Apostolic Warning for the Last Days...

...which we live in, Elder Ballard says!

I happened across this talk from a recent 220-stake conference to the Utah Salt Lake Area led by Elder Ballard. (Click on "this talk" for the video and text of it.)  We can be so easily led astray and it was eerie, yet comforting, for him to address how even the very elect are being deceived by false prophets and teachers who "have great signs following them."

I raise my voice as Paul did, that there are those “that trouble you pervert the gospel of Christ.” I would be shirking my duty if I did not raise my voice to warn you of the challenges we face today.
My brothers and sisters, never forget that there are two powers in the universe; one invites us to choose the right and experience eternal joy and happiness, and the other invites us to choose the opposite, bringing sadness and regret. Our doctrine teaches us that life is a test—a time to see which invitation we will accept.
I remind you of Jesus’s prophecy regarding the last days in which we now live (see?  crazy!): “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”^[5] We are saddened when we witness some of the “very elect” deceived as Jesus warned.
Recently I visited a small grove of sequoia trees planted many years ago on the BYU campus. A friend of mine explained to me that sequoias are the world’s largest trees and that they can grow to between 164 and 279 feet tall in the wild. They can live to more than a thousand years.
Another interesting fact about the sequoias is that their unique and resilient bark protects the trees from forest fires and also repels bugs and fungi that can damage and kill a tree.
One of the trees died and the dead tree needed to be cut down, leaving only a stump to remind anyone passing by that a tall, majestic tree once stood there.
The campus arborist wanted to know what killed the tree, as the sequoia certainly did not die of old age. After an examination, he determined that the tree’s feeding roots had died from a lack of water.
How was that possible since the tree had flourished there for more than five decades?
The arborist discovered that the aquifer that nourished the little grove had shifted as an unintended consequence of the construction of a new building, just east of the grove.
To me this is a perfect analogy of what happens when stalwart Church members, the “very elect,” those who for all appearances seem to stand tall and erect in the faith, die spiritually.
Like the dead sequoia, these Church members once received their spiritual nourishment from the well of living water offered by Jesus Christ. But for one reason or another, they have shifted away from the source of spiritual nourishment, and without that nourishment their spirit was dulled, and they eventually died spiritually.
Now I ask you, brothers and sisters, how can we ensure that our spiritual feeding roots are always connected to the well of living water?

As a messenger from Christ always does, he gave us the tried and true ways to stay connected with Heavenly Father and not be deceived.  Ways to find out for ourselves what is right and ways to hold fast to the iron rod.

My patriarchal blessing warns that if I do not read daily and faithfully from the scriptures I will be led astray.  No maybe about that one.

When darkness and confusion, frustration and dispair cloud over me, I know  that I can say a prayer, go to the temple, listen to the prophets, read my scriptures and partake of the sacrament, my feet will be firmly planted. 

I stand with the brethren and look forward to hearing their words this weekend.  Great talk.