This is a review of the slides we used while discussing... Antidotes to the Spiritual Crocodiles Helaman 1-3 Nephi 10

It has been well said that “there comes a time when the general defilement of a society becomes so great that the rising generation is put under undue pressure and cannot be said to have a fair choice between the Way of Light and the Way of Darkness.” (Hugh Nibley, An Approach to the Book of Mormon, 1957.) (Ezra Taft Benson, Satans Thrust -- Youth, Ensign, Dec. 1971, 53)

5 Antidotes Antidote: 1. a medicine or other remedy for counteracting the effects of poison, disease, etc. 2. something that prevents or counteracts injurious or unwanted effects.

5 Antidotes: 1) Hel. 3:29: Lay hold upon word of God instead of trying to lay hold upon riches!

Today the world is full of alluring and attractive ideas that can lead even the best of our members into error and deception. Students at universities are sometimes so filled with the doctrines of the world they begin to question the doctrines of the gospel. How do you as a priesthood leader help fortify your membership against such deceptive teachings? The Savior gave the answer in His great discourse on the Mount of Olives when He promised, ‘And whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived’ [Joseph Smith— Matthew 1:37] (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.302).

1) Hel. 3:29: Lay hold upon word of God 2) Hel. 3:35: Yield heart to God 5 Antidotes:

Yielding ones heart to God signals the last stage in our spiritual development. Only then are we beginning to be fully useful to God! How can we sincerely pray to be an instrument in His hands if the instrument seeks to do the instructing?... Sometimes, our holding back occurs because we lack faith or we are too entangled with the cares of the world. Other times, there is in us an understandable tremulousness which slows our yielding, because we sense what further yielding might bring. Yet we need to break free of our old selves the provincial, constraining, and complaining selves and become susceptible to the shaping of the Lord. But the old self goes neither gladly nor quickly (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, May 1985, 70-73).

1) Hel. 3:29: Lay hold upon word of God 2) Hel. 3:35: Yield heart to God 3) Hel. 5:5-6: Remember who you are [see Moses 1:4, 6, 7, + 10, 12] 5 Antidotes:

1) Hel. 3:29: Lay hold upon word of God 2) Hel. 3:35: Yield heart to God 3) Hel. 5:5-6: Remember who you are 4) Hel. 5:12: Build life on foundation of Christ [see Moses 7:53] 5 Antidotes:

1) Hel. 3:29: Lay hold upon word of God 2) Hel. 3:35: Yield heart to God 3) Hel. 5:5-6: Remember who you are 4) Hel. 5:12: Build life on foundation of Christ 5) Hel. 5:36-44: Follow prophets 5 Antidotes:

Now the only safety we have as members of this church is to do exactly what the Lord said to the Church in that day when the Church was organized. We must learn to give heed to the words and commandments that the Lord shall give through His prophet....There will be some things that take patience and faith. You may not like what comes from the authority of the Church. It may contradict your political views. It may contradict your social views. It may interfere with some of your social life... Your safety and ours depends upon whether or not we follow the ones whom the Lord has placed to preside over His Church.... Let’s keep our eye on the President of the Church (Harold B. Lee, In Conference Report, Oct. 1970, p ).

In 1942, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made the following statement in a general conference of the Church: Drink brings cruelty into the home; it walks arm in arm with poverty; its companions are disease and plague; it puts chastity to flight; it knows neither honesty nor fair dealing; it is a total stranger to truth; it drowns conscience: it is the bodyguard of evil; it curses all who touch it. Drink has brought more woe and misery, broken more hearts, wrecked more homes, committed more crimes, filled more coffins, than all the wars the world has suffered (Conference Report, October 1942, p. 8.) [in LeGrand Richards, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, p. 355].

During World War II, men were called away to fight. In the emergency, wives and mothers worldwide were drawn into the workforce as never before. The most devastating effect of the war was on the family. It lingers to this generation. In the October 1942 general conference, the First Presidency delivered a message to “the Saints in every land and clime,” in which they said, “By virtue of the authority in us vested as the First Presidency of the Church, we warn our people....

Speaking of mothers, the First Presidency said: “This divine service of motherhood can be rendered only by mothers. It may not be passed to others. Nurses cannot do it; public nurseries cannot do it; hired help cannot do it--only mother, aided as much as may be by the loving hands of father, brothers, and sisters, can give the full needed measure of watchful care (Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Nov. 1993, p. 21).

The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet. The living prophet has the power of TNT. By that I mean ‘Today's News Today.’ God's revelations to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the ark. Noah needed his own revelation. Therefore, the most important prophet, so far as you and I are concerned, is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing His will for us. Therefore, the most important reading we can do is any of the words of the prophet contained each... month in our Church magazines. Our marching orders for each six months are found in the general conference addresses, which are printed in the Ensign magazine (Ezra Taft Benson, Fourteen Fundamentals in Following the Prophet, in 1980 Devotional Speeches of the Year [Provo: BYU Press, 1981], p. 27).

How thankful we ought to be... how thankful we are, for a prophet to counsel us in words of divine wisdom as we walk our paths in these complex and difficult times. The solid assurance we carry in our hearts, the conviction that God will make his will known to his children through his recognized servant is the real basis of our faith and activity. We either have a prophet or we have nothing: and having a prophet, we have everything (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p ).

The End...