1. The Book of Mormon records the destruction of
individuals and societies that embraced wickedness and allowed secret
combinations to exist. The Book of Mormon also teaches that we can live
righteously despite living in a wicked environment.
2. Quentin L.
Cook, Ensign, July 2015, 33–39. The difference today is that the “great and
spacious building” (1 Nephi 8:31) skeptics are louder, more contentious, and
less tolerant than at any time during my life. They evidence their diminished
faith when, on many issues, they are more concerned with being on the wrong
side of history than on the wrong side of God. There was a time when the vast
majority of people understood that they would be judged by God’s commandments,
not by the prevailing views or dominant philosophies of the day. Some are more
concerned about being mocked by others than they are about being judged by God.
(D&C 1:16)
3. Dennis B. Neuenschwander, Ensign, May 2008, 101–3. - "Who
better than the Savior can reach, support, and ultimately rescue the one among
the crowd? He understands what it is to persevere among a disrespectful crowd
and still remain true. The worldly crowds do not recognize Him, saying that “he
hath no form nor comeliness” and that “there is no beauty that we should desire
him.” King Benjamin
says that the world “shall consider him a man.” Isaiah further describes Christ’s place among
the crowds of the world with these words: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief … ; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.” Nephi writes that “the world, because of their
iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught.” Yet ultimately this Firstborn Son of God, who
is so often misjudged and misunderstood, will emerge from being one among the
crowd as the Anointed One, the Savior and Redeemer of the world. This emergence
is humbly predicted in the Savior’s own statement to certain chief priests and
elders that “the stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head
of the corner.”
5. “You young
people are being raised in enemy territory. We know from the scriptures that
there was a war in heaven and that Lucifer rebelled and, with his followers,
‘was cast out into the earth’ [Revelation
12:9]. He is determined to disrupt our Heavenly Father’s plan and
seeks to control the minds and actions of all” (BKPacker,Ensign Nov. 2011, 16).
6. “Among today’s
secret combinations are gangs, drug cartels, and organized crime families. The
secret combinations of our day function much like the Gadianton robbers of the
Book of Mormon times. … Among their purposes are to ‘murder, and plunder, and
steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness’ [Helaman
6:23]” (M. Russell Ballard, Ensign, Nov. 1997, 38).
7. “I testify that
wickedness is rapidly expanding in every segment of our society. (D&C 1:14–16; 84:49–53.) It is more highly organized, more cleverly
disguised, and more powerfully promoted than ever before. Secret combinations
lusting for power, gain, and glory are flourishing. … (Ether 8:18–25.)” (ET Benson, Ensign, Nov.
1988, 87).
10.: Mormon 1:13–14, 15, 16–17, 19;2:8, 14–15, 18, 19- We can
live righteously even when we are surrounded by wickedness.
11. Other examples
of living righteously while surrounded by wickedness? (Ether, Moroni, Abish,
and the people who believed that Christ would be born, as recorded in 3 Nephi 1.)
13. If we
have faith in Christ and in His Atonement, then we will have the strength to
live righteously despite being surrounded by wickedness.)
14. “To maintain a firm stance for ourselves and help
others stand firm, the message of the restored gospel must be firmly planted in
our hearts and taught in our homes. … Teach your loved ones how to draw upon
the powers of heaven through fasting and prayer. Teach them that keeping the
Sabbath day holy will insulate them from the world. Teach them to be obedient.
Teach them to seek God’s approval, not man’s. Teach them that the only route
back to our heavenly home is by loving and following the Savior and by making
and keeping sacred covenants and commandments. The truths of the gospel and
knowledge of the plan of salvation are weapons your family members can use for
victory over Satan’s evil forces” (Virginia
H. Jensen, Ensign, Nov.
2001, 94).
15. “In an increasingly unjust world, to survive and even
to find happiness and joy, no matter what comes, we must make our stand
unequivocally with the Lord. We need to try to be faithful every hour of every
day so that our foundation of trust in the Lord will never be shaken. …
“It’s not so much what happens to us but how we deal with
what happens to us. That reminds me of a passage from Alma. After a long war
‘many had become hardened,’ while ‘many were softened because of their
afflictions’ [Alma 62:41]. The same circumstances produced opposite
responses. … Each of us needs to have our own storehouse of faith to help us
rise above the troubles that are part of this mortal probation” (JEFaust,
Ensign, Nov. 2004, 18, 20).
1. The Gospel of
Jesus Christ Will Be Preached to Every People and Nation
D&C 133:37 tells us that “this gospel shall be
preached unto every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” Our
missionary force—with the help and hastening of the Lord—is increasing its
efforts to bring the gospel to all the world in the great gathering of Israel.
2. Temples Will
Dot the Earth
In the early days of the Church, members could barely
stay in one place long enough to build a temple. If they saw our 153 operating
temples today, they would most likely be astonished and amazed—and for good
reason. Temples are one of the greatest blessings we have on the earth
today—not only because they’re beautiful, but because families have the
opportunity to be sealed in temples for eternity.
D&C 65:2 reads, “The keys of the kingdom of God are
committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth
unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain
without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth.”
3. Family History
Work Will Provide Saving Ordinances for the Dead
With an increased number of temples, more members around
the world perform saving ordinances, including baptisms and family sealings,
for their deceased ancestors. In Malachi 4:6,
it prophesies, “And [Elijah] shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.”
While family history may not immediately increase your
optimism, think of this great promise from President Russell M. Nelson: “When our hearts turn to our
ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than
ourselves. . . . While temple and family history work has the power to bless
those beyond the veil, it has an equal power to bless the living. It has a
refining influence on those who are engaged in it. They are literally helping
to exalt their families.”
4. The Restoration
Will Continue to Unfold with More Light and Truth
In 2014, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “Sometimes we think of
the Restoration of the gospel as something that is complete, already behind us—Joseph
Smith translated the Book of Mormon, he received priesthood keys, the Church
was organized. In reality, the Restoration is an ongoing process; we are living
in it right now.”
While the world seems to be getting darker and worse, the
world is also increasing in light and knowledge. What other generation could
hear a prophet speak in a live broadcast around the world? Who else had tools
like the internet and social media to share the gospel for free around the
globe?
