He Maketh War

I once overheard someone wonder whether an encounter they'd had with a creepy individual was in fact an encounter with somebody who was possessed by a devil.  If there's a question mark over your head, then the person is not possessed.  

During the night of December 23-24, 2003, I was unexpectedly visited by a woman possessed with devils.  This sorely unpleasant meeting lasted for around 45 minutes.  I hadn't known the woman previously, nor have I seen her since.  I now know her name, and that she was a member of the Church.  To this day I am unaware of what or who she was involved with that precipitated Satan's seizing control of her.  

It became quite apparent throughout the confrontation that this sister had at least been communicating with, and attempting to aide these spirits (whom she was able to see and I was not).  They had deceived her.  She was utterly overcome and displaced.

I remember keenly the emotions I felt, every individual that was there, the room we were in, the sight and sound of it all, etc.  I've spent considerable time pondering over what transpired.  The details of that night matter to me, but are not suited for a blog post.  Really, it's not something to talk much about.  Dwelling upon evil invites darkness.

Though this woman had been completely violated, her damnable experience did not damn her.  When she left that night she had returned to herself, and her tormentors had departed.  As I reflect upon that night, it seems she would thereafter have had every opportunity to press forward in faith and repentance, seeking Christ.  Perhaps the blatant nature of her experience encouraged such a turn toward light.    

Satan maketh "war with the saints of God" (D&C 76:29).  The servants of Satan uphold his work (D&C 10:5).  If the war he waged were as outwardly diabolical and horrifying as the encounter I had that night, not a man, woman, or child would be ignorant to the fact that there is indeed a war.  They would avoid it at all costs.  Yet, he is far more cunning than that.

The war Satan wages is for the souls of men.  He leads souls carefully down to hell (2 Ne. 28:21).  The tools he uses are pride, popularity, materialism, and the lusts of the flesh (1 Ne. 22:23; 3 Ne. 6:15).  In fact, those things are not scary at all.  We are encompassed about by them (D&C 76:29).  They are exciting, enticing, titillating, and thrilling to the carnal man.  Satan will by and by claim those who belong to his kingdom (ibid.).  It is these who "need fear, and tremble, and quake," for they "must be consumed as stubble" (ibid.).

Because Satan's tactics are careful, he is able to grasp them with his awful chains and his victims know it not (2 Ne. 28:22).  His victims even take delight in their position, their popularity, and their riches.  From this there is no deliverance, because there is no recognition (ibid.).  They are blind because they are filled with darkness (1 John 2:11).  Though they claim to worship Christ, they comprehend Him not (D&C 10:58).   

Because Satan seeks to rule with blood and horror on this earth, he will not cease his efforts until the wicked destroy the wicked (Psalm 34:21).  Our hope lies in Christ, not in the father of lies.  He would flatter you (2 Ne. 28:22).  Christ desires your repentance (3 Ne. 30:2).  Awake and arise to your awful situation.
   

He Is Fallen

Joseph Smith gave to us a remarkable account of his vision of the eternal worlds that we scarcely understand.  He explained that if God willed it, and if the Saints were prepared for it, he could have revealed a hundred times more about the eternal kingdoms than he did in what is now D&C 76 (see HC 5:402).  

Juxtaposed with the view of eternal glory is a view of eternal damnation.  Joseph saw both.  You don't encounter the one without encountering the other.  You do not encounter God without also encountering Satan (Moses 1:9-12; JSH 1:15-17).  

After testifying that he and Sidney saw the "glory of the Son, on the right hand of the Father," he explained that he also witnessed Satan:

"And this we saw also, and bear record, that an angel of God who was in authority in the presence of God, who rebelled against the Only Begotten Son whom the Father loved and who was in the bosom of the Father, was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son,

"And was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him - he was Lucifer, a son of the morning."

"And we beheld, and lo, he is fallen! is fallen, even a son of the morning!

"And while we were yet in the Spirit, the Lord commanded us that we should write the vision; for we beheld Satan, that old serpent, even the devil, who rebelled against God, and sought to take the kingdom of our God and his Christ - 

"Wherefore, he maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about" (D&C 76:25-29).

Joseph Smith learned more about this than we are comfortable considering.

Satan was an angel of God.  This is one of two types of beings in heaven (D&C 129:1).  He was in authority in the presence of God.  What does that mean?  Is this the same kind of authority the great and noble ones had "in the presence of God" (Abr. 3:22-28)?  What kind of authority must one have to organize a kingdom in heaven in opposition to the Kingdom of the very God of heaven?  "[T]he Devil Lusifer also organized his kingdom in opposition to overthrow gods kingdom & he became the son of perdition" (WJS, p. 8).  How could he have supposed he could "take" the kingdom of our God and his Christ?        

How is it that "many followed after him," and "the heavens wept over him" (ibid.)?  What kind of authority and persuasion must one possess to convince a third part of the hosts of heaven that God's plan was not perfectly just and merciful (D&C 29:36)?  That they should not trust in Christ, the eternal God?  

What does it mean to be a son of the morning?  The morning of what?  

What does it mean that he fell?  Fell from what?