Apostasy's Slippery Slope

Apostasy is a subtle slippery slope, and can occur in anyone who chooses to follow the vain spiritual imaginations or speculations of his or her mind rather than true doctrine. In our modern days, this can easily happen with the plethora of false information flying around the internet. President Harold B. Lee taught: “If [someone] writes something or speaks something that goes beyond anything that you can find in the standard Church works, unless that one be the prophet, seer, and revelator—please note that one exception—you may immediately say, ‘Well, that is his own idea.’ And if he says something that contradicts what is found in the standard Church works, you may know by that same token that it is false” (The Teachings of Harold B. Lee, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1996], 540-41). The prophet Alma was confronted with this in the heretical worship practices of the Zoramites.

 Alma 31:12 Now, when they had come into the land, behold, to their astonishment they found that the Zoramites had built synagogues, and that they did gather themselves together on one day of the week, which day they did call the day of the Lord; and they did worship after a manner which Alma and his brethren had never beheld;
 13 For they had a place built up in the center of their synagogue, a place for standing, which was high above the head; and the top thereof would only admit one person.
 14 Therefore, whosoever desired to worship must go forth and stand upon the top thereof, and stretch forth his hands towards heaven, and cry with a loud voice, saying:
 15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.
 19 Now it came to pass that after Alma and his brethren and his sons had heard these prayers, they were astonished beyond all measure.

LESSON LEARNED: Heresies and false beliefs are vanity tools of Satan in an attempt to dilute pure religion and to replace God's teachings with man's. They can be subtle and dangerous.

FEEDBACK: HAVE YOU HAD AN EXPERIENCE WHERE YOU HAVE WITNESSED FALSE TEACHINGS ENCROACH INTO SOMEONE'S BELIEF SYSTEM?