Helaman 16:20-22

"But behold, we know that this is a wicked tradition, which has been handed down unto us by our fathers, to cause us that we should believe in some great and marvelous thing which should come to pass, but not among us, but in a land which is far distant, a land which we know not; therefore they can keep us in ignorance, for we cannot witness with our own eyes that they are true.
And they will, by the cunning and the mysterious arts of the evil one, work some great mystery which we cannot understand, which will keep us down to be servants to their words, and also servants unto them, for we depend upon them to teach us the word; and thus will they keep us in ignorance if we will yield ourselves unto them, all the days of our lives.
And many more things did the people imagine up in their hearts, which were foolish and vain; and they were much disturbed, for Satan did stir them up to do iniquity continually; yea, he did go about spreading rumors and contentions upon all the face of the land, that he might harden the hearts of the people against that which was good and against that which should come."
Helaman 16:20-22


The first two verses here are the people who don't believe in Christ, or the signs and wonders that herald him... and I really don't understand why they are so paranoid.  Do we start thinking that everyone is out to get us if we distance ourselves from the spirit?   Do we think that God is out to get us?  Perhaps we don't trust ourselves enough to be able to detect spiritual evidence?  Or maybe we just can't see the simplest truths when we have self-complicated our lives. :)   God isn't out to get us.  He's there to help us improve and come back to him.  His goal is our happiness... but because we're human, and greedy, and manipulative, and fallible... we expect God to be that way too sometimes.   We project ourselves onto him, and figure he's just up there playing a game, and doesn't know what he is doing... or that the people who believe in him are trying to manipulate us as well, instead of being sincere in trying to be good.   Today, let's remember that God is perfect, and try to learn from him.  Let's be positive rather than paranoid. :)