The Persuasions of Men
One
of the characteristics of those who sought the demise and death of Christ in
the New Testament was that they were always very concerned with what the people
thought. They both reacted in fear to their
perception of what the people thought, and they also tried to shape public
opinion against Christ. We see many
examples of this in the New Testament account.
When Christ asked them whether the baptism of John was from heaven or men, they didn’t want to deny John’s authority because “they feared the people” (Mark 11:32). Even though they were supposed to be the masters of the law, they had to say that they didn’t know in response to Jesus’ question because they were afraid of the people’s reaction. After Christ gave them the parable of the wicked husbandmen, obviously condemning them, we read, “And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them” (Luke 20:19). They wanted to take Him, but they were afraid of what the people thought. After Lazarus had been raised from the dead and the Jews were hearing of the incredible miracle, “the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death” (John 12:10). In other words, they wanted to get rid of the evidence so that the people would not be swayed to believe in Jesus because of him. When the Jewish leaders came after him at night at the Mount of Olives, He called them out on the fact that what they were doing in private they had be afraid to do in public: “Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me” (Matt. 26:55). They were afraid to arrest him in public because of the people, so they had to take him illegally and in secret by night. After Christ’s body disappeared, the chief priests took counsel and gave a large amount of money to the soldiers telling them, “Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept” (Matt. 28:13). Again they were afraid that the people might believe on Him and so they sought to control public opinion. After Christ’s ascension, Peter and John escaped out of prison through the hand of an angel and taught in the temple. The leaders of the Jews had them brought but “without violence: for they feared the people” (Acts 5:26). The Jewish leaders were always trying to work around and shape public opinion to accomplish their designs of destroying the work of Jesus. The reason for this was simple: they were in the wrong and they knew it. They feared man more than they feared God, and their lives were governed so much by the “persuasions of men” that they “set at naught the counsels of God” (D&C 3:6-7). Joseph Smith had that problem once as this scripture points out, but these leaders in Jesus’ day defined their whole lives by it.
When Christ asked them whether the baptism of John was from heaven or men, they didn’t want to deny John’s authority because “they feared the people” (Mark 11:32). Even though they were supposed to be the masters of the law, they had to say that they didn’t know in response to Jesus’ question because they were afraid of the people’s reaction. After Christ gave them the parable of the wicked husbandmen, obviously condemning them, we read, “And the chief priests and the scribes the same hour sought to lay hands on him; and they feared the people: for they perceived that he had spoken this parable against them” (Luke 20:19). They wanted to take Him, but they were afraid of what the people thought. After Lazarus had been raised from the dead and the Jews were hearing of the incredible miracle, “the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death” (John 12:10). In other words, they wanted to get rid of the evidence so that the people would not be swayed to believe in Jesus because of him. When the Jewish leaders came after him at night at the Mount of Olives, He called them out on the fact that what they were doing in private they had be afraid to do in public: “Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me” (Matt. 26:55). They were afraid to arrest him in public because of the people, so they had to take him illegally and in secret by night. After Christ’s body disappeared, the chief priests took counsel and gave a large amount of money to the soldiers telling them, “Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept” (Matt. 28:13). Again they were afraid that the people might believe on Him and so they sought to control public opinion. After Christ’s ascension, Peter and John escaped out of prison through the hand of an angel and taught in the temple. The leaders of the Jews had them brought but “without violence: for they feared the people” (Acts 5:26). The Jewish leaders were always trying to work around and shape public opinion to accomplish their designs of destroying the work of Jesus. The reason for this was simple: they were in the wrong and they knew it. They feared man more than they feared God, and their lives were governed so much by the “persuasions of men” that they “set at naught the counsels of God” (D&C 3:6-7). Joseph Smith had that problem once as this scripture points out, but these leaders in Jesus’ day defined their whole lives by it.
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