Deceive Me Not

It is easy for us as children to mistake the truth of dangers we encounter and we can put ourselves or others in great danger due to that ignorance.

Satan has gotten good at being able to convince people that skunks are kittens and that with an application of paint you can turn a labrador into a dalmatian.

I wonder how many adults are in need of this message just add much as any youth.

Today, I offer words of counsel for everyone, but especially for you of the rising generation—Primary children, young men, and young women. You are deeply loved by the Lord’s prophet for our day, President Russell M. Nelson—so much so that he spoke to many of you last year in a special worldwide youth devotional broadcast titled “Hope of Israel.” We often hear President Nelson calling you exactly that—the “hope of Israel,” the rising generation and the future of the restored Church of Jesus Christ.

In the first story, our young son had a beautiful dog as a pet; notwithstanding, he grabbed a gallon of paint and, with paintbrush in hand, determined to create his own imagined reality.

In the second account, the boys were blissfully unaware of the unsavory threat they faced from a skunk. Unable to properly identify what they had actually encountered, they ran the risk of suffering some unfortunate consequences. These are stories of mistaken identity—presuming the real thing to be something else. In each case, the consequences were minor.

However, many today grapple with these same issues on a much larger scale. They are either unable to see things as they truly are or are unsatisfied with truth. Moreover, there are forces at play today designed to deliberately lead us away from absolute truth. These deceptions and lies go far beyond innocent mistaken identity and often have dire, not minor, consequences.

Satan, the father of lies and the great deceiver, would have us question things as they really are and either ignore eternal truths or replace them with something that appears more pleasing. “He maketh war with the saints of God” and has spent millennia calculating and practicing the ability to persuade God’s children to believe that good is evil and evil is good.

He has made a reputation for himself convincing mortals that skunks are just kittens or that, with an application of paint, you can turn a Labrador into a Dalmatian!

This is exactly why I have a problem with the yellow equals sign on the blue background representing support for “marriage equality.” I’m not angry or fearful of those entering gay marriage but I am upset that so many can’t see the deception between the idea that those are no different from marriage as ordained by God.

Let’s now turn to an example of this very principle found in the scriptures, when the Lord’s prophet Moses came face-to-face with this same issue. “Moses was caught up into an exceedingly high mountain[;] … he saw God face to face, and he talked with him.” God taught Moses about his eternal identity. Though Moses was mortal and imperfect, God taught that Moses was “in the similitude of mine Only Begotten; and mine Only Begotten … shall be the Savior.”

To summarize, in this marvelous vision, Moses beheld God, and he also learned something important about himself: he was indeed a son of God.

Listen carefully to what happened as this wondrous vision closed. “And it came to pass that … Satan came tempting him,” saying, “Moses, son of man, worship me!” Moses courageously replied: “Who art thou? For behold, I am a son of God, in the similitude of his Only Begotten; and where is thy glory, that I should worship thee?”

In other words, Moses said: “You cannot deceive me, for I know who I am. I was created in the image of God. You don’t have His light and glory. So why should I worship you or fall prey to your deception?”

Now pay attention to how Moses further responds. He declares, “Get thee hence, Satan; deceive me not.”

How might you find this heavenly help, even as Moses did, and not be deceived or give in to temptation? A clear channel for divine assistance was reaffirmed in this dispensation by the Lord Himself when He declared: “Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments.” Using simpler words, we might say that the Lord, who knows “the end from the beginning,” knows the unique difficulties of our day. Therefore, He has provided a way for us to resist challenges and temptations, many of which come as a direct result of the deceitful influences of the adversary and his attacks.

However, in the same way that the adversary tried to deceive Moses, he seeks to trick you. He has always pretended to be something that he is not. He always attempts to hide who he truly is. He claims that obedience will make your life miserable and that it will rob you of happiness.

Can you think of some of his ploys to deceive? For instance, he disguises the destructive consequences of illicit drugs or drinking and instead suggests that it will bring pleasure. He immerses us in the various negative elements that can exist in social media, including debilitating comparisons and idealized reality. In addition, he camouflages other dark, harmful content found online, such as pornography, blatant attacks on others through cyberbullying, and sowing misinformation to cause doubt and fear in our hearts and minds. Cunningly he whispers, “Just follow me, and you will surely be happy.”

My dear brothers and sisters, we must continue to be faithful and vigilant, for so is the only way to discern truth and to hear the voice of the Lord through His servants. “For the Spirit speaketh the truth and lieth not. … These things are manifested unto us plainly, for the salvation of our souls. … For God also spake them unto prophets of old.” We are the Saints of Almighty God, the hope of Israel! Will we falter? “Shall we shrink or shun the fight? No! … To God’s command, soul, heart, and hand, faithful and true we will ever stand.”