In one of his final conversations with his son Helaman, Alma the Younger shares that “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass” (Alma 36:7-8?). One of the most simple but powerful tools in Spiritual Warfare is Bringing Dark Things to Light. Throughout scripture there are several references to Satan working in the dark, using forbidden covenants and secret combinations. God works in the light. What the world calls secret, is really sacred. Truths that are so important that they are “set apart,” which is what the word sacred means. God never intended for any knowledge to be withheld from anyone. The most sublime truths that are only appropriate to discuss in the temple were meant to be taught to everyone. All that keeps someone from learning these sacred things is their own lack of appropriate preparation.
When Satan fights, he tries to fill his opponents with shame. He wants you to be so mortified by the thoughts, feelings, and temptations that he offers you that you won’t dare mention them to anyone. Satan is a pedophile. He works to convince you that the dark thoughts and feelings he sends you are yours. He wants you to believe bad things are your fault, and that because you enjoy the sense of pleasure that comes with the sins he persuades you to do that you actually like being bad and are broken beyond repair. When someone with a physical body says these kinds of things to a child, we call them a pedophile. When Satan whispers these kinds of things to us in our own voice, remember he is an excellent ventriloquist, we call them “negative self-talk.”
One of the easiest ways to annihilate this kind of dark is to bring it into the light. Say it out loud. Notice the immediate thoughts or feelings you are probably experiencing right now? Perhaps they are feelings of the horror of what other people might think if they heard those thoughts. Maybe the thought is something like, “Well that’s a stupid idea.” Remember, Satan is a pedophile. What would a pedophile with a mortal body tell a child when they consider saying out loud the things that were happening to them in the dark? Satan knows how powerful the simple act of shining light on his work is. It is devastating. Crippling. Debilitating.
Allow me to share a real-life example that illustrates this point. When I began dating the woman I wanted to marry, we set some basic rules to keep us safe (never be the only two in a house/building, can’t be together past midnight, that kind of thing). Almost immediately after we were engaged Satan began to intensify his assaults on us. Early on I told my Darling that from time to time I would state the temptations I was feeling out loud. I explained that by saying them out loud and making her aware of them it helped me recognize how foolish the temptation was and made sure I wouldn’t do it. For example, we set very specific rules about what kind of physical contact was okay. When I felt tempted to cross that line I summoned my courage, told my Darling what I was feeling, and we put a little more space between us so it would be easier to win that battle. We spent more and more time together as our wedding date approached, and Satan continued to intensify his attempts to prevent us from having a temple marriage. We worked to communicate, to bring the dark temptations we were experiencing into the light, and we never once crossed the lines that we set.
This tool is simple, it takes some guts, but it is astoundingly effective. Imagine the power that could be yours if you told your spouse, “I really want to cheat on my diet right now.” Once you have the thought out in the open, it is a lot easier to wrestle with. Also, everyone you know almost certainly experiences the same kinds of dark thoughts, feelings, and temptations that you do. If your spouse told you, “I really don't want to go exercise right now” at the exact same time you were having the exact same experience, how likely would you be to judge or condemn them? I’m guessing you would probably feel relieved and understood even though they were the one who said the thought out loud.
Satan has been practicing psychological warfare for thousands of years. Don’t try to outthink him. That is like the moment in The Princess Bride when Vizzini agrees to have a battle of wits with Westley. You remember the scene? After Vizzini dies in the midst of his victory cackle, Buttercup says, “To think -- all that time it was your cup that was poisoned.” Westley responds, “They were both poisoned. I spent the last few years building up an immunity to Iocaine powder.” Moral of the story: don’t fight Satan on his own battlefield. No matter what you do, you are almost certain to lose. He’s got the field rigged in his favor! Say your temptation out loud, shine a spotlight on it, and you’ll find it is much easier to win your battles.
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