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Chapter IV
Forfeiture of Priesthood by Deception
The Lord has told us that Satan’s mission here on earth is to win us over by deception:
And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. (Moses 4:4)
We have also been warned that Satan would be very successful in his effort to deceive men:
Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation. And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers. (D&C 93:31-32, 39)
It is apparent from this passage that Satan is effective among those of us who have truths plainly manifest unto us. It is the Latter-day Saints who have the plain light of the gospel. We are the ones who have much to fear because it is blindness and inability to learn the laws governing the exercise of the Priesthood, coupled with our disposition to exercise unrighteous dominion, which condemn us and cause us to lose our callings. The following two scriptures indicate that this is so:
But behold, verily I say unto you, that there are many who have been ordained among you, whom I have called but few of them are chosen. They who are not chosen have sinned a very grievous sin, in that they are walking in darkness at noonday. (D&C 95:5-6)
And why are they not chosen? Because…they do not learn this one lesson—That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. (D&C 121:34-36)
Perhaps if we were not blind to the fact that we are exercising unrighteous dominion we would repent. Any person who has even a meager understanding of the Priesthood would give all that he possesses to avoid losing it. But having been deceived by Satan, we cannot recognize within ourselves the disposition to abuse authority. Being unaware of the danger we take no steps to avoid it. We are in the position of not being able to repent because we are unconscious of the fact that we are sinning.
It appears that no matter how honorable and well intentioned we may be, if we permit ourselves to be deceived, we will fall short of the Celestial Kingdom. Doctrine and Covenants Section 76 in describing those groups of men who will inherit the intermediate, or Terrestrial Kingdom, mentions the following:
These are they who are honorable men of the earth, who were blinded by the craftiness of men. (D&C 76:75)
Some may question the justice of a law which denies blessings to one who has lived honorably according to his beliefs but who has been misled by false teachings. We must recognize, however, that no one can possibly receive a blessing unless he has obeyed that law upon which the blessing is predicated. (D&C 130:21) If one is ignorant of the law in question or misconstrues its meaning, he will never become entitled to that blessing.
The scriptures assure us that God will do no injustice to any man. We must conclude therefore, that if an honorable person has been deceived, he has failed in some way. Either he has not sought for the truth diligently enough or he has not searched in the right place.
The prophet, Nephi, in prophesying concerning our day was led to make the following comment:
And now I, Nephi, cannot say more; the Spirit stoppeth mine utterance, and I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them is plainness, even as plain as word can be. (2 Nephi 32:7)
Latter-day Saints might well consider the possibility that we are the ones Nephi was referring to here. There can be no question but that we have been given great knowledge in all plainness. Are we guilty of failing to search and understand what has been given us? And if we are, is it not certain that we will be blinded by the craftiness of men? On the other hand we have been given this promise by the Lord:
And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived. (Joseph Smith 1:37 {P. of G. P.})
How long do you work each year to pay your city, county, state and federal taxes? Since 1930 the increasing burden has been, on average, 1.27 days per year. Your individual stewardship of your individual income declines as soul destroying, government programs expand. What do prophets think of this?
During the first half of the twentieth century we have traveled far into the soul-destroying land of socialism....(David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, p. 273)
We have accepted a frightening degree of socialism in our country. The question is, how much? The amount of freedom depends upon the amount of federal control and spending. A good measurement is to determine the amount, or percentage of income of people that is taken over and spent by the state. ...They now advocate throughout our economy that we “redistribute wealth and income,” a good definition of socialism. (Ezra Taft Benson, This Nation Shall Endure, p. 114)
I warn you that government subsidies are not the Lord’s way; and if we begin to accept, we are on our way to becoming subsidized politically as well as financially. (Harold B. Lee, The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, p. 314-315)
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