Engaged in a battle
Can end misery- Learn the truth
"In the message of the Restoration, we learn that during our mortal life our agency is tested through the inseparable connection of our spirit with the elements of this earth, "the flesh," or the "natural man," said Elder F. Enzio Busche of the Seventy.
Speaking Saturday afternoon, he explained, "By this revelation we understand not only the cause of mankind's misery, but we also receive the keys and power that enable us to end this misery once and for all.
Elder Busche said through the study of the plan of salvation, Church members can see that "the spiritual child of God," created in innocence and beauty, is engaged in a fight for life or death with the elements of the "flesh," which in its present unredeemed state is enticed and influenced by the enemy of God.
"Without Christ, this war within us is lost. Without Christ's plan of redemption and His atoning sacrifice, we all would have been lost," Elder Busche emphasized.
He said the issue is truth, and the only way to find truth is through self-honesty.
That self-honesty, he explained, allows a person to see the "the original real me,' the child of God, in its innocence and potential in contrast to the influence from the other part of me,the flesh,' with its selfish desires and foolishness.
"Only in that state of pure honesty are we able to see truth in its complete dimension," he said. "Honesty may not be everything, but everything is nothing without honesty.
"In its final state, honesty is a gift of the Spirit through which the true disciples of Christ feel the force to bear testimony of the truth in such a powerful way that it penetrates the very core of our existence.
"With this enlightened understanding of the deadly battlefront inside of us, we are painfully aware that we can only ask for and receive the help of the Lord as the God of truth, under the condition of complete and relentless self-honesty."
The war has to be fought by all of God's children, he continued, and "without knowledge of the plan of salvation and the influence of the divine Light of Christ to bring us awareness, this war is being fought subconsciously, and therefore its battlefronts are not even known to us and we have no chance to win.
"These defeats are reflected in our conscious life as expressions of misery such as a lack of self-confidence, lack of happiness and joy, lack of faith and testimony or as overreactions of our subconscious self which we see then as pride, arrogance, or in other forms of misbehavior - even as acts of cruelty and indecency," he said.
"No!" Elder Busche emphasized, "There is no salvation without Christ and Christ cannot be with us unless we pay the price of the constant fight for self-honesty."
