Given two options, (1) drink from a cup with a tasteless odorless poison or (2) drink from a cup with water, would you be willing to take the risk and drink from one of the glasses? What if you knew with 100% certainly which one contained the water, would you still drink the poison? The choice here seems obvious; however, in a spiritual sense, many of us continue to drink the spiritual poison of pride.

We need not look far to see the impact of the poison of pride, just open the Book of Mormon. Elder David A. Bednar in his last conference address states that “this volume of scripture looks to the future and contains important principles, warnings, and lessons intended for the circumstances and challenges of our day. Hence, the Book of Mormon is a book about our future and the times in which we do now and will yet live.”

This book is meant for us, and I hope I am not ruining the ending, but it is not a happy one.

Elder Bednar states that “allowing pride to enter into our hearts can cause us to mock that which is sacred (Helaman 4:12); disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and revelation (Helaman 4:23); trample under our feet the commandments of God (Helaman 6:31); deny the word of God (Helaman 8:13); cast out, mock (Helaman 13:24), and revile against the prophets (Helaman 10:15); and forget the Lord our God and ‘not desire that the Lord [our] God, who hath created [us], should rule and reign over [us] (Helaman 12:6).’”

“Such spiritual blindness also can cause us to turn out of the way of righteousness (Helaman 6:31), fall away into forbidden paths, and become lost (1 Nephi 8:28). As we blindly ‘turn unto [our] own ways’ (Helaman 6:31) and follow destructive detours, we are inclined to lean upon our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5), boast in our own strength (Helaman 4:13), and depend upon our own wisdom (Helaman 16:15).”

Just like Lehonti who was “poisoned by degrees,” if we are not careful, we too can be poisoned by degrees. So why do we drink of this poison? It is because the ingredients of this poison are attractive and what I will call the three Ps: prosperity, possessions, and painless ease. These ingredients are the perfect combination to poison us by degrees if we are not careful. Elder David A Bednar adds, “Ancient voices from the dust plead with us today to learn this everlasting lesson: prosperity, possessions, and ease constitute a potent mixture that can lead even the righteous to drink the spiritual poison of pride.” Three time periods in the scriptures are particularly impactful in how these ingredients have led to disaster: (1) the Jaredites, (2) right before Christ visits the Americas, and (3) a couple hundred year after His visit.

Prosperity

In Ether, we learn that “the people began to prosper (Ether 6: 28),” but the next chapters then highlight the wickedness and idolatry, contentions, and ultimate destruction of the Jaredites.

In Helaman 3:16, we read, “exceedingly great pride…had gotten into the hearts of the people; and it was because of their exceedingly great riches and their prosperity in the land; and it did grow upon them from day to day” to the extent that “The more part of the people [remained] in their pride and wickedness, and the lesser part [walked] more circumspectly before God (Helaman 16:10).” This led to Nephite dissensions, defeats, and weakening. The groundwork was also laid for forming and supporting the Gadianton robbers whose ideals ultimately lead to the destruction the Nephites. Elder Bednar concluded that, “Perhaps the most stunning and sobering aspect of this decline into apostasy by the Nephites is the fact that ‘all these iniquities did come unto them in the space of not many years.’”

One hundred years after Christ visited the Americas, Mormon describes the people by stating “there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God (4 Nephi 1:16)” because there was “no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people (4 Nephi 1:15).” Additionally, the people “multiplied…upon all the face of the land, and…had become exceedingly rich, because of their prosperity in Christ (4 Nephi 1:23).” Yet, the very next verse we read of the introduction of pride and things collapse from here. This is where the next ingredient of possessions comes in.

Possessions

Many of the problems with these three groups started when “[they] set [their] hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world…because of that pride which [they] … suffered to enter [into their] hearts, which … lifted [them] up beyond that which is good because of [their] exceedingly great riches (Helaman 7:26 - edits by Elder Bednar)!” Let’s examine the lives of the Nephites and Lamanites after Christ as an example of how the poison of pride had an impact on them “in not the space of many years”:

1. 201 AD: Pride enters because of costly apparel and fine things of the world (4 Nephi 1:24) and things were no more in common among the people (4 Nephi 1:25). The people divided in classes, sought to get gain, and denied Christ (4 Nephi 1:26).
2. 210 AD: The “more part of the gospel” was denied. Wickedness began to prevail and sacred given to swine (4 Nephi 1:27) to the point that Satan had great hold on their hearts (4 Nephi 1:28). The church faced persecution and people sought to kill the apostles.
3. 231 AD: There is “a great division” into Nephites and Lamanites (4 Nephi 1:36).
4. 244 AD: The wicked became more numerous than the people of God (4 Nephi 1:40).
5. 260 AD: Secret oaths and combinations are introduced (4 Nephi 1:42)
6. 300 AD: Nephites and Lamanites were exceedingly wicked one like another (4 Nephi 1:45).
7. 321 AD: War breaks out (Mormon 1:8)
8. 366 AD: Women and children sacrificed to idols (Mormon 4:14)
9. 384 AD: 24 Nephites remain (Mormon 6:11)

Did the land become peaceful after the Nephites were destroyed. No! In Mormon 8:8, the war continues amongst the Lamanites.

So, how does this apply to our day? Let me illustrate using a few examples:

1. I heard of the fad of the Stanley cups with some of my family members in Utah. Kids were teased if they didn’t have similar cups or if they had knock off name brands.
2. I know someone personally who said that life would be perfect if they had money like [name]. In fact, they wished their wealthy parents would just give them some of “their inheritance” now. They even went as far to say that they couldn’t wait for their parents to die so them could inherit this money. I fear this mentality will just leave them wanting more. I have family and friends who have money, but they seem to always want more things, experiences, etc.
3. This great divide between Nephites and Lamanites is no different from our day. Our lives are full of division (e.g., republican vs. democrat or white vs. black). You just need look at recent news stories to see this division.
4. Influencers have such an impact that their followers lose money, get arrested, or lose their lives. This is all so that they can increase their own money/possessions.

We may not have reached the point the Nephites did, but are we not trending this way? The time between pride entering the hearts and the complete destruction of the Nephites is 183 years. To put that in context, the time between the restoration and now has been 194 years. We are following a similar timeline with our modern-day pride cycle. Being a prosperous people with many possessions have led to the denial of the gospel, persecution, great division, and increased wickedness.

Painless Ease

In combination with the ingredients of prosperity and possessions is the ingredient of painless ease. Things today have become convenient and easy to the point where we dwell in idleness with modern-day idolatries.

One of the biggest factors leading to idleness is our phones. President Louthan shared the following sobering statistics about teens and the impact of device use:

1. Earlier this year a study found 95% of teens have access to a smartphone. (Pew study)
2. In February this year a teen magazine reported that more than half of US teens spend an average of 7 hours and 22 minutes on screen time per day (https://cosmotogether.com/blogs/news/average-screen-time-for-teenagers-in-2024).
3. Fortune magazine reported that teens averaged 8 and a half hours per day while tweens age 8 to 12 average 5 and half hours per day of screen time. And that excluded screen time for homework!
4. Teens spend substantially more time online leading to less than 7 hours of sleep per night.
5. They are 71% more likely to have at least one risk factor for suicide, such as feeling sad or hopeless for 2 weeks, thinking about suicide, or having attempted suicide in the past.
6. They are twice as likely to be unhappy.

Where do kids learn to use their smart phones so much? Nielson data from 2023 revealed that Americans over 18 years old spend an average of 59 hours and 56 minutes a week on their screens. This means, we as adults are not setting good examples.

Online algorithms are tailored to leave us wanting more and even prevent escaping idleness by forcing the next video, enticing us to click on similar videos, providing shorts that seemingly won’t take too much of our time (until we are 20 shorts in), or blocking our escape (e.g. Facebook hijacking the going back button to redirect to the homepage for endless doomscrolling). Just this last week, my son started watching a YouTube video that was educational and necessary for his class. It was supposed to be short and turned into 1.5-2 hours leading to loss sleep. I looked at his watch history and could see how the algorithm enticed him to the next thing and the next thing. Instead of railing on him, we discussed the dangers of these algorithms that he fell victim to it. We also described how we as parents have succumbed to the same enticements.

In conjunction with smartphones are video games. These games are just as, if not more, compelling for our attention than other smartphone apps. Many games are not suitable for anyone but are among the most popular games. These games promote violence and vengeance. In the Follow Him podcast a week ago, they discuss a study where one group plays violent video games, and another group plays normal video games. During the study, they invited the participants to choose how loud of a noise to send to their opponent’s ears where anything above an 8 could result in hearing loss. On average, those in violent video games would send 9. In this podcast they also discussed the real-world impacts these games have. How many times have we heard people describe a game or movie as not having sexuality, but just violence which “is not too bad.” Is it not violence that destroyed the Nephites? This podcast encouraged us to “not let violence into your home.”

Furthermore, phrases like, “kill shot” or “head shot” are exclaimed with excitement and applauded by peers. However, to think about a head shot in real-life is quite traumatic. The problem is that video games are made so that things last just long enough to cause euphoria, but short enough to not induce pains of remorse. When the movie Saving Private Ryan was shown to Vets, the following were some of comments given to the reporter named Sean Comey (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ryan-too-real-for-some-vets/):

1. For WWII veteran Everett Stanley, the film was so reminiscent of his wartime experiences that he told Comey, "I was really happy the screen was there to block out the bullets."
2. Comey reports that many felt that "watching the movie was like being back in battle."
3. WWII vet Roy Gass said: "Last night was really bad. I must have gotten up at least a dozen times."

“Regardless of your initial intention, you will become what you surround yourself with (Follow Him Podcast covering the Mormon chapters).” Many of us have not been thrust into the front battles of war, yet this doesn’t mean that we don’t have our own spiritual frontlines that we need to defend. Idleness can desensitize us to the spirit and others. Let us not be complacent in things that not only have no worth but work contrary to the spirit.

Poison vs. Prosperity

We live in a society where the default response is “Yes, but they…” This mentality harbors resentment and anger and leads to worse outcomes. Unlike the Princess Bride scenario, we are not immune to the poison of pride despite how much we think we have properly trained ourselves. Instead, we need to look at ourselves and say “Yes, but I…” in response to negative circumstances. Instead of becoming bitter, let Christ help us become better. If we take a step back and remember that we are all one in common, we are children of God, then we are more likely to treat others with civility whether in-person or anonymously.

Elder Bednar give us this valuable way to check our pride: May I suggest that if you or I believe we are sufficiently strong and stalwart to avoid the arrogance of pride, then perhaps we already are suffering from this deadly spiritual disease. Simply stated, if you or I do not believe we could be afflicted with and by pride, then we are vulnerable and in spiritual danger. In the space of not many days, weeks, months, or years, we might forfeit our spiritual birthright for far less than a mess of pottage (Genesis 25:29-34).

If, however, you or I believe we could be afflicted with and by pride, then we consistently will do the small and simple things (1 Nephi 16:29, Alma 37:6-7, D&C 64:32-33) that will protect and help us become ‘as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon [us] (Mosiah 3:19).’ ‘Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble (Alma 32:16).’”

Remember, our choices can lead to dire circumstances in a “few short years” or it can lead to us coming much closer to God in those same “few short years.”

As an example, Gerrit W. Gong quotes the Gallup Blog, “Growing evidence highlights this striking fact: religious believers are on average happier, healthier, and more fulfilled than those without spiritual commitment or connection. Happiness and life satisfaction, mental and physical health, meaning and purpose, character and virtue, close social relationships, even financial and material stability—on each measure, religious practitioners flourish (Gallup Blog).” He continues, “They enjoy better physical and mental health and greater life satisfaction across all ages and demographic groups. What researchers call ‘religious structural stability’ offers clarity, purpose, and inspiration amidst life’s twists and turns. The household of faith and community of Saints combat isolation and the lonely crowd. Holiness to the Lord says no to the profane, no to snarky cleverness at others’ expense, no to algorithms that monetize anger and polarization. Holiness to the Lord says yes to the sacred and reverent, yes to our becoming our freest, happiest, most authentic, best selves as we follow Him in faith.”

In summary, I leave you with these two equations:

Prosperity + Possessions + Painless Ease = Pride = Poison & Death

Gratitude + Selflessness + Labor = Humility = Happiness & Life

Bear testimony…