No Coincidences

Tag: Satan

  • A House Divided

    A House Divided

    Mark 3:11:

    “And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.”

    The first testimony of Christ’s divinity in the gospels is given by those that had rejected Him already, in the premortal council before coming to earth. Does this show remorse? Do these spirits now realize they shouldn’t have rebelled? Are they just stating the obvious? Why did Christ tell the unclean spirits “that they should not make him known” (verse 12)?

    Verse 22 –

    The scribes stated, “and by the prince of devils casteth he out devils…”

    Verses 23 and 24 –

    Christ responded, “How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.”

    Let’s consider unity and division. God is who He is because He possesses perfect love. Christ is who he is because He possesses perfect love. The Holy Ghost is who he is because of perfect love. We are here to learn that same love. The celestial kingdom is celestial because it is a place of perfect love. Satan, when he rebelled against God and asked for God’s glory to be his, rejected that perfect, selfless love. It’s why he ended up where he is. Satan brought division. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. It’s why no imperfect person can enter the kingdom of heaven (celestial kingdom).

    Verse 26 Christ continued – “And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.”

    This is a reminder that Satan, like us, has no end. He and His followers will live in torment for eternity because you can’t destroy intelligence (King Follet Sermon). If you can destroy something, it means it isn’t eternal, for, if it has an end, it must have a beginning. That’s what is being said here. If Satan is divided, his kingdom would end. If he fights against himself, he cannot stand. Satan doesn’t fight against himself. He is true to his obsessions which are to topple God’s Kingdom and make others as miserable as himself.

    Another interesting thing to consider – maybe Satan has an “end” if he were to rise up against himself because if he rose up against himself, he would stop opposing God. That would be an “end” to Satan. He would no longer be Satan because he would be a new being. Will Satan ever do that? I find it unlikely.

    Verse 27 Christ continues (my insertions in parentheses) – “No man can enter into a strong man’s (in this case Satan’s) house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.”

    This is such cool imagery and so obvious when you think about it. You must bind the strong man in his house before you can spoil his house or “kingdom.” Earth is currently Satan’s domain, kind of. It’s at least his domain when his demons are taking bodies and he is causing so much havoc, hate, and chaos here. Christ had to bind him before spoiling him. Christ had to bind him before he could banish his minions.

    Humans are able to put forth two faces or deceive. A human can say one thing and mean another in their heart. Satan can deceive us here. But he can’t deceive God. And he can’t promote Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. If he did so, he would be divided against himself. Satan can’t do Godly works in an attempt to trick us. In doing Godly works, Satan would cease to be Satan. When a demon is cast out in the name of God, it can’t be Satan trying to trick others. That is what Christ is telling us in these verses.

    What if Satan was doing that – lifting up a false prophet by dispersing demons and pretending this man was the Messiah. Well then how could that man have healed and done good and promote God? And ultimately, when that man is crucified, came back from the dead, told us he died to atone for our sins, all the while promoting God the Father, can Satan promote that? Can he falsely promote God and the Christ? He can’t. That would make him divided against himself.

    This logic applies to the Book of Mormon. Is the Book of Mormon about Christ? Yes, undeniably. Does it promote Christ? Yes, undoubtably. Does it prophesy of Christ? Yes, irrefutably. Does it support Christ and His mission? Yes. Then it can’t come from the devil. It just can’t. The Book of Mormon is a miraculous and unexplainable book. It is a miracle. It came about by some power not of this earth. It must be read and then the reader must decide: is it a promotion of Christ or an opposition to Him? Once you answer that question, you know from whence it came.

    That’s what Christ is saying here. Am I banishing demons? Am I opposing the devil? Then I can’t be of the devil. A kingdom divided against itself must fall.

    Does something promote God? Does it promote love? Does it promote Jesus Christ and His mission to save us all? Then it can’t be from the devil.

    I also like the way this is said in the New Testament Student Manual: “The Savior explained that a man who can overcome and bind a strong man must be even stronger than him…The fact that the Savior was casting out devils should have made it plain to His accusers that He had power over Satan. Elder James E. Talmage (1862-1933) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles explained: ‘Christ had attacked the stronghold of Satan, had driven his evil spirits from the human tabernacles of which they had unwarrantably taken possession; how could Christ have done this had He not first subdued the ‘strong man, the master of devils, Satan himself?’”

    I love the reminder that Christ is stronger than Satan. Plain and simple. Satan may reign with blood and terror on this earth. But the devils recognize Christ and His authority. When Christ says to leave, the devils leave. This is a powerful reminder of who’s team we want to be on. Do we want to be on the team of the strong, hateful man, bound by his own hatred? Or do we want to be on the team of the Christ, who binds the strong man, setting us free from evil and temptation, allowing us to live in love and peace forever?

    The answer seems obvious when put that way.

  • Churches for Profit

    Churches for Profit

    This often happens with a blog post.

    I start with a simple anecdotal story.

    I start telling that story and as I start to make a point I realize I don’t know enough about the topic. I start researching. I go down rabbit holes. I end up with thousands of words, quotes, videos, links, and information.

    My simple story gets lost in a lot of information and I never finish my thought.

    This happened with a story about a woman I met.

    This was back when our dog Bengie was still with us. I was walking him when I got into a conversation with an elderly woman sitting on her doorstep. She was very sweet. We discussed her kids, Bengie, and the neighborhood.

    During our conversation she made a simple comment that made me very sad.

    This lady was talking about her church and how it was close enough for her to walk to.

    Internally I was thinking, “Awesome!”

    Then, unprompted, she said, “I don’t give them much money though… just sometimes when I go, I give them a little.”

    Why did this little old lady, a stranger, feel the need to clarify that she didn’t give her church too much money? When talking about her church, the first two things she told me were that it was close and that she didn’t give it too much money. That is sad.

    She didn’t tell me anything about how her church helps her feel closer to God, nothing about how amazing her pastor is, nothing about the community her church brings her life.

    1 – She can walk to it

    2 – She’s not giving it too much money

    When did that become one of the first things you have to say about your church?

    This got me thinking about the progression of churches. Satan has been corrupting religious institutions since the Earth began.

    All institutions, including churches, need money to operate. Where is the line drawn? I think the line may get drawn at extravagance, excess, and greed.

    That’s why this post originally got derailed. I started talking about this woman’s comments about her church, thinking about how sad that she had to mention her donations, and it led to me defending the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its finances.

    I’m going to set that discussion aside for another day. As I said, there’s a lot to be discussed there.

    Ultimately, it’s sad that profit has to be discussed about any church.

    Churches are for the benefit of man. Not for the profit of man. Churches are for the eternal benefit of man.

    What does the Book of Mormon say on this topic?

    The Book of Mormon takes a strong stance against churches for profit. See Mormon 8:32-37, 4 Nephi 1:26-27, 2 Nephi 26:20-22, 2 Nephi 26:31, and Alma 1:12 for examples.

    I think so many people have been turned away from organized religion due to this corruption for personal gain.

    I think it’s interesting to take a look at the things Satan attacks. Some of the first things to come to mind.

    1. Our true identity – Divine, Children of God
    2. Who God is – our Eternal Father
    3. Truth – what is truth, really?
    4. Churches

    That last one I think is shown in all the things churches have done wrong over the centuries. Judgement, wealth, greed, manipulation, abuse. These are the things Satan has brought into religious institutions and it has resulted in generations of people who then spurn religion, which in turn allows them to spurn the big questions about life.

    I don’t think the major issue with people not going to church is people not being in church, I think it’s them not thinking about who they are, how they got here, who sent them here, and who they’re going to see when the finish here.

    If you’re not asking these questions, you’re not seeing the big picture.

    And that’s what Satan wants. He wants us to miss the bigger picture.

    With technology, the busy-ness of life, and the corruption of churches, Satan is making us forget the real reason we’re here.

    The main benefit of church is thinking about Jesus Christ each week. After that it’s community and support. That’s it, I think. Outside of that, church doesn’t do much. If we all had a strong relationship with Jesus Christ and showed that in a covenantal way as a community by supporting one another and showing our devotion to Jesus Christ regularly in the other ways He’s asked us to, we wouldn’t really need a church. Life would be church.

    That’s the goal.

  • Satan is Jesus’s Older Brother

    Satan is Jesus’s Older Brother

    Stay with me.

    Before I go down this path let me acknowledge some things:

    1. We don’t understand how time works in eternity. It’s likely everything I’m about to say is nonsense from the eternal perspective. Still, have some fun with me. I know I got your attention with that title.
      • It’s very possible that God “adopted” billions of intelligences at the same time. Meaning, It didn’t go Satan, then Jesus, then Moses, then you, then me, etc. It’s probably not that simple. Anyways…

    Now that’s out of the way, I think there is a fun thought experiment/argument to be had that despite Jesus Christ having the title of “Firstborn”, Satan might be “older” than Jesus.

    Everything in this world symbolizes Jesus Christ. Everything points to Him (Moses 6:63, 2 Nephi 11:4). 

    There are some individuals from history that are clear types and shadows of Jesus Christ.

    Examples:

    1. Joseph of Egypt
      • Savior of his people and all of Egypt
    2. Moses
      • Liberator of Israel
    3. Nephi
      • Led his people to the Promised Land
    4. David
      • King of Israel
    5. Isaac
      • Inheritor of all that Abraham had and father of Israel (Jacob)
    6. Jacob (Israel)
      • Father of the covenant people of Earth
    7. Joseph Smith
      • Restorer of the Gospel on Earth (through Jesus Christ, of course)
    8. Peter
      • Leader of Christ’s church after Christ’s ascension
    9. Abel
      • In the likeness of his father, hearkened to the voice of the Lord
    10. Ephraim
      • Received the birthright, descendents are responsible for the gathering of Israel

    All of these men represent Jesus Christ in different but very clear and obvious ways. 

    What do all these men have in common? None of them are the oldest in their family. None of them are the firstborn.

    Interesting, right?

    “Well, but, the scriptures say Jesus Christ is the firstborn of God. Clear as day,” said a hypothetical someone arguing against my point.

    What if “firstborn” has meaning closer to heir, covenant son, preeminent one?

    Psalm 89:27 speaking of David, King of Israel, reads:

    “I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.”

    David was the youngest son in his family.

    In Genesis 22:2 God says to Abraham:

    “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest…”  

    But Isaac wasn’t Abraham’s only son. He also had Ishmael. Maybe Isaac was his covenant son. 

    Jeremiah 31:9 reads:

    “For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.”

    None of Ephraim, David, or Isaac were the firstborn. Yet they were each described as such in varying ways.

    Now Jesus’s words about Himself:

    “I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn” (D&C 93).

    This is a captivating feature of scripture. There is a repeated theme of an older brother rejecting His younger brother who receives stewardship over him. 

    Cain opposed Abel.

    Ishmael yielded to Isaac.

    Esau opposeed Jacob.

    Joseph of Egypt was rejected by his older brothers.

    David was initially overlooked by his older brothers.

    Are these older brothers representative of Satan, the way the younger brother is representative of Jesus?

    Sound familiar? (Satan’s Story and Satan’s Story Continued)

    Maybe all these examples are meant to teach us something. It’s hard to be an older brother and yield leadership to your younger brother. What if Satan had taken another route and humbly accepted Jesus Christ? What if he accepted Jesus Christ’s position as “firstborn of the Father”, the chosen one, God’s beloved? What if Cain didn’t oppose Abel? Where would Cain be now?

    Also, what if Joseph of Egypt’s brothers accepted his position of power over them from the beginning? Joseph wouldn’t have been able to complete his earthly mission of saving all of Egypt. Sometimes, maybe, we need opposition (2 Nephi 11).

    But what happens when older brothers do humbly yield to their younger brother? Joseph Smith’s older brothers were legendarily supportive of his calling as God’s prophet. Esau famously humbled himself and reconciled with Jacob. Moses’s older brother Aaron appears to have accepted Moses’s role as prophet most of the time. Amazing things happen when older brothers can humble themselves.

    What if Laman and Lemuel could have humbled themselves before Nephi? Think of the love, peace, and prosperity that could have existed among the Nephites in the Americas. But then we wouldn’t have had all the lessons the Book of Mormon teaches us about opposition.

    God’s plan is perfect.

    It’s fascinating to look at scripture from a broader perspective, look for patterns, and try to grasp all that God wants us to learn and understand.

    While I prefaced this post saying it could be somewhat silly of an exercise, I stand by it. I think it’s a good exercise to review the scriptures in out-of-the-box ways and try to see the patterns God may be trying to teach us.

    Wherever in the birth order Jesus Christ and Satan landed, we know they were “older.” We know that God chose Jesus Christ to be His Son, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind. We know God doesn’t make mistakes. I’m grateful for what the scriptures teach me about Jesus Christ and that they can constantly strengthen my testimony of Him and all that He did for me.

  • The Room and Freedom

    The Room and Freedom

    I just finished the book The Room. Without spoiling too much, it’s about a woman who is captured and kept locked up in an 11 foot by 11 foot room with her five-year-old son who is born into captivity.

    It is a good book. The most interesting part is that it’s written from the perspective of the five-year-old.  

    At the end of the book there was a “Reading Group Guide” with questions to consider. One of them was, “Why do people tend to be so fascinated by stories of long-term confinement?” 

    I pondered this a bit. The obvious answer is that our freedom is so precious to us, we can’t imagine something so terrible, so we’re drawn to it. Like watching a train crash or the modern true crime craze. 

    There is a longer answer, though.  

    Our freedom, our agency, is the most important thing in the world to each of us. Our ability to choose and make our own choices is more important to us than anything. It’s more important to God than anything, also. That’s why we’re here. 

    I think this fascination with confinement and the inability to choose is a fascination with something we know to be inherently wrong.  

    Every one of us here on earth chose to come here, to Earth. There were some who didn’t choose this. There was one that tried to take away our freedom, to force us to choose his way. He phrased it as a way to save us all, but really, what he was proposing was enslavement. Satan proposed the plan that would have us all return to heaven. The catch was that we would have no say in the matter. We would be compelled to follow him, to do it his way. We would be his puppets. In return, he would ensure we got back safely. 

    God always wants us to choose. 

    We even chose to be able to choose. We are here because we chose agency and freedom.  

    I think that’s why these stories are so fascinating to us. We already chose freedom. Being here on Earth was a choice. God will always give us a choice. Not being given a choice feels wrong because it is wrong.  

    We already chose to reject Satan and come here and use our agency. 

    Don’t forget that. You’ve already chosen.   

  • Tolkien’s Knowledge of Eternal Truths

    Tolkien’s Knowledge of Eternal Truths

    I’ve written before about Tolkien’s uncanny parallels to what the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints knows to be true due to modern revelation. These truths include information on the premortal life, Satan, and the afterlife.

    See The Wisdom of Tolkien and The Many Literary Parallels to Satan.

    I just started reading The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a book whose tale pre-dates The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and even The Hobbit. It is the origin story of Middle Earth.

    The preface to The Silmarillion includes a letter Tolkien wrote to his editor. In the letter Tolkien is trying to explain why The Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings trilogy should be released together as their saga is intrinsically linked. Something Tolkien said in that letter struck me. He said, “[The mere stories] arose in my mind as ‘given’ things, and as they came, separately, so too the links grew. An absorbing, though continually interrupted labour… yet I always had the sense of recording what was already ‘there’, somewhere: not of ‘inventing’.”

    J.R.R. Tolkien was known to be a devout Christian. So I find it no surprise that his soul seemed to speak of things already known, deep in his being, that he expressed through his writing.  

    I find that statement especially fascinating given the parallels to eternal truth Tolkien touched on as I already referenced. I’m going to note some of those truths I’ve found in The Silmarillion. This list, I think, could go on and on nearly endlessly, but I will list out the few that made me literally stop reading, come to my computer, and note down:

    It is a well known fact that Tokien was a religious man who was pulling from religious traditions into his writing. I think it is clear that he had a sense of more. I would consider that his spirit telling him things his mind had no way of knowing. We did come from somewhere. We are here for a reason. We are going somewhere. There are too many eternal truths in his writings. Someday I’ll likely re-read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, books I haven’t read since I was 11 and 12, to see what more I can pull from those great books as an adult.

    1. (Page 16 of The Silmarillion) “Manwe (Jesus Christ) and Melkor (Satan) were brethren in the thought of Illuvatar (God). The mightiest of those Ainur (first children of God) who came into the world was in the beginning Melkor; but Manwe is dearest to Illuvatar and understands most clearly his purposes. He was appointed to be, in the fullness of time, the first of all Kings: lord of the realm of Arda (Earth) and ruler of all that dwell therein.”
      • Wow, there are many parallels here.
    2. (Page 36) (Note also that Elves and Men are often referred to in this mythology as the sons of Illuvatar (God)). The book talks about how death is given to men as a gift from Illuvatar (God). Whereas the elves are immortal on earth, men die. “But illuvatar knew that Men, being set amid the turmoils of the powers of the world, would stray often, and would not use their gifts in harmony; and he said: ‘these too in their time shall find that all that they do redounds at the end only to the glory of my work.’ Yet the Elves believe that Men are often a grief to Manwe (in this analogy, Manwe=Christ), who knows most of the mind of Illuvatar (God); for it seems to the Elves that Men resemble Melkor (Satan) most of all the Ainur, although he has ever feared and hated them, even those that served him.
      • This is fascinating because despite us being most like Satan (rebellious, stubborn, prone to anger and hatred, greedy, desirous of power, desirous of honor), he still fears us because we have bodies and have the potential he will never have. And even when we follow and serve Satan, he still hates us. This is just like in the Lord of the Rings mythology where men are looked at as a burden to God, but loved by Him. Melkor doesn’t trust man even when they serve him.`
    3. (Page 36) “It is one with this gift of freedom that the children of Men dwell only a short space in the world alive, and are not bound to it, and depart soon whither the Elves know not… But the sons of Men die indeed, and leave the world; wherefore they are called the Guests, or the Strangers. Death is their fate, the gift of Illuvatar, which as Time wears even the Powers shall envy. But Melkor (Satan) has cast his shadow upon it, and confounded it with darkness, and brought forth evil out of good, and fear out of hope.
      • It is a gift that we dwell on Earth for a short time. Our reward after earth life is unimaginable. Satan tries to make death seem like a bad thing, casting his shadow upon it. We should remember that death is not evil and nothing to fear. It is a gift.
    4. (Page 96) Curse of Noldor for slaying their brethren. “’Ye have spilled the blood of your kindred unrighteously and have stained the land of Aman. For blood ye shall render blood, and behold Aman ye shall dwell in Death’s shadow. For though Eru appointed to you to die not in Ea, and no sickness may assail you, yet slain ye may be, and slain ye shall be: by weapon and by torment and by grief; and your houseless spirits shall come then to Mandos. There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies, and find little pity though all whom ye have slain should entreat for you. And those that endure in Middle-earth and come not to Mandos shall grow weary of the world as with a great burden, and shall wane, and become as shadows of regret before the younger race that cometh after. The Valar have spoken.’
      • There are elves in the mythology that commit the first murder of their own kindred. They are punished by having their spirits go to Mandos, keeper of the underworld, after their deaths. “There long shall ye abide and yearn for your bodies.” This is a truth of the Plan of Salvation that when men die, they go to spirit prison or spirit paradise and look at the absence of their body from their spirit as a prison. Also, the ties to the first murder in the Bible and the curse of Cain are obvious.
    5. (Page 109) “And they mourned not more for the death of the Trees than for the marring of Feanor: of the works of Melkor one of the most evil. For Feanor was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind, in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and in subtlety alike, of all of the Children of Iluvatar (God), and a bright flame was in him. The works of wonder for the glory of Arda (Earth) that he might otherwise have wrought only Manwe (Christ, God of earth) might in some measure conceive. And it was told by the Vanyar who held vigil with the Valar that when the messengers declared to Manwe the answers of Feanor to his heralds, Manwe wept and bowed his head.”
      1. This is talking about one of the earliest elves, Feanor. Feanor was deceived by Melkor and ultimately his pride led him to swearing an oath to do anything to reclaim the silmarils he had crafted. This led to many misdeeds. This made me think of Satan, a “morning star that fell.”
      • Also, this part talks about how the greatest evil Melkor (Satan) committed was lying, deceiving, and ultimately turning the path of Feanor to evil. The most evil work of Satan on this earth is turning the hearts of men to do evil when they could have done so much good. How many are there out there that could have been great bringers of peace, creators of beauty, uniters of the human race, that Satan destroyed?
    6. (Page 325) – Sauron in deceiving men tells them that the Valar have deceived men by putting forth the name of Eru (God). That they speak for Eru. He says Eru is a phantom, putting the power in the Valar’s hands. Then Sauron says, “But he that is their (the Valar) shall yet prevail, and he will deliver you from this phantom (God); and his name is Melkor, Lord of All, Giver of Freedom, and he shall make you stronger than they.”
      • Isn’t this the strategy of Satan today? There is no God. Those who speak for him (prophets) only speak in His name to get their own power. This is what Satan tries to get people to believe. There is one that you can follow who will give you freedom and power – yourself. In this analogy, I think Melkor is us. When Satan denies God, he usually doesn’t bring himself into it. He tells men that they are Gods and need no God. He tells us that we can find freedom and power in our own devices. Satan’s prevailing strategy today is telling the world there is no God.
    7. (Page 334-335) – men become so proud that they deny God and go to war against the Valar. It says that Manwe (the King of earth) “called upon Iluvatar, and for that time the Valar laid down their government of earth.” It says that Illuvatar changed the world with a chasm, water, and smoke, and the world was shaken.
      • This sounds like a description of the end of times when all the unrighteous turn from God and rebel against Him. They will be destroyed.
    8. There is a scene during the destruction of Numenor, a city that rebelled against the Gods, that describes a Queen of the people who, “Too late she strove to ascend the steep ways of the Meneltarma, to the holy place; for the waters overtook her.” The Meneltarma was the temple they had built to Illuvatar (God) and that had been neglected and ignored for decades. As floods started to come into the city, she tried to go to the temple but it was too late for the Queen. She had neglected the temple and God for too long. Once hardship befalls man, it’s too late to then try to cry out for help and worship God. This is the parable of the 10 virgins put right into the Lord of the Rings mythology.

    This is why I love reading! Everything denotes that there is a Christ. Beauty and truth can be pulled from almost any book. Everything I read gives me some new perspective or something new I hadn’t before considered. It’s also why I like writing. The greatest invention in the world was writing. Before I digress, let me close this post. I love Tolkien’s writing. Go read something great today.