Satan - 2 Corinthians 2:11

The whole point of forgiving those who have experienced church discipline is because if we don’t “Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” How does Satan use non-forgiveness to take advantage of us? I think that first, Satan makes us forget that we are just as much in need of the Savior’s atonement as everyone else. When we harbor bitterness and resentment towards others, regardless of whether or not they affected us, we allow that negativity to control us. Even passive negativity drives away the Spirit and drags us deeper down the rabbit hole. I know it’s easy to say that and more difficult to do, but I have had to do some pretty intense forgiveness in my time and I know that it’s really hard to do. I don’t have all the answers, but for me, I feel like forgiveness is one of those things that God has to help take out of our hearts. And He’s only able to do that when we try to keep the commandments and repent of our own sins.



There have been so many aspects of my life that were toxic, such as low self-esteem, anger, bitterness, resentment, hatred, and trauma. I can’t really think of any one thing that I did to get rid of these feelings in my life, and honestly, they are not all completely gone, I still struggle with some of them some times. But I know that the way most of them left me so that I could at least function and grow spiritually, is Jesus took them away. I can’t say “I did this particular thing and my guilt went away,” or “my trauma went away.” It’s a combination of things that seem unrelated, I did my best to be temple worthy, I tried to keep the commandments the best that I could, I turned to God and tried to feel the Spirit. These actions don’t seem like clear cut ways to clear toxicity out of your life, but that’s what happened. I think my entry on the woman at the well covers it pretty well. As we turn away from our old ways and turn towards God, we are healed. I don’t know how it happens, but that’s how it’s worked for me.



When we are filled with negative feelings, Satan takes advantage of that condition by feeding us lies, by trying to keep us in that toxic state so that the Spirit can’t come in and help us work through it. I know that for me, when I get into a negativity spiral, it’s a slippery slope and takes considerable effort to pull myself out of. I’ve heard compared to a google search of your brain, when you are thinking about what’s wrong, then your brain just brings up more and more stuff that’s “wrong,” and you have a hard time pulling yourself out of it. Add on to that all the crap that Satan is telling you, and it’s a pretty deep, dark pit. Satan will tell us that we’ve sinned too much to be forgiven, that God doesn’t want us back. He sows fear and despair and self-loathing, and a human nature response to those feelings are to look at other people poorly so that we can reassure ourselves that we are not so bad.



The IM quotes President Dallin H. Oaks as teaching, “Satan’s most strenuous opposition is directed at whatever is most important to the Father’s plan. Satan seeks to discredit the Savior and divine authority, to nullify the effects of the Atonement, to counterfeit revelation, to lead people away from the truth, to contradict individual accountability, to confuse gender, to undermine marriage, and to discourage childbearing (especially by parents who will raise children in righteousness).” I think another part of this might be to keep people from developing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I know that for me, the personal nature of my understanding and love has been the most life changing part of my spiritual journey.



When we fail to forgive others, there is a whole different rabbit hole we go down. Why does God let bad things happen to good people? If God loves me, why did he let me get hurt? How can a member of the church sin so badly if the church is true? If God didn’t protect me before, why should I trust that he won’t let it happen again? These are all questions that I asked myself for years, and the answers weren’t easily forth coming. Someone told me once, “God isn’t so petty that he won’t let you be angry with him.” That was profound for me because I was in fact angry at him, and most insecure people that I know, won’t stand for you being angry with them. So that means that God’s secure in his position and plan, which kind of changes the dynamic a little bit.



It’s not just a matter of not forgiving, but all the thinking that comes with it. It’s the negativity, regardless of the source, that poisons us against the Spirit. Ironically, it’s Satan who causes all this pain, not God, He’s the one who is able to fix it. Satan attacks our relationship with God, he blames God for everything that he himself causes, so it’s important to be able to identify what’s Satan and what’s not. The article written for this chapter on gospeldoctrine.com quotes James E. Faust as teaching, “It is not good practice to become intrigued by Satan and his mysteries. No good can come from getting close to evil… However, Brigham Young said that it is important to study… evil, and its consequences… who has not heard and felt the enticings of the devil? His voice often sounds reasonable and his message easy to justify. It is an enticing, intriguing voice with dulcet tones. It is neither hard nor discordant. No one would listen to Satan’s voice if it sounded harsh or mean. If the devil’s voice were unpleasant, it would not entice people to listen to it.”



The difference between playing with evil and knowing about it comes down to intention. What is the motivation to mess around with evil? To gain power yourself? Boredom? The main motivation is entertainment or personal gain. Studying evil is about learning tactics to recognize and avoid satanic influence. Satan would have us believe that he is all powerful, that he can hear our thoughts, that he can force us to do things. All these things are completely untrue, and we don’t know that unless we learn why it is untrue. We know that those who have bodies have power over those who do not, meaning that Satan can not force us to do anything, he cannot read our minds, and he does not have any power over us that we do not give him ourselves. If he were to let people know these truths about him, then that would totally negate his whole purpose, to gain power for himself and make us miserable. His whole plan is based on our acceptance of his lies. And recognizing his lies is one of the ways that we have power over him and the crap that he whispers into our ears.



Satan does not mind his own business. Satan does not smile at someone who is hurting, regardless of the reason. Satan doesn’t ask how they are doing, and genuinely listen. Satan doesn’t make cookies for the neighbors. Satan is the one who says all the terrible things about you. Satan is the one who won’t let you forget something that you did wrong a long time ago. Satan is the one who reminds you of all the times that people have wronged you. Satan is the one who says that God doesn’t want you back. Satan is the one who says that you’ve done something so horrible that you can never go back, so why bother. And just in case you think that maybe Satan isn’t all that bad, remember that Satan is the one who thought that raping a child was a good idea and then convinced so many millions of people to do it. Satan’s the one who dreamed up every type of torture ever known to man and then convinced someone to do it. Satan is the one who convinced Hitler to commit genocide and Cecil Rhodes to enslave, torture and kill Africans by the millions. So if the person who prides himself on the horrors that he dreamed up and convinced someone to do tells you that God doesn’t love you, then please check your source before you begin to believe him.