On Members Saying That I'm Following Satan

I've discussed this in a previous blog post, but some people in our community have continued to verbally say that my family is being lead by Satan.

Some of what I write below, I've said before.  Some of what I write below is additional food for thought.

What does it mean when someone is under Satan's influence or being lead by Satan?

If I were to walk in the door of all the local Christian churches, sit down and tell the pastor about myself and be completely honest with him or her, I would be willing to bet they would say I'm not being influenced by Satan.

For me, if someone is being influenced by Satan, it means they are immoral.  Immoral, to me, means:

• committing murder; attempting to commit murder; war-mongering; genocide
• stealing, robbing, tax-evading, swindling, bilking
• cheating on a spouse; wrecking families; committing adultery
• being abusive; physically, sexually or psychologically
• lying, not being honest or truthful; intending to deceive; cheating
• embracing, supporting or giving cover to any behavior above, when you are in a position to stop or prevent it, within reason
• embracing vice; being corrupt, foolish, selfish, prideful, slothful, licentious or acting cowardly
• lacking any virtue; such as justice, wisdom, courage or temperance

I'm not perfect, but I don't have any habits of any of the above.  We all may have lied or have dabbled in vices at some point, but for me, none of those vices have turned into a habit and therefore is not part of my character.  I don't think I'm being influenced by Satan.  In fact, my striving has always been, and continues to be to:

• support life; mine, my family, those who benefit from my charitable contributions and taxes
• live honestly, in work and personal life; try to be transparent as reason permits
• being faithful to my wife and children; I've never physically abused them and I have tried to parent productively, without emotionally abusing them ... anyone can ask them how I've done and I won't be fearful of the answer
• I try to ensure justice is pursued where I can influence it; if someone has committed a crime or done something morally wrong, I try to help them or if needed, report it to the police/authorities
• I strive to live a life of virtue every day; I'm not 100% successful all the time, but I am striving to be more just, more wise, more courageous and more temperate

I think it should go without saying, but I will make it explicit.  I do not worship Satan.  I do not participate in black magic, voodoo, Satanic rituals or anything of that kind.

Now, to a member of the Church, what they mean when they tell me I'm being influenced by Satan, is that I won't believe or say that Joseph Smith was called of God or that the Mormon church is the one true church on the earth today and all other religions are an abomination before God or that the current prophets, seers and revelators of the Mormon church are the only men who speak for God on the earth today.  Because of that "thought crime" people believe and verbally say I'm being influenced by Satan.

What confounds me, though, is that there is plenty of evidence Joseph often stepped into immoral behavior as listed above.  Some members will try to ignore it or rationalize it.  This is moral relativism.  It wasn't moral in 1835, it isn't moral in 2019.  If we are going to give Brother Joseph a break, then I would suggest to anyone who thinks I'm being influenced by Satan, to give me a break too.  If Joseph passes the judgement bar, I think I will too.

Also, at the heart of this issue, for me, is trust.  I believed my leaders and teachers.  I trusted them to tell me the truth.  I believed my leaders and teachers when they said the peep stone was an anti-Mormon fabrication designed to make us lose our faith.  I believed them when they said that Joseph practicing polygamy was false and an anti-Mormon lie or that he made up the Book of Abraham.  I believed them when they said it was God who cursed wicked people with black skin.

When I later learned the truth, I realized my leaders and teachers, either wittingly or unwittingly, didn't tell me the truth.  That hurts and I lost trust in them.  How can I have faith in leaders where there is no trust?

In my search to understand why people are saying my family and I are under the influence of Satan, I came across this conference talk by James Faust: The Great Imitator.  One passage stood out to me.  I share this passage to those who think or say I'm following Satan.

Let us not become so intense in our zeal to do good by winning arguments or by our pure intention in disputing doctrine that we go beyond good sense and manners, thereby promoting contention, or say and do imprudent things, invoke cynicism, or ridicule with flippancy. In this manner, our good motives become so misdirected that we lose friends and, even more serious, we come under the influence of the devil. I recently heard in a special place, “Your criticism may be worse than the conduct you are trying to correct.”

I do not have any bad or ill feelings towards people who say this of me or my family.  My deepest desire is that they would take the time to understand what I've been through - to walk in my shoes - to ask questions and get to know me, then to exercise empathy.  If we have to agree to disagree, so be it.  But please make the effort to know me before you judge me so harshly and say that I and my family are following Satan.  We simply are not.

June Week 2: Principles for Proper Leadership (Commentary on D&C 121:34-46)

34 Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?

we are all 'called' in some capacity or another.  we are called to be leaders or examples or other areas of service.  what does 'chosen' mean in this context?  to me, it is synonymous with "effective" or "ideal" or "good" or "proper".  therefore, to rephrase it, we all have work to do, but few are really good or effective at accomplishing the task at hand.

from here, we dig into why some people are good and effective at callings or leadership while others are not.

35 Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson—

reason number one why some people aren't so effective: their hearts are not in the right place; their intentions are not good.  they want to lead in order to be popular or prestigious or to perhaps become wealthy from the position.

36 That the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.

in a priesthood leadership context, some people want to be priesthood leaders to be popular; but they fail to understand that they must always be righteous and wise and just in order to be an effective and good leader.

37 That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.

leadership keys and priesthood authority may be granted us, but we lose that authority when we are prideful, vain or when we exercise control over people because of our position of authority.  many are aware of the catholic church priest scandals; but even the LDS church has its own issues and history.  as recent as this year, the news was filled with reports about a man named Joseph Bishop, who assaulted a sister missionary in the MTC of all places.  there are many other cases of heinous behavior of leaders abusing their position of authority (see wikipedia entry on mormon abuse case).

there are two key lessons here:
1. don't assume a bishop or stake president or mission president or general authority are good people.  reserve judgement and be mindful of never letting down your guard.  speak up for yourself; tell a trusted adult if you've been the victim of such heinous behavior.  DO NOT be silent about such matters; whether you've been the victim or if a friend or someone you know has suffered abuse.

2. if you are in a leadership position, you must set a higher standard for yourself.  don't ever let your actions betray the trust of others.

as youth, you should be aware of on-going efforts by a bishop who lives in houston, who has made it his mission to make bishop interviews less sexually explicit.  also, some people think it is a great idea to ensure there is more than one adult in the room when a leader interviews a child or young adult.  for more information about this effort, see: http://protectldschildren.org/

38 Behold, ere he is aware, he is left unto himself, to kick against the pricks, to persecute the saints, and to fight against God.

do you know what the term "kick against the pricks" means?

a prick or an ox goad was a stick with a pointed piece of iron on its tip used to prod the oxen when plowing. The farmer would prick the animal to steer it in the right direction. Sometimes the animal would rebel by kicking out at the prick, and this would result in the prick being driven even further into its flesh. In essence, the more an ox rebelled, the more it suffered.

maybe a more modern-day application would be "tire spikes."  maybe you've seen these in a parking lot, where you pay where you enter, but where you exit the parking lot, to prevent non-payers from entering, the lot has theses tire spikes.  if you roll over the spikes while exiting the lot, the spikes fold down.  but if you back up or go the wrong way over the spikes, it will pop your tires - a very costly mistake.

39 We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.

according to D&C 121, most people are power hungry - in that when they get power and authority, the begin to abuse it.  this is a very stern warning for all of us - that we should be aware of our bias toward power.

40 Hence many are called, but few are chosen.

power hunger is the reason why so few are effective.

41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

no one can or should tell you what to do for the reason of: "because i said so; or i command you to ..."  this really only works in the military.  in normal day-to-day interactions, for anyone to be an effective leader, they must actually be good people.

up to this point in D&C 121, we've been talking about the traps of leadership.  now it gets into how to actually be a good and effective leader.

you can't just boss people around.

use persuasion, reason, logic.

long-suffering simply means being patient with people.

anger never really works; the other end of the spectrum from anger is gentleness.  how effective have your parents or leaders been when they get angry or upset?  are you more willing to do what someone tells you when they are freaking out or when they are gentle?

love unfeigned - what does 'feign' mean?  it means 'fake or false or to pretend'.  do you like it when people pretend to love you or when they actually love you?  it's an obvious answer.  so the lesson here is: don't be fake.  be genuine.

42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

similar to gentleness is kindness.  again, think of when leaders have been kind to you.  are they more effective or less effective?

pure knowledge - is it better when a leader gives you good reasons for doing something?  or is it better when they just give opinions?  we are all biased in some way or another.  we assume we know, when in reality, we really don't know.  many of us don't admit we don't know.  it is always better to let data and sound knowledge guide us.  this is what pure knowledge is.

being lead by good information and knowledge will prevent leaders from being hypocrites and it will give them confidence in their decisions (confidence = enlarging the soul).

guile is simply deception.

43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

followers will sometimes disobey a leader.  in those cases, the leader needs to provide feedback.  the old-school style would typically involve yelling and foaming at the mouth - which is, less effective.

a better way to provide feedback (which really is the essence of "reproving someone") is to ensure the feedback is given in a timely manner.  this is why your teachers assign homework and give quizzes in between tests.  if a lesson has been given, but the teacher doesn't know you've learned the lesson until the final exam, that is not very timely feedback.  even at work, all the employees are ranked once a year; but once a year feedback is not enough, therefore, we are coached frequently.  failure is bound to happen, but we lose opportunities to teach and learn if we don't actually think about and learn from our failures.

after you provide feedback, be sure to give encouragement and try to make the feedback experience positive.

this whole concept is easily apparent in dog-training.  you train your dog with positive reinforcement; not negative.

44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.

better to enjoy the kindness and confidence of a leader than the fear of hellfire damnation!

45 Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

charity is the greatest of all.  see Moroni 7:45-48.

virtue (self-discipline, courage, justice, wisdom and the related virtues) should guide you in all your do as a person and as a leader.  at one point in time "garnish" actually meant , in part, "to warn or defend" (link).  If we apply this meaning in this context, we should let virtue guard our thoughts unceasingly or all the time - we should never let our guard down.  in today's terms, i often hear that we need to "be mindful."

if we can guard our thoughts with virtue all the time, then we will be confident relative to our position with God and with others.  we won't have anything to hide or feel guilt for.

pure doctrine - sound reason - real knowledge will seep (distil) into our minds like dew on grass.  have you ever notice your grass or a field at night - does it have dew on it?  no.  but in the morning, it does.  it's almost magic.  that process of distillation happens over hours.  if we practice virtue and learn right doctrine, then that knowledge will seep into our souls and minds.

46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.

wisdom will be our constant companion.  what else is the holy ghost but a means for teaching us what is right and wise and just?  we want to have those virtues to be with us all the time.

a scepter is a symbol of true power and authority.  kings and queens have scepters.  when you are an effective leader, your symbolic scepter will be righteousness and truth.

your domain or sphere of influence, will grow.  people will begin to seek you out; looking for your wisdom - all because you have take the time and effort to learn how to be an effective leader.

Drift From God in Churches

Yesterday, I read a talk given by Harold B. Lee in the October 1963 General Conference.  The talk is entitled, This is Our Gospel.  I found this talk on the LDS Scripture Citation Index site.

What caught my attention from this talk were his quotes of a couple of newspaper clippings he read. 

Below are the quotes he cited in his talk.

A short while ago in Philadelphia I was handed a clipping from a Philadelphia newspaper reporting a statement made by the Associate Secretary General of the State of Churches of the Assembly of National Churches representing thirty denominations. The article was entitled "Drift from God in Churches." I shall read but a few sentences:

"American churches in many cases were described today as being too 'public relations conscious'—more eager to please the crowd than to please God."
* * * * *

"Many churches, yielding to secular practice have become public relations conscious. There is as much if not more concern for the attractiveness of the package and the effectiveness of the marketing techniques than for the quality of the product."
* * * * *

"Modern churches too often have put the accent on secular yardsticks of success—size, statistics and outward attractiveness—rather than spiritual dedication."
* * * * *

"Many congregations would rather have a minister who is a 'good administrator and promoter' than one who is 'a loyal and humble disciple of Jesus Christ, a thinker and a fearless prophet of the sovereign and redeeming Lord.'"
* * * * *

"Too many people speak vaguely of the need of `faith and religion' rather than of the real need—of God, of a `return to the Father.'"
* * * * *

Then I picked up a clipping also while I was in Philadelphia about a year ago from Dr. Henry P. Van Dusen, president of the Union Theological Seminary, in which he said this, as quoted in the paper:

"A sharp and strange contrast between the upsurge of religion and a decline in morality was noted by Dr. Henry P. Van Dusen . . .

"It is a disturbing, confounding contradiction that the revival of religion has no parallel resurgence in morality. If the complex and illusive data could be plotted on a graph, it would show curves of religious vitality and of moral health moving in opposite directions.

"Thus far, the return to religion in our day has produced no corresponding moral fruitage. It raises the question as to the quality and worth of the religion.

"Either there will be moral revival flowering from religious revival, or the latter will fritter into futility. And our final state will be a religious sterility to match the moral anarchy.

"Interest in religion appears to be at an all-time high, with church membership over 100 million, but delinquency, (I remind you) immorality, and social confusion also are at peaks."

As I made note of those articles I thought to myself, it is time for us to make a critical self-analysis of ourselves to see how much of this applies to us as a Church and to us as individuals.

"Let There be Light"

The Information Age is great ain't it?  I never heard of Vera Lynn until Elder Cook told the story about how he was named.  So I go to YouTube and search for Vera Lynn and find some really neat, goose-bump-creating videos of her songs.

Here is "The White Cliffs of Dover" playing in the background to Spitfires flying.


Here is a video of her singing "When The Lights Go On Again"


Watching these videos helped me appreciate Elder Cook's talk a bit more.  In fact, I got a lump in my throat and tears welled in my eyes listening to "When the Lights Go On Again" ... I think it is fitting to watch these videos on a day we celebrate our brave veterans and remember their sacrifices.

Elder Cook's talk was excellent.  It could be summarized with an often-heard quote "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." I did a little research on this - although the quote is attributed to Edmund Burke, he never said it (see here).  But the idea is still relevant.

We as LDS are to actively stand up and defend what is good and wholsome.  We are to actively practice our religious freedoms.  There are unabashed forces acting in this world for both good and evil.  We must engage.

I really thought this quote from Elder Cook was spot on; "Let me be clear that all voices need to be heard in the public square.  Neither religious nor secular voices should be silenced.  Furthermore, we should not expect that because some of our views emanate from religious principals, they will automatically be accepted or given preferential status.  But is is also clear such views and values are entitled to be reviewed on their merits."

I firmly believe that when both good and evil cases are presented, the good will win out.  I agree with Elder Cook's sentiment that most people believe in God and support moral values.  The rub is that we need to actively participate and defend our principals ... by living them and speaking up for them.