What is it about us humans that loves the idea of being able to get a whole lot of something for nothing?
We had someone in our family who was always sharing with us the next ‘big thing;’ The grass was always greener on the other side as she touted this or that scheme. None of the schemes ever really panned out but I observed that it produced a lot of instability in her life.
Mission Pic: Random Communist-Era art in Romania: reminiscent of the Great and Spacious Building, no?
The other day, as I was reading in the Book of Mormon, I came across a phrase I never had noticed before. In Nephi’s detailing of the Tree of Life Vision, he states that the large and spacious building represents, in part, the vain imaginations of the world (See 1 Nephi 12:18).
I suspect that vain imaginations could apply to many things, but I think it certainly applies here. The idea we can get something for free is a rather vain imagination in my book.
Consider this quote from Elder Holland, then President Holland of BYU. He shared this newspaper clipping in a devotional address in 1982:
Utah’s large Mormon population has become a prime target for con artists and swindlers who annually gyp the state’s residents out of hundreds of millions of dollars. . . . Federal prosecutors say the state has gained a national reputation as “test market for scams. If it works here, they take it on the road. . . .”
“It has happened time and time again. . . . –It’s very easy for people to bridge the gap from unbelievability to believability if church affiliation is used.” . . .
The investor lists were drawn up on genealogy sheets used by church members to trace their ancestry. . . . Mormon leaders denounced the scheme in a stinging editorial which asked, “Why do people take chances like this? Why do people gamble?” One answer: “Their greed gland gets stuck. . . . [I]n this culture, financial success is often equated with righteousness.” [Peter Gillins, Sunday Star Bulletin and Advertiser, Honolulu, January 10, 1982 Quoted by Jeffrey R. Holland, “The Inconvenient Messiah”]
As dangerous as these scams might be for our financial security and our temporal future, consider what scams Satan presents to us on a playing field of much higher stakes. With eternity in the balance, he certainly tempts us with scams of the heart that compromise our integrity and leave us spiritual destitute.
In the financial world we’ve seen individuals and firms engage in risky behavior, seeking the bigger buck. In the short run, these scheme’s made millions. In the long run these schemes have proven hollow. They have wrecked financial and social havoc that we are still experiencing the aftershocks of.
So yes, there will be those who take shortcuts and seem to prosper, but remember, as Latter-day Saints, we are in it for the long haul: the eternal long haul. Let’s not be afraid of the work that is sometimes required of us. I’ll end with a quote by Elder M. Russell Ballard:
“It has been my experience that there is not one great and grand thing we can do to arm ourselves spiritually. True spiritual power lies in numerous smaller acts woven together in a fabric of spiritual fortification that protects and shields from all evil,” (Be Strong In the Lord, July 2004 Ensign).
Final Question: What do you see as some of the adversary’s top get rich schemes today?
Feel free to share your thoughts below.
How true is that… Back! get money fast schemes! BE GONE!