The False Gods We Worship (2024)

The False Gods We Worship

I have heard that the sense most closely associated with memory is the sense ofsmell. If this is true, then perhaps it explains the many pleasing feelingsthat overtake me these mornings when I am able to step outdoors for a fewmoments and breathe in the warm and comfortable aromas that I have come toassociate over the years with the soil and vegetation of this good earth.

Now and then, when the moment is right, some particular scent -- perhaps onlythe green grass, or the smell of sage brought from a distance by a breeze --will take me back to the days of my youth in Arizona. It was an arid country,yet it was fruitful under the hands of determined laborers.

We worked the land and the cattle in all kinds of weather, and when we traveledit was on horseback or in open wagons or carriages, mostly. I used to run likethe wind with my brothers and sisters through the orchards, down the dustylanes, past rows of corn, red tomatoes, onions, squash. Because of this, Isuppose it is natural to think that in those days we were closer to elementallife.

Some time ago I chanced to walk outdoors when the dark and massive clouds of anearly afternoon thunderstorm were gathering; and as the large raindrops beganto drum the dusty soil with increasing rapidity, I recalled the occasionalsummer afternoons when I was a boy when the tremendous thunderheads wouldgather over the hills and bring welcome rain to the thirsty soil of the valleyfloor. We children would run for the shed, and while the lightning dancedabout we would sit and watch, transfixed, marveling at the ever-increasingpower of the pounding rainfall. Afterward, the air would be clean and cool andfilled with the sweet smells of the soil, the trees, and the plants of thegarden.

There were evenings those many years ago, at about sunset, when I would walk inwith the cows. Stopping by a tired old fence post, I would sometimes juststand silently in the mellow light and the fragrance of sunflowers and askmyself, "If you were going to create a world, what would it be like?" Now with a little thought the answer seems so natural: "Just like this one."

So on this day while I stood watching the thunderstorm, I felt -- and I feelnow -- that this is a marvelous earth on which we find ourselves: and when Ithought of our preparations for the United States Bicentennial celebration Ifelt a deep gratitude to the Lord for the choice land and the people andinstitutions of America. There is much that is good in this land, and much tolove.

Nevertheless, on this occasion of so many pleasant memories another impressionassailed my thoughts. The dark and threatening clouds that hung so low overthe valley seemed to force my mind back to a theme that the Brethren haveconcerned themselves with for many years now -- indeed a theme that has oftenoccupied the attention of the Lord's chosen prophets shince the world began. Iam speaking of the general state of wickedness in which we seem to find theworld in these perilous yet crucially momentous days: and thinking of this, Iam reminded of the general principle that where much is given, much is expected(see Luke 12:48).

The Lord gave us a choice world and expects righteousness and obedience to hiscommandments in return. But when I review the performance of this people incomparison with what is expected, I am appalled and frightened. Iniquity seemsto abound. The Destroyer seems to be taking full advantage of the timeremaining to him in this, the great day of his power. Evil seems about toengulf us like a great wave, and we feel that truly we are living in conditionssimilar to those in the days of Noah before the Flood.

I have traveled much in various assignments over the years, and when I passthrough the lovely countryside or fly over the vast and beautiful expanses ofour globe, I compare these beauties with many of the dark and miserablepractices of men, and I have the feeling that the good earth can hardly bearour presence upon it. I recall the occasion when Enoch heard the earth mourn,saying, "Wo, wo is me, the mother of men; I am pained, I am weary, because ofthe wickedness of my children. When shall I rest, and be cleansed from thefilthiness which is gone forth out of me?" (Moses 7:48).

The Brethren constantly cry out against that which is intolerable in the sightof the Lord: against pollution of mind, body, and our surroundings; againstvulgarity, stealing, lying, pride, and blasphemy; against fornication,adultery, hom*osexuality, and all other abuses of the sacred power to create;against murder and all that is like unto it; against all manner of desecration.

That such a cry should be necessary among a people so blessed is amazing to me.And that such things should be found even among the Saints to some degree isscarcely believable, for these are a people who are in pssession of many giftsof the Spirit, who have knowledge that puts the eterninties into perspective,who have been shown the way to eternal life.

Sadly, however, we find that to be shown the way is not necessarily to walk init, and many have not been able to continue in faith. These have submittedthemselves in one degree or another to the enticings of Satan and his servantsand joined with those of "the world" in lives of ever-deepening idolatry.

I use the word idolatry intentionally. As I study ancient scripture, Iam more and more convinced that there is significance in the fact that thecommandment "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" is the first of the TenCommandments.

Few men have ever knowingly and deliberately chosen to reject God and hisblessings. Rather, we learn from the scriptures that because the exercise offaith has always appeared to be more difficult than relying on things moreimmediately at hand, carnal man has tended to transfer his trust in God tomaterial things. Therefore, in all ages when men have fallen under the powerof Satan and lost the faith, they have put in its place a hope in the "arm offlesh" and in "gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, whichsee not, nor hear, nor know" (Daniel 5:23) -- that is, in idols. This I findto be a dominant theme in the Old Testament. Whatever thing a man sets hisheart and his trust in most is his god; and if his god doesn't also happen tobe the true and living God of Israel, that man is laboring in idolatry.

It is my firm belief that when we read these scriptures and try to "liken themunto [our]selves," as Nephi suggested (1 Nephi 19:24), we will see manyparallels between the ancient worship of graven images and behavioral patternsin our very own experience.

The Lord has blessed us as a people with a prosperity unequaled in times past.The resources that have been placed in our power are good, and necessary to ourwork here on the earth. But I am afraid that many of us have been surfeitedwith flocks and herds and acres and barns and wealth and have begun to worshipthem as false gods, and they have power over us. Do we have more of these goodthings than our faith can stand? Many people spend most of their time workingin the service of a self-image that includes sufficient money, stocks, bonds,investment portfolios, property, credit cards, furnishings, automobiles, andthe like to guarantee carnal security throughout, it is hoped, a longand happy life. Forgotten is the fact that our assignment is to use these manyresources in our families and quorums to build up the kingdom of God -- tofurther the missionary effort and the genealogical and temple work; to raiseour children up as fruitful servants unto the Lord; to bless others in everyway that they may also be fruitful. Instead, we expend these blessings on ourown desires, and as Moroni said, "Ye adorn yourselves with that which hath nolife, and yet suffer the hungry, and the needy, and the naked and the sick andthe afflicted to pass by you, and you notice them not" (Mormon 8:39).

As the Lord himself said in our day, "They seek not the Lord to establish hisrighteousness, but every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of hisown God, whose image is in the likeness of the world, and whose substance isthat of an idol, which waxeth old and shall perish in Babylon, even Babylonthe great, which shall fall" (D&C 1:16; italics added).

One man I know of was called to a position of service in the Church, but hefelt that he couldn't accept because his investments required more attentionand more of his time than he could spare for the Lord's work. He left theservice of the Lord in search of Mammon, and he is a millionaire today.

But I recently learned an interesting fact: If a man owns a million dollarsworth of gold at today's prices, he possesses approximately one 27-billionth ofall the gold that is present in the earth's thin crust alone. This is anamount so small in proportion as to be inconceivable to the mind of man. Butthere is more to this: The Lord who created and has power over all the earthcreated many other earths as well, even "worlds without number" (Moses 1:33);and when this man received the oath and covenant of the priesthood(D&C 84:33-44), he received a promise from the Lord of "all that my Fatherhath" (vs 38). To set aside all these great promises in favor of a chest ofgold and a sense of carnal security is a mistake in perspective of colossalproportions. To think that he has settled for so little is a saddening andpitiful prospect indeed; the souls of men are far more precious than this.

One young man, when called on a mission related that he didn't have much talentfor that kind of thing. What he was good at was keeping his powerful newautomobile in top condition. He enjoyed the sense of power and acceleration,and when he was driving, the continual motion gave him the illusion that he wasreally getting somewhere.

All along, his father had been content with saying, "He likes to do things withhis hands. That's good enough for him."

Good enough for a son of God? This young man didn't realize that the power ofhis automobile is infinitesimally small in comparison with the power of thesea, or of the sun; and there are many worlds, all controlled by law and bypriesthood, ultimately -- a priesthood power that he could have been developingin the service of the Lord. He settled for a pitiful god, a composite of steeland rubber and shiny chrome.

An older couple retired from the world of work and also, in effect, from theChurch. They purchased a pickup truck and camper and, separating themselvesfrom all obligations, set out to see the world and simply enjoy what littlethey had accumulated the rest of their days. They had no time for the temple,were too busy for genealogical research and for missionary service. He lostcontact with his high priests quorum and was not home enough to work on hispersonal history. Their experience and leadership were sorely needed in theirbranch, but, unable to "endure to the end," they were not available.

I am reminded of an article I read some years ago about a group of men who hadgone to the jungles to capture monkeys. They tried a number of differentthings to catch the monkeys, including nets, but finding that the nets couldinjure such small creatures, they finally came upon an ingenious solution. Theybuilt a large number of small boxes, and in the top of each they bored a holejust large enough for a monkey to get his hand into. They then set these boxesout under the trees and in each one they put a nut that the monkeys wereparticularly fond of.

When the men left, the monkeys began to come down from the trees and examinethe boxes. Finding that there were nuts to be had, they reached into the boxesto get them. But when a monkey would try to withdraw his hand with the nut, hecould not get his hand out of the box because his little fist, with the nutinside, was now too large.

At about this time, the men would come out of the underbrush and converge onthe monkeys. And here is the curious thing: When the monkeys saw the mencoming, they would shriek and scramble about with the thought of escaping; butas easy as it would have been, they would not let go of the nut so that theycould withdraw their hands from the boxes and thus escape. The men capturedthem easily.

And so it often seems to be with people, having such a firm grasp on things ofthe world -- that which is telestial -- that no amount of urging and no degreeof emergency can persuade them to let go in favor of that which is celestial.Satan gets them in his grip easily. If we insist on spending all our time andresources building up for ourselves a worldly kingdom, that is exactly what wewill inherit.

In spite of our delight in defining ourselves as modern, and our tendency tothink we possess a sophistication that no people in the past ever had -- inspite of these things, we are, on the whole, an idolatrous people -- acondition repugnant to the Lord.

We are a warlike people, easily distracted from our assignment of preparing forthe coming of the Lord. When enemies rise up, we commit vast resources to thefabrication of gods of stone and steel -- ships, planes, missiles,fortifications -- and depend on them for protection and deliverance. Whenthreatened, we become antienemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a manin the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan'scounterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior's teaching:

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
"That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven" (Matthew5:44-45).

We forget that if we are righteous the Lord will either not suffer our enemiesto come upon us -- and this is the special promise to the inhabitants of theland of the Americas (see 2 Nephi 1:7) -- or he will fight our battles for us(Exodus 14:14; D&C 98:37, to name only two references of many). This he isable to do, for as he said at the time of his betrayal, "Thinkest thou that Icannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelvelegions of angels?" (Matthew 26:53). We can imagine what fearsome soldiersthey would be. King Jehoshaphat and his people were delivered by such a troop(see 2 Chronicles 20), and when Elish's life was threatened, he comforted hisservant by saying, "Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they thatbe with them" (2 Kings 6:16). The Lord then opened the eyes of the servant,"And he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fireround about Elisha" (vs 17).

What are we to fear when the Lord is with us? Can we not take the Lord at hisword and exercise a particle of faith in him? Our assignment is affirmative:to forsake the things of the world as ends in themselves; to leave off idolatryand press forward in faith; to carry the gospel to our enemies, that they mightno longer be our enemies.

We must leave off the worship of modern-day idols and a reliance on the "arm offlesh," for the Lord has said to all the world in our day, "I will not spareany that remain in Babylon" (D&C 64:24).

When Peter preached such a message as this to the people on the day ofPentecost, many of them "were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter andto the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37).

And Peter answered: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name ofJesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ... receive the Holy Ghost"(vs 38).

As we near the year 2000, our message is the same as that which Peter gave. Andfurther, that which the Lord himself gave "unto the ends of the earth, that allthat will hear may hear: Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, forthe Lord is nigh" (D&C 1:11-12).

We believe that the way for each person and each family to prepare as the Lordhas directed is to enter into the work of his kingdom on earth, which is TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It may seem a little difficult atfirst, but when a person begins to catch a vision of the true work, when hebegins to see something of eternity in its true perspective, the blessingsbegin to far outweigh the cost of leaving "the world" behind.

Herin lies the only true happiness, and therefore we invite and welcome allmen, everywhere, to join in this work. For those who are determined to servethe Lord at all costs, this is the way to eternal life. All else is but ameans to that end.