Worldly Salesmen

    • TheDiscipleMD

Yesterday I was on the phone with a salesman. He began his presentation by calling me by my first name. For some reason, salesmen are now being taught that if they say your first name five times in the first thirty seconds, somehow you will believe that they are a close friend. Their opening lines go something like, “Hi Scott, I know you don’t know me, Scott, but Scott, I’m sure that you know that we live in hard times. How is your business doing, Scott! (Pause for a response), I know what you mean Scott, because, Scott, things are difficult today.”

When they call us by our first name, they are pretending to be a friend, but they are slyly deceiving us.

This world is full of salesmen. Being pressured into buying some useless product is one thing, but the minions of the evil one are constantly making sales pitches that could have profound negative eternal consequences. All around us his salesmen present the immoral life as a life of ease. Every day, each of us is pressured to buy the ideals of man over that of the Lord. David B. Haight offered these words:

“You… men are old enough to know right from wrong, to know about Satan and his evil influence. Satan is a Hebrew name for the devil. It means adversary—one who wages open war with the truth and those who obey truthful principles. Satan chose the evil course from the beginning. His greatest aim, as taught by Moses and Enoch, is to get men to worship him. (See Moses 1:12; Moses 6:49.) He has had great success. As the professed god of this world, Satan has the adoration and worship of those who live after the manner of the world. All forms of wickedness and evil and rebellion against God’s holy purposes are of the devil. However, we are tested and challenged and must work out our salvation in the presence of evil. Lehi taught: “It must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.” (2 Ne. 2:11.) We have our agency to choose right from wrong, good from evil. But just because evil exists does not mean that we must partake of it. You cannot do wrong and feel right.” (David B. Haight, “A Time for Preparation,” Ensign, Nov 1991, 36).

Too often, we find ourselves listening to the world’s salesmen as they spin their presentations. They call us by our first name, pat us on the back, and lead us to do things we usually would not do. Instead of listening to be polite, it’s best to say, “I’m, not interested!” Interested in what they ask! “In anything you have to say,” we should respond. We need to take caution in listening to worldly salesmen. We might find that we will pay a high price for caving to their words of friendly persuasion.

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