Like fish who miss baited flies in fast-rushing waters, we can easily fall prey to Satan when we make decisions based on peer-pressure or excited emotions, taught Michael B. Bliss, BYU-Hawaii Vice President for Administration Services, during his devotional address November 4.
“In life, we can swim in any of the waters. We are most safe in waters where we carefully make decisions, not where heightened peer pressure, excited emotions, culture, or friends entice us to try something we know is not right. Invariably, when this happens, a hook is hidden in the temptation and we find that we are deceived,” stated Brother Bliss.
Brother Bliss gave a brief overview of the actions of Satan in the pre-mortal life, and the impact that it has on those who live in mortality on this earth. After Satan rebelled, he “and his followers were cast down to earth where he continues to design plans to tempt us and hook us so we will become miserable like he is. It is important that you know this about him. If we accept his temptations, we lose our eternal life. Satan does not want anything good for you,” explained Vice President Bliss.
He taught that our Heavenly Father did not leave us defenseless, but gave us a Guide, the Holy Ghost. But each individual is responsible for being morally clean enough to allow the Spirit to be present. “The key is keeping that Guide,” taught Brother Bliss. “The scriptures tell us that the Holy Spirit will not stay in unholy places. That is why we repent and are baptized for the remission of sins prior to receiving the Holy Ghost. Then we are clean. If we are to keep that gift we must remain clean.”
Vice President Bliss also taught about Nephi’s vision of the Tree of Life in a way the students could apply its lesson to their lives. After reading from 1 Nephi 8:19-23 he said, “We learn that temptation is in the midst of darkness. Satan places exciting billboards along the straight and narrow path to try to get us to leave the path. When the people in the vision lost their hold on the word of God they wandered off and were lost. Therefore another way to identify and resist temptation is to use the word of God; the scriptures and the words of our inspired leaders.”
For further encouragement on reading scriptures, Brother Bliss quoted Robert Millet, a renowned Book of Mormon scholar and current Professor of Ancient Scripture at BYU-Provo, and Elder Bruce R. McConkie, another well-known Church scholar and former Apostle. He then returned to 1 Nephi 8 and Lehi’s vision.
Brother Bliss read 1 Nephi 8:25, “And after they had partaken of the fruit of the tree they did cast their eyes about as if they were ashamed,” and then he added some comments: “Elder Packer states that those that partake of the fruit of the tree are members of the Church. If these are members of the Church, we need to ask if we are ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do we show our shame by ignoring the counsel of the Lord in our dress, language, or friends?”
After concluding Lehi’s vision with verse 33, he said, “We know that the Book of Mormon was written for our time. While the vision was given to Lehi, it was for us. If so, what do we learn about temptation from this vision?”
“First, we learn that it is real, that in many instances temptation comes from those that we may admire because they are famous or popular and appear to have it all. They may be beautiful, dress in the latest fashions, live in nice places, and drive exciting cars. Because of that, what they say and do may be important to us because we want to be like them. At some point in our life, maybe many times, we will be belittled if we live the Gospel honestly and fully. How we react will be the key.”
He also read the story of Korihor, an anti-Christ, from Alma 30:12-18. In these scriptures, Korihor argued that no man can know the future, thus no one can say that Christ will come, and that listening to prophecies are the “foolish traditions of your fathers.” Verse 18 says, “And thus he did preach unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their heads in their wickedness, yea, leading away many women, and also men, to commit whoredoms—telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof.”
Brother Bliss countered Korihor’s statements against Christ and His Gospel: “Look at his arguments – no Christ and no God, no Atonement and no sin. Think what he has just done. What do the first four articles of faith teach us? We believe in God and Christ, man is accountable for his sin, there is an Atonement, and we must repent and have faith in Christ. Korihor has attacked the very foundation of the Gospel. Unfortunately, people then and now like the fact they do not have to be held accountable for sin so they will pay someone to ease their conscience.”
Brother Bliss also warned against committing sin with the intent to repent later with a story from his mission president, Elder Dean L. Larsen: A young man who wanted to serve a mission came to Elder Larsen for an interview. He had repented of the serious transgressions committed during his teen years, but Elder Larsen felt uneasy about his attitude. “While I was pleased with this young man’s desire to reorder his life and serve the Lord as a missionary, I was troubled by the apparent premeditated, calculated way in which he had allowed himself to move off the proper course to engage in some destructive, immoral behavior, and then, almost as if he were following a timetable set by himself, he had begun to reconstruct his resolve to be obedient.”
“…While many recover from these excursions into forbidden territory, an increasing number of tragedies are occurring that reach out to bring a blight and a despair to many lives and that have long-lasting consequences. There is no such thing as a private sin. Although its commission can be calculated, its effects cannot be regulated by the person guilty of the misbehavior. To believe otherwise is to become gullible to one of the most insidious lies ever perpetrated by the father of lies.”
Brother Bliss also warned about using bad language. “How we talk is a big problem,” he said. “I have heard people say, if you don’t like it, that is your problem. But language is like cigarette smoke. People used to say that smoking was a personal thing and then the dangers of second-hand smoke were discovered. Language effects all within its sound… Be careful with your language. Do not defile yourself or others with degrading and filthy talk. Don’t injure pure minds or break tender hearts with meanness and cruelty. All are children of God. If you offend one of them, you will be offending Him.”
“One truth I have had profoundly impressed upon me is that God is just. Alma said, What, do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, Nay; not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God. Paul said to the Galatians, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. If we sow thistles, we shouldn't plan to get strawberries. If we sow hate, we must not expect to reap an abundance of love. We get back, in kind, that which we sow, we reap, somehow, always in greater quantity. We sow a little thistle in our yard, and we get a lot of thistle-years and years of it, big bushes and branches of it. We never get rid of it unless we cut it out. If we sow a little bit of hate, before we know it we've reaped a lot of hate; smoldering and festering and belligerent, and finally warring and malicious hate. If we sow disobedience, we should not expect the reward of those that are faithfully striving to obtain the fruit from the Tree of Life.”
-Photo by Monique Saenz
:: For a complete transcript of Brother Bliss's devotional...