SATAN'S COLD WAR

 

I recently watched a very inspiring interview with Jim Caviezel who was promoting his latest movie.  The  interview quickly progressed into his passionate speech about the importance of fighting a battle when one presents itself as opposed to shrinking back thinking fighting is not acceptable. He spoke of how the Christian pastors of our day are opting for appeasement and are not engaging in Satan's 'cold war'. I will not name the context of his interview because I do not want to be drawn into political debates. What I do want to do is talk about Satan's 'cold war'. 

We might ask ourselves what that exactly is. In my mind it is everything that is overtly taught today as 'good' but is covertly an opposition to Christian values and teachings. It is anything that is leading us away from God. It is: political correctness; cancel culture; racism madness; greed for power; human polarisation; governmental abuse of human rights; denial of truth; spreading of lies; secret combinations; oppression of others for personal gain; vilification and slander of others, and the list goes on. The structure of our society reflects all of this. The frightening part is that it is upheld and even perpetrated by governmental and bureaucratic men who seek only one thing, power. Why is this frightening? Because it is  leading to Christian persecution at large which will one day culminate in the persecution of the 'church of the Lamb of God' (1 Nephi 14:12-3). That means us. 

Satan is raging in the hearts of men and only for one reason. Because he has been allowed to do it. He has no power except what we give him. Fighting an enemy that one cannot see can be daunting. Nephi, however, gave us hope when he wrote that he saw the power of God descending on the saints of the Church of the Lamb (1 Nephi 14:14).  And even though Nephi saw that our numbers were few and that we were scattered upon the face of the earth, we were 'armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory' (v14)

In 166 BC, Judah Maccabee led the Maccabeean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. When he and his men arrived at the temple and saw its neglected condition they rent their clothes and wept. Judah cleared the temple of all Greek statues and gods and restored it to its proper use. How could he not when the ensign he set up at the onset of the revolt was: "Who among the Gods is like unto thee O Jehovah?" (Exodus 15:11).  No one. What Greek gods could possibly rival the one true and living God? No god. Judah Maccabee fought for his God and he died fighting. His death stirred the Jews to renewed resistance and they achieved independence and the liberty to worship freely. 

We are the warriors from the front lines of heaven's battle sent to such a time as this to fight Satan's empire which spreads far and wide throughout the world today. To overcome the enemy of all righteousness (Moroni 9:6) we must first fortify ourselves against the powers of darkness that we might be endowed with the power of God. And secondly, we must stand up for righteous values by shunning the wrong and promoting the right. As we do so our efforts will reverberate throughout the earth. Even though small in number, we will 'come forth out of the wilderness of darkness, and shine forth fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners" (D&C 109:73; 105:31).

- Cathryne Allen, Did Not Our Hearts Burn When He Opened To Us The Scriptures?

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