The Devil

I have been attending the investigator class for the past several weeks to help our ward missionaries out. Sister Curtis now has a new companion, Sister Bean. I kept wanting to ask if anybody jokes with her about Mister Bean but I refrained. 

The subject of our lesson this week was 'Service'. The Savior was the Son of God and yet he was the ultimate servant. The reason Satan is Satan is because he did not want to be a servant. He wanted all the Glory. He was the ultimate example of pride. He believed he knew it all...that he was smarter than God! This resulted in the permanent spiritual deaths of 1/3 of the hosts of heaven. Some people of the 20th century also believed they were smarter than God and smarter than anyone around them. These men did not want to serve either. They wanted all the glory and the power. Their names were Hitler (Germany), Stalin (Russia), and Mao (China). Between them they were responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people with Mao being the worst (>65 million), Stalin next (>45 million), then Hitler (17 million). They wanted society structured so that everyone was forced to serve each other but they all must serve and glorify the arrogant supreme leader. These men were evil personifications of Satan who believed their way was best and any means of making men follow their way was justified. In their minds they believed they couldn't sin because no rules count other than their rules. These men were totalitarians. Satan is a totalitarian.

The Devil 

Do we have men now who are like that? Yes, the Supreme Leader of Iran (Khamenei), the Dear Leader of North Korea (Kim Jung Un), the President of Venezuela (was Chavez, now Maduro) are just a few (Other problem countries include Cuba, Syria, Congo, and Burma). 

Pride and arrogance are big inhibitors for people accepting the gospel. When someone believes that if they haven't experienced something no one else can, that someone is not humble enough to be touched by the spirit. Doing service to others helps you become humble.

Enough preaching.

We had brother report about his daughter on her mission. He read a tiny bit from a letter from her. She said, "Mormonism is like McDonalds. It is spreading everywhere. Except Mormonism is healthy!"

We received tickets for the BYU opening FB game against Arizona.

We keep having rain. The motorcycle trails are muddy.