Core Values? No!

Mitch Romney's talk on Core Values given to the Wheatly Institute at the BYU Marriott School of Business on November 12, 2025, has to have been celebrated--but not by angels! I believe that Satan rejoices when we focus on values rather than on choosing Good or Evil!*

What? Blasphemy you say! How can Satan celebrate a talk on values, especially one given by a prominent politician, who is also a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? 

For several reasons. First and foremost values deflect us from the Lord's plan of redemption. And it comes from someone who should know better. 

Where does the idea of American values come from if not from God? From philosophy, German philosophy to be exact; from Nietzsche and Max Weber mostly, and adopted without question by America. 

"Value creation is the activity that writes a table of laws by which a people is constituted and lives, and which justfies the lives they live. This is, as Nietzsche tells us, the nut in the shell of existence" (The Closing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom).

Weber is of particular interest to us because he was the chosen apostle for the American promised land, creator of the work ethic. 

After Hitler, everybody scurried back under the protective cover of morality, but practically no one turned to serious thought about Good and Evil. Otherwise we would not be talking about values. Values replaced Good and Evil. The doctrine of the Two Ways was dead. So Nietzsche was right when he said "God is dead". Values not only replaced the choice between Good and Evil, but also made God, who is the ultimate Good, of no account because values would override the choice of Good, or substitute values and call them good.

These philosophers understood what “value” really means. It had taken the softening of all convictions and the blurring of all distinctions, for sacred values to be thought of as good, not so good, not so bad, or as bad, and to come into its own here, not only in American, but in Mormon culture as well. 

This philosophy is so ingrained in American culture, and gives rise to slogans and terms such as:

We have nothing to fear but fear itself.

I'm OK. You're OK.

Lifestyle and worldview 

Be yourself!

Be original!

Let go!

I have my values and you have yours.

Family values

Business values

Ethical behavior

Core values or those really important values. 

As Romney said:

“We face right now some real challenges, and are highly divided,” said Romney.

“If we share those values and live by those values, then we can bring ourselves back together.”

Values are relative on a scale that we carefully maintain in order to protect our appearance and our worldview. They are also designed to disrespect others' worldviews, so when we speak of choice, we mean there are no necessary consequences, except maybe disapproval. But they are my choices, so respect them, and I will respect yours!

We have no-fault insurance, no-fault divorce and now no-fault choices. Whatever values we embrace, there are no consequences as long as they do not disrupt our chosen lifestyle. 

Values justify what a person choses as opposed to what he could have chosen.

Values takes the place of Good and Evil, but the irony is that by replacing the choice between Good and Evil, we have chosen Evil.

Since values are not rational and not grounded in the natures of those subject to them, they must be imposed. They must defeat opposing values. Producing values and believing in them are acts of the will.

Commitment values the values and makes them valuable. Not love of truth but intellectual honesty characterizes the proper state of mind. There is no truth in values,

It is not the truth of thought that distinguishes them, but its capacity to generate culture. A value is only a value if it is life-preserving and life-enhancing. And I would also say, they preserve one's self identity.

Cultures fight wars with one another. They must do so because values can only be asserted or posited by overcoming others, not by reasoning with them.

The very idea of culture carries with it a value: man needs culture and must do what is necessary to create and maintain cultures.

To adapt a formula of Plato about the gods, we do not love a thing because it is good, it is good because we love it. It is our decision to esteem that makes something estimable. We substitute His Goodness with ours.

The physicist wants to save his atoms; the historian, his events; the moralist, his values. But they are all equally relative. Rationality is only the activity of providing good reasons for what has no reason or is unreasonable.

Men’s “worldviews” or “values” determine their history, their present and their future. They are trapped by their culture. Plato's Cave warns that the culture we are born into—its beliefs, media, and social systems (its values)—can become a prison that makes us mistake mere appearances for reality, and I would add, for truth. 

Those interested in the business of making money do not seem to recognize, when they use this language, that they are admitting that their “rational” system needs a moral supplement in order to work, hence the creation of ethics and values, or as Romney says 'core values' to make it even more desirable, more special and more accepting. 

A religion must, it seems, be invented for the sole purpose of defending capitalism.

Compare what God has revealed about only having two choices, or the  doctrine of the “Two Ways.” 

No teaching is more frequently met with nor more emphatically brought home in the earliest Christian literature than the famous doctrine of the “Two Ways,” which proclaims that there lies before every human being and before the church itself only two roads between which a choice must be made. The one is the road of darkness, the way of evil; the other, the way of light. 

Every man must chose between the two every day of his life; that choosing is the most important thing he does, and the two ways, good and evil, are absolutely essential to God’s plan. 

There is nothing weak or vicious in the arrangement, for every man is clearly given to understand that as he chooses so he will be judged. He will be judged by God in the proper time and place. Meantime he must be free, perfectly free, to choose his own way.

"Say unto this people: Choose ye this day, to serve the Lord God who made you" (Moses 6:33).

"And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good.

And it is given unto them to know good from evil; wherefore they are agents unto themselves, and I have given unto you another law and commandment" (Moses 6:55-56).

"How long will ye halt between two opinions" (1 Kings 18-21)?

"Choose you this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15).

There is no reference to values or culture in the scriptures, but I did find this from Elder Gong where he quoted President Oaks (from a talk given in 2021) as saying, “There is a unique gospel culture, a set of values and expectations and practices common to all [the] members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Gospel culture includes chastity, weekly attendance at church, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, tea, and coffee. It includes honesty and integrity, understanding we move forward, not upward or downward, in Church positions" (No One Sits Alone, Elder Gerrit W. Gong, October 2025 General Conference).

And yet God has given us our agency is to see whether we will choose either Good (God) or Evil (Satan). That is our test here, our only test. Other choices may impact our lives here, they may even align with our culture, but they have nothing to do with His plan of redemption. 

See more on only two choices.

*Good and Evil are capitalized as a reminder that God defines who is Good and who is Evil, and that we are revealing to God every day, every minute, every second, which one we choose.

Ask Wally

Wally,

I am having a difficult time with the church, and I don't know how to reconcile what I have been taught, and what I read in the scriptures, particularly concerning being nourished continually by the word of God in Moroni 6:4, and not a watered down version of His words.

I read in the Book of Mormon that the "churches met together so that they could "hear the word of God" (Mosiah 25:20). And there "was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance and faith in God" (Mosiah 25:22).

I do not understand why we are, it seems to me, required to use General Conference talks in Priesthood and Relief Society classes, and even in Sacrament meetings, when we have the written records which we are taught contain the word of God. It concerns me a great deal and is starting to make me wonder why we even have a General Conference. It is as if General Conference is justified just so the talks can be published and used as our learning curriculum. And it changes every six months. 

Abigail

Hi Abigail,

I have often wondered the same thing. While it is possible to hear the word of God spoken at General Conference, it is best if we believe Christ when He tells us to rely on the written records. In fact He always emphasizes the scriptures (the written records) over the teachings of men mingled with scriptures. Moroni’s admonition to nourish members with the word of God is the Lord's teaching. 

This said, there is a major gap between what is supposed to be taught, and what is actually taught in our meetings. If you are not being nourished by the word of God in your meetings, my advice is to search the scriptures while attending your meetings. While this may seem rude, you are at least being fed. That being said, you should not rely alone on others to teach you. It is up to you to seek and know the word of God. If you know or think someone has the gift of knowledge, you should seek that person out and asked to be taught. More

Best to you, Wally

Wally,

I have two questions, but they are related. First, my grandson lost his Church membership at a disciplinary council. Second, my cousin asked that her name be removed from the Church records. 

Questions: 

Are their baptisms still valid, even though neither is a member of record? or

Do they need to be re-baptized, and be members of record of the Church  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Latter-day Saints in order to repent, so as not to be under the bondage of sin?

Mindy

Hi Mindy,

When an adult person is baptized by proper authority, and the baptism was the first fruits of their repentance, then they are baptized unto repentance, or baptized so they can continue to repent. They kept the commandment of their Father to be baptized, and in order to keep the commandment to repent, they must be baptized. 

Let's compare your son's and cousin's experiences, to someone who has not had records removed, but simply has gone inactive. In the latter case, it seems there is no question but that the person was born of the water, baptized unto repentance, and if he decides to turn and repent, there is no need to be baptized again. 

While the Church's position will differ, the baptism in both cases is still a born of the water experience, and both of them, if they decide, can continue to repent without having to be baptized again. But if they want to be in full fellowship with the organized Church, the Church will require a new baptism, which is the Church's right to do so. But according to D&C 10:67-70, only those who repent are of His church, regardless of Church membership.

But, according to the Church, re-baptism is the ordinance required to restore the full blessings and covenant status within the established structure of the Church.

I would say to your Son and Cousin, however, that if they decide to repent, to ask God what is best for them, just repentance, or repentance and church membership. As the fruits of their repentance will include saying nothing but repentance to others, there is no better place to do so than among active Church members.

Best to you, Wally

Sons & Daughters of God

"Marvel not that all mankind, yea, men and women, all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, must be born again; yea, born of God, changed from their carnal and fallen state, to a state of righteousness, being redeemed of God, becoming his sons and daughters... (Mosiah 27:25 emphasis added).

Becoming "his sons and daughters" is an exalted state, and is not the same as being God's children, as all of the family of Adam are God's children. Let me explain. According to Isaiah, there is an ascension into heaven whereby we move either up this ladder or down. The higher we ascend, the closer we get to God and the more like Him we become. Conversely, the lower we descend, the farther away we get from God and the less like Him we become. I do not like the term ascend as it may imply that it is through our own efforts, but it is definitely a movement upward as we receive and become more. Each rebirth on a higher level is like an awakening from sleep to a deeper awareness, as in more intelligence or more light and truth as we become more like Him. 

The levels he describes are:

Seraphs

Sons-Daughters/Servants

Zion/Jerusalem

Jacob/Israel 

Babylon 

These are listed in order with Babylon being the lowest, keeping in mind that at the endtime, Babylon and everything and everyone in it will be destroyed. Over time we grow ignorant of anything but Babylon, and by choosing falsely or by aborting life's tests, we forfeit being reborn on higher levels. Isaiah characterizes Babylon as saying: "I exist, and other than I there is nothing!" 

People just can't imagine that the end of their world draws near. They have lost touch with the source of salvation, and they put themselves out of reach of deliverance. By rejecting the true God, who gave us the ability to choose for ourselves, in the end they fall into the hands of a false God, or one who wants to be God, who will speak to them in a foreign tongue, the King of Assyria / Babylon.

Jacob/Israel is a beginning point on Isaiah’s ladder to heaven. Ancient Israel's exile from the Promised Land sets the stage for modern Israel's return. In an endtime setting Jacob/Israel comprises people of all nations whom God seeks to reclaim. For us the Ephramite Gentiles who have been gathered, most still remain in the Jacob/Israel category, having entered into the covenant, but who, while religious, are not repenting, and while giving lip service, are not coming to Christ. We will, however, have to move, in one direction or the other, from the Jacob/Israel category. We will either receive more and ascend to the Zion/ Jerusalem level, or receive less and be captured in Babylon. It is better to be ascending now than to wait for the endtime. "I will not spare any that remain in Babylon" (D&C 64:24).

In the endtime, the Jacob/Israel category ceases to exist. These make up those who believe in God, but who have not yet turned to Christ, are not yet repenting. God challenges Jacob/Israel to cease clinging to the false idea of him, to do more than merely believe that He exists. They must choose between the true God--the Savior--and the false gods who cannot save. They must choose between Christ and Babylon. 

Even the earth will ascend to the Zion/Jerusalem level as it enters the millennial age. At the end of the world, God destroys Babylon and delivers Zion/Jerusalem. Jacob/Israel disappears into the categories above or below.

According to Isaiah, "Israel" represents those who have renewed the covenant but who are not repenting. "Jacob" represents those who believe in God but who have not yet entered into the covenant or have not yet been baptized. Both groups can, however, ascend to the next level by keeping God's commandment to repent and turn to Him, and then by entering into the new and everlasting covenant.

Simply calling ourselves God's covenant people will not decide our destiny at the end of the world. A person may confess that he is committed to God but at the same time pursues antichrist activities, while not even recognizing these activities as being antichrist. These activities can even be fun, stimulating and rewarding activities.

Zion/Jerusalem consists of those who are repenting, who do more than just believe. These have passed the test and recognize that whatever invites them to love God--to covenant with Him to keep His law and word (are repenting)--is of God, and whatever entices them away from God, to break faith with Him, is evil. But these have chosen God.

When we reach the Zion/Jerusalem awareness, we have received His grace, and He has lifted us up through His power beyond the Jacob/Israel stage. We have repented, and continue to repent, and can now accept God's covenant because we come to know that He only covenants with those who are repenting. We are returning to God, relying wholly upon His merits, putting our faith in Him. Having entered into His covenant, we can find forgiveness of sins and the beginning of a spiritual journey (grace to grace) that eventually brings us into God's presence.

Being in a state of grace and not under the bondage of sin, these move from grace to grace as they ascend to a higher level (D&C 93). In an endtime scenario these are they who are gathered out of the world in an endtime exodus to their lands of inheritance where Zion will eventually be established. 

According to Isaiah only a tenth of all the people in the world will make this exodus, even though there will be others who will later desire to return, even though the time will be short. 

Because these being gathered, as opposed to the Ephramite Gentiles who have already been gathered, are just babes, the Lord's Servant will act as their Lord to gather them from throughout the earth to their lands of inheritance, either to the old or new Jerusalem. For us who should not be babes, having been given the word of God, and who should know better, being still at the Jacob/Israel level is precarious at best.

The Lord says it best:

"Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation" (D&C 93:31-32 emphasis added).

Sons-Daughters/Servants are those who choose to serve God by serving their fellow human beings. They minister spiritually to levels below their own, while they are ministered to by those above. God makes a covenant with his 'Sons' and 'Daughters' individually, not just collectively as He does with those of Zion/Jerusalem. That individual covenant is first conditional--dependent on the person's accepting completely the terms of the covenant--then unconditional. When it becomes unconditional, God himself ministers to his 'Sons' and 'Daughters.' This means that these levels are not static as we continue to receive more grace and intelligence. It is actually God who does the creating. What we become when we are reborn and ascend is His doing, not ours.

As we have seen, people who are ascending to Zion/Jerusalem are primarily concerned with repenting of their sins and returning to God. By passing tests of loyalty, which tests God orchestrates for them, they show their allegiance to Him. Persons who receive grace for grace to ascend to the Sons-Daughters/Servants level, are primarily concerned with things beyond the forgiveness of their sins. By tending to the spiritual and material needs of others, they follow God's example, developing His attributes and character traits as they receive more grace.

They become examples of righteousness by serving as God's agents of 'deliverance' and 'salvation' to those who are still in need of deliverance. They are willing to be in the world to bring others out of the world. They are in the process of 'sanctifying' their lives in the service of God. God's will is becoming their will. God's Sons-Daughters/Servants, both now and in the endtime, are those who do/will fulfill the role of deliverers and saviors to God's people. These include all those who thrust in their sickles and reap, being concerned for the welfare of the soul, and especially for the souls of their friends and family.

These have been born again and changed from their lost, fallen and carnal state, to a state of righteousness, and become His sons and daughters. Christ promises those who thrust in their sickle and reap while the day lasts, that He will give them power to become 'the sons [and daughters] of God" (D&C 11:30). 

God cannot refuse His sons' and daughters' desire to deliver others as they prove loyal and comply with His will, His will being what is best for all. 

As they become more like God, by learning to love and serve others, by receiving His love for others, they fulfill the role of deliverers and saviors to God's people. God's sons and daughters are not only no longer under the bondage of sin, but under grace, and eventually He will also overcome the effects of their iniquities. Because our iniquities impact others, they need to be reversed. Iniquities are the after-effects of sin. This will be done as we become more like God, and God responds to our prayers to turn the effect of our iniquities on others into good, as He has promised those who love Him and keep his commandments, for through repentance God rebuilds all that which was ruined.

Those who make this transition in their lives completely change their thought processes. As they open themselves to the influence of God’s Spirit, God enlightens them to his truth, to things as they really are, different from their former, imperfect perception of the truth. They become aware of, and discard, fixed beliefs about themselves and others that have bound them to patterns of living below their potential. The gap between their beliefs and the truth is being eliminated.

Isaiah is a perfect example of ascent to the son/servant level. When he saw the God of Israel, the seraph who ministered to him declared, “Your iniquities are taken away and your sins atoned for.” (Isaiah 6:7.) Isaiah had rejected the ways of his people and accepted God’s ways. (Isaiah 8:11–18.)

Isaiah introduces seraphim in Isaiah 6 and parallels their role with his own in Isaiah 40. Isaiah ascends, through grace to grace, from Son/Servant to Seraph, and Isaiah, through his words, continues to minister to those below.

Like God’s Sons-Daughters / Servants, seraphs “justify” those to whom they minister by “bearing” their sins and iniquities so that they may escape destruction at the hands of the king of Assyria/Babylon. Seraphs, however, take covenant keeping to the next level. They bring many of God’s people out of the path of destruction in the “last days” when God cleanses the earth of the wicked.

When Jesus said, “He will send his angels…and they will gather together his elect from the four winds,” he surely meant those who would reach the Seraph level. (Matthew 24:31; emphasis added.) In Isaiah’s endtime scenario, gathering the elect is precisely the mission of God’s servant and his seraph-associates. They bring God’s “sons” and “daughters” to the place Zion or Jerusalem in a new exodus from the four directions of the earth.

Although their role resembles that of angels, it is more than that of “messengers.” As kings and priests to God—as proxy saviors on the Seraph level—they are more effective in their ministry than all others of God’s children. Their earthly missions are central to the fulfillment of God’s redemption of his people in the “last days.” Together with God’s servant, they labor in the world against evils greater than God’s people can overcome on their own. God has kept Seraphs in reserve as a power for good to all who rely on him. The “deliverance” and “salvation” they secure for others is second only to Jehovah’s.

Seraphim overcome death and see the end from the beginning. Their worldwide ministry is characterized by divine intervention. They gather God’s elect from throughout the earth. John’s 144,000 servants of God correspond with Isaiah’s seraphs/saviors.

Of course there is so much more in terms of scriptural types of each of these levels as identified by Isaiah. This very short version is given as both an incentive and a warning to the Ephramite Gentiles. You cannot and will not stay where you are. You will either be receiving grace for grace as you come closer to God, or you will find yourself remaining and being de-created in Babylon. 

We differ from God and angels only with respect to the light and truth we have received, or better said, only with respect to the light and truth we have become and are becoming. 

In effect, “rebirth” on every level constitutes “re-creation,” as the person who is reborn assumes a new identity. God re-creates, or rather “de-creates” even those who descend, because they are now no longer what they used to be. God continues to “create” us spiritually, some male and others female, until we become like him—until we grow into his image and likeness.

As John bore record, 

"And I, John, saw that he (Christ) received not of the fulness at the first, but received grace for grace; And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness" (D&C 93:12-13 emphasis added).

This same promise is given to us;

"For if you keep my commandments* you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace" (D&C 93:20 emphasis added).

And no time to wait! We should begin to receive more and to become more, even now!

*"Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day" (3 Nephi 27:20).

For a more complete picture see Isaiah Decoded: Ascending The Ladder To Heaven, by Avraham Gileadi. 

Good Guys vs Bad Guys

I am not sure where the idea came from, but when I was quite young I had this idea that there were good guys and bad guys in almost every perceived area of my life. There were good kids at school and in our neighborhood, and bad kids as well. There were good neighbors and bad neighbors. People in the church were usually perceived as being good, even though there seemed to be some bad ones as well. Bible stories had good guys and bad guys, and of course the Nephites were the good guys and the Lamanites were the bad guys. There were good girls and bad girls. The good guys always were players on the teams I liked, and the bad guys played for the teams that were trying to beat the good guys. People who smoked were bad, and were really bad if they smoked cigars.

This idea kept me from venturing too far from home, as it seemed to me that there could be more and even worse bad guys in the neighborhoods further from my house.

No one that I can remember ever said any of this to me. It just seemed to be there, perhaps as a custom or a tradition. Perhaps I just liked it that way so I could identify with the good guys.

Neighbors came in different varieties to me. Some were members of the Church, some not. Some were friendly to me, some not quite so friendly, and others that I was afraid of. There were three known (at least to the neighbor boys) pedofiles in our neighborhood, one just down the street from me. I didn't know that term, and strange as it may seem, I didn't really think of the one who molested me as being a really bad guy. I just learned to avoid him. I am sure, however, that my perspective about sex was altered by several experiences with Bob McKendrick.*

As I got older, there was still a good guy/bad guy perspective, but it was changing. In high school, there were still good guys and bad guys. I was a good boy because I didn't do some of the things some of the other boys did. I didn't drink, smoke or hang out late at night. And I avoided those who did. I was curious about girls, attracted by them, and heard many stories, but had no ideas about sex or petting. Even the few times that I did 'make out' never led to anything more. I didn't even know what more was, at least not until I got married. 

Then, I believe that my being molested started to manifest in me. I mistakenly thought that something was wrong with me. This baggage that I brought into our marriage caused a division that was difficult to bridge. But because of my ideas about good and bad, this did not lead to anything more than just being disappointed. I just learned to accept it.

I was the classic example of a boy who was sheltered. I was not ready for the world. So how could someone like me, a boy who feared venturing into unknown neighborhoods, be living in France, so far away from what I had known? 

I eventually learned that no one is really good and no one is really evil. We are all in between. There are no good guys except how the world defines good guys, and I certainly was not a good guy.

My experience in the Marine Corps really broadened my perspective in many ways. I met many who were not LDS, but who were religious and loved their wives and children. I saw sacrifices made that I am not sure I could have made. I saw people, I think, for the first time, with no labels, and I liked them and enjoyed our differences. I realized that there were a lot more people better and braver than I was.

But I still did not feel comfortable in their world. Nor did I feel comfortable in the world as I experienced it on my mission in what was then the Central States mission, but I caught a glimpse of being in the world to help bring others out of the world.

But, I learned, the world is a dangerous place, not just because of crime, disease, war, corrupt people, and natural disasters, but because it is so inviting. It entices us with its glamor, its things, its music and its activities. And not only that, it captures us with its systems and the values those systems represent. 

I thank my Heavenly Father for Hugh Nibley because of his gifts of teaching the word of God. As I wanted more and bigger, his writings always brought me back to the real world--God's real World, not the one we live in, which is Satan's. It was a conflict for me. Because of my desires, I tried to ignore what I was coming to know as God's will for me, but I couldn't. He wouldn't let me.

The danger for me wasn't what I had thought it was in my early and formative years. It wasn't those bad guys. The danger for me was becoming too comfortable in Satan's world, putting my trust in the economy, ignoring what I knew to be true, and thinking of myself as one of the good guys.

"What is it, then, of Babylon that has such a stranglehold on its people? Why are we tempted to commit ourselves to things of pure human fabrication rather than to what is of God? Even when the Jews had an opportunity to return to Jerusalem, most did not, but stayed in Babylon, even though they had been taken captive by this great world power. This was because it is so easy to assume the value of Babylon's systems, her way of doing things, because Babylon was so successful. They failed to realize that they had been taken captive by Babylon--again!" (The Stranglehold of Babylon, Fingerofgod.blogspot.com)

I succumbed to this temptation when I got caught up in the Nu Skin frenzy in the early 1990s. The first meeting I went to was in a house that blew me away with its size and decor. And to hear of people making twenty, fifty, one-hundred, even five-hundred thousand dollars a month! The theme of financial freedom was enticing, and I eventually left a senior partnership in my law firm to chase the dream. I didn't achieve it though. And how grateful I am now that I didn't. I learned just how easy it is to be enticed by the world. This also put a terrible strain on my marriage.

And it would not be the last time that I sought for riches and not for wisdom. Satan has great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world" (3 Nephi 6:15). No, my friends, the Book of Mormon does not exaggerate either the relentless efficiency or the speed with which wealth corrupts all those who "set their hearts upon riches and the things of the world."

You can imagine the pain, sorrow and relief when I finally found out that I was not one of the good guys. I knew it was time that I needed the Lord's help to get prepared to do what He had called me to do when I was released as a bishop in the 1980s.

Christ in John Chapters 14, 15 and 17, identifies seven categories of persons or people. These seven categories include everyone--all, in the drama which is our lives on this earth.

1. His Father

2. Himself, Jesus Christ, as the Son of God

3. The Holy Ghost 

4. His apostles

5. His saints

6. The world, and

7. The Prince of the world

The summary of all our relationships to other beings is given in these chapters from the lips of the Savior.

The five levels at the top form an unbroken continuum, a single universe of discourse, which does not embrace the two lowest levels: the world and the prince of the world operate on their own principles on the other side of a great gulf as in Lehi's dream.

I think what I mistakenly thought were bad guys, was really a sense that I was in a dangerous place, a world that was inviting me with open arms. I resisted even when I was young, but it was so persistent that as I got older, I succumbed to those areas where I could still maintain my status as one of the good guys by not participating in its more lurid activities, but becoming captive nevertheless. 

The tenet we hear often--being in the world but not of the world--is a fiction we have created to make us feel comfortable in the world while we see ourselves as good guys who are living the gospel. When we are in the world we are in it, subject to all its allures and temptations. 

But Christ makes a different distinction. He said, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own . . . but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19).

When we go into the world to bring people out of the world, we are still in the world, but He prays for us, while he does not pray for the world. 

"I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me" (John 17:9).

He has given us the tools necessary to navigate our way in the world as we work "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God" (Acts 26:18).

"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world" (John 17:14 emphasis added).

In short, the saints must be in the world to do their dangerous work of recruiting other would be saints out of the world. And saints does not mean in name and membership only. It is not a club. It includes those who have desired to, and been called of Him to thrust in their sickle and reap. The saints are those who are repenting, have been born again, changed from their carnal state to a state of righteousness, and are becoming sons and daughters of God.

In Isaiah's context those who have moved or are moving from Jacob/Israel to Zion/Jerusalem to Sons-Daughters/Servants, would be considered saints. To ascend to the Zion/Jerusalem level, people on the Jacob/Israel level must repent of transgressions until they obtain a remission of their sins. In that manner, they become heirs of salvation but not yet of “glory” or exaltation. Those who do not repent are of the world or as Isaiah says, they will remain in Babylon. 

To ascend to an exalted category, persons must become holy or “sanctified.” At that point, they are reborn or re-created as God’s “sons” and “daughters,” elsewhere called “just men made perfect” and God’s “elect.” Their perfection, however, pertains only to Isaiah’s son/servant category, as the higher a person ascends the greater the degree of perfection. Seraphs, for example, keep an even higher covenantal law and attain a higher level of holiness, resulting in their inheriting a greater glory.

Jacob adds, “But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever (2 Nephi 9:18 emphasis added).

Another help He has given His Saints is the Holy Ghost, whose purpose is to comfort those who have been called and bring to their remembrance all the words which Christ has spoken. [When the Comforter comes in his place], "the world cannot receive [him], because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him" (John 14:16-17).

Here visitors from above are not welcome; they are treated as trespassers and offenders--despised, rejected, and persecuted wherever they go. But the Lord leaves His peace with His saints but "not as the world giveth, give I unto you (John 14:13). To those He says, "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit" (John 15:16).

All these things may seem perfectly obvious once they are pointed out, but we tend to forget them and identify with the world by the simple process of following the way of least resistance. Once in the world, even the angels are tempted. The posture of "sheep among wolves" is a difficult one to maintain: in fact, in most cases the sheep were "turned into wolves." Almost invariably the easy way, offering "the flesh-pots of Egypt" or "the precious things" at Jerusalem is the winner against the hard way of life in the wilderness.

"When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.... He that received the seed in stony places...he hath not root in himself, but dureth for awhile: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the thorns,..the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful" (Matthew 13:19-22).

The world's answer to John 14, 15 and 17 is a hierarchy of fear and compulsion, both historically and presently, and it is becoming more evident to those who have been shielded from this for most of their lives.

The whole world has been engaged in a counterfeit version of the combat between good and evil (like I was) in which Shiz and Coriantumr, Lamanites and Nephites, destroy each other in the illusion that it is the good guys fighting the bad guys.

So yes, in France, a world so far removed from the world I grew up in, I feel the Lord's peace. I am comfortable with and love the French people that I have met and associate with. But I am never comfortable in the world because I have experienced how easy it is to be drawn in and partake of its delights and false comforts. Worldly activities divert a worshiper’s attention from the true God and His law, to a counterfeit. I must constantly partake of His words and pray to Him, but I still want to stay in the world to bring others out of the world where the Prince of this world reigns. 

He has called me out of the world to say nothing but repentance unto this generation, and I do so knowing that there may come a time when those of the world will hate me for doing so. 

See Sons-Daughters/Servants for more on Isaiah’s ladder. 

*Bob McKendrick lived three houses south of me. He abused several boys on our street, including at least one of my brothers. The neighbor next door to him, whose boys Bob had also abused, bought Bob's house after he died, tore it down, and to this day it is a vacant lot on the 1300 block of Lincoln Street in Salt Lake City, Utah, a memorial to those of us who had to avoid walking past Bob's house whenever he was around.