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TheDiscipleMD

Some of my favorite memories are attending professional baseball games with my Dad and brother. On one occasion back in the 1960’s we were attending a game between the New York Yankees and the Washington Senators at RFK stadium in Washington D.C.. My brother and I were both young boys excited about the game and getting to watch Mickey Mantle and the rest of the other famous Yankees play.  On this particular night the temperature was chilly and my brother and I were both feeling miserably cold when a vendor came by shouting “Hot snow balls here, hot snow balls!”

As he passed by our row my brother asked him if the snow balls were “hot”  in hopes that it would warm him.  The vendor said “Absolutely!”  So, in his naivety,  my brother bought one. Of course it was cold. It is clear that the vendor was having an off night and wanted to sell his product so he misrepresented his snowballs knowing no one would buy something “cold” on a chilly night. While it seems difficult to believe that someone would fall for his “misrepresentation”, naive kids like me and my brother were easy targets.

We are fortunate to have modern-day revelation which helps us see though the lies which are sold by the vendors of the world. And even though at times it seems obvious that the “vendor” is lying, many of us are foolish and do not resist the false physical sensation promised, such as a “hot” snow ball. A message published in the Liahona, written by Terrance D. Olsen, entitled ” Truths of Moral Purity” had this to say:

“In tempting us to reject truth in favor of his lies, Satan uses the tactics he used against Jesus in the wilderness. He suggests that if we are really what we say we are- the children of God- then there is nothing wrong with giving into appetites or seeking power and worldly glory…Where the Lord warns of danger on life’s straight and narrow pathway, Satan’s counterfeit signal is to suggest harmlessness… Satan’s attack begins with us as it did with Jesus- as a temptation to the spirit to tell the body to do unseemly things. Truly, it is a serpent’s beguiling invitation.”

When we next hear the words of the world shouting,  “Hot snow balls, hot snow balls,” may we be grateful to have living apostles and prophets so that we do not find ourselves naive to the temptations placed before us. More importantly,  may we choose to do what is right. If we don’t, we may find ourselves holding a snowball on a cold and raining night of life, which only makes matters worse.