THE BURNING LIGHT

 

“A man travelling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid. He looked at it and said to his guide: “This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see one little devil in this great city.

“The guide replied: “You do not understand, Sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness, corruption, degradation and abomination of every kind that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.”

“Travelling on a little further, the man came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hillside, surrounded by seven great, big coarse looking devils. “Why”, says the traveler, “this must be a tremendously wicked old man! Only see how many devils there are around him!”

“This”, replied the guide, “is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it.”

-        Chinese Fable

Does it make you wonder what strategies the old man used to make himself impervious to the influence of the adversary? I thought of listing some helpful ways we could do to achieve the same result, such as seeking after righteousness through prayer, scriptures, temple, Church, family home evening, clean and worthy thoughts, service……

As I reflected on these many things, I remembered reading a book years ago by a Christian woman who suggested every Christian should pray daily for a shield of faith to be placed around them to withstand the fiery darts of the adversary. I thought this, for sure, was the best way. Even today I pray for this shield of faith and it has served me well, I am sure.

In the early hours of this morning, something far more powerful came to my mind. The true path to repel the adversary is by his arch enemy, the Christ. The most-sure way is allowing the light of Christ to sear our consciousness and sharpen our focus so that before us is always the one and only path to salvation. Where there is light, there cannot be darkness.

This is the greatest repellant we have against him who cannot generate light and can only turn our lives into ashes.  He cannot stand the light, he cowers in darkness and feeds on the energy it gives him but there will come a day when he will be cast into the pit devoid of any power and be just a shell of his former self (Isaiah 14:12-20).

The imposter can lie, cheat and imitate but he will never be the Christ. He cannot light our path, he can only blind. All the things I listed surely do enable us to keep our focus on the Saviour but they are ‘doing things’ and they can easily fall by the wayside. What is more powerful and lasting is allowing Christ into our hearts. It means to develop a love that burns deep into our soul. A fire that burns, gives light.

The Saviour stands at the gates of heaven with open arms to receive us.

Be the force that the devil can reckon with but can never win…..

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: The Light of Christ by Douglas Bentley)

ARMOUR OF LIGHT

 

 

“In this, the last great conflict between light and darkness, I am grateful for the opportunity to ‘endure hardness, as a [disciple] of Jesus Christ’ (2 Timothy 2:3). With Paul, I declare, ‘The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light’ (Romans 13:12). I bear special witness that Jesus Christ ‘is the light and the life of the world; yea, the light that is endless, that can never be darkened’ (Mosiah 16:9)” (Elder Robert D. Hales, Out Of Darkness Into His Marvellous Light, May 2002, p 71).  

 

When writing to the Ephesians, Paul admonished them to put on the whole armour of God accentuating gospel principles which offer spiritual protection. He took this concept to a new level when he admonished the Romans to put on ‘the armour of light’ meaning ‘the Lord Jesus Christ’ (Romans 13:14). The armour of God truly does protect us from spiritual darkness because each section of the armour deals with a gospel principle that counteracts sin. This is the greatest protection we can have. The ‘armour of light’ however suggests something more. It means bringing the light of Christ to the world to counteract the darkness.

 

We are in the winding up scenes of this world. The adversary knows this. He has been perfecting his craft for thousands of years and now more than ever, he has the most efficient tools to spread the darkness. These are his methods and his path to success:

 

HIS THREE DOCTRINES:

1. There is no punishment for sin;

2. There is nothing after death;

3. He does not exist.

HIS THREE LIES:

1. Just once won’t hurt;

2. No one will know;

3. Everybody is doing it.

HIS VALUE SYSTEM:

1. Selfishness;

2. Self-indulgence;

3. Immediate gratification.

HIS SALES TECHNIQUES:

1. Pacifying;

2. Flattering;

3. Lulling.

HIS GOAL:

1. To steal our spiritual identity;

2. To kill our faith in God;

3. To destroy our commitment to Christ.

 

The adversary is having enormous success but He can never win against ‘the light of the world’. His power is no match for Him who has conquered the power of sin and death. Now more than ever, we, the disciples of Christ and bearers of truth, need to wear the ‘armour of light’ and bring it to the world.  The more righteous we are, the more light we are endowed with until we come to that day when we become as glorious as the one who is the source of all light. Nephi saw the power of God in our day descending on the saints of the Church of the Lamb (1 Nephi 14:14).  And even though he said 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 the words of Terri Savelle Foy: Satan has no power on his best day to take you out on your worst day……

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Heavenly Christ by David Beraru)