#24 "Be Not Deceived, but continue in Steadfastness"

D&C 26; 28; 43:1-7; 50; 52:14-19
Write on board the following and ask what these things have in common?
A Pint of Cream
A misspelled name
No Available seating @ the Kirtland Temple

These are all reasons people left the church and apostatized. Now when I first read this I thought, “Those are pretty silly reasons to leave the church-I would never do that!” But as I read more into this lesson I realized that I have been on the pathway that leads to apostasy myself on occasion, I thought if I don’t heed the counsel our leaders are trying to give us, of not being deceived, I too could fall away, from such a simple thing.

Even Brigham Young worried about apostatizing, he said, “You hear many say, “I am a Latter-day Saint, and I never will apostatize;” “I am a Latter-day Saint, and shall be to the day of my death.” I (Brigham) never make such declaration, and never shall. I think I have learned that of myself I have no power, but my system is organized to increase in wisdom, knowledge, and power, getting a little here and a little there. But when I am left to myself, I have no power, and my wisdom is foolishness; then I cling close to the Lord, and I have power in his name. I think I have learned the Gospel so as to know, that in and of myself I am nothing (DBY 84).

I know that individual apostasy seems to be one of those downer lessons but hang onto this promise D&C 50:36 blessed are you who are NOW hearing these words of mine from the mouth of my servant, for your sins are forgiven you! Meaning if we are willing to listen and hear, meaning change some things in your life where this is concerned your sins will be forgiven-we get a clean slate here. I don’t know anyone in this room that doesn’t have the need to be forgiven of something.

In all the sections of Reading I lost count of how many times the Lord warns us of Satan and his tactics. Like in D&C 50:2-3 Satan and His followers’ main purpose is to deceive the world and “overthrow you” (us) Why? 50:7 because every time he can deceive and overthrow us He (satan) gets more power.

You say, “yea right how could that happen?” Let me illustrate through the pint of cream story: While living in far West, Missouri, Sister Marsh and Sister Harris decided to exchange milk so they could each make a larger cheese than they otherwise could. They agreed to send each other both the milk and the cream from their cows. But Sister Marsh saved a pint of cream from each cow and sent Sister Harris the milk without the cream.

A quarrel arose, and the matter was referred to the bishop. When he determined that Sister Marsh had violated her agreement, she and her husband were upset and appealed the matter to the high council and then to the first Presidency. Each council approved the original decision that Sister Marsh had been in error.

Thomas B. Marsh (President of the Quorum of the 12 at the time) declared that he would sustain the character of his wife. Soon afterward, he turned against the Church and went before a government official to declare that the Latter-day Saints were hostile toward the state of Missouri. (George A. Smith, Journal of Discourses, 3:283-84)

President Gordon B. Hinckley said of this incident: “What a very small and trivial thing-a little cream over which two women quarreled. But it led to, or at least was a factor in, Governor Boggs’ cruel exterminating order, which drove the Saints from the state of Missouri, with all of the terrible suffering and consequent death that followed. The man who should have settled this little quarrel, but who, rather, pursued it,…lost his standing in the church. He lost his testimony of the gospel” (Conf. Report, Apr. 1984, 111 or Ensign, May 1984, 83)

After 19 years of darkness and bitterness, Thomas B. Marsh painfully made his way to the SLValley and asked Brigham Young to forgive him and permit his rebaptism into the Church. He wrote to Heber C. Kimball, 1st Counselor in the Presidency: “I began to awake to a sense of my situation; I know that I have sinned against Heaven and in thy sight.” He then described the lesson he had learned: “The Lord could get along very well without me and He has lost nothing by my falling out of the ranks; But O what have I lost? Riches, greater riches than all this world or many planets like this could afford” (James E. Faust, conf. report apr. 1996, 6)

**What ultimately led to His and His wife’s apostasy and satan having power? The Pride over a pint of cream and anger-heat of the moment! How many people was Satan able to inflict pain on? More than I’d want to be accountable for!

Think about the root cause of this next story. Why really, do you think Simonds Ryder apostatized, was it really for misspelling his name?
Simonds Ryder was converted to the Church in 1831. Later he received a letter signed by the Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, informing him that it was the Lord’s will, made manifest by the Spirit, that he preach the gospel. Both spelled Rider instead of Ryder. Ryder “thought if the ‘Spirit’ through which he had been called to preach could err in the matter of spelling his name, it might have erred in calling him to the ministry as well, or, in other words, he was led to doubt if he were called at all by the Spirit of God, because of the error in spelling his name!” (History of the Church, 1:261) Ryder later apostatized from the Church.

* What was the real reason for his apostatizing? He was critical of His leaders. Perhaps there was also fear there, also a way Satan deceives us.

Now the story of the unavailable seating-Think of the same question while reading this story-what is the real reason for apostatizing?
When the Kirtland Temple was completed, many Saints gathered for the dedication. The seats in the temple filled quickly, and many people were allowed to stand, but still not everyone could be accommodated inside the building. Elder Frazier Eaton, who had given $700 for the building of the temple, arrived after it had been filled, so he was not allowed inside for the dedication. The dedication was repeated the next day for those who could not be accommodated the first day, but this did not satisfy Frazier Eaton, and he apostatized. (George A. Smith, in Journal of Discourses, 11:9)
*So what was the real reason? He was offended. He could’ve left earlier for the dedication but didn’t, not to mention He couldn’t give the $ just to give the money it appears as though he felt he needed repayment for his service. *Have any us ever fallen into this?

In teachings of Presidents of the Church, Brigham Young volume, he has a lesson on apostasy and He gives some things as to what we should watch out for-because if we see these in our lives we may be on the road to apostasy if they aren’t corrected.
The 1st one is one I personally struggle with daily.
“One of the first steps to apostasy is to find fault with your Bishop; and when that is done, unless repented of a second step is soon taken, and by and by the person is cut off from the Church, and that is the end of it. Will you allow yourselves to find fault with your Bishop? (DBY 86) You see now why I am in trouble on this one? You may laugh but seriously there have been times I’ve thought is he really inspired? Especially if the thing he was inspired about doesn’t work out? Thank goodness I’ve also seen things through this calling that tells me He is truly inspired and when those things he’s inspired with doesn’t work out I know enough to know it’s the agency of the people he’s called that is in play not that the inspiration is bad.
This principle of finding fault with the Bishop also trickles down to other leaders of our church, R.S. Presidency, YM, YW, Elders, High Priest, Primary etc. All our leaders fall under this rule as well! Do we perhaps have some repenting to do? This also goes for our Prophet and all the higher leaders.

Brigham Young said, “Whenever there is a disposition manifested in any of the members of this Church to question the right of the President of the whole church to direct in all things, you see manifested evidences of apostasy-of a spirit which, if encouraged, will lead to a separation from the Church and to final destruction.

If none of these affect you, let’s see how these affect you. Brigham gives a list of things that could also lead to apostasy. “If the Saints neglect to pray, and violate the day (Sabbath Day) that is set apart for the worship of God, they will lose his spirit. If a man shall suffer himself to be overcome with anger, and curse and swear, taking the name of the Deity in vain, he cannot retain the Holy Spirit. In short, if a man shall do anything which he knows to be wrong, and repenteth not, he cannot enjoy the Holy Spirit, but will walk in darkness and ultimately deny the faith (DBY 85)

Have you been affected by any of these? If you have don’t tell us we don’t want to know, but take care of it as soon as possible.

So How do we remain Valiant in our testimonies and avoid Satan’s deceptions?
26:1 Study the scriptures, preach, performing labors (do your callings; serve)
26:2 all things done by common consent-support the leaders you’ve sustained-do all they’ve asked of us. Pray much and have faith.
50:44 Build your testimony on the rock, Jesus Christ.

Another thing we can do I got from the story of Hirum Page and how he handled things.
In 1830, Hirum Page, one of the Eight Witnesses to the B of M, possessed a stone through which he claimed to receive revelation about the building of Zion and the order of the Church. Oliver Cowdrey, the Whitmers, and others believed these claims. However, the Prophet Joseph Smith said the claims “were entirely at variance with the order of God’s house, as laid down in the New Testament, as well as in our late revelation” (History of the Church, 1:110)
The Prophet prayed about the matter and received a revelation in which the Lord made clear that only the President of the church has the right to receive revelations for the Church (D&C 28). The Lord instructed Oliver Cowdery to take Hirum Page alone (28:11) and tell him that the revelations that came through the stone were from Satan. After hearing the Lord’s instructions, “Brother Page, as well as the whole Church who were present, renounced the said stone, and all things connected therewith” (History of the church 1:115)

He humbled himself, he followed the Prophet, He didn’t allow Satan any power. Keep your eye on the prophet and follow Brigham Young’s counsel, which I will end with, “If the people would live their religion, there would be no apostasy and we would hear no complaining or fault-finding. If the people were hungry for the words of eternal life, and their whole souls even centered on the building up of the Kingdom of God, every heart and hand would be ready and willing and the work would move forward mightily and we would advance as we should do (DBY 84) Let us Live our Religion! In the name of Jesus Christ Amen.