How to avoid deception and find truth

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF THE LATTER DAY SAINTS

By Jim Greer

LW contributor

Elder Lawrence Corbridge, in the October 2020 Ensign magazine, presents us with a valuable lesson in avoiding deception. He reminds us that truth is the “knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come” (Doctrine and Covenants 93:24). Knowledge of the truth helps us avoid deception and discern between truth and error.

The Prophet Joseph Smith stated: “Knowledge is necessary to life and godliness. Knowledge is revelation. Knowledge is the power of God unto salvation.”

So, how can we gain knowledge and avoid deception? First, we should seek answers to these primary questions: 1. Is there a God who is our father?

2. Is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the savior of the world?

3. Was Joseph Smith a prophet?

4. Is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the kingdom of God on earth?

We could ask the unending, secondary questions. However, we would find that once the primary questions have been answered, the secondary become less significant.

As we seek the truth, we find there are many methods of gaining knowledge. Those methods include the scientific, analytical, academic, and the divine. All four are critical to learning the truth, and all begin with a question.

The divine method is preeminent and incorporates elements of the other methodologies while tapping into heaven’s powers. The divine method reveals God’s truth, which is made known through the whisperings of the still, small voice. “God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost” (Doctrine and Covenants 121:26).

Paul taught us that we could not know the things of God except through the Spirit of God. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

In other words, living worthy of the influence of the Holy Ghost removes the gulf between us and God’s presence. Then, we become spiritually discerning and able to obtain a knowledge of God’s truth.

The best of all human conditions is to be endowed with heavenly power. We are endowed with heavenly power when we receive the gift and companionship of the Holy Ghost - the source of knowledge, revelation, strength, clarity, love, joy, peace, hope, confidence, and faith. Affirmative proof of truth finally and surely comes by revelation, the still small voice of the Holy Ghost.

When Peter testified, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” it was not flesh and blood that revealed it to him, but the Holy Ghost, the process we know as revelation. And, upon the rock of revelation, Christ built and now guides his Church. (Matthew 16:15–18) We can’t know the answer to every question. But, if our knowledge is gained and grounded on the rock of revelation, we will discern the answers to the primary questions. And with that knowledge and testimony, the gates of hell will not prevail against us.