In his April 1986 general conference address, President Ezra Taft Benson spoke of two particular sins: sexual immorality and pride.
He said the Book of Mormon warns of the tactics of the adversary in the last day: "And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security . . . and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.'"(2 Ne. 28:21.)"The plaguing sin of this generation is sexual immorality," said President Benson. "This, the Prophet Joseph said, would be the source of more temptations, more buffetings, and more difficulties for the elders of Israel than any other.
"In the category of sins, the Book of Mormon places unchastity next to murder." (Alma 39:5.)
Speaking of pride, President Benson said there is no such thing in the scriptures as righteous pride.
"It is always considered as a sin," he said. "We are not speaking of a wholesome view of self-worth, which is best established by a close relationship with God. But we are speaking of pride as the universal sin, as someone has described it."
He said Mormon wrote that "the pride of this nation, or the people of the Nephites, hath proven their destruction." (Moroni 8:27.)
"President Benson added, "Essentially, pride is a 'my will' rather than 'thy will' approach to life. The opposite of pride is humbleness, meekness, submissiveness, or teachableness."
"The humble followers of Christ are few," said President Benson, in reference to 2 Ne. 28:14. "Pride does not look up to God and care about what is right. It looks sideways to man and argues who is right. Pride is manifest in the spirit of contention.
"Was it not through pride that the devil became the devil? Christ wanted to serve. The devil wanted to rule. Christ wanted to bring men to where He was. The devil wanted to be above men.
"Christ removed self as the force in His perfect life. It was not my will, but thine be done.
"Pride is characterized by 'What do I want out of life?' rather than by 'What would God have me do with my life?' It is self-will as opposed to God's will. It is the fear of man over the fear of God.' . . .
"Someone has said, 'Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it the the next man.'"
President Benson said the two groups in the Book of Mormon that seemed to have the greatest difficulty with pride were the "learned and the rich." (2 Ne. 28:15.)
"But," said President Benson, "the word of God can pull down pride. (Alma 4:19.)