No Coincidences

Tag: plan of salvation

Satan’s Story

Who is Satan?

I believe a careful reading of different scriptural records gives us a picture of Satan’s progression and tells us how he ultimately ended up cast down. There will be a lot of scriptural references here (duh). If you follow the story something becomes pretty clear about Satan. There’s a major revelation I learned about Satan that I never understood, and I don’t think many church members know.

Before I start I want to mention, my interest in studying Satan is the opposite of my interest in studying Christ, but helps with the same purpose. I think it’s good to study Satan to see how he fell and to avoid the behavior he exhibited that led him there. Through his story you see examples of pride, unrighteous ambition, anger, envy, jealousy, bitterness, selfishness, along with many other negative attributes. All of Satan’s attributes are the direct opposite to the traits of Jesus Christ. Ultimately Satan became a being of darkness. He rejected all light. Many around us reject light and I think as we understand Satan and understand his motivations (to tempt, enslave, and control us) we are better suited to withstand him. With that, we begin.

Satan’s story starts in the Book of Moses chapter 4:1-2:

1 And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying—Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.

2 But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me—Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.

Here we see what I believe is well known to Latter-day Saints. Heavenly Father asked, “who will I send?”

Satan came forth and responded, “Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.”

Christ said, “Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever.”

We know what happens here, though it isn’t said in these two verses. Christ is chosen by the Father.

Now we’re going to jump to a new book of scripture to continue Satan’s story. Abraham 3:24-28 reads:

24 And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell;

25 And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them;

26 And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.

27 And the Lord said: Whom shall I send? And one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I, send me. And another answered and said: Here am I, send me. And the Lord said: I will send the first.

28 And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.

In verse 24 – “one among them that was like unto God” – clearly refers to Jesus Christ. He is speaking to “those who were with him.” He goes on to talk about the first and second estates of man, of us. Verse 27 is where it gets important.

Verse 27 – The Lord (Jesus Christ) said, “Whom shall I send?” Note that Christ is following the same pattern He learned from His Father. “And one answered like unto the Son of Man.” This is Adam, the first man, or Michael as he was known in the premortal existence. Adam said, “Here am I, send me.”

Still in verse 27 – “And another answered and said: Here am I, send me.” – This will prove to be Satan.

“And the Lord said: I will send the first.”

Now the critical verse 28:

“And the second was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him.”

So, it is clearly put forth here. I always thought Satan rebelled at Christ being chosen by the Father, and maybe he did in his heart. If you read Moses chapter 4 straight through that is how it seems. But when you read this story sequentially, we see what actually happened. Christ was chosen by the Father. Christ is essentially now leading the “project” under the direction of Heavenly Father. He is standing with others helping in the work. He follows the Father’s pattern and asks who will be the first man. Here Christ chooses Adam over Satan.

This adds a dimension to my understanding of Satan. A couple things of note. First, we know from the beginning Satan wanted the glory and wanted all of God’s children to return to heaven (see Moses 4:1). When he is passed over, he doesn’t openly rebel yet. When Christ is choosing who will be the first man, it’s possible Satan still saw a way to foil God’s plan and have all the honor given to him. He would go down as the first man and he would refuse to fall. If Satan went as the first man and refused to fall, man could never choose and therefore could never sin. If man couldn’t sin, there would be no need for a redeemer, there would be no choice, repentance, or progression. Satan would bring everyone back to heaven and in so doing destroy their agency. I think this was his plan.

Christ wisely chooses Adam to be the father of all and lead the human race into mortality.

It’s at this point we see Satan has had enough. He’s been passed over once by the Father. Now the one who took what he believed to be his rightful spot is choosing to pass him over as well.

Verse 28: “And the second (Satan) was angry, and kept not his first estate; and, at that day, many followed after him. – Emphasis added.

Here we see Satan’s rebellion. Here we see he leads “many” away. Before we continue with Satan’s story, I feel it’s important to remind you: Congratulations! If you’re reading this, you kept your first estate and are in the process of keeping your second estate. Keep it up and you’re promised to “have glory added upon (your) head for ever and ever” (Abraham 3:26).

Back to Satan.

Our story picks back up in Revelations chapter 12. I’ll be using the Joseph Smith Translation as it makes everything so much clearer.

The first part of Revelations 12:4 reads:

“And there appeared another sign in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth.”

The great red dragon is obviously Satan, and here we see he drew away one third of the children of God after him. He and his followers were cast down to earth.

Revelations 12:6

“And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought against Michael;“

Michael (Adam) and his angels fought against Satan and his angels.

Verse 7 tells us that Michael and his angels (who might be us!?) prevailed.

Revelations 12:8

“Neither was there place found in heaven for the great dragon, who was cast out; that old serpent called the devil, and also called Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth; and his angels were cast out with him.”

Here we see the official result. There was no more place found in heaven for Satan, his followers, and their rebellion against Christ, which meant rebellion against God. Satan’s plan was foiled. He was not chosen to be the redeemer of man and he was not chosen to be the first man where he could foil God’s Plan of Salvation. He was cast down, in bitterness.

In conclusion, it doesn’t appear Satan rebelled at the outset. He was conniving and always looking for another way to enslave us, God’s children. I mentioned it earlier but every person on this earth already chose Christ. We were not fooled by Satan. We are here.

How did Satan get one third to follow him? I think if we carefully consider this question we can come up with some likely possibilities. There were many in the premortal existence that maybe didn’t properly prepare for this life, our second estate. When the time came to be tested, those who didn’t prepare would be fearful. We knew that some would fail to reach the Celestial Kingdom, and those among the host of heaven who had not used their agency to prepare well for mortal life were likely cognizant of that fact. From there it would be easy for Satan to convince some that they would fail, and they should therefore follow him.

Secondly, I believe Satan’s focus in the premortal life would have been to doubt Jesus Christ and his ability to redeem us. I believe Satan would have told many that Christ would fail, and then what? They would all fail and never be able to return home. I believe Satan likely attacked Christ. This would also be an attack on the ability to repent. Satan would have told those who didn’t use their agency well premortally that they wouldn’t use their agency well in life, that they wouldn’t repent, and change, and improve, and would ultimately fail. It’s the same tactic Satan uses today.

I invite everyone to hold firmly in your heart, remember, you chose Christ already. You were valiant already. You were brave already. You may have already fought Satan in heaven with Michael. You won. You are still fighting Satan today and you can still win. Remember that he is the father of lies, and Christ is our salvation. Look to Christ, keep your faith in him, keep repenting, keep changing, keep looking to Christ and we will all return to Him again.

I know that Satan is never giving up, just like he never gave up in the premortal life. Just like in the premortal life we will prevail. We have Christ on our side. With Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father on our team, we cannot lose.

August 27, 2020
Depression

** The following is a guest post written by my wife**

It’s such a part of who I am and the course of my life, yet I’ve struggled to ever really discuss it with anybody aside from my therapists and maybe a few of my family members. Even then, I’m not sure I’ve ever really, openly discussed all the intricacies of my depression. It is difficult for me to completely explain the seemingly unexplainable. I’ve been plagued with a feeling of toxic perfectionism that doesn’t allow me to be vulnerable in letting others know that I may not lead a near-perfect life. Yet, as I’ve had loved ones seek to understand my condition, and others that suffer through depression around me seek someone to empathize with them, I’ve tried to bring myself to do it. Bit by bit, I’ve opened up. Sometimes in frustration, I just want to sum it up as “if you know, you know” and call it good. But that is not enough. Individuals, family members, institutions, others with depression need to know.

So what does it really feel like? There’s no good, singular answer. I’ve labored over the answer to this question many times. For me, it is not a weight laying heavily on me. I don’t feel like the people in the commercials that have a dark rain cloud following over their head wherever they go. If I do feel glimpses of emotion, they are always lined with sadness and exhaustion. Most of the time though, it’s a feeling of nothing. Absolutely nothing. Emptiness. Darkness. Sometimes I cope by being super goofy so that I don’t have to feel nothingness for just a moment. It can be napping literally all day because, even with the guilt and self-loathing that comes with wasting an entire day, it’s better than facing that feeling of not feeling. And when I can get up, any attempt I make at getting anything done is overwhelmed by an extreme inability to focus on anything.

My dad could always see when I was going through really bad depression. He said I never actually looked sad. In fact, I just looked dead behind the eyes. He said that out of sadness for me and with love. It came somewhat close to describing how I felt, or rather didn’t feel, in those times. Eventually, when you’re in the midst of a depressive episode, you begin to convince yourself that this is the new you. You will never be successful again. You will be a burden and failure for the rest of your life. I was very lucky to never feel like I wanted to end my life but, with feelings like that, it isn’t difficult for me to see how people get there.

So why don’t you just get up? Go on a hike, play a game, talk to someone, you’ll feel better.

While all of those suggestions can help, they often served as a constant reminder that I couldn’t even manage the most basic methods of self-care. It made me feel that people would never really understand. I continue to wonder why people really need to understand how it feels. I ask, can you still support me and sympathize with me even if you can’t understand? While that seems like a fair compromise, I still think I can try to help others get a glimpse of my perspective. We can meet in the middle.

My message to loved ones wondering what they did wrong: You’ve done nothing to cause this. Even I’ve done nothing to cause this. Do not burden yourself with the feeling that you could have done something to stop me from having depression. What you can do is love. Sometimes that means lowering expectations for a while. Sometimes that means just learning to listen instead of feeling like you must come up with the solution. Sometimes that means you’re only able to say, “I love you and I want you here.”

There is such a lack of support for mental health institutionally that I wouldn’t even attempt to address it in depth. But as each of us listen more and learn more we can be a solution. I remember in the worst of my depression I had to withdraw from an entire semester at Arizona State University. It was such a difficult process to navigate even if I had been fully healthy. You had to jump through numerous hoops, get that documentation, speak to this person, go here and there. I’m not sure I would have been able to do it without my parents there and some semblance of functionality. Even though I was privileged enough to get treated by a medical professional and continue to graduation, I’ll always have a “withdrawal” on my transcript. I felt pain and guilt about that for a long time. We need to understand better.

While my depression has been well controlled for years now, it’s never truly gone. It can sneak in when I least expect it. I make sure to take my medication daily and be mindful of triggers and warning signs. I try to be vocal with my husband when I feel it creeping in. It causes me sometimes paralyzing fear. I’m sometimes afraid to do things I would like to do because I’m not sure when is the next time it will hit hard. I’m hesitant to take steps in my career, steps in building a family, and to make big commitments. I’ve had to learn how to continue with life without limiting myself. But I also must know when it’s time to take a step back and to accept that it’s okay that I don’t feel okay.

A bout with depression is something that comes and goes. Sometimes it’s here for a few weeks, sometimes for years at a time. Maybe it will come back tomorrow or in 5 years. I don’t know. The only thing I know is that the pain we feel with depression is temporary. When I think of eternity, I know I’m capable of living past this painful moment. I’ve done it before and I will continue to do so. I can consider it a blessing that through my Savior, Jesus Christ, and my understanding of the Plan of Salvation, my depression has taught me how to truly persevere.

April 11, 2020