Sabbathought: President Boyd K. Packer: "Who had it harder, the pioneers or us?"

At Christmas 1997 I was privileged to attend President Boyd K. Packer's ward for sacrament meeting. Apparently he speaks in his home ward once a year, and this was it.

That year (1997) was the sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of the pioneer Saints arriving in the Salt Lake Valley. Throughout the year sacrament talks had centered on pioneer journals and anecdotes to focus us on that salutary event in our history.

In his talk that day President Packer asked a profound question: "We know how hard it was for those brave pioneer Saints to trek across the plains---1500 miles---to Zion. We have heard, throughout this year, of frostbite and feet amputated, of makeshift graves on the plains, of unspeakable heartache and hardship. Question: Who had it harder, the pioneers back then, or us today?"

After a long pause, he continued: "Without any question, we---our young people---have it immeasurably harder. Considering the array of evil that surrounds them and all of us today, it is much harder to fight the adversary and adversity today."

Allow me to share an account which will tend to verify President Packer's statement.

I tuned in to the BYU devotional on the Tuesday following last April's general conference. The speaker was Derek Marquis, managing director of KBYU TV. His talk was centered around the miracle of technology we see today: ipods, cell phones, satellite technology---the whole gamut of it all.

He repeatedly asked, "What's on your playlist?" as he developed his remarks. And then he shared this profound story to illustrate the warning he was eager to impress on the BYU students he was addressing.

Here is the story, in Derek's own words:

Several years ago I was visiting with a friend—Dale Andersen—from Mesa, Arizona. At the time Dale was serving as a stake president in Mesa, and he shared a personal experience with me that, with his permission, I’d like to share with you this morning. He said:

I was preparing for our stake conference and having a bit of a stupor of thought on what I should share with the members of my stake. On the Friday night prior to conference I had a most peculiar dream—one of those dreams that was as real as any experience I have ever had while awake.

I dreamed I was at a family reunion with my entire family—my wife, my children, and my grandchildren. We were all gathered in the backyard of our home and enjoying a wonderful spring afternoon together.

And then I saw a most amazing and beautiful sight. It was a flock of blackbirds—but not an ordinary flock of blackbirds. This was one of those flocks that must have had tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of birds, all flying gracefully in perfect unison.

The birds would dart one direction, and then, as if cued by their leader, they’d immediately dart the other direction. Not a bird missed a beat. I stood there with my family—eyes transfixed. It was beautiful and captivating.

President Andersen continued:

As we watched this spectacle, the birds came closer and closer to us. It was all very exciting to see. And as we watched, we noticed the birds were pairing off two by two, and it appeared as though they were landing in the yards of all of the homes in my neighborhood. I thought this was rather peculiar. And then, as they got closer to my own backyard, the scene began to come into focus, and I realized in an instant that these were not blackbirds after all. These were dark, evil spirits!

Immediately I panicked and yelled to my family to run into the house and to lock the doors and windows. I was frantically trying to make sure all the members of my family were accounted for and safe—my sweetheart, my children, and their children. We ran through the house slamming the windows and shutting the doors and locking them tight. I gathered everyone together in our family room, where we would be safe, but then, as I turned around, there they were. I found myself standing between these two terribly evil beings and my precious family.

President Andersen said:

A window had been left ajar in the basement, and they had found their way into our home.

You know and I know that the adversary and his evil spirits are descending upon our families and trying to find their way into our homes, our apartments, and our dorms. At first they appear to be beautiful, enticing, and captivating—even to the point that, if we are not careful, our families will stand right in their path gazing upon them as though we were extending an open invitation to them to enter our homes.

So again I would ask that you consider the question “What’s on my playlist?”

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As Elder Holland has said: "Two cheers for the internet. . . ."

President George Albert Smith, President of the Church from 1945 to 1951, hailed what he called "the age of inventions." On a flight from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles he dropped a message to a friend as they flew over Saint George (one of the first airmail deliveries?!). Amazingly, the friend got the message! After an overnight stop in Las Vegas President Smith continued on to Los Angeles the next day.

Air travel has improved since those days. President Smith was clear in saying that "the Book of Mormon heralded the age of inventions." As we look closely at the pattern of pushing back the frontiers in science, technology, and every area of human endeavor since the Book of Mormon opened up the work of establishing the Church and kingdom of God in the earth, who can doubt his observation?

And yet, two cheers---not the full three cheers!---for many of the inventions. What is on my playlist indeed! President Packer in a multi-stake conference broadcast from BYU's Marriott Center in December told of many missionaries entering the MTC in Provo with a serious addiction to texting. They need extensive therapy to help them break the habit.

Two cheers . . . only.

These tools, revealed by the Lord in these Last Days to "hasten my work in its time", to speed up the flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon (see Moses 7:62), all to gather covenant Israel in preparation for His coming, and all in fulfillment of ancient prophecies, these tools are good servants but bad masters. Just look around at the vast number of hours young people spend, or rather waste, on video games, texting, tweeting and the rest.

The enemy has hijacked this wonderful technology for his own evil ends.

For a long time the number one destination on the worldwide web has been the LDS Family History site, with millions of visitors. In second place is an evil virus in its many forms.

The battle is heating up, the battle lines are clearly drawn, and we are in the Last Days.

Was it harder for the pioneer Saints or is it harder for us today? The evidence is clear that we must be extremely vigilant over what we allow---invite?---into our homes and into our minds.

The Lord says repeatedly in our Doctrine and Covenants for us to stand in holy places . . . to watch and be sober and vigilant, for "I come quickly". Note His warning and His promise in December 1830:

"Keep all the commandments and covenants by which ye are bound; and I will cause the heavens to shake for your good, and Satan shall tremble and Zion shall rejoice upon the hills and flourish;

"And Israel shall be saved in mine own due time; and by the keys which I have given shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all.

"Lift up your hearts and be glad, your redemption draweth nigh.

"Fear not little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I come quickly. Even so. Amen."

He also said, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."

It is easy for the faithful to see why Brother Packer said in the early 1980s that there is no geographical safety for what is coming, and now---a generation later---is here among us. "The only safety is in the scriptures," he said.

There are those of us who do not believe and act upon this, lulled away into a false sense of carnal security by the enemy and his well-organized host of blackbirds. See 2 Nephi 28.

We exaggerate not.

God bless! Have a lovely weekend and Sabbath Day.

Pass this on to others you know that I don't. Give me your thoughts.

Steve