Now, I came to the point that I needed an answer, not only for the people that I counseled with, but for myself. How does one deal with the tough things of life? I started to fast, and by that night in prayer I received an answer. It was so clear that I started to write it immediately in my journal so I could remember it, and I know of no other way to share it than to just read what I wrote in my journal that troubled night. Here is my journal entry:
It is the adversary, pure and simple. In our world, through media, sales, our own physical selves and our own mortal moment here on earth, we have concentrated on the body. The adversary loves the body as well, especially since he doesn’t have one. By concentrating on it, through pictures – subtle or gross; by being inundated by music that is his, we sense his longing. We sense his anger and his desire. Much of the music has been influenced by Satan. The vanity of dress, adornments, and the never-ending consumption of items that affect the body has all been influenced by him.
We are consumed with thoughts and “isms”: machismo, feminism, intellectualism, and on and on. We are becoming addicted to the body and its needs. Those addictions are food and more food; pornography and physical stimulation; drugs and alcohol; and the dependence on anger to get our way. We have opened the crack to distortions that can destroy us. We need to stop seeing each others’ bodies and love the souls.
We are lovers of ourselves and lovers of things that make us feel good. We are lovers of our own wills. We are in the height of evil because what is normal to us is an abomination to our Father in Heaven. It is hard for us recognize this because of the world we live in.
Let’s take being a woman. Women are lovingness, gentleness, softness that turns away wrath; followers of righteousness to be cherished and protected. The adversary cannot have this. He cannot have a wife or daughters. He lost his right to these blessings. He couldn’t bear the chance of loss and failure so he began to think of ways to perfect these daughters of God to himself by changing the eternal plan. He wanted to call them to him without the sacrifice.
So, the advesary hates what he cannot have and desires to destroy, humiliate, and weaken what he desires the very most. All of the time he uses the very power of God-given procreation and the temptations of youth and manhood to distort and destroy that at one time which was considered pure and beautiful. Not only does he hate and desire the women he can’t obtain, but he also hates the men who have what he has not. Because of this hatred there is an intense battle against these men as well. To those men who stood tall before him in the pre-existence, his rage knows no bounds.
In this battle, that started long ago and one that is still raging today, many are falling. Where has that sacredness of that moment gone, that was so precious to us so long ago? Who has taught us that we must be pretty, more pretty than others? Who taught us that we must dress better than others? Who taught us that our homes must be better than others? Who taught us to adorn ourselves in a sensual way? Who taught us to compete against others? Who has robbed us of the knowledge that our goodness does not count!!
I was staggered by what I had just felt and as I was writing it down, I could see that even though I had an intellectual knowledge of the gospel, and certainly had many spiritual witnesses, the fact was that the most valuable thing about me was my own goodness. Not my looks, not my status, not my education, not my job in the church, not whether my children were perfect or not, but my own goodness. Yes, we do notice others’ goodness, but we notice their standing, finances, cars, and sports abilities more.
It is the world that we listen too, often. It tells us what really makes success. How does the world view success and the things that make us desirable? Well as woman we had better have sex-appeal, whatever that is, and the world constantly gives us great ideas on that. The world tells us how our face should look. We need to be more than pretty. We need to be more than beautiful. We must be alluring. We must be almost wanton to compete.
Our young girls try at an early age to mimic what they see around them. We must be thin. We must look proud. Our clothes should let others know what we have accomplished. We must look successful. Oh, we had better look successful if we want success. We need to hide any of our weaknesses. Yes, and we had better be the best mother, the best organizer, the best housekeeper, the best career person; well, at least we had better be the best at something.
Somehow the words such as honesty, integrity, inner beauty, steadfastness, trustworthiness and loyalty are attributes not listed by the world any more. I can’t remember when those words were used often by those around me and in the media as well. Where had all of that gone?
At this point, I was looking at the whole world, and was grateful for the gospel. Our never-ending gospel has all of the truths that could and would cut through the messages of the world, and put a halt to a very angry and influential Satan is critical in our protection. We have to surround ourselves with this.
Somehow we have to regain our status as sons and daughters of God. Exactly what does that mean? I could see that we could become so steeped in the world that we could not feel what had or was happening to us. Where did I look to see just what a daughter of God was really to be? Where could our young men look to see their role models to know what a son of God was really to be?
We have to look at the gospel and keep it our focus. It has all the answers; it has all the heroes; it has the directions on how to survive. In the world, it is difficult to be different. In fact, it seemed as though there were some men in the church who wanted this worldliness in their women. Should we look backward to get an idea of how we are to be? To some extent yes, but there is also another way to look. It must mean that we needed to look forward. What are we looking forwards to: Zion, the PURE IN HEART.
Talk by R.A. Hess @ Women’s Conference
Riverside Stake, Big Bear Lake, California
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Read Part III
Read Park IV
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