Mission Callings
Safeguard 1


“Safeguard 1,” Safeguards for Using Technology (2015)

“Safeguard 1,” Safeguards for Using Technology

Safeguard 1

Be in Tune with Spiritual Promptings

Nephi promises in 2 Nephi 32:5, “If ye will enter in by the way, and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do.” Righteously using your agency under the direction of the Holy Ghost will be your best means for doing good while using technology, and it will be your best protection against evil.

The apps provided on your mobile device have filters designed to protect you from inappropriate content. However, even the strongest filters cannot protect you 100 percent of the time. The best filter you have is your own will and desire to make righteous choices. Elder David F. Evans stated: “The only really effective filter for lifelong technology use is the individual heart and mind of the individual young person. … We have great faith that … thousands of [missionaries will] develop worthy lifelong digital habits, which will bless their lives and their families forever” (“Elder David F. Evans Discusses Expanded Missionary Efforts,” mormonnewsroom.org). Missionaries should take seriously the responsibility of continually striving to “purify [their] hearts” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:74).

Your Heavenly Father has given you two very special and powerful gifts that will help you: your moral agency and the gift of the Holy Ghost. The Lord stated His will: “that every [person] may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every [person] may be accountable for his [or her] own sins in the day of judgment” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:78). President Boyd K. Packer taught, “No member of this Church—and that means each of you—will ever make a serious mistake without first being warned by the promptings of the Holy Ghost” (“How to Survive in Enemy Territory,” New Era, Apr. 2012, 3).

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two sister missionaries praying