That leads me to the second falsehood. (Continued from yesterdays post Elder Henry B. Eyring wrote…) It is this: as the world grows more wicked, it is only reasonable to expect to be overcome with temptation. That is not true either. We do not face so bleak a prospect. President George Albert Smith taught (he said it more than sixty years ago, but it is still true in our time and will be in the future however dark the world becomes):
There are two influences ever present in the world. One is constructive and elevating and comes from Heavenly Father; the other is destructive and debasing and comes from Lucifer. We have our agency and make our own choice in life subject to these unseen powers. There is a division line well defined that separates the Lord’s territory from Lucifer’s. If we live on the Lord’s side of the line Lucifer cannot come there to influence us, but if we cross the line into his territory we are under his power. By keeping the commandments of the Lord we are safe and on His side of the line, but if we disobey His teachings we voluntarily cross into the zone of temptation and invite the destruction that is ever present there. Knowing this, how anxious we should always be to live on the Lord’s side of the line. (“Our M.I.A.,” Improvement Era, May 1935, p. 278.)
The increasing wickedness in the world should not make you more inclined to take chances but less. By your choice of what you will do and what you won’t do you can place yourself in that territory where the Holy Ghost can be your companion.
Now, you may feel that I have given you only modest hope. You want to know, to be sure—if possible, by some clear sign—that your sins are remitted. So do I. But you and I know that President Ezra Taft Benson was telling the truth when he said: “For every Paul, for every Enos, and for every King Lamoni, there are hundreds and thousands who find the process of repentance much more subtle, much more imperceptible. Day by day they move closer to the Lord, little realizing they are building a godlike life. They live quiet lives of goodness, service, and commitment. They are like the Lamanites, who the Lord said “were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and they knew it not’ (3 Nephi 9:20).” (“A Mighty Change of Heart,” Ensign, October 1989, p.5.)
