Same war, different weapons

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I was reading yesterday from the biography of Elder John A. Widtsoe of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles about his time as President of the European Mission (1927-1933).
Elder Widtsoe was a pioneer in publicity work for the Church in Europe where he obtained good results (at least compared to previous periods).

He was also one of the first to address the need for the Church to use modern technology to present the message of the restored gospel. At general conference in October 1924, he said,

“Today, man is able to do things that in days gone by were conceivable done only by God. Yet…the airship, the steamship, the telephone, the radio and all the other marvels of this age, are but a clothing of the body, but an instrument to be used by man. By means of these great inventions and discoveries, great gifts of God to the people of these latter days, it is possible for the righteous man to accomplish righteousness more widely and more speedily.”

Soon after his return from Europe, Elder Widtsoe addressed the April 1934 annual general conference and he spoke of “new feeling” for the Church in the public’s eye, a wonderful change. But, he warned, “the eternal battle is still on between truth and error, between the Lord and the evil one…we have merely shifted our battle ground, we have merely changed our weapons. Three hundred years ago humanity fought with spears and shields. Today out of the sky poison gas and boms are dropped on the unprotected cities below. Just so, in the mission field today, under the new conditions we must change our battle ground and the weapons that we use, but the battle goes forward.”

The battle goes forward, but the weapons have changed. Elder Widtsoe couldn’t think of something like the Internet in his time, but the same principle still applies: these inventions need to be used to accomplish righteousness more widely and more speedily.

The enemy is clearly using the Internet. Are we using it enough to accomplish righteousness?