Mark 6:17-29<\/a><\/p>\nCompare Luke 3:19-20<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are certain Protestant evangelists who preach what\u2019s known as the \u201cprosperity gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, there are more than a few Latter-day Saints who also seem to imagine that righteous living and devotion to God is guaranteed to grant disciples\u00a0glowing good health and make them wealthy.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shouldn\u2019t the story of John the Baptist be enough, in and of itself, to demonstrate the falsehood of such notions? \u00a0(I won\u2019t mention Joseph Smith here. But you get the idea.)<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
John was righteous, faithful, a prophet, the chosen forerunner of the Savior himself. \u00a0\u201cVerily I say unto you,\u201d remarked Jesus, \u201cAmong them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist\u201d (Matthew 11:11).<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yet there is, to put it mildly, no evidence that John grew rich. \u00a0And he ended his days in a miserable Herodian jail cell, where he was beheaded at the whim of a spoiled princess and her amoral mother.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Obviously, good living \u2014 marital fidelity, kindness, thoughtfulness, sobriety, honesty, diligence, pleasantness, and so forth \u2014 will tend to benefit the person who possesses such attributes. \u00a0But there is no guarantee in this life that we\u2019ll avoid illness, loss, sorrow, betrayal, and injustice, let alone death. \u00a0Dealing with such things is, in a certain sense, what life is about<\/em>.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Matthew 14:3-12 Mark 6:17-29 Compare Luke 3:19-20 \u00a0 There are certain Protestant evangelists who preach what\u2019s known as the \u201cprosperity gospel.\u201d \u00a0 Unfortunately, there are more than a few Latter-day Saints who also seem to imagine that righteous living and devotion to God is guaranteed to grant disciples\u00a0glowing good health and make them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>