40 Day Walk with Christ - Day 2

Read 2 Nephi 22-33
Mark & Ponder 2 Nephi 28:8
Scripture of the day: "And it shall come to pass, that if ye are faithful you shall receive the fullness of the record of John. I give unto you these sayings that you may understand and know how to worship and know what you worship, that you may come unto the Father in my name, and in due time receive of His fullness." (D&C 93: 18-19)
Thought for the day: "I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I just wanted to read the book." (Parley P Pratt's first reading of the Book of Mormon)

Why do this walk with Christ?  Why is it important to focus on Christ and really come to know Him?  One reason that I've kind of been thinking about and was covered in the reading for today is because Satan does such a good job of imitating Christ (appearing as an angel of light) that you need to know Christ well enough to know the difference.  Satan is a master manipulator and a master deceiver.  He doesn't just come out and show you who he is and what he's about (not until you're so evil he doesn't need to worry about it anymore at least).  He makes good appear evil and evil appear good.

The reason I've thinking about this is because of what I see in the news everyday. All the socialistic programs the government is forcing on us have Satan written all over them (I'm not saying the people putting them into place are evil, just that they've been deceived).  Is it good to take care of the poor?  YES!  We are commanded multiple times in the scriptures to take care of the poor and are given very serious consequences if we don't.  The Savior wants us to make the choice to take care of the poor out of compassion and charity.  Satan's plan is always to force people to do things and take away our agency.  So...the government creating more and more programs to force us to take care of the poor is Satan's plan.  Yes, we should take care of those who have less than we do.  Yes, we should take care of the elderly, the widows, the fatherless, etc.  But we need to make that choice.  We need to develop compassion for others.  We need to develop charity (the pure love of Christ) for others.  We develop those attributes by voluntarily giving of our substance to those who need it.  Satan doesn't want us to develop those attributes.  It is so frustrating when people say you don't care about the poor people who don't have healthcare just because you don't agree with Obamacare.  Forcing the people into slavery by creating so many government programs and raising our taxes through the roof isn't good for anyone.  It isn't good for those whose wealth is redistributed and it isn't good for those who receive the redistributed wealth.  Have you noticed the attitude of entitlement that is developing in this country?  I can't tell you how many times I've heard statements like "I can't believe the government expects me to support 3 kids on the amount of money they give me." "Why would I try to find a job when I can make more collecting unemployment?" "We should raise taxes on the rich because they don't deserve that much money or they don't need that much money."  WHAT???  This attitude of entitlement is growing rampant in our country because of the all the government hand-outs and bail-outs.  The people giving money don't have the chance to develop Christ-like attributes because they are forced to give their money away through taxes, many of the people receiving money become entitled instead of developing Christ-like humility and gratitude.  Obviously, this isn't true for everyone.  There are many people out there truly in need and are very grateful for the help.  They aren't bad people for taking advantage of government programs.  The problem is the system.  It is turning more and more into a Satan-centered system than a Christ-centered system and most people don't even notice.  They believe Satan's lies.  They want to help people and Satan's plan sounds like a good way to help people.  That's why Satan is so good at what he does. 

Another example: recently President Packer made a statement about homosexuality in conference and a lot of people were in an uproar about it and had a protest at the temple.  So many people are deceived by Satan's lies.  The Lord loves gay and lesbian people just as much as heterosexual people.  Having feelings towards members of the same sex is a temptation and trial I can't even imagine having to live with.  But having those feelings isn't the sin.  Acting on those feelings is.  Just the same as acting on the temptation to fornicate, or commit adultery, or steal, or lie, or drink, or murder, or rape, or a hundred other things.  We all have our temptations and trials in this life and what we're tempted with doesn't make us bad people.  We are supposed to love one another.  We are not supposed to judge.  We are to treat everyone with kindness, respect, and love.  This is good.  Satan's lie is that believing homosexuality is wrong means you are hateful, judgemental, and are causing people to commit suicide.  Not true.  He takes something good (loving all people, treating them with kindness and respect, etc) and distorts it.  I can love my friend that's gay and love my friend that fornicates and love my friend that does drugs.  It doesn't make any of those things ok but it also doesn't mean I'm hateful or judgemental just because I believe those things are wrong.

In 2 Nephi 28: 21 it says "...the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away CAREFULLY down to hell."  Satan is tricky.  He knows how to manipulate and deceive.  He knows how to play on people's goodness and ever so carefully lead them further and further away from the truth.  It can happen to any of us.  That's why we must always focus on Christ and His teachings so we will always see through his tricks and not fall prey to his treachery.