John 6:63; “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”

General Conference, ‘Becoming Self-Reliant,’ October 1991;“Independence and self-reliance are critical to our spiritual and temporal growth. Whenever we get into situations which threaten our self-reliance, we will find our freedoms threatened as well. If we increase our dependence on anything or anyone except the Lord, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.” – L. Tom Perry

Jeremiah 51:6 “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence.”

2 Corinthians 3:5; “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God.”

The American’s spirit of self-reliance and independence was given birth to long before the early Americana days of the Revolution; it actually started with the Puritans. As time progressed their drive to get out from under religious tyranny transformed itself to living independently as they loaded their wagons, and forged their way into the unknown wilderness of the untapped, rugged terrains of the North American Continent.

Down the road, and several generations later, the drive of independence transformed itself again, only this time it turned into self-reliance. Unfortunately, self-reliance meant living an autonomous life, free of anything, or anyone; including the Lord.

Looking in our Bibles, we see many instances of where God has told His people to come out from amongst the heathens. No clearer picture of this could be told than what we’ve read in the fall of Jerusalem.

God had given several of His prophets the directive to warn of the impending doom Israel was about to incur for their wont of independence. Their constant need of hiking up the hills to worship false gods was the catalyst for their own destruction. Likewise, we see the same warnings in John’s Revelations. Today, the American culture is an adaptation of the Israelites behavior in Jeremiah, and the early Christian lifestyles we read about in Revelation 18:3-4.

Our behavior is no better than what they were doing thousands of years ago. It’s theological and political prostitution, idolatry, love of money, violence towards life itself (abortion), adultery, self-sufficiency, and self-glorification. And pride is at the center of it all.

One of the most fallacious lies Satan has ever told mankind is that they should be self-reliant. Not surprisingly, it’s also at the top of sins most Mormons have to repent of when they leave the Church. Mr. Perry’s ill-conceived advice leads Mormons away from the Lord, not to Him, and is again, a form of idolatry and theological prostitution.

Why would a true apostle of God advise true believers to act upon such blasphemy?