Have You Been Deceived by an Angel of Light?
You are probably familiar with the story of the War in Heaven and the pre-mortal Council?
“And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:7-9).” (James J. Hamula, “Winning the War against Evil,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 50–53)
As Latter-day Saints we understand some of the details behind this war…
“…That Satan… 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. 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. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down;” (Moses 4: 1-3)
How was it that Lucifer’s argument was so compelling and appealing that a third of the hosts of heaven followed Lucifer (1) (2), knowing that they would be cast out of Father’s presence.
I believe the answer is found in examining how Satan, appearing as an angel of light, is also deceiving many today. Satan’s argument in the war in heaven must have seemed so good, so true and right that his followers honestly believed it was the better way – after all, these were spirits who dwelt in the presence of God, the Father; they are his children.
How is Satan deceiving people today, appearing as an angel of light?
To give you a better understanding and to lead you on a path to show you how Satan deceives people, like unto an angel of light, I will refer to some excellent articles from fatherthywillbedone.com:
Lucifer appearing as an Angel of Light: Bitter Fountains Tasting Sweet
For Lucifer or any of his followers to transform themselves to appear as angels of light they must use truth mixed with falsehoods. The greatest lie is truth that is twisted. So yes much of what they may say “appears good” yet is truly evil at its core… Read more.
How to Boil a Frog: Lucifer Turns up the Heat
Most of us have heard a metaphoric story regarding a frog and boiling water that goes something like this… …This is how Lucifer operates… Read more.
The Law of Attraction is Not the Law of the Harvest, Restoration or Faith
The law of attraction has its origins in the teachings and practices of the occult, both modern and anciently. Similarities exist, for sure, but the difference between them is so crucial, so central to the difference between the Gospel of Christ and the gospel of Lucifer that it is really incorrect to equate these two principles…. Read more.
Moral Agency
Our choice is simple, we choose to do the will of our Father or we choose to do our will. The world tries to deceive us into thinking we can do our will without consequences to that choice… Read more.
I would say that the primary premise for most of the falsehoods that sound appealing is a matter of temporal fear. I can’t say how many temporal events there are out there that honestly can sound scary without a continued commitment to building one’s testimony, but when it is well-built, the fear can be well taken care of because the Plan of Salvation applies so well that there are not exceptions to it overall. Everyone will be resurrected. And honestly the missionary efforts will still proceed forward. The main problem comes, I feel, in the introverted life that seems to be encouraged in much of our culture. How much rediculously unfounded, unscientific, or even non-spiritual information flows through the internet at any given time. Now, taken for granted, I’m not just talking pornography, I’m talking loads of this conspiracy theory material or political advertisement that honestly deserves at most to be not believed at all, or simply taken with a pinch of salt. I’ve heard numerous times people discuss the possibility of some terrorist setting off a nuclear bomb, some oil company conspiracy keeping electric cars expensive, or something along the lines of “This [political party] is plotting to take over the nation” I could spend days trying to set up a refutations to all of these arguments lacking truth, but that’s not the focus here. The real problem is seeing how this belief and near obsession has detracted from the spirituality of the people who believe these facts to the point that they forget about how “No unhallowed hand” (History of the Church, 4:540) can really detract from the work of God. The people vaporized by the atomic bombs will be resurrected and have their bodies restored. The presence of religious extremism will not prevent missionary work from eventually occurring within the Middle East itself, Chinese communism will not prevent us from ever being able to send missionaries there, nor will political controversies or the economic situation totally hinder missionary efforts here in the U.S. etc. It’s about remaining committed to the word of God, and failing to watch ourselves (Mosiah 4: 20) (Helaman 5:12)that causes most of these falsehoods to become problems. There is a hard road up ahead, but in its midst great things will happen too, it’s mostly a question about our faithfulness that we will be able to see and appreciate it as it comes.
Benjamin, I am not sure I understand your point on conspiracy theories but surely every latter day saint is familiar with the gadianton robbers. This body was a secret body and were absolutely conspirators to overthrow the Nephite government. I am afraid that you speak with little understanding of the threats to our liberty and a great lack of understanding of satan and the threats that we face today to our liberty.
Please correct me if I have misunderstood your comments. If I have interpreted your thoughts correctly please provide evidence that refutes the view that both the democratic party and republican party are deliberately seeking to destroy our liberty. As I see it one has to be either willfuly blind to the threats posed by both parties or is supportive of the socialistic and freedom destroying bills being passed by both houses of Congress.
Kindly enlighten me so that I do not remain in ignorance.
Mitch, I will say it like this: The conspiracy theorists/ believers are another arm of the overall opposition against our freedoms. There are bills that are worth opposing, and there are honestly truly serious consequences if they go unopposed. The problem which I hope you realize is that people are “willfully blind” as you just stated in the sense that there sadly are a loud rowdy bunch who believe the conspiracy theories, and even buy into them, or act upon them. These conspiracy theories go against what you just said, by throwing the blame out there and giving information that those in ignorance will buy, and often do, even to the point of being almost worshipful about it. If you do not understand, many people actually bother to buy into these, and remain ignorant about what is truly going on in terms of law and policy, because most of what they munch on leaves out numerous facts. Numerous people buy into many of these trends, some of them even members of the Church, or even posters to the discussion boards on this site, such as 9/11 being an inside job, Obama wasn’t born in the U.S., etc. They buy into the idea that our enemy is just Bush, just Obama, just whichever organization or all powerful Cabal exists out there which they can fabricate in their minds, it’s all that entity’s responsibility, and there has to be some higher knowledge or special thing evil to match with that villain. Numerous people worship these ideas, and waste time giving out the irrational garbage that detracts. Numerous people don’t hold their senators/representatives accountable. I understand that you or I pretty much don’t believe much of this nonsense, but plenty of people don’t and they are a nuisance to true and virtuous principles, and play into the hands of those whom you just mentioned.
Benjamin, I am not one of those that believe that 9/11 was an inside job but I certainly believe that there is sufficient evidence that obama is not a natural born american. My single most revealing evidence is simply this …why spend in excess of $1 million to prevent the disclosure of his long form birth certificate. Surely one does not do this to hide a $15 certificate. When people hde records then you must ask why? When someone spends over a million then you must err on the side of cautionand demand that the Constitution be honored. As I am an immigrant I guess I can still be president if I am successful in hiding my records.
I believe it is extremely simple:
1 John 4:1-3 gives the TEST to use to authenticate all spirits, angels, etc. who appear before us.
(Jesus coming in the flesh means God coming in the flesh.)
Since none of these spirits were tested, I have to just
assume that they were not from God, but were from Satan.