“They Began to Set Their Hearts upon Their Riches”
Helaman 6:16–17
16 And in the commencement of the sixty and seventh year the people began to grow exceedingly wicked again.
17 For behold, the Lord had blessed them so long with the riches of the world that they had not been stirred up to anger, to wars, nor to bloodshed; therefore they began to set their hearts upon their riches; yea, they began to seek to get gain that they might be lifted up one above another; therefore they began to commit secret murders, and to rob and to plunder, that they might get gain.
President Ezra Taft Benson wrote:
“Great civilizations have died by suicide. The first free people, the Greeks, died thus. And why did Greece fall? A slackness and softness finally came over them to their ruin. In the end more than they wanted freedom they wanted security, a comfortable life, and they lost all—security, comfort, and freedom. We as a people have never known bondage. Liberty has always been our blessed lot. Few of us have ever seen people who have lost their freedom—their liberty. And when reminded of the danger of losing our liberty and independence our attitude has usually been ‘it cannot happen here.’ We must never forget that nations may—and they usually do—sow the seeds of their own destruction while enjoying unprecedented prosperity.”
(A Nation Asleep [1963], 13, 20.)
