Mormon Musings

There are too many among us who shake hands with the devil; and while this is so the Lord cannot bless this people as He wants to bless them. Were He to pour out the multiplicity of blessings He has in store upon them now, it would send many of them to destruction; otherwise His great blessings will save them when they understand them. It is necessary we should live near to the Lord. I am not obliged to mingle with evil because it surrounds me. An Elder whose duty calls him into the Gentile world can keep himself as pure and as holy as he was in the midst of the Saints. He may enwrap himself as in a cloak against every evil that would surround his footsteps. It is in the power of every man to resist the devil, and he will flee from him. He will not take possession of any man’s heart unless he makes him a welcome inhabitant and invites him to share in his affections. It is in the power of every man and every woman not to give way to evil thoughts and speak evil against their nei...

It is not the great things of the kingdom that cause men to fall away and go to destruction. It is the small things of life—matters of traffic and deal, upon which people stumble. Large mountains are magnified from small molehills, and they loom out greater and greater the longer persons travel in that path. Daniel H. Wells, Journal of Discourses 7:295

Let us do these things, and remain prayerful and humble before the Lord, and see if he will not pour out a blessing greater than we have ever yet enjoyed. But when the blessing comes, there is the danger. Let us remember that we are always dependent on the great God, the giver of all good. Do the world realize this? He will make this people know it, and make them understand that they are, whether he does the world or not. If the past will not suffice, we shall be chastened until we do understand that we are dependent on Him, and that we have to walk by faith. Can we walk by faith? He is trying some of us, I think. Do you feel afraid that you will not have plenty to eat? I never do. I recollect a circumstance that took place with myself in 1849. I was living in a family of twelve persons, and we were out of provisions. A neighbour, whose family was sick, informed me that he had not anything in the house to eat. I told him to call and I would give him some flour. I went out to get som...

http://jdquotes.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/the-spirit-of-the-lord-gives-life/

Herein is the warfare in which we are engaged, and which we shall continue to wage, as long as we live on the earth. For the evil one is ready, if we will listen to him, to lead us astray and to cause us to make shipwreck of our most holy faith; he will cause light to appear as darkness, and darkness as light, and he will lead us down to destruction if we are not continually on our guard against his wiles and suggestions. But if we observe the principles of the Gospel and the commandments of the Lord our God, they will bring us peace in the life that now is as well as in that which is to come. Some people seem to think that the pursuits so prevalent in the world are all that are worth living for, and that they will find joy and happiness therein. But such pleasures are neither solid nor lasting, and there is nothing that can be considered real, genuine joy and pleasure within the reach of the human family, but what is to be found within the purview of the everlasting Gospel. The G...

We are placed here on the earth that we may be tested. We are very independent beings, we have our agency, and can choose the road to life or the road to death, just as we please. If we would secure eternal life we shall have to take a course to command the confidence of our Father in heaven, and to accomplish this, we must not be weary in well doing, for it is said that only they who endure will receive the reward. Endure what? Why, the trials, temptations and difficulties that we may have to encounter in the path which the Gospel marks out. Our path, as followers of the Savior, is beset with evil on every side, and with influences which, if yielded to, will bring us under the power of the oppressor. They may seem alluring, to a greater or less extent, and so they are, for the power of evil has great influence in the earth. The wealth of the earth has long been controlled by the evil one, and he has bestowed it upon whomsoever he has seen fit. Perhaps this has been ordered so in t...