Samuel the Lamanite Was Talking About Me

Not long ago, our family was studying Helaman 13, and we read what Samuel the Lamanite said to the Nephites: 

"Yea, wo unto this people, because of this time which has arrived, that ye do cast out the prophets and do mock them, and cast stones at them, and do slay them, and do all manner of iniquity unto them, even as they did of old time And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out. Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil."

Then it continues: 

"But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth - and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet. Yea, ye will lift him up and ye will give unto him of your substance; ye will give unto him of your gold, and of your silver, and ye will clothe him with costly apparel; and because he speaketh flattering words unto you, and he saith that all is well, then ye will not find fault with him." 

And man, oh man, it hit me hard . . . that was me! When I first learned about Denver Snuffer, who he was, what he was saying, I felt nothing but disdain, disgust, and super intense dislike. I wanted him exposed, kicked out, rejected as an imposter. I was 100% convinced he was deceived and a deceiver. Even though I could understand the truth of a lot of what he was saying and the scriptures were coming alive because of these truths, I didn't care. The fact was that he was criticizing the church and challenging my traditions, and therefore he was wrong and not worth listening to. 

You see, Samuel the Lamanite was right about me. I always thought if I'd lived at the time of other prophets - Moses or John the Baptist, Lehi or Abinadi, or Samuel the Lamanite - that I would have recognized them instantly. I would have listened to them. But now I think that I probably would have been angry. I probably would have questioned their authority. I think I would have congratulated myself on being one of God's chosen people who didn't need to listen to these crazy men who didn't fit in.

Would I have recognized Jesus Christ as the son of God if I had lived when He came to Jerusalem? I still hope so. I hope that after hearing His message and seeing His miracles I would have known that He was the Savior. But I might have been blinded by my own traditions. I might have been offended by his words. I tend to be pretty focused on rules and if I saw him breaking the rules, would I have focused on that and ignored the rest of what He said and did? And I wonder, if I did recognize who He was, would I have had the courage to speak openly of my faith or would I have feared being laughed at and cut off by society?  

I think true messengers always look different from one another. They're unique and they come in different ways at different times. But, in my opinion, the test to recognize them is always the same in that it is always incredibly difficult.