Fighting with fire

These men had an idea. Although they thought it was their own idea, it was given to them by father of deception, and they decided to let the thought stay and grow in their hearts.

This Joseph Smith was clearly lying to the public about the gold Bible that he had.

He was deceiving many people into supporting and believing him as he went through a “translation” process.

And it made these men mad.

But then the idea came and stayed:

Why don’t we steal the transcripted pages, alter them, and then frame Joseph after he re-translates!

Sure, it involves lying and deception on our end, too, but it’s okay because we are exposing lying and deception.

And thus the plan was put in place, and a book of scripture was lost to our generation.

It’s so tempting, right?

If someone is angry with me, I’m going to become angry at them, too.

If someone is outraged at something, I’m going to become outraged at how outraged they are.

If someone complains a lot to me, I’m going to complain to other people about how much they complain.

It’s so tempting to fight sin with the same type of sin, and feel justified doing it.

But that’s exactly what it is… a temptation.

From the great tempter.

Satan wants us to believe that we are justified in sinning, and he’ll use any strategy to get us there.

And I think he has succeeded quite a bit with this strategy in particular – sinning with the illusion that it will help cancel someone else’s sin.

Or that it is a normal reaction to someone else’s sin.

It’s an overwhelming reality to recognize that we are fully in charge of our own actions.

And that we will be judged according to what we know and what we do.

I also think that fully overcoming this temptation takes a lifetime of effort, love, and commitment to integrity.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black