President Thomas S. Monson
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Demons stalk our lives, "destroy our dreams, smother our joys and detour our journey toward the kingdom of God."
Those demons include greed, dishonesty, debt, doubt, drugs, immodesty, immorality and pornography. "A combination of them can spell utter destruction."
"We must learn to separate need from greed. . . . Let integrity be our standard. . . . We must not allow our yearnings to exceed our earnings. . . . (Drugs and alcohol often) result in violence, child and wife abuse, and they can provoke conduct which brings pain and suffering to those who are innocent."
With regard to the last three demons mentioned, the Improvement Era of 1917 stated, "The toleration of immodesty in everyday conversation and demeanor, are doing deadly work in the fostering of soul-destroying vice." That counsel is applicable today.
"For each of us it is infinitely better to hear and heed the call of conscience. Conscience always warns us as a friend before punishing us as a judge."
"In the performance of our responsibilities, I have learned that when we heed a silent prompting and act upon it without delay, our Heavenly Father will guide our footsteps and bless our lives and the lives of others. I know of no experience more sweet or feelings more precious than to heed a prompting, only to discover that the Lord has answered another's prayer through you."
"In the recesses of my mind, I hear over and over again the guiding direction which President John Taylor gave to the brethren of the priesthood: 'If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those you might have saved, had you done your duty."
Thus all should follow the promptings found in the scriptures. "His words in holy writ are sufficient: 'Be still, and know that I am God.' "
