Ponder the Path

Rebuking Satan and discerning the Lord’s Voice from Satan and the voices of the world. The first application of the atonement we will study and discuss requires that we recognize the voice of the Lord and discern what voices are of the devil. Once we can discern what is of the devil we can use the power of Christ to command the devil to leave us. The Lies of Satan “Whenever the adversary cannot persuade imperfect yet striving Saints such as you to abandon your belief in a personal and loving God, he employs a vicious campaign to put as much distance as possible between you and God… he will seek access to your heart to tell you lies—lies that Heavenly Father is disappointed in you, that the Atonement is beyond your reach, that there is no point in even trying, that everyone else is better than you, that you are unworthy, and a thousand variations of that same evil theme.” “As long as you allow these voices to chisel away at your soul, you can’t approach the throne of God with real confi...

We’ve come to the end of this study and thorough examination of the commandments of God and His expectations of our obedience to them. We have looked at the consequences of keeping the commandments and rebellion against them, but at the center of all is the principle of love for God, for as Christ has said: “If ye love me keep my commandments.” — John 14:15 I love the word keep in this scripture. Keep means “to have and retain possession of something.” We have been given God’s commandments as a precious gift, and he wants us to possess them, to retain them, for them to become part of us. To keep call also mean: “cause to continue in a specified course.” Is this not what the commandments to for us when we make them the guide by which we live, when we are diligent in our striving to obey them? Another definition of keep is: “continue doing or do repeatedly or habitually.” As we keep his commandments, the living of them becomes habitual until we become as He intends us to be, even as He i...

The greatest antidote to covetousness and all its attendant vices and sins, is to live a humble and grateful life oriented toward love of God and all men. “And in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things, and obey not his commandments.” — Doctrine & Commandments 59:21 How can one know whether your desire for something is a righteous desire or covetousness (unrighteous desire)? There are two basic ways to judge, 1) Is your desire also God’s desire for you? 2) Are you seeking to acquire that desire in God’s way? Of course, in order to answer these questions honestly, a person must be living a life dedicated to feasting on the words of Christ through scripture study and prayer, that they might discover what God desires for them to do and what it means to live in God’s way. When we live our lives with a humble and grateful heart, and a love for God and our fellowmen, we will be spiritually inclined toward compa...

Covetousness is a quality of the carnally minded. It is synonymous with other carnal sins such as envy, contention, divisions, thievery, adultery, and murder. Envying leads to strife and divisions. Covetousness is characterized by pride and selfishness, which leads to conceit and rebellion. Covetousness and its related sins and vices lead to perilous times marked by conspiring men whose lusts inspire secret criminal combinations. The rampant disobedience to the final five “Thou shalt nots” will bring about the destruction foretold by prophets. “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?” — 1 Corinthians 3:3 “They covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.” — Micah 2:2 “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasph...

The sin of covetousness is not related to how much a person has, a person can be rich and never be satisfied. The poor are just as likely to find contentment in their need as the rich. Covetousness afflicts the poor and the rich. “From the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness.” — Jeremiah 6:13 The nature of covetousness is the restlessness of never having enough to satisfy. As the proud and covetous man looks always to his own way and for his own gain, meaningful contentment will ever elude him. “They are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.” — Isaiah 56:11 Weather rich or poor, when life is focused first on the material, there will never be enough to satisfy, but rich or poor, when spiritual welfare is the first priority and it rules the material, then even when giving the last mite, there will be inner peace and satisf...

When we love our own property more than doing the will of God, when our love for our things causes us to be unwilling to be generous or sacrificing, then we covet our own property. It is important to note here, that God wants heartfelt freewill offerings. Charity is powerful in its ability to change both the giver and receiver, but the power is lost when the offering is not free, when it is required. Those who see taxes for social welfare as Christian, misunderstand the essential need for freewill giving. “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” — 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: and giveth it willingly with his heart.” — Exodus 25:2 “For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.” — Deuteronomy 15:11 “Give to him ...

“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” — Exodus 20:17 Coveting is not an innocent yearning or simple desire to possess or have something, coveting in a scriptural sense is an unholy desire that expresses itself in greed, envy, jealous lusts, entitlement and ingratitude. It is a grievous sin because it leads to the pursuit of self over all. Covetousness seeks to tear others down in an avarice ambition and self-promotion. It is a wanting that is not satisfied. We can come to understand the sin of covetousness by looking at its opposite. The opposite attitude is characterized by a generous nature, a grateful heart, and a selfless desire. A person without a covetous nature is a humble hard-working person who is satisfied with the life God has given them. They seek self-improvement for godly purposes and accept the trials and tribulations...

For the final topic in the study of the 9th Commandment, the scriptures have quite a lot to say about false preaching. To lie and deceive by preaching the lies of Satan as though they are the words of God is particularly harmful because of the power of words on the immortal soul. “The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.” — Jeremiah 28:15 “Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad… and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.” — Ezekiel 13:22 “Then the Lord said unto me… I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision… a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.” — Jeremiah 14:14 “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by...

The commandments attendant to the 9th commandment, are all those commandments related to evil speech in general. We are commanded to cease from all filthy language, profanity, corse and lewd speech, insults, flattery, slander, gossip, etc. “My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.” — Job 27:4 “Put off all these; ANGER, WRATH, MALICE, BLASPHEMY, FILTHY COMMUNICATION out of your mouth. LIE NOT one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” — Colossians 3:8-10 In “the transgression of the wicked… there is no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes… THE WORDS OF HIS MOUTH ARE INIQUITY AND DECIET: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.” — Psalms 36:1-4 “For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; their in...

“The devil… was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” — John 8:44 When Christ described the devil, he said he was the father of lies, but he also said he was a murderer from the beginning. What did he mean by that? How was he a murderer being unembodied? There is a clue to this in Revelations: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” — Revelations 12:7-9 From the war in Heaven, Satan was responsible for the spiritual death of those who followed him, and he continues to be responsible for spiritual death. Through his l...

Today we will look at scriptures that teach us to be honest with ourselves and God. This type of honesty is often referred to as integrity because it has the effect of making our actions consistent with our professed belief. This is the type of honesty that keeps us honest even when no one is watching or listening. Inconsistency between word and deed is a type of self-deception. “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” — James 1:22 We all have sinned, and will sin. If we seek to know what we lack and what we must set right, God will show us, but to do this we must first be honest with ourselves. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” — I John 1:8-10 Often self-deception comes as a result of pride. We often think w...