13 And the hand of providence hath smiled upon you most pleasingly, that you have obtained many riches; and because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they.

 

14 And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. But he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you. (Jacob 2)

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899 – 1994; served as the President of the Church from 1985 – 1994)

In these verses, and in several that follow, Jacob specifically points out one danger of pride—it causes people to think they alone are responsible for the good things that come to them, and therefore, it causes them to persecute or look down on others. This means they have forgotten to praise God and give Him the credit for their blessings.

If people stop crediting God for their blessings, they see no need to live His commandments or honor Him in any way, and this, of course, leads to further sin and apostasy. This is why pride is so strongly condemned. In the Book of Mormon, we see a reoccurring pattern of obedience leading to wealth, and wealth leading to pride. It takes a strong spirit and diligence to cope well with wealth.

In 1989, Ezra Taft Benson, a former prophet of God, gave what is considered a signature talk on pride to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes nicknamed Mormons. In Beware of Pride, he explained one of the most serious dangers of pride:

The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means “hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.” It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.

 

Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.” As Paul said, they “seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” (Philip. 2:21.)

 

Our will in competition to God’s will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled. (See Alma 38:12; 3 Ne. 12:30.)

 

(See Hel. 12:6.) They pit their perceptions of truth against God’s great knowledge, their abilities versus God’s priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.

 

Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren’t interested in changing their opinions to agree with God’s.” Ezra Taft Benson, “Beware of Pride,” Ensign, May 1989, 4

We can clearly see from this explanation that pride can destroy a person’s testimony of God and his relationship with God. This is why prophets from the earliest days of Earth have counseled people against becoming prideful. Wealth, or the love of wealth, can lead to pride, but so can a love of our talents, for instance. While there is nothing wrong with being grateful for our talents—praising God for them and offering them to Him as we practice them—we must always remember where they came from and how they should be used. Our talents come from God and must be used for Him in humility.

Of course, we aren’t asked to hate ourselves. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints celebrate that we are all children of a Heavenly King, and therefore have a bit of divinity tucked inside us. We all have gifts and talents and blessings. But it’s the knowledge that we all have them that allows us to think of them with the proper perspective and avoid the sin of pride. We are all children of God and therefore, He loves and values us all equally. When pride allows us to think we are better than other children of God, we face spiritual danger.

As President Benson, quoted above, explained, “The antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness. It is the broken heart and contrite spirit.”

Terrie Lynn Bittner

The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.

Prophets are the Lord’s mouthpiece. They give His word to us to help us find our way back to our Heavenly Parents and Jesus Christ. They watch over us and warn us of what is to come and the dangers present in our time.

It’s easy to look back and see why people should have listened to the prophet. But are we listening to our current prophet and spiritual leaders?

My personal observation is that prophets are often ignored. It is easy to look backwards in time and think, “Why didn’t those people listen to Noah?” or “Why didn’t people recognize Joseph Smith as the prophet of the restoration?” It may not be so easy to recognize the truths that are spoken by the living prophet. The truth is sometimes hard. It is hard when our will does not align with God’s will.

I’m a strong-willed person, and very independent. It is often difficult for me to acquiesce to Heavenly Father when I’m determined that I’m right about something. I struggle constantly to align my will to His. I’m not very good at being humble, and even worse at admitting I’m wrong. Those are character flaws that I’ve spent a lifetime trying to shake. I’m working on it—still.

The April 2018 LDS General Conference motivated me to change more than any other conference I’ve watched. Frankly, I’m a little overwhelmed. I’m taking one thing at a time in an orderly fashion, but I feel an urgency for change that I’ve never felt before. The following quote by Elder Anderson resonated with me. I keep reading and rereading it. I think I’ll try and commit it to memory.

The prophet’s voice, while spoken kindly, will often be a voice asking us to change, to repent, and to return to the Lord. When correction is needed, let’s not delay. And don’t be alarmed when the prophet’s warning voice counters popular opinions of the day. The mocking fireballs of annoyed disbelievers are always hurled the moment the prophet begins to speak. As you are humble in following the counsel of the Lord’s prophet, I promise you an added blessing of safety and peace.

 

Don’t be surprised if at times your personal views are not initially in harmony with the teachings of the Lord’s prophet. These are moments of learning, of humility, when we go to our knees in prayer. We walk forward in faith, trusting in God, knowing that with time we will receive more spiritual clarity from our Heavenly Father. One prophet described the incomparable gift of the Savior as “the will of the Son being swallowed up in the will of the Father.” The surrender of our will to God’s will is, in fact, not surrender at all but the beginning of a glorious victory.

–  Elder Neil L. Andersen, “The Prophet of God,” Apr. 2018 General Conference (citing Mosiah 15:7).

President Russell M. Nelson

I have received personal confirmation through the Holy Ghost that President Russell M. Nelson is God’s living prophet, and that he has been chosen to guide us at this time. I know that he will not lead us astray. I know that he is intent on doing the Lord’s work. I have great faith in his ability to be the line of communication between the Lord and His church—and indeed, the world.

Where I stumble is in lack of faith in myself to follow the counsel of our living prophet when I’m used to doing things a different way, or when I think about something in a different way. I’m not so concerned with the big things; it’s the little things that bother me. It usually is the little things where Satan takes hold, isn’t it?

When I forget to pull something out of the freezer before I leave the house for church on Sunday, it’s so easy to turn into the parking lot of a fast food restaurant on our way home. We’ve been much better about this, as we’ve been working on this for a while, but it is still a temptation. It is easier this year because we are on the 9:00 a.m. church schedule, but last year’s 11:00 a.m. schedule was a killer for us because my husband is a diabetic. He takes a snack to church, but sometimes it is just hard to get all the way home before he needs to eat. However, even on the 11:00 a.m. schedule last year, we did remarkably well compared to past years. We have made great strides in keeping the Sabbath day holy.

To read more of Tudie’s articles, click here.

There are lots of little things that need improvement in my life, and as I said, I’m feeling great urgency to take care of these matters. I want to align my will to God’s will. I desire to live as He would have me live. More than anything, I need the assurance that I will be in good favor with the Lord at the end of my life. I don’t want to leave anything undone. I want to be a faithful, covenant-keeping daughter of God. I need the added blessing of safety and peace that Elder Andersen spoke about in the quote above.

So, the character flaws I spoke of earlier need to be fixed. I need practice in being humble, and I need to let Heavenly Father help me align my will with His.

Tudie Rose

Tudie Rose is a mother of four and grandmother of ten in Sacramento, California. You can find her on Twitter as @TudieRose. She blogs as Tudie Rose at http://potrackrose.wordpress.com. She has written articles for Familius. You will find a Tudie Rose essay in Lessons from My Parents, Michele Robbins, Familius 2013, at http://www.familius.com/lessons-from-my-parents.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. — Antoine de Saint Exupery

The quote above is something that I personally need to remember. Of the many things I need to “take away,” the biggest thing I need to dispose of is pride. As a child, I was taught to be self-sufficient, and that’s a good thing; but one can take self-sufficiency to the extreme and become prideful. It has been a constant life-long struggle for me to remember that my Heavenly Father is standing with His arms open waiting for me to ask for His help. I am like the two-year-old child who says, “I want to do it myself!”

Pride takes on many forms and happens for many reasons. Reading in The Book of Mormon, pride seems to come either because of wealth or power. I have never been wealthy, nor have I ever been in a position of power, so my own pride must come from someplace else. After a lot of soul-searching, I think my pride originally came from a need to protect myself as a tiny, sickly child from the bullies of the world. Pride was learned as a reaction to a problem, but it became a habit—one that has been very difficult to break.

When I’m so busy “doing it myself,” and my Heavenly Father is standing in the wings waiting to be asked, my life is usually swirling out of control. It isn’t until I buckle and cry “uncle,” that I realize how ungrateful and stupid I’ve been. Then I can humble myself, receive the help I need, and move on.

It would be so much easier if I would learn to stop the cycle of pride in my life. As I look back over the worst moments in my past, they have all revolved around that silly pride. Once I humble myself and let God help me, the raging waters are stilled.

Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God’s. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of “my will and not thine be done.”

When pride has a hold on our hearts, we lose our independence of the world and deliver our freedoms to the bondage of men’s judgment. The world shouts louder than the whisperings of the Holy Ghost. The reasoning of men overrides the revelations of God, and the proud let go of the iron rod (Ezra Taft Benson, “Beware of Pride,” Apr. 1989 General Conference).

In my own case, it is usually that my pride makes me lose my freedom to the bondage of my own judgment, and then I can’t hear the Holy Ghost. Isn’t it interesting that I grab hold of my own judgment and won’t let go thinking I am gaining independence, when in fact I’m losing my independence and freedom? Pride makes us surrender freedom to the adversary. When we are too proud to listen to God, who are we listening to?

If perfection is indeed what we are working towards, then I would think the very first thing we need to take away is the pride in our hearts. When pride is taken away, it is always replaced with humility.

I’m slowly learning to include Heavenly Father in all my decisions. This has not been easy for me. In the past, I’ve included Him in the big decisions, but not the everyday decisions. The problem with that is that the everyday decisions are often the decisions that change the course of our lives.

I remember fervent prayers before I married my husband, at times when I was making career moves, and when we purchased our home. I prayed long and hard over decisions to have our children. I humbly prayed when our children were ill so that I would know how to help them. On the flip side, there were thousands of little decisions I made on my own that probably would have had a better result had I consulted with God. The little things sometimes turn out to be the big things.

So how do I rid myself of pride? Now, that’s the $64,000 question. I’ve been working at it for a long time, and while I’m getting better, I still have a long way to go. Frankly, I would appreciate any suggestions my readers might have in the comments. Currently, what I am doing is reading the scriptures every day so that my mind is constantly on spiritual matters. I’m trying to make my daily prayers more meaningful. I’m doing that by pausing to collect my thoughts before I pray so that I’m

To read more of Tudie’s articles, click here.

not just rattling off words to bounce off the ceiling. I’m trying to really converse with God—in a two-way conversation. That means I’m taking the time after my prayer to really listen for answers and any revelation He wants to impart.

As we all are trying to perfect our behavior and our character, there are many things that we need to take away. This week, think about what you need to take away, and then begin the process.

Tudie Rose

Tudie Rose is a mother of four and grandmother of ten in Sacramento, California. You can find her on Twitter as @TudieRose. She blogs as Tudie Rose at http://potrackrose.wordpress.com. She has written articles for Familius. You will find a Tudie Rose essay in Lessons from My Parents, Michele Robbins, Familius 2013, at http://www.familius.com/lessons-from-my-parents.

The Book of Mormon is a companion book of scripture to the Bible. Like the Bible, it takes place in ancient times, beginning about 600 B.C. It testifies of the divinity of Jesus Christ and helps us to understand essential Christian principles. There were two societies featured in the Book of Mormon (although others existed as well). The Nephites were usually the righteous followers of God and the Lamanites were wicked. However, these roles sometimes reversed.

The pride cycle outlines a basic pattern of civilization that is most often shown in a circle. You can see a representation of this circle in the Book of Mormon Institute Manual:

Pride Cycle illustration

Even though the pride cycle in the Book of Mormon usually refers to nations, we can also note the pattern in individual lives. Any of us could find ourselves in the pride cycle. It may not be wealth that causes it, but pride is always at the center of the problem.

Pride Cycle: Righteousness

To understand how it works, imagine that everyone in your entire country decided to start trying to keep all the commandments and being Christ-like. That’s the first step in the pride cycle. Because you are all keeping the commandments, God gives you great blessings. These blessings sometimes include financial success, although financial success is not a guaranteed result of obedience to God. However, when an entire nation is righteous, the country usually prospers simply because everyone helps one another to be successful, cares for their poor, practices integrity, and works hard. Everyone working together in unity will often lead to prosperity, because Christ-like values are designed to help us be successful in many different ways.

Pride Cycle: Wickedness and Pride

Unfortunately, after a while, the people in your country get sort of proud of their accomplishments. This isn’t the kind of pride that says, “Hey, look what God and I did together!” Instead, they start to believe they did it all by themselves without any help from God (or anyone else, for that matter). This leads to prideful behavior.

A Book of Mormon prophet named Alma observed the wickedness that came to church members when they were blessed with wealth. He noted that they started arguing with each other, which caused many potential converts to reject the church. He also noted malice, persecution, pride, and envy among the church members.

He saw that instead of caring for one another, as they had in the past, they allowed the sick, hungry, and needy to suffer, preferring to keep their great wealth for their own use. The problem wasn’t widespread yet, but those who continued in their charitable works struggled to keep up and were frustrated by the lack of compassion among their fellow-citizens.

Alma was so concerned that he turned his leadership role over to another, retaining only the title of High Priest. He went out to try to resolve the problem—and that leads us to the next step in the pride cycle.

Pride Cycle: God Warns the People

When this downfall happens, God is upset. He loves you and your country and He wants you to keep all those great blessings He gave you. However, every parent knows that when children misbehave, there must be consequences. Since God does love us, He first gives us a warning. This is done through his prophets, who let us know we’re out of line. The prophets warn us we need to start keeping the commandments and to remember the source of our blessings.

Now, you probably know how most people feel about being told what to do. Ezra Taft Benson, a past Mormon prophet, explained:

[T]he living prophet gets at what we need to know now, and the world prefers that prophets either be dead or mind their own business….How we respond to the words of a living prophet when he tells us what we need to know, but would rather not hear, is a test of our faithfulness.—Ezra Taft Benson, Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet

Many people fail that test. When an entire society does it, the world starts to fall apart. The blessings that came as a result of making Christ-like choices disappear. An ancient Book of Mormon prophet named Helaman warned his people that they had become focused on getting wealth and fame, instead of on obeying God and this means their heart is on the things of the world, not on eternal priorities. A lot of people think this is a better way to live, but it’s very shortsighted.

Alma, whose concern for the pride cycle among his own people led him to resign his government office, took action:

“And this he did that he himself might go forth among his people, or among the people of Nephi, that he might preach the word of God unto them, to stir them up in remembrance of their duty, and that he might pull down, by the word of God, all the pride and craftiness and all the contentions which were among his people, seeing no way that he might reclaim them save it were in bearing down in pure testimony against them (Alma 4:19)

Sadly, very few people respond to God’s reminders to get back on track. They didn’t in Alma’s time and they don’t today. This means God has no choice but to move on to the next step, and it isn’t a pleasant one.

Pride Cycle: Destruction and Suffering

God doesn’t have to step in and destroy a nation that is filled with pride, disobedience, and lack of faith. All He has to do is to stop helping them. When they face a trial, they find themselves on their own. Many times in the Book of Mormon, prophets and military leaders were afraid for their country because they knew the wickedness of the majority of people was causing God to withdraw. When they went into battle, God didn’t take sides. How could He? Neither side was on His side.

Life is hard. It’s full of danger, tough decisions, and evil people. When God is on our side, we can handle it, but when we turn our back on Him, we have to face those trials alone. It isn’t God who made the decision. It’s us. When we do what we’re supposed to do, God is required and happy to keep His promises. These promises, though, are based on our willingness to do the right things. It isn’t welfare.

The people in the Book of Mormon experienced the consequences of disobeying God and deciding they didn’t need Him. In time, they realized they did need Him. The next stage of the pride cycle starts us on an upward swing in the circle.

Pride Cycle: Humility and Repentance

Usually, the people in the Book of Mormon eventually figured out they really couldn’t stay safe from their enemies—or even each other—without divine help. They understood that their previous blessings had been the result of God’s help, not their own brilliance. They hadn’t, after all, been able to sustain those blessings once God gave them what they thought they wanted—the ability to do anything they wanted without God making rules they didn’t want to follow.

They became humble again and repented of their sins. When they did, God joyfully came back to help them. He loves us and wants us to make good choices. He loves to give us all the blessings we can hold. He just needs us to do our part. This is understandable to anyone who has been a parent or worked with children. We need consequences in order to mature and grow—but when we learn the lessons of those consequences and make changes, we can get life back on its eternal track.

Pride Cycle: Starting Over Again

The people of the Book of Mormon—and of the city you’ve been picturing during this discussion—are now humble and obedient. That takes them back to the top of the circle and they again begin to receive blessings and prosperity. Sadly, it usually only takes a few generations before people forget the lessons learned and move back onto the less pleasant aspects of the circle.

The Pride Cycle in Our Own Lives

Although the Book of Mormon discussions on the pride cycle usually refer to nations, every person can find himself in that cycle as well. We’re taught that hard work can bring success—which it does. However, hard work and God bring greater success. The success might be in the form of wealth, but there are many other blessings God can choose to give us. This is important because those of us who choose to follow God and to keep the commandments will receive the blessings God chooses for us. Those blessings will not be the same for everyone.

The important part of the lesson isn’t which blessings you receive, but how you view them. Do you remember God’s hand in your life? Do you thank Him for sending you those blessings? Do you forget they came from Him and chalk them up to your own brilliance, wisdom, and hard work?

If you forget to give God the credit, you risk sliding off the top of the pride cycle circle and beginning the unpleasant process of working your way through the challenging consequences of self-centeredness. It’s up to us to make certain we don’t let our gifts from God make us prideful. We want to stay on top of the world—or the cycle—all the time—and that takes mindfulness.

The pride cycle also reminds us that while we often dream of great wealth, it can be a great challenge to those who refuse to use it wisely. For many, not being wealthy is God’s gift to us. There are many ways to be blessed and wealth just might be the least important of them all.

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Terrie Lynn Bittner

The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.

The blind man is at the center of the painting. While we know the atonement of Jesus Christ has the all-encompassing power of making our imperfect bodies into perfect ones through the resurrection, we need not wait for the Second Coming of our Savior to reap the benefits of spiritual healing. If we submit to our Savior, trust in his power to heal our hearts, he can ease the burden of our suffering every day. I don’t know how this happens, but I know it does. I have cast my burdens on the Lord and trusted him to carry them for me. Sometimes he even carries me too. But he has never let me down. There may have been times when I didn’t feel his love at first, but that was because I did not fully trust him. I may have held my hands up in defiance—unwilling to accept his healing power. But the blind man in the painting is submissive. That is the way we must be when our Savior is ready to heal our hearts and open our spiritual eyes again.

Notice the families in the picture. They are willing observers of the event. I think about them to, wondering what they must be thinking. They are focused on the action of the Savior, their faces concentrating on the miracle. They believe what they are seeing. They support him in his ministry. The families in the painting represent us when we watch miracles happen around us—at least they represent the times when we are in tune with the Savior’s teachings and supportive of his mission. It reminds me of when I witness a baptism, a confirmation, a baby’s blessing, or any other act of Priesthood authority. It reminds me of when I witness a beautiful sunrise over a mountain range, the budding daffodils in spring, the crisp autumn air, and a beautiful fresh coating of snow covering the ground, the streets, and the sidewalks like a fluffy blanket. Whether the miracles are from nature or from the hand of one given the authority, they are from God. Do I watch them with reverent awe and can I appreciate the messenger who allows them to happen?

The last group of people in the picture is the most important. We don’t often like to look at ourselves in a negative light, but doing so helps us change for the better. The two men scoffing represent us when we see miracles and show the down side of our character. If you have ever prayed for the desires of your heart and felt the Lord’s answer was “not now”, then watched as others obtain freely and abundantly the miracles you ache to receive, you may have harbored negative feelings in the depth of your heart. “How could the Lord bless her with such richness when I stand in such need?” you might think. Or you may say, “He gives freely to everyone else, except me. What kind of a Savior is he?”  And worse yet, you might think, “I guess I’m not loved enough to receive a miracle.” Anger, sorrow, envy, and pride are some of the most damaging emotions that separate us from the Savior and his miracles. When we act on our own painful emotions and forget the Savior’s love, our view of his power is skewed. We live in the moment, the moment of pain, rather than see the eternal perspective, the perspective of everlasting joy.

Morning Devotional
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Christ blesses all of his children with miracles daily. Some miracles are small and unseen. Others are enormous. They fall like rain from the sky, drenching some while only misting others. But his atonement promises us we will receive all of his blessings through the resurrection. No one who is faithful will be denied this gift. The struggle then is to see ourselves in the painting and decide who we want to be—the blind man receiving the blessing, the faithful who watch and wait with real commitment, or the jealous ones who are more blind than the first.

It’s safe to say everyone goes through the cycle. That’s part of overcoming human nature. But if we can spend less time scoffing at other people’s blessings, we will realize the miracles right in front of us every day. And our Father in Heaven will be grateful too, for then he can trust us to help him in his plan to bring to pass the eternal life of all mankind. Then we too can be healers of a sort, as we help others see the miracles the Savior has helped us to see.

http://youtu.be/BuMEMGy1djE

Nanette ONeal

Nanette O’Neal loves the gospel and is very happy to share her testimony on LDS Blogs. She is a convert to the church and still feels the spirit burn strong within her heart. She graduated from Mason Gross School of the Arts with a degree in music education and has taught children and adults in the private and public sphere for over twenty years. Nanette continues to study the gospel and the art of writing. She writes weekly inspirational articles on her blog and is currently working on an LDS fantasy novel series, A Doorway Back to Forever. You can find her at NanetteONeal.blogspot.com. Nanette has a wonderful husband, talented son, and three beautiful dogs.

In the Book of Mormon, an ancient prophet named Nephi defined priestcraft:

“He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for, behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world; but they seek not the welfare of Zion” (2 Nephi 26:29).

We know, of course, that Jesus Christ is the light of the world, but some ministers and teachers of religion seem to put the focus on themselves when they teach, acting out of pride, rather than humility. They become very famous, and a lot of glitz and glamour accompanies their preaching. They become celebrities, living a rock star sort of life. While sometimes fame is inevitable, whether or not it is priestcraft depends on the way the ministry is carried out—the motive behind the actions. When the speaker spends more time talking about himself and how wonderful he is than about God and God’s plan, that can be priestcraft. If he prepares his sermons with the primary goal of entertaining, demonstrating his own talents as a speaker, or giving people what they want instead of what God wants them to have, that can be priestcraft as well.

Priesthood Without a Paycheck

Let’s look at an example in the Book of Mormon. Church leaders in the Book of Mormon took pride in the fact that they did not accept paychecks for their church work. They had regular employment and did their church work as volunteers. (Mormons today also have a lay leadership.) They did not consider themselves more important than those who were not church leaders.

And when the priests left their labor to impart the word of God unto the people, the people also left their labors to hear the word of God. And when the priest had imparted unto them the word of God they all returned again diligently unto their labors; and the priest, not esteeming himself above his hearers, for the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal, and they did all labor, every man according to his strength.

And they did impart of their substance, every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely (Alma 1:26-27).

Unfortunately, a man named Nehor had other ideas about how the priesthood should operate, and he went to work trying to convince people he was right. In the same chapter quoted above, we learn that he set himself up as a priest and began preaching his version of the gospel to the people. He taught that priests and teachers should be paid by their audiences and shouldn’t have to have other jobs or sources of income. He taught that in order to be able to support themselves through their teachings, they needed to become popular.

When Popularity is More Important Than God–Priestcraft

Nehor demonstrated what he meant by setting out to become popular himself. How did he do that? Well, if you want lots of followers who will make you rich, you have to tell them what they want to hear—which isn’t always what God wants you to tell them. What God asks is often hard, and people frequently don’t want to hear it. So, Nehor taught that it was not important to live morally, keep commandments, or make any kinds of worldly sacrifices at all because God was going to save everyone in the end. This was the sort of thing people like to hear. (Today, this is sometimes referred to as cheap salvation or easy salvation.) This meant they could call themselves Christians, but sin was all they really wanted. There was no need to care for the poor, treat others kindly, have self-discipline, or put God first. He developed lots of followers by telling them what they wanted to hear, and they were happy to give him money, so he would keep right on lying to them. He started a church and began to dress in expensive clothing. He was very prideful—his success was all about him, not God.

The problem, of course, was that his preaching was also all about him, not God. He was lying to his followers. Anyone who has spent any time with the scriptures knows God is very clear that our actions matter. They don’t save us, but they demonstrate our commitment to God and Jesus Christ and our love for them. Making these people think they could be saved no matter how wicked they chose to be was cruel, because it was a lie. He was lying in order to win followers, gain celebrity status, and earn money. When Gideon, a teacher in the true church, confronted him about his deception, he tried to kill Gideon with his sword.

Why was Nehor’s behavior, which was priestcraft at its worst, so dangerous? Because he wanted fame and fortune, he found it more useful to preach popular ideas, rather than truth. Truth wasn’t fun or popular. He taught only what people wanted to hear and to pay for. It led to temptations that caused him to represent Satan, not God.

Most of us aren’t going on to fame and fortune, but we can find ourselves in situations that can lead us to practice priestcraft—even when no money is involved at all. It all comes down to our intent.

We Can All Be Tempted to Put Ourselves Before God

Here is a very simple example from my own life. I love to tell stories and I’m generally considered a pretty good teacher of children. When I used to tell stories in my classes in my earlier days as a children’s religion teacher, I would jazz them up a little. The lessons in the manual were sometimes boring. A little added sparkle was okay, but sometimes I was more interested in telling a great story and entertaining the children than I was in teaching the moral message.

One day I told a dull story about a girl who sneaked out of bed and played all night. The next day she was tired and cranky at home and at church. She learned to obey her parents in order to have a good day. I modeled my own telling after a popular children’s book and made it entertaining and funny. I built up in detail the misdeed and the results and then skipped hurriedly through the lesson learned, since that wasn’t much fun. The following week, a child told me she had done just what I taught in the story. I was pleased and said, “You obeyed your parents so you’d have a good day?”

“No, I sneaked out of bed and played late at night.”

I caught my breath and felt ashamed. My desire to show off my storytelling skills had led a child to think I wanted her to misbehave. This was the essence of priestcraft—I had taught for my own ego, and not for God. I apologized to the children (and later to the girl’s parents) and explained what I had done wrong and what the story was supposed to teach.

The children asked me to tell that story again. I did, but this time I told it simply and quietly, minimizing the misbehavior and amplifying the change of heart that led the child to learn to obey. Surprisingly, they liked this version just as much and often asked for it again.

While most of us won’t start churches for popular gain, we can easily find ourselves distracted from the ultimate goal of our religious work—to lead souls to Christ. If we lose sight of that goal, we are in danger of becoming a lot like Nehor and of letting God and those we teach down. True Christianity comes when God is the sole motivator for our actions.

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Terrie Lynn Bittner

The late Terrie Lynn Bittner—beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and friend—was the author of two homeschooling books and numerous articles, including several that appeared in Latter-day Saint magazines. She became a member of the Church at the age of 17 and began sharing her faith online in 1992.

Pride is one of the seven deadly sins and all of us have heard since we were old enough to understand: Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18)

I am one of those people who craves the presence of God in my life. Everything I do and everything I am is toward that end, returning to my heavenly home. When Merrill said this: Where there is ego, you will never find the Lord, it shook my heart.

Certainly, all of us know that pride can kill love, hope, dreams . . . basically all that is good in life. Pride keeps us from:

• asking for help from another,
• truly loving another,
• truly worshiping our Savior and Heavenly Father as they deserve to be worshiped, or
• being humble enough to be taught

The Lord needs us to be confident and secure in our abilities. But, when we cease to rely on our Father in Heaven and Jesus Christ that is when we cross the line from confidence to arrogance, from humility to pride and therein the guaranteed, eventual fall.

In the Book of Mormon, Alma 32, we find one of the greatest treatise on the Gospel and humility.

Therefore, blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble; or rather, in other words, blessed is he that believeth in the word of God, and is baptized without stubbornness of heart, yea, without being brought to know the word, or even compelled to know, before they will believe.(Alma 32:19)

The entire chapter is a veritable treasure of plain Gospel principles, but in this instance, “blessed are they who humble themselves” is the key to what we are speaking about today.

Indeed humility is the state of being which allow us to be teachable while be guided by the Spirit of God. Humility produces the greatest of the human family. And so my friends, I ask that you

Believe me, I have no desire to traverse mortality without heavenly guidance. Humility, my friends, is the key to returning to our heavenly home. And so, to quote myself from another site:

Every day, morning and night at a minimum, I shall remember to thank my Father in Heaven for the countless blessings showered upon us. For the gifts and talents He granted me I will express my gratitude and ask for continual guidance. I will remember that I am here in this life at the behest and blessings of a loving and eternal God. I have one overriding job . . . to bring as many of the sons and daughters of God back with me as I possibly can.

To this end I stand as a witness of Jesus Christ in all things, in all places and in all times. When asked, if it is within my power, I speak at all firesides, youth conferences, womens conferences and more, sharing the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the plan of salvation which He came to fulfill. For where I am, I am determined to find the Lord. (Candace E. Salima, Where There is Ego, Dream a little dream . . .)

Candace