When Does the Church Wither?
-having a desire to be accepted by the world
-trying to be popular
-overly warned about prosperity
I believe the pride cycle of the Book of Mormon has been a life challenge.
See Alma 4:2 (failure), 3 (humility), 4 (invite Holy Ghost), 5 (success), 6 (pride), 9 (offend Holy Ghost), 11 (failure).
It seems to be human nature to desire to become accepted, popular, and prosperous in the world. Obviously that is what the Book of Mormon teaches us to overcome. There is an incredible amount of divisiveness in the world now. We pit brother against brother and black against white, and bond vs free. That is Satan’s plan: Division!
Heresies are Creeping into the Church Insidiously.
The Lord’s plan is and always has been: Oneness with God and fellow man. Today when you see a government, a business, a friend, an education system, doctors, or any other person or program trying to divide people, you will know it is of the devil. The popular trends and supporting of a woke agenda, or creating victimhood, is all very rampant today. Why is is so hard to resist and just be content with being a Child of God, and be our own best self? I believe that it is a constant fight of God vs. Satan, not Democrat vs Republican nor Liberal vs Conservative.
“Wo unto them that good, and good evil, that put for light, and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” 2 Nephi 15:20
“The spirit of contention is of the devil—Christ’s doctrine is that men should believe and be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost.” 3 Nephi 11 Heading
Prophets and Apostles have told us
“Cycle of human folly… the only thing which will cause the destruction of his Church is the wickedness of its members… persecution has largely vanished, and instead of ostracism, members are, for the most part accepted and respected.” H. Verlan Anderson
“Alma and Helaman… warned about fast growth, the desire to be accepted by the world, to be popular, and particularly they warned about prosperity. Each time those conditions existed in combination, the Church drifted off course.” Boyd K. Packer 30 Mar. 1990
“So long as that church was persecuted from without, it prospered, but when it began to be polluted from within, the church began to wither.” First Presidency 1944
Chinese Fable
“[There is] an old Chinese fable: A man traveling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide, ‘This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city.’ The guide replied, ‘You do not understand, sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness, corruption, degradation, and abomination of every kind, that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.’” (George A. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. [London: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854-1886], 5: 363.) (https://jod.mrm.org/5/359)
We must clean up our own house before pointing a finger:
Salt Lake City named Utah’s most sinful city
Information Here Tickets Here Vendor Tables Here
“Instead of raising themselves to the standard of the Gospel, they are content to descend to the level of the wicked and corrupt. Many of the Elders of Israel who have responsibilities resting upon them, with which they will find they cannot trifle with impunity, are taking this course all the time. What wonder, then, that the Spirit of the Lord is grieved? What wonder that the Latter-day Saints need to be preached to continually? It is no wonder to me when I contemplate the condition of the people of these valleys, and especially Salt Lake City, Ogden, and our cities contiguous to the railways.” (Journal of Discourses, Vol.13, p.339 – p.340 Joseph F. Smith 1870).
Host of Sectarian Doctrines
“I tell you we are beginning to follow along the course of the early Christian church. So long as that church was persecuted from without, it prospered, but when it began to be polluted from within, the church began to wither. There is creeping into our midst, and I warn you brethren about it, and I urge you to meet it, a great host of sectarian doctrines that have no place amongst us. The gospel in its simplicity, is to be found in the revelations, the teachings of the Prophet and the early leaders of the Church.” It was read by J. Reuben Clark. It states, Clark, Jr., First Counselor in the First Presidency, and President David O. McKay, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, were present at all the sessions. President McKay conducted the services at all the sessions. (In One Hundred Fifteenth Semi-annual Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[Conference Report, October 1944] [Salt Lake City, Utah
Shaking the Faith
In the Oct 1942 General Conference address from the First Presidency, the below quote was read by J. Reuben Clark. “These days through which we are now passing present many problems which are new to all of us but are particularly strange to the younger generation — those who have little background of experience and whose knowledge is limited and immature. Infidelity, atheism, unchastity, intemperance, civil corruption, greed, avarice, ambition — personal, political, national — are more powerful today than at any other time in the lives of us now living. They are pulling and thrusting us almost at will into new fields of action, new lines of thought. They are shaking the faith, undermining the morals, polluting the lives of the people. They have thrown many so far off balance in all of their activities, economic, social, political, and religious, that they stand in real danger of falling. Satan is making war against all the wisdom that has come to men through their ages of experience. He is seeking to overturn and destroy the very foundations upon which society, government, and religion rest. He aims to have men adopt theories and practices which he induced their forefathers, over the ages, to adopt and try, only to be discarded by them when found unsound, impractical, and ruinous. He plans to destroy liberty and freedom — economic, political, and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed men. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize either him or his methods. There is no crime he would not commit, no debauchery he would not set up, no plague he would not send, no heart he would not break, no life he would not take, no soul he would not destroy. He comes as a thief in the night; he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Without their knowing it, the people are being urged down paths that lead only to destruction. Satan never before had so firm a grip on this generation as he has now.” President Heber J. Grant was present and presided at the Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning sessions. President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., First Counselor in the First Presidency, and President David O. McKay, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, were present at all the sessions. President McKay conducted the services at all the sessions.
Apostasy within the Church
Joseph Fielding Smith of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 28 Dec. 1938: “It is a very apparent fact that we have traveled far and wide in the past 20 years. What the future will bring I do not know. But if we drift as far afield from fundamental things in the next 20 years, what will be left of the foundation laid by the Prophet Joseph Smith? It is easy for one who observes to see how the apostasy came about in the primitive church of Christ. Are we not traveling the same road?” (Joseph Fielding Smith Journal, entry for 28 Dec. 1938.)
Heresies are Creeping in Insidiously.
Reuben Clark Jr., First Counselor in the First Presidency, 7 Oct. 1945: “Even during the time of the apostles there began to be a falling away, as is clear from the Epistles of Paul, of Peter, John, James, and Jude. People began to wander off, and that wandering was increased in the succeeding centuries, accumulating speed, it seems, as it went on. They began to gather into church teachings things to make Christianity a little more palatable to the philosophers of the time. . . . They were trying to satisfy the thought and the philosophy and the reasoning of men, in order that they might have their support and probably their praise. . . . There is a deep lesson in all of that for us today. Already there are coming in amongst us doctrines that have no part or place in the pure doctrines of the restored gospel. These heresies are creeping in insidiously. They come to us from the philosophies of the Christian scholars of the day. They make our doctrines, as they made the early Christian beliefs, more palatable to our philosophers, but so surely as they destroyed the Christian church in the early days, just so surely will they destroy us if we do not stop them where they are.” (In One Hundred Sixteenth Semi-annual Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Conference Report, October 1945] [Salt Lake City, Utah: Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], pp. 165, 166; paragraphing omitted.)
“In the early church the Saints were extremely anxious for two things: First, to be well thought of by the pagans. Their ears itched for praise. Do any of you brethren know anything about such a tendency as that?” (In “Remarks at Bishop’s Meeting,” J. Reuben Clark Papers, box 151, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.)
“There is a startling parallel between the course that is coming in to us today and the course that was in the early Church, so startling that one becomes fearful.” (Reuben Clark Jr. In One Hundred Twenty-second Annual Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Conference Report, April 1952] [Salt Lake City, Utah: Published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints], p. 81.)
Lived His Commandments for a Few Years and then Fallen Away
“Religious history testifies that, with the single exception of the inhabitants of the City of Enoch, no people to whom the gospel has been given have remained faithful to their covenants for more than a few generations. Time after time the Lord has established his Church among a group who have lived his commandments for a few years and then fallen away thus bringing upon themselves his judgments. This cycle of human folly which so many prophets have noted, has repeated itself with such consistent regularity, that any group which finds itself to be the favored recipients of the gospel would do well to assume that their own apostasy is certain and the only question about it is how long it will take. . . . The fact that the Lord has found it necessary to restore his gospel so many times is in itself evidence of the regularity with which apostasy has occurred because the only thing which will cause the destruction of his Church is the wickedness of its members. . . . The prophet, Mormon, whose labors as a historian gave him an opportunity to observe the frequency of the righteousness-wickedness-punishment cycle, spoke of it as though it were a law of life which operates as a certain consequence of universal human weakness. . . . The Church is in deep trouble because seldom, if ever, has any group been as prosperous as it is today. . . . After 140 years of growth, membership numbers in the millions, persecution has largely vanished, and instead of ostracism, members are, for the most part accepted and respected. . . . To fail to consider the possibility that the members of the church are again ‘falling away’ would be to ignore one of the most thoroughly documented lessons of history.” (The Great and Abominable Church of the Devil [Published by H. Verlan Andersen, ©1972], pp. 178, 179, 180; paragraphing omitted.)
Fast Growth
Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 30 Mar. 1990: “In recent years I have felt, and I think I am not alone, that we were losing the ability to correct the course of the Church. You can not appreciate how deeply I feel about the importance of this present opportunity unless you know the regard, the reverence, I have for the Book of Mormon and how seriously I have taken the warnings of the prophets, particularly Alma and Helaman. Both Alma and Helaman told of the church in their day. They warned about fast growth, the desire to be accepted by the world, to be popular, and particularly they warned about prosperity. Each time those conditions existed in combination, the Church drifted off course. All of those conditions are present in the Church today. Helaman repeatedly warned, I think four times he used these words, that the fatal drift of the church could occur ‘in the space of not many years.’ In one instance it took only six years. (See Helaman 6:32, 7:6, 11:26.)” (Transcript of an address given at a Regional Representatives Seminar, 30 March 1990, entitled “Let Them Govern Themselves.”) https://ldsapostasy.wordpress.com/2011/05/21/history-repeating-itself-2/
Question to myself and each of you:
We Have Been Warned in the Past, Present, and Future.
May we rekindle the Love of the Lord and our Humility.
Once again, each time the conditions below exist in combination, the Church drifts off course.
-the desire to be accepted by the world,
-to be popular,
-were warned about prosperity. –Boyd K. Packer
