A Day of Deception

One of the themes of the Joseph Smith Matthew account in the Pearl of Great Price is the danger of being deceived.  The Savior warned the disciples of dangers in their day: “Take heed that no man deceive you; For many shall come in my name, saying—I am Christ—and shall deceive many…. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many” (v5-9).  He gave the same warning for our time in the last days: “In those days there shall also arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch, that, if possible, they shall deceive the very elect, who are the elect according to the covenant” (v22).  In both dispensations there would be false Christs and false prophets who would seek to deceive the children of men in spiritual matters.  That is certainly what we see today.  Elder Lawrence Corbridge made this statement in a recent talk, “There are many who deceive, and the spectrum of deception is broad. At one end we meet those who attack the Restoration, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon…. At the far end of the spectrum we come to an entire universe of distractions. Never has there been more information, misinformation, and disinformation; more goods, gadgets, and games; and more options, places to go, and things to see and do to occupy time and attention away from what is most important. And all of that and much more is disseminated instantaneously throughout the world by electronic media. This is a day of deception.”  Not only will people deceive us, but the unending distractions the world offer us will likewise serve to deceive us about what is truly important.   

               I’ve typically thought of false Christs only as religious leaders who make fantastic claims and use their influence to lead people to do atrocious things, such as participate in a mass suicide.  But, as Elder Corbridge stated, it is not just people, but also the things of the world that deceive us about what is most important.  Could not our electronic gadgets and shows and sports and anything else that pulls us away from a focus on the Savior be false Christs?  That is what I believe President Kimball was telling us in his famous talk The False Gods We Worship.  He stated in 1976, “Many people spend most of their time working in the service of a self-image that includes sufficient money, stocks, bonds, investment portfolios, property, credit cards, furnishings, automobiles, and the like to guarantee carnal security throughout, it is hoped, a long and happy life.”  We could certainly add many more types of electronics and sporting events and games available today that people focus so intently on, but the message is the same: these things we seek after can become false Gods that we worship, they are at least in part the false Christs of today that we place our desires and focus on instead of what truly matters in the Lord’s eyes.  President Kimball summarized, “We must leave off the worship of modern-day idols and a reliance on the “arm of flesh,” for the Lord has said to all the world in our day, “I will not spare any that remain in Babylon.’”

President Nelson gave a poignant example of this in his recent general conference message.  He quoted a sister who told him this: “[My daughters and I] feel we are in fierce competition for our husbands’ and sons’ undivided attention, with 24/7 sports updates, video games, stock market updates, [and] endless analyzing and watching of games of every [conceivable] sport. It feels like we’re losing our front-row seats with our husbands and sons because of their permanent front-row seats with [sports and games].”  He encouraged us to not let these things became first priority in our lives: “Take an inventory of how you spend your time and where you devote your energy. That will tell you where your heart is.”  If we don’t want to be deceived by the people or thins of things of the world in our day, if we don’t want to succumb to the numerous false Christs that seek for our devotion, we must be able to put the true Christ first in our lives.  The Savior summarized this antidote to avoid this deception in the Joseph Smith Matthew account: “Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived” (v37).  If we treasure up His word, in the scriptures and from modern prophets and from the Holy Ghost, and put that at the center of our lives and the focus of our hearts, then we can avoid the great deceptions of our day.