Voices

February 2009
Voices
John 10:27

This is a day of many voices. Can anyone argue the fact that we are presented constantly with loud and distracting voices? From music, TV, and movies, to campaigns, opinions, and doctrines, we are bombarded with loud, constant and relentless voices seeking tirelessly for our loyalty. I have noticed the effects of these voices in the lives of people around me, and in my own life as well. Sometimes the results are good, and sometimes not so good. But one thing is sure; the voices that we hear do have an effect upon our choices. I have often wondered though, just how much easier it might have been to hear the right voices had I lived in the nature filled environment of the world before the industrial age. Today, our senses are overwhelmed with the voices of a modern, spiritually declining society. Yet amid the loud clamber of the world around us there are saving voices that we must listen for, rising above the decadent enslaving voices of evil. They are still, small and yet powerful. Powerful enough to save us from the alluring voices of the adversary. "Come, listen to a prophet’s voice", and, "list to obey that still small voice."
The word voice is used in the scriptures in connection with various forms of communications, such as thunder, lightning, earthquakes, the sea heaving itself beyond it’s bounds, pestilence, plagues, wars, trumps, judgement, mercy, etc. The word voice, as typically used today means an audible sound originating in the human speech center and created by the vocal chords that communicates something to a listening ear. If we can say that the noun voice describes any means of communication, then, we might better understand that voices are not only heard, but also felt, seen and even imagined. For example; the Lord uses the voice of thunder to communicate to men, and the sons of Mosiah, and those with Saul of Tarsas got the message. The Lord used the voice of a great tempest, and Laman and Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael got the message. The voice of famine got the message across to the Nephits. The voices of pestilence, disease, and death finally got the message through to Pharaoh. The voice of example opened the door to Lamoni’s heart. The cry of repentance brought Nineva to it’s knees. And the examples go on. That said, we may be able to see, hear, and feel the voices all around us, voices that are sending a message, communicating to us, coming either from God, or Satan.
Assuming that the primary purpose of a voice is to communicate, than it follows that we are receiving thousands of communications daily. Obviously, these messages have a purpose, and discovering that purpose is why we have a brain. The brain goes to work sorting and categorizing these messages, keeping some and dumping others. We sort through them all trying to decide which are worthy of retaining. In our information saturated society we find ourselves bombarded with perhaps many, many more messages than what an average person may have had to sort through say, 150 years ago. Ours is a very complex society offering far more information than what an individual can really make use of.
I would venture to say that this in and of itself proves to be a distraction to us. With so much to consider, we all to often do not consider anything very much. Deep, soul searching meditation is the art of focusing, concentrating on a single topic for an extended length of time, something that we have been encouraged to do. But, who has time? Really, who has the time? Can we stop and just.....think?...think about a scripture? Can we just hum a hymn and consider the words? We are so busy considering a million voices coming at us relentlessly every hour that we find it hard to stop and focus on just one. And yet, that is precisely what we need to do. We must cut through "crap" and the distraction and learn to focus.
This means that we are going to have to make some choices about what we will give our attention to. The voices we choose to follow can make all of the difference. For example, One of the saddest stories in human history is that of King David, who listened to the voice of unbridled passion and fell from his exaltation. Thomas B. Marsh, the first president of the quorum of the twelve sided with his wife over a matter of a little cream. He took it to the highest councils of the church and lost everything. Alma focused on the voice of Abinadi, and what a difference that made. And there are so many more examples. "The Adversary is clever and subtle. He speaks in a seductive voice of fascinating and attractive things. We cannot afford to let down our guard. We cannot afford to drop the ball. We need not run the wrong way. The right way is simple. It means, to follow the programs of the church, bringing into our lives the principles of the gospel, and never losing sight of what is expected of us as sons of God with a great inheritance and a marvelous and eternal potential." (Gordon B. Hinckley, Enzign, Nov. 1994) The point is that we will have to choose. We cannot follow all of them and do any of them well. Priority will have to be given to some, and this is where self evaluation is necessary.
As we choose the voices that we will list to obey, we must take care not to give priority to unauthorized voices. In matters of the church, the prophet and president of the church is authorized to direct the affairs of the Kingdom of God, and to reveal the will of God for us, today. Take care, that we do not allow some other voice, past or present to trump the Lord’s living prophet. During World War II and nearly every other war in history, propaganda was used in various forms to influence the enemy or conquered peoples. Tokyo Rose was a radio voice that was broadcast throughout the pacific. Twenty four hours a day messages were broadcast about the failures of the US forces and the victories of the Japanese. The purpose was to demoralize the US troops and in some cases it worked. But if the "boys" wouldn’t listen to it, well then, it wouldn’t hurt them. In like manner, Satan has his "Tokyo Rose" broadcasting twenty four hours a day trying to demoralize his enemy; us.
Today, the voices that reach us through technology are perhaps the loudest and most frequent of all. I worry about these. Many of these voices are so cleverly devised that we are lead to think that they are harmless, when in fact they are eroding our spirits sometimes ever so carefully, just a little bit at a time. Like a parasite, unnoticed at first, but slowly growing in number, multiplying and feeding on our souls until at last we are consumed. Then, on our spiritual sick beds, nigh unto death we wonder, "what went wrong?, why am I sick?" Like drug abuse, we keep going back for more, looking for another fix of techno media, while the scriptures lie unopened, and our families are being devoured. Little by little the voices of vulgar language, pornography and idleness creep into our lives and our homes through the flashes of advertisements and graphics in the "side lines" of Google, Facebook and My Space. Twenty five minutes per hour of television viewing is packed with voices of glamour, pride, sex and greed, not to mention the other thirty five minutes of programing.
In this noisy, sometimes overwhelming environment we need to apply filters to our senses, and build insulated rooms for refuge. The Temple is an insulated room where we can escape the distracting voices of the world. The home is the insulated room we will spend most of our time in. Like the temple, it should be a sacred place where the voices of world are shut out. Where meditation, prayer and scripture study are unhampered by the loud and distracting voices of the worlds music and art, the uncontrolled media and Rockband. Where the spirit is not offended. The atmosphere of our homes reveals the spirit that we list to obey. When there are fighting, bickering, and angry words, when sarcasm and criticism fill the air, the still small voice can not be heard. When I think of filters, I think of voices that can occupy my senses and thus exclude other voices. For example; listening to uplifting music, or reading the scriptures and other "good books," praying, and deep meditation will open the channels of communication with the divine, while shutting out the voices of the world.
But, I have noticed that choosing the voices of the gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly that, a deliberate choice. One only has to do nothing to be immersed in the voices of the world. So we must take a "voice inventory" to understand which voices have first class devotion in our lives. This brings up another angle. In a CES training meeting, Elder Cook told of his mission president’s (Marion D. Hanks) council to his missionaries. Take care, not to give first class devotion to second or third class causes. Elder Cook also quoted Dallin H. Oaks reminding us that there are good, better, and best pursuits. So it is with voices. There are evil, good, better and best voices, and we should be careful not to give first class devotion to second or third class voices.
Finally, there will be many voices ahead. Many wake-up calls. There will be voices from friends, family, neighbors, the wilderness, from the pulpits, from the government, from leaders and would be leaders. But believe them not. For the one voice that is true, is that of the Lord Jesus Christ, as it comes to us through the proper channels.