B. Eyring
General Conference - April 1997 - "Finding
Safety in Counsel
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"If you would see God, you must be pure. There is in Jewish
writings the story of a man who saw an object in the distance, an object
that he thought was a beast. As it drew nearer he could perceive
it was a man; as it came still closer he saw it was his friend. You can
see only that which you have eyes to see. Some of the associates
of Jesus saw Him only as a son of Joseph the carpenter. Others thought
Him to be a winebibber or a drunkard because of His words. Still
others thought He was possessed of devils. Only the righteous saw
Him as the Son of God. Only if you are the pure in heart will you
see God, and also in a lesser degree will you be able to see the "God"
or good in man and love him because of the goodness you see in him.
Mark
well that person who criticizes and maligns the man of God or the
Lord's anointed leaders in His Church. Such a one speaks from an impure
heart."
~ Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye In Holy Places, p.345
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"We cannot go astray if we listen to the prophet's voice and follow him, and as we do so we will be led in the path of truth and righteousness and enjoy the love, respect, and confidence of our fellowmen, and eventually enjoy eternal life with our Father in Heaven."
President N. Eldon Tanner, first counselor in
the First Presidency, from an
address given during the April 1973 General
Conference
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"Satan is a skillful imitator, and as genuine gospel truth is given the world in ever-increasing abundance, so he spreads the counterfeit coin of false doctrine."
President Marion G. Romney, "Satan--The Great
Deceiver,"
Ensign, June 1971, p. 36
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In Oct. 1971 conference, Elder Boyd K. Packer
likened the fulness of the gospel to a piano keyboard.
He reminded us that a person could be "attracted by
a single key," such as a doctrine they want to
hear "played over and over again." He explained:
"Some members of the Church who should know better pick out a hobby key or two and tap them incessantly, to the irritation of those around them. They can dull their own spiritual sensitivities. They lose track that there is a fulness of the gospel,...(which they reject) in preference to a favorite note. This becomes exaggerated and distorted, leading them away into apostasy." (Boyd K. Packer, Teach Ye Diligently, p. 44)
"Our Strengths Can Become Our Downfull", Dallin
Oaks,
BYU Fireside, June 7, 1992 Speeches 1991-92,
p. 108
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Harold B. Lee said, after quoting D&C 101:21:
"Thus, the Lord has clearly placed responsibility of directing the work of gathering in the hands of His divinely appointed leaders. I fervently pray that all Saints and truth seekers everywhere will attune their listening ears to these prophet-leaders instead of to some demagogue who seeks to make capital of social discontent and gain political influence."
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"The devil never did care how many dead prophets the people believed in, and he does not care today. But he does care if they believe in the living prophets."
Ben E. Rich (General Conference Report, October1901)
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President Spencer W. Kimball:
"Presumptuous and blasphemous are they who purport to baptize, bless, marry, or perform other sacraments in the name of the Lord while in fact lacking his specific authorization. And no one can obtain God's authority from reading the Bible or from just a desire to serve the Lord, no matter how pure his motives."
The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 55
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"Apostasy usually begins with question and doubt and criticism. It is a retrograding and devolutionary process. The seeds of doubt are planted by unscrupulous or misguided people, and seldom directed against the doctrine at first, but more often against the leaders."
The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p.462
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"Some persons may ask, 'How is it possible that men who had seen angels and had such a testimony could fall away from the Church, as these men did?' Men may see angels and have revelations, and as long as they obey the whisperings of the Holy Spirit they will not apostatize; but when they begin to feel that they have strength enough in themselves, and fail to acknowledge God as their Helper, then they cannot stand."
Anthon H. Lund
"Collected Discourses, Volume 2" April 1890
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Russell M. Nelson, April 1986 General Conference:
"At least once a month,
fast and pray and contribute generous fast offerings. We will be
blessed and protected from apostasy by so doing. "
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James E. Faust:
"I strongly counsel all who have membership in this church to follow the teachings and counsel of those who now have the keys as prophets, seers, and revelators. They are the ones who will inspire us to deal with the vicissitudes of our time."
. . . "Great temporal and spiritual strength flows from following those who have the keys of the kingdom of God in our time. Personal strength and power result from obedience to eternal principles taught by the living legates of the Lord. May the Spirit of God rest upon us as we follow the living oracles."
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“Men ordinarily do not rise up to fight the Bible; they do not organize mobs and incite them to shed the blood of others because such persons believe in the scripture of the Old World. …The violent opposition to the Book of Mormon is one of the great evidences of its divinity. If it were not of God, Lucifer would not overly concern himself with it.”
"There are some among us now who have not been regularly ordained by the heads of the Church and who tell of impending political and economic chaos, the end of the world-something of the "sky is falling, chicken licken" of the fables. They are misleading members to gather to colonies or cults. Those deceivers say that the Brethren do not know what is going on in the world or that the Brethren approve of their teaching but do not wish to speak of it over the pulpit. Neither is true. The Brethren, by virtue of traveling constantly everywhere on earth, certainly know what is going on and by virtue of prophetic insight are able to read the signs of the times. Do not be deceived by them--those deceivers. If there is to be any gathering, it will be announced by those who have been regularly ordained and who are known to the Church to have authority. Come away from any others. Follow your leaders, who have been duly ordained and have been publicly sustained, and you will not be led astray."
Church members will live in this wheat-and-tares situation until the Millennium. Some real tares even masquerade as wheat, including the few eager individuals who lecture the rest of us about Church doctrines in which they no longer believe. They criticize the use of Church resources to which they no longer contribute. They condescendingly seek to counsel the Brethren whom they no longer sustain. Confrontive, except of themselves of course, they leave the Church, but they cannot leave the Church alone (see ENSIGN, Nov. 1980, 14). Like the throng on the ramparts of the "great and spacious building," they are intensely and busily preoccupied, pointing fingers of scorn at the steadfast iron- rodders (1 Ne. 8:26-28, 33). Considering their ceaseless preoccupation, one wonders, "Is there no diversionary activity available to them, especially activity available to them, especially in such a large building--like a bowling alley?" Perhaps in their mockings and beneath the stir are repressed doubts of their doubts. In any case, given the perils of popularity, Brigham Young advised that this "people must be kept where the finger of scorn can be pointed at them" (Discourses of Brigham Young, sel. John A. Widtsoe [1941], 434).
"He who makes no effort to learn of the existence of Deity will, in this life, likely not learn there is a Deity. But his ignorance does not warrant him in declaring there is no God."