Show The Tempter Is Still Busy I. I f As we the listened to the Salt Lake Tabernacle choir bi broadcast Sunday morning we heard beautifully rendered that grand Mor Mol Mormon Mormon mon hymn Come Come Ye Saints And that second verse started started start start- O ed eda a train of thought Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard not so all is right v Why should we think to earn a great reward A If we now v shun the fight 5 Gird loins fresh courage take up your Our God will never us forsake 4 t And soon well we'll have this truth to tell All is well all is well j We thought of Columbus of Washington of Lincoln of or Churchill in the dark days of early V World orld War II We Ve wondered just what would have happened had these men given up the fight and sought lives of ease Yes and we thought back to the greatest character of all history Christ Christ and and the temptations that came to Him to shun the fight Just what would have happened to Him had He yielded t to the tempter and turned stones into bread something for noth noth- WT ing mg when he ne was hungry and ana weaK from irom lasting fasting What would would WOUla have been the condition of the hopes and ideals of the world today had He accepted the kingdoms and glory of the world in exchange for the obligations of the holy mission to which He had been called How truly He spoke when He said Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that out of the mouth of God And how timely were His other replies to the tempter including Thou worship the Lord thy God and Him only thou serve Then the devil Him and behold angels came and ministered unto him And thus Christ rejected the something-for-nothing something idea rejected the offer of riches and power and pleasure from the hands of another in exchange for giving up his individual responsibility self respect and divine calling Then came heavenly powers to tos s strengthen Him and help Him carry carryon on in the fight against evil and death And we thought how Christianity teaches that each i individual individual divi- divi dual born into the world has some special mission some special work that he or she alone can accomplish While no mortal mission mission mission mis mis- sion is as great as was that of the Christ yet the results of giving up ones one's individual responsibility and freedom in exchange for prom promised sed material blessings can be just as disastrous to the individual individual individual indi indi- vidual as would Christs Christ's giving up to the tempter have been to Him and to the world The Bible story of Christs Christ's temptation is told in so few words and so simply that it is generally passed over as a minor affair Yet it was one of the greatest events in His life It set the pattern for all mankind when tempted with something for nothing I And today the tempter is still working most cleverly to lead men and women to give up their divinely appointed missions in life in exchange for a promise of some material gift or pleasure And many are listening to the tempting promises and are willing villing willingto to sacrifice their individual responsibilities and opportunities to give up their divine missions in exchange for the bait held out in one form fonn or another 59 Ill I'll T When you are tempted weigh the promises against divinely Established principles Does the bait offered involve the breaking of some God-given God directive If it is something-for-nothing something that is a it form of stealing and ande the e law Thou not steal has never been repealed Does it involve covetousness the unholy desire for that tha for which another has worked Thou riot not covet still stands as a divine warning and guide to man Does it involve hatred of an individual or of a class such as the oft maligned and N vilified capitalists It is still written Love one another Yes the tempter still tempts in many clever ways but al alays always always al- al ways ays he seeks to io lead men to shun their individual responsibility and forsake divinely established morality to accept material benefits benefits benefits bene- bene fits which soon pass away in exchange for spiritual values which are eternal Too many of the worlds world's leaders today are overlooking these spiritual values and are seeking to solve the ills of the world through material means alone forgetting that divine dictum Man ManI I shall not live by bread alone but by every word that h out of the mouth of God I And too many men and women are falling for the bait o othe of f the tempter and are soon unhappy covetous hateful True an and d lasting happiness can come only from carrying on in our divinely appointed missions be those missions in the rear rear ranks or in in fh he forefront of the battle against evil More and more should people young and old ponder those divinely inspired words I 1 v How can we think to earn a great reward 0 Jt If K we ve now shun the fight i 1 TJ ft i Gird up your loins fresh courage take Our God will vill never us forsake And soon well we'll have this truth to tell All is well all is well Yes all can be well with any individual no matter what his I t 0 trials and tribulations if he will but carry on on in his divinely appointed ap ap- pointed mission and refuse to yield to the tempting bait held out by y the wily vily tempter |