Being close to the Lord - what can keep it from happening?

Christ explains why people don't come to him in D.C. 84.

49And the whole ^aworld lieth in sin, and groaneth under^bdarkness and under the ^cbondage of sin.

50And by this you may know they are under the ^abondage of sin, because they come not unto me.

51For whoso cometh not unto me is under the ^abondage of sin.

52And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with ^amyvoice, and is not of me.

53And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole ^aworld ^bgroaneth under sin and darkness even now.

Interesting that it is sin that blinds us to Christ. Apparently, even in this world where we walk by faith, if we're not involved in any sin, it should be somewhat obvious to us that Christ is involved. One of the sins of this generation is pride, which probably is the sin that keeps some from recognizing God in their lives.

Also, consider this verse in Helaman 13. Here Samuel the Lamanite says that those who have done wickedly are surrounded by evil spirits. I think that is a literal truth, not something figurative (just as it is clear from the scriptures and some stories that there are angels around as well):

36O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.

37Behold, we are surrounded by ^ademons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days.

Therefore, when we are making errors, we are more influenced by the bad of the world, and it's more difficult to discern Christ and accept him and his Gospel. The converse is also true. When we are doing good and being close to the good, it is much more likely that Christ becomes apparent to us and that we accept him.

Finally, as an aside, people talk about how 'evil' can come to us in ways never before seen in the world. I just had an experience with this. I was looking at the referring sources for the blog (i.e., where visitors came from that came here) and clicked on one of the links, and it was a pornography page - many naked pictures. I quickly closed it, but it's incredible that this is so accessible that I stumbled upon it. My kids are going to encounter difficult things in their lives...