We cannot understand Zion without understanding her opposite: Babylon. A look back at Babylon’s founders in action gives us a template of what we should be avoiding today. Babylon was and is the antithesis of Zion.

Zion and Babylon are reverse orders, contrary programs, opposed and inverse in every way. They are like day and night or opposite poles on a compass. The king of Zion is Jesus Christ; the king of Babylon is the anti-Christ, Satan. The work of the king of Zion is “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” that we might have “fulness of joy.” The work of the king of Babylon is captivity and death that we might become miserable like him.

There can be no greater fall than from Zion to Babylon. An example is the Nephites. Within two hundred years of the coming of Christ, they plummeted from Zion (no contentions or disputations, every man dealing justly one with another, having all things common among them, no rich or poor, widespread freedom, great and marvelous spiritual outpourings and miracles, incredible prosperity, the love of God felt in the hearts of the people, no envyings, strifes, tumults, whoredoms, lyings, murders, or any manner of lasciviousness, no robbers, murderers, any classes of people, equality and oneness, qualifying as the children of Christ, heirs to the kingdom of God, the happiest people ever created by God, and blessed in all their doings) to Babylon (lifted up in pride, hearts set upon costly apparel, expensive jewelry, and the fine things of the world, ceased to have all things in common, divided into classes, built up churches and man-made philosophies to get gain, denied the true church of Christ and the more parts of his gospel, participated in all manner of wickedness, exercised power and authority over each other, hardened their hearts against God, willfully rebelled against the gospel, taught their children to not believe, reestablished secret combinations, sought after and horded gold and silver, and did traffic in all manner of merchandising-the economy became their preoccupation and their god).

The downfall of the Nephite nation can be traced back to their abandoning Zion and embracing Babylon.

Anti-Christ philosophy

According to Blaine Yorgason, Satan’s first two articles of faith are “we can buy anything in this world with money, and…we can buy it now and pay for it later on.” The philosophy of Babylon is anti-Christ. Godlessness, selfishness and competition are its hallmarks. The anti-Christ doctrine states that people fare “according to the management of the creature,” prosper according to their genius, and conquer according to their strength. Because they assume no accountability to God, they believe that they can act without moral consequences. In Babylon, people succeed or fail on their own merits; they are totally alone. They pretend a form of godliness, but deny the power that comes from and makes godliness possible. They eschew hope in and dependency upon Jesus Christ; they trample the plan of salvation, reject the holy priesthood and the gifts of the Spirit; they judge the humble followers of Christ as having frenzied minds and being held captive by what they call the false traditions of the gospel.

In a General Conference address, Elder Mark E. Peterson said,

Every force now corrupting America is a form of anti-Christ. Criminality is anti-Christ. Immorality is anti-Christ. Drunkenness is anti-Christ. Rioting, pillaging, and anarchy likewise are anti-Christ. Robbery, assault, and murder are all anti-Christ. Deception, duplicity, perjury, and covetousness are anti-Christ. The distribution of pornographic material that corrupts the morals of young and old alike is anti-Christ. And so is every other force destructive of the high principles that have made America great…. Oh, America-wake up to the peril that confronts you. Arouse yourself from this delirium in which you find yourself. Realize that this Christian nation can never survive on the principles of anti-Christ.

Frighteningly, the anti-Christ philosophy forms a type of sinister worship. Hugh Nibley writes: “This is the great voice of the economy of Babylon. It does not renounce its religious pretensions for a minute. Many in it think they are identical with a pious life.” Suffice it to say that the anti-Christ philosophy always results in the downfall of those who subscribe to any part of it. We recall the dismal demises of Sherem and Korihor, and we have the testimonies of the once-mighty Jaredite and Nephite nations. Clearly, there is no safety in Babylon. Satan will not support his children; his only aim is to captivate them, make them miserable, and destroy them.

Cain

We can thank Cain and his descendant Nimrod for creating Babylon and perpetuating the anti-Christ philosophy that has enslaved the world and engulfed it in incarcerating misery.

From the dawn of history, Satan, the “father of lies” and the would-be usurper of the Father and the Son’s power, glory and missions, endeavored to gain a foothold in this world and build a kingdom here. He devised a “cunning plan” to make men miserable by means of deceptions and false revelations, which things would be “particularly effective against those who struggle with vanity and pride (2 Nephi 9:28)…. His goal is to destroy the world (Moses 4:6)…[and] to separate what God has joined together and unite what God has separated (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.103).”

Failing to indoctrinate Adam and Eve with the anti-Christ doctrine, he found a willing apprentice in Cain. The two became inseparable, literally the inverse of the Father and the Son. Moses reports: “And Cain loved Satan more than God.” This perverted affection allowed Satan to drive a wedge between Cain and God. To bring Cain to the point of decision, he told him to “make an offering unto the Lord.” Of course offerings ordered by Satan are rejected out of hand by God. It is God alone who mandates offerings; such offerings must be accomplished by proper priesthood authority through a specific ordinance. No wonder, then that the Lord had no respect for Cain’s offering. “Now Satan knew this, and it pleased him. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” We know the result. The Lord warned Cain of the consequences of following his course of action, but Cain had made his choice. Thereafter, the Lord would call him “Perdition,” which means entirely lost or ruined.

On the other hand, Satan called Cain “Master Mahan,” which suggests that Satan had given Cain a “new name” within the order of his priestcraft (not priesthood), which name suggests a high level of authority in the demonic craft and extraordinary expertise. Now fully willing to establish the foundation of Satan’s benighted kingdom, which would become known as Babylon, Cain learned from Satan the signs, tokens and oaths of the devil’s priestcraft, which were calculated to deliver power into his hands so that he could gain control and dominate the people of the earth. The success of this diabolical father-and-son team was so great that their religion soon enslaved and degraded the whole world until the Lord had no choice except to destroy it by flood.

Hugh Nibley explains:

[Satan] boasts just how he plans to put the world under his bloody and horrible misrule: He will control the world economy by claiming possession of the earth’s resources; and by manipulation of its currency-gold and silver-he will buy up the political, military, and ecclesiastical complex and run everything his way. We see him putting his plan into operation when he lays legal claim to the whole earth as his estate, accusing others of trespass, but putting everything up for sale to anyone who has the money. And how will they get the money? By going to work for him. He not only offers employment but a course of instruction in how the whole thing works, teaching the ultimate secret: ‘That great secret’ (Moses 5:49-50) of converting life into property. Cain got the degree of Master Mahan, tried the system out on his brother, and gloried in its brilliant success, declaring that at last he could be free, as only property makes free, and that Abel had been a loser in a free competition.

The discipline was handed down through Lamech and finally became the pattern of the world’s economy (Moses 5:55-56)…. Cain slew ‘his brother Abel for the sake of getting gain’ (Moses 5:50)-not in a fit of pique but by careful business planning, ‘by the conspiracy’ (D&C 84:16). The great secret he learned from Satan was the art of converting life into property-all life, even eternal life! The exchange of eternal life for worldly success is in fact the essence of the classic Pact with the Devil, in which the hero (Faust, Jabez Stone, even Jesus) is offered everything that the wealth of the earth can buy in return for subjection to Satan hereafter. There is no question of having some of both-’You cannot serve two masters’ (see Matthew 6:24), the one being Mammon; if you try to have it both ways by putting off the final settlement, says Amulek, ‘the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and has no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you’ (Alma 34:35).

Nimrod

The Flood decimated the followers of Cain, but Satan was not to be denied. The principles of Babylon are as eternal as the principles of Zion; they only need revealing to a new Babylonian “prophet” in a new Babylonian “dispensation.” Satan’s new prophet was Nimrod, a descendant of Cain through Ham’s son, Cush. The irony that Nimrod was Cain’s direct descendant and therefore that he possessed the right by bloodline to Cain’s priestcraft cannot be overlooked. Nimrod, Cain’s legal heir, who is identified with Pharaoh, was the one who tried to take the life of Abraham, the rightful heir to the legitimate priesthood. David H. Yarn writes:

One of the earliest and most influential apostates in the dispensation of Noah was named Nimrod, who was the son of Cush, who was the son of Ham. He was a mighty hunter and hero. He began a kingdom in Babel, Erech, and Accad (Shinar). Josephus tells us Nimrod excited the people to a contempt of God. He persuaded the people to ascribe their well-being to himself instead of God. ‘He also changed the government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning man from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on his power.’ He also said ‘…he would avenge himself on God for destroying their forefathers.’ Furthermore, Josephus reports that Nimrod established his kingdom through rapine, murder, and tyranny. (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book I, chap. 4.) He urged the people to depart from the religion of Shem and cleave to the institutes of Nimrod. (Clarke, Bible Commentary, Vol. I, p. 84.) He tried to get men to worship great conquerors and in time the deification of humans became a chief characteristic of heathen religions in Egypt, Babylon, Greece, Rome, China, and India. He also introduced animal worship. Idolatry and adultery (‘institutionalized immorality’) became common religious rites. Even human sacrifices were instituted.

The philosophies of Babylon were championed by Cain, but Babylon became an institution under Nimrod. Adjacent to the Euphrates River, Nimrod built a city (Babel), which over time became “one of the wonders of the ancient world, with its ziggurat and many miles of hanging (terraced) gardens.” Babel (later Babylon) became known for supplying its citizens every luxury that the world had to offer. Later, under Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon grew into an enormous city with massive walls, 56 miles in circumference, elegant parks and gardens. We can immediately see the trappings and dangers of Babylon. From Cain to Nimrod to Nebuchadnezzar to Caesar to the latter days, Babylon has been a place or state of mind defined by excesses, self-indulgence, wanton sin and contempt of God. Babylon has always been the nemesis of Zion. Elder McConkie writes:

As the seat of world empire, Babylon was the persistent persecutor and enemy of the Lord’s people…. To the Lord’s people anciently, Babylon was known as the center of iniquity, carnality, and worldliness. Everything connected with it was in opposition to all righteousness and had the effect of leading men downward to the destruction of their souls. It was natural, therefore, for the apostles and inspired men of New Testament times to apply the name Babylon to the forces organized to spread confusion and darkness in the realm of spiritual things. (Rev. 17; 18; D&C 29:21; Ezek. 38; 39.) In a general sense, the wickedness of the world generally is Babylon. (D&C 1:16; 35:11; 64:24; 133:14).

Nimrod sought to dominate the world from his capital city, Babel, and, according to M. Catherine Thomas, Nimrod, like his spiritual father, Satan, “sought to dethrone God by bringing men into constant dependence on his, Nimrod’s, power.” Nimrod was very successful. “A multitude followed Nimrod, persuaded that it was cowardice to submit to God. The people began to build the tower, apparently some type of temple, as their objective was to reach heaven by means of the tower. God’s response was to break up their evil combination by scrambling their languages, thus depriving them of the powerful Adamic language. The name babel means, in Akkadian, ‘gate of God’ and is a play on the Hebrew balal, meaning ‘to mix or confound.’ It is apparent then that the tower of Babel was a counterfeit gate of God, or temple, that Ham’s priesthood-deprived descendants built in rebellion against God. Jared and his family and friends rejected this temple and were spared the Lord’s punishments.”

Nimrod’s Babel became Babylon, the world order, philosophy and religion that would dominate the hearts of people throughout the millennia. Elder McConkie writes:

The name Babylon means many things to many people. The Hebrew word (bbel) goes back to a kingdom Nimrod founded, where the ancients built the tower of Babel, or Babylon (Genesis 10:9-10; 11:1-9). This kingdom evolved into an idolatrous materialistic civilization that reached a zenith in the powerful neo-Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Daniel 2:37-38). The prophet Isaiah identifies Babylon typologically as both a people and a place: the sinners and the wicked; the earth and the world (Isaiah 13:1, 9, 11). He predicts latter-day Babylon will suffer the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, thus likening the world’s desolation to a fiery cataclysm falling upon the wicked (Isaiah 13:4-19).

Nimrod and his people rebelled against God, and their religion of choice became idolatry, the worship of nature, images or false gods-all defined by covetousness. E. Douglas Clark writes: “An early Christ source reported… ‘The whole world was again overspread with errors, and…for the hideousness of its crimes destruction was ready for it, this time not by water, but fire, and…already the scourge was hanging over the whole earth.’ Never in the troubled history of mankind had there been greater darkness and depravity. It was a world as far from Zion as possible.”

Clark continues by quoting from the book of Jubilees:

“Noah’s children began to fight one another, to take captive, and to kill one another; to shed human blood on the earth, to consume blood; to build fortified cities, walls, and towers; men to elevate themselves over peoples, to set up the first kingdoms; to go to war-people against people, nations against nations, city against city; and everyone to do evil, to acquire weapons, and to teach warfare to their sons. City began to capture city and to sell male and female slaves…. They made molten images for themselves. Each one would worship the idol which he had made as his own molten image. They began to make statues, images, and unclean things; the spirits of the savage ones were helping and misleading them so that they would commit sins, impurities, and transgressions. Prince Mastema [Satan] was exerting his power in effecting all these actions and, by means of the spirits, he was sending to those who were placed in his control the ability to commit every kind of error and sin and every kind of transgression; to corrupt, to destroy, and to shed blood on the earth.”

This description reads like a how-to book for Babylon or the morning newspaper! Nimrod succeeded in contaminating the entire world with his Babylonian practices. Thereafter, Satan’s great chain once again veiled the earth in darkness, as it had in the days preceding the Flood. “And he looked up and laughed, and his angels rejoiced.” That same chain binds down the people of the latter days. Enoch foresaw our day and recorded that “a veil of darkness shall cover the earth.”

Sodom and Gomorrah

President Spencer W. Kimball spoke of “the rise and fall of great civilizations, such as Babylon, Ninevah, Jerusalem, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and numerous others which have flared like an arc-light, then dimmed even to candlelight proportions, or to be extinguished.” Sodom and Gomorrah, too, had their day and likewise perished. These communities, now covered by the Dead Sea, were contemporary models of Babylon. Because the latter days have been compared to Sodom and Gomorrah, we would do well to examine the characteristics that brought about their downfall.

Quoting Rabbi Eliezer, Hugh Nibley writes:

The men of Sodom were the wealthy men of prosperity, on account of the good and fruitful land whereon they dwelt. For every need which the world requires, they obtained therefrom…. But they did not trust in the shadow of their Creator, but [they trusted] in the multitude of their wealth, for wealth thrusts aside its owners from the fear of Heaven…. The men of Sodom had no consideration for the honour of their Owner by (not) distributing food to the wayfarer and the stranger…. They [even] fenced in all their trees on top above their fruit so that they should not be seized; [not] even by the bird of heaven…. These were the crimes of Sodom and Gomorrah. At the time of Abraham, the people elected leaders ‘of falsehood and wickedness, who mocked justice and equity and committed evil deeds’…the wicked oppressed the weak and gave power to the strong. Inside the city was tyranny and the receiving of bribes. Every day, without fail, they plundered each others’ goods. The son cursed his father in the streets, the slave his master. They put an end to the offerings and entered into conspiracy…. It’s not surprising, the records tell, that travelers and birds alike learned to avoid the rich cities of the plain, while the poor emigrated to other parts. ‘If a stranger merchant passed through their territory, he was besieged by them all, big and little alike, and robbed of whatever he possessed’…. This was a world in which every man was for himself. What a terrible state of things.

Elsewhere, Ezekiel and Jude describe Sodom and Gomorrah’s sins as:

• pride
• “fullness of bread” (luxuriant living)
• abundant idleness
• failure to care for poor and needy
• idolatry (worshipping anything else instead of God)
• contempt for others
• fornication
• “going after strange flesh” (homosexuality)

We know the fate of these offshoots of Babylon. The Lord obliterated them with fire from heaven; then he hid Sodom and Gomorrah from his face by covering them with the waters of the Dead Sea.

Our leaders have compared the conditions of the last days to the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah. They have stated that they know of no time in the history of the earth when there was greater spiritual danger from evil that permeates the world in epidemic proportions, not even in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. At no time has wickedness been so widely accepted. Whereas evil was localized in Sodom and Gomorrah, he pointed out, now it has spread across the world.

Moses 1:39

3 Nephi 28:10

See 2 Nephi 2:27

See 4 Nephi 1:1-18

See 4 Nephi 1:24-46

Blaine M. Yorgason, I Need Thee Every Hour, p.200

See Alma 30:12

See Alma 30:12-18

Mark E. Petersen, Conference Report, October 1967, p.67-68

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.334

See Jacob 7:13-20; Alma 30:49-60

See Alma 30:60

See 2 Nephi 2:27

2 Nephi 9:9

See Moses 4:3; Isaiah 14:12-17

Blaine M. Yorgason, I Need Thee Every Hour, p.326

Moses 5:18, 21-26

See “Perdition,” Webster’s New World Dictionary, p.1054

D&C 130:11

See Moses 5:16-34

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.166-67

See Hugh Nibley, Abraham in Egypt, p.61-66

See E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, p.35

David H. Yarn, The Gospel: God, Man, and Truth, p.127-28

David B. Galbraith, D. Kelly Ogden, and Andrew C. Skinner, Jerusalem: The Eternal City, p.103-104

See “Babylon or Babel,” LDS Bible Dictionary, p.618

Bruce R. McConkie, “Babylon,” Mormon Doctrine, p.69

Donald W. Parry, ed., Temples of the Ancient World: Ritual and Symbolism, p.389-90

John M. Lundquist and Stephen D. Ricks, eds., By Study and Also by Faith: Essays in Honor of Hugh W. Nibley on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday, 27 March 1990, vol. 2:384

See Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5; Philippians 3:19; See also “Idol,” LDS Bible Dictionary, p.706

E. Douglas Clark, The Blessings of Abraham, p.31, quoting Jubilees 11:2-5

Moses 7:26

Moses 7:61

Spencer W. Kimball, Faith Precedes the Miracle, p.51

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.322-23

See Ezekiel 16:49-50; Jude 1:7

See Genesis 19:24

See Map:  Old Testament Stories:  Part Two, LDS Church News, 1994, 01/08/94

See Boyd K. Packer, “One Pure Defense,” CES Devotional, February 6, 2004

Often, because of their fallen nature, children do not arrive at the testimony of Jesus Christ and his redeeming gospel easily. They may struggle with spiritual concepts and more readily adopt portions of the prevailing anti-Christ philosophy:

•          To discount prophetic teachings and warnings as foolish, vain traditions and false hopes that are enslaving;
•          To view religion as the effect of a frenzied, deranged, unenlightened mind;
•          To embrace the idea that men, independently of God, succeed or fail according to individual management, prosper according to individual initiative and genius, and conquer according to individual strength.

            Our children might imagine that pursuing this philosophy is natural, and thus no crime against man or God.

The Effects of the Fall

            Whereas they were born pure and innocent, “whole…even from the foundation of the world,” sometime early in life, the Fall becomes fully in force in their lives. Blaine Yorgason explains:

“It seems unlikely that spiritual death is a single major event, or even that it occurs at age eight, when the Lord said we are fully accountable before God and therefore capable of sin. Rather, I believe spiritual death is a prolonged process that begins early in our mortal lives, perhaps before the age of eight. The Lord said, ‘Power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children, until they begin to become accountable before me’ (D&C 29:47; italics mine)…These [pre-age-eight] wrong choices are not yet accounted to them as sins, of course, for they are not yet wholly accountable: ‘Wherefore, little children are…not capable of committing sin’ (Moroni 8:8). Nevertheless, by exercising their own will through disobedience, even small children begin to become accountable before the Lord. In a broader sense, they…have begun the process of submitting [themselves] to temptation. And from that moment, it seems to me, [they] begin the process of separation from God that is called spiritual death…It seems to me…that this process of spiritual death is usually completed, at least in American society, by the time [they] are eleven, twelve, thirteen, or perhaps fourteen years old. By that age, I believe, the veil of separation, or forgetfulness, is completely in place, and [they] have, through hundreds and thousands of [their] own willful choices and decisions-submitting first to [their] own will and later to Satan’s temptations-removed [themselves] from God’s presence…and become spiritually dead. Therefore, ‘when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their heart, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good…(Moses 6:55; italics mine)…Is it any wonder that the hallways of our junior, middle, and high schools seem such wicked and unholy places? Even the thought of such newly spiritually dead children of God, who as yet have neither the experience nor the wisdom to see the damage of intentional, rampant sinning (which obviously seems to many of them as both fun and innocent) is sobering.”

Yorgason explains that the poor choices of youth “quickly develop into habits of disobedience,” and cause the “veil of forgetfulness.” This veil “thickens and expands until it is impenetrable, at least from [their] side, and [they] are cut off or shut out from the presence of God.”

Dr. David Dressler, when speaking to Brigham Young University students, offered a similar assessment.

“It is no coincidence that… all young people (and of some older people) who were getting into difficulties with the courts, fifty per cent showed marked behavior maladjustments before age eight and an additional forty per cent before age eleven. So ninety per cent were showing behavior maladjustments indicating emotional instability before the age of puberty.”

Those who are “asleep” don’t believe it

Those who are spiritually dead or asleep seldom believe it, and that is the ignorant state in which Satan would like to keep them. To be spiritually dead or asleep is to be “encircled about by the bands of death, and the chains of hell, [with] an everlasting destruction…await[ing] them.” Only God has the power to “awaken them out of a deep sleep” and deliver them. Until they gain a testimony of their situation, they will either wallow in spiritual darkness with absolutely no interest in or interaction with God, or they will fumble about in a kind of spiritual twilight. Speaking of this spiritual twilight and how Satan uses it to assuage our children’s hungers, Catherine Thomas wrote:

“This twilight zone is a transition state between having recognized one’s fallenness but not yet reaching to the solution. It is an attempt to accommodate the world with the gospel. This is a state of hunger and bondage-not total darkness, but hunger for something indefinable. We can recognize it in ourselves when our souls cry out, ‘Is this all there is to the gospel? Can’t I feel a richer inner experience?’ We can get stuck in this twilight because we are doing some things right, we are going through some motions, we are feeling occasional Spirit, we seem to be on the path; but still, there’s that nagging hunger in the heart that doesn’t know what it wants. People try lots of things to assuage the hunger. Alma preaches against the pursuit of the vain things of the world (see Alma 4:8): riches, power, gain, mocking one’s brother, costly apparel (see Alma 4:6; 5:53), elevating oneself above others-perhaps all in the attempt to fill the hunger inside, but counterproductive where happiness and being born again are concerned. Thus we sometimes find ourselves half in and half out of the will of God. That half-and-half state is precisely the problem and the source of our hunger. The hunger comes from the need for the most powerful nutrient a fallen human can receive: the Spirit of the Lord, the indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, the healing word of God, godliness itself. The Fall creates the hunger. Perhaps the most characteristic state of fallen man is the hunger and the feeling of darkness or spiritual twilight. Many people experience only the hunger for their entire lives.”

Many children tend to be in the thick of thin things and in the thin of thick things. They are “spiritually asleep,” left to be driven by their hungers. Who can awaken them? Who can everlastingly, not temporarily, satisfy their hungers?

Redemption–the awakening

Each child had their beginning with God, and they are on the same continuum that is intended to lead them, like God, to eternal life. Each of them has a salvation timeline, their personal plan of salvation within the Plan of Salvation. Considering that truth and remembering that our children enjoyed an exalted past, we realize that they are comprised of more assets than they may be presently demonstrating. For example, as we have discussed, they already proved valiant in the cause of truth (although presently they may be demonstrating weakness), and during premortality they developed a strong testimony (although it may be temporarily buried). Religious educator, Jack Marshall, made these and other points in an address at BYU Education Week. To paraphrase his remarks, our children, like us, build on each state of existence. They do not leave behind everything from their premortal life and start over. They may lay aside their memory of premortality, but nevertheless they bring with them their characteristics, talents, tendencies, faith, and good works (see D&C 138:53-56).

Speaking to this point, Neal A. Maxwell, quoting Joseph F. Smith, said, “When…we ‘catch a spark from the awakened memories of the immortal soul,’ let us be quietly grateful. When of great truths we can say ‘I know,’ that powerful spiritual witness may also carry with it the sense of our having known before. With rediscovery, we are really saying ‘I know-again!’ I knew before; I know again.’” Jeffrey R. Holland calls these spiritual recollections “echoes of earlier testimonies.” When properly stimulated, premortal testimonies like premortal talents will emerge and flourish. It simply remains for the Awakener to do the work of awakening.

Life is a test

So why must our innocent children be thrust into this harsh environment that seems to be programmed in every way to oppose them and ensure that they will sin? A young father asked the same question: “As I look at my boy, just learning to walk, curious about everything, three words to his vocabulary and determined to learn more, I wonder if life could get any better than this? But I also realize that life is hard and my boy will face his share of trials. I realize that someday he will sin. How inconceivable that seems to me right now. I don’t mean to sound fatalistic, but it causes me to mourn. I wish I could shelter him from life and sin, but I cannot. I commit myself to partnering with the Lord and relying on his redemptive power to navigate my son through the pitfalls of life, deliver him, and successfully shepherd him home.”

Life is a test, and the test will expose our children’s weaknesses, force them to deal with those weaknesses, and thus qualify them for exaltation. President George Q. Cannon said,

“…if any man or woman expects to enter into the celestial kingdom of our God without being tested to the very uttermost, they have not understood the Gospel. If there is a weak spot in our nature, or if there is a fibre [sic] that can be made to quiver or to shrink, we may rest assured that it will be tested. Our own weaknesses will be brought fully to light, and in seeking for help, the strength of our God will also be made manifest to us.”

The Common Denominator–Redemption

            There is another, deeper reason why our children must descend into this abysmal environment, where it is impossible not to sin. In a word: Redemption.

As we have learned, the work of God is redemption. Should we be surprised, then, that all aspects of this existence have as their common denominator redemption? This is not a sideline or hobby with God; neither should it be for us parents. If we will allow him, God will actively teach and qualify us, who once loved the work of redemption and wanted to be included in the redemptive order of Christ, to develop the power of redemption and become as he is. As we have learned, we cannot gain the power to redeem others without first having been redeemed. Likewise, our children are now given the opportunity to experience redemption. During their lives, they will sin and face seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and each time they do, if they will come to Christ, they will experience deliverance and redemption, which will increase their capacity and desire to save others. When we grasp this concept, we begin to understand why substantially every encounter that we have with God has to do with redemption.

Trust in God is the ongoing theme in mortality. We never can escape it, although we try to place our trust in someone or something that we can see. Futilely, we sidle up to the influential and powerful, or we attempt to gather about us enough stuff to shelter us from life’s risks. Our children often buy into this falsehood. But trust, not stuff, is what Heavenly Father wants them to develop. Trust in God is redemptive trust–trust in his goodness; trust in his power; trust in his knowledge; trust in his love. To develop trust, which is essential to redemption, he will give them weakness as a gift. Weakness will humble them and draw them to Christ, whom they can trust to strengthen, deliver and redeem them.

Perhaps then, beyond every other reason, God places them in a situation where only he can deliver them. They must learn to come to him and trust him. This is an important part of their earthly tutorial that is best learned in the blindness and harshness of mortality. Therefore, when we see our children bow under the weight of sin and ache with the agony of weakness, we are really observing the motions of redemption at work and the triggering of our children’s personal plan of salvation. At such times, when we plead for divine intervention and do not perceive immediate response, we must not interpret the silence to mean that we have not been heard or that the plan is not working. Adam and Eve also prayed and waited; they trusted in God’s promise that he would hear their prayer and he had set in motion a process to answer it. But they did not know the details. They had no idea that their prayer had caused God to dispatch undetectable angels to assess the situation; they had no idea that these angels would become the agents of deliverance. The implications of this revelation are sobering. Why else would the Lord explain this process to us in such detail if it were not a divine pattern that we could trust?

Redemption from the Grossest of Sins

Trusting God is to trust God’s timing. Because he is perfect, his timing is perfect, and for us to urge him to change his timing is to ask him to cease to be perfect. Moreover, God’s timing is an act of mercy: God might determine to snatch out a wayward child because he knows that the child will now respond favorably; or God might wait while he patiently works with a wayward child because he knows that the child is not yet ready. Premature snatching, after all, carries with it the obligation of repentance and a full change of heart. Because “full knowledge brings full accountability,” a wayward child might rebel against God, if he were not ready, and that would bring upon him condemnation-the last thing we would want to have happen.

“But our children are still rebelling and sinning,” we exclaim. “Are they lost?”

No.

“Even if they are rebelling and sinning grossly?”

No.

Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “I know of no sins connected with the moral standard for which we cannot be forgiven. I do not exempt abortion. The formula is stated in forty words: ‘Behold, he who has repented of his sins, the same is forgiven, and I, the Lord, remember them no more. By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins-behold, he will confess them and forsake them’” (D&C 58:42-43). Clearly, except in the cases of shedding innocent blood and sinning against the Holy Ghost, we must refrain from passing judgment, deciding a fate from our poor vantage point, imposing limitations on the Lord’s saving ability, and considering that all is lost. As Mormon instructed Moroni, our obligation is to continue reaching out no matter how hopeless the situation may seem and leave all other issues, including timing, in God’s hands.

Redemption According to the Perfect Foreknowledge of God

We must remember that our children’s waywardness was foreseen and planned for by the Father, and it was completely paid for and overcome by the Son. Therefore, there is divine opportunity waiting. By the scriptural accounts of Paul, Alma the younger, the sons of Mosiah, Lamoni and his father, and the Anti-Nephi-Lehis, we should know that God can and will reach out to every wayward soul when the time is right, and if they respond when he offers to redeem them, they will become powerful in working redemption in others. Until then, we are told that the “eye of the Shepherd is upon them,” and where there is much sin the Lord offers proportionately much grace. Nevertheless, once the Lord invites them out they must come out, stay out, and ascend. Catherine Thomas explains:

“Paul wrote: ‘Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 5:20-21). That is, the divine design made sin possible so that grace could abound to man to deliver man from sin. But in Paul’s words, ‘Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?’ (Romans 6:1-2). Once the Lord comes for us in the midst of our descent, we are accountable for the knowledge that he imparts. We must ascend. As Joseph Smith taught, ‘When God offers a blessing or knowledge to a man, and he refuses to receive it, he will be damned.”

The Only Principle of Joy

            Redemption comes down to this one truth that we hope we can convey to our children: The Holy Spirit is the key to happiness, and to lack the Holy Spirit is the source of misery. “There is no other principle of joy,” said Catherine Thomas, “yet how many ways do we try to circumvent the Spirit to find joy, only to find emptiness? ‘Behold, here is the agency of man, and here is the condemnation of man; because that which was from the beginning is plainly manifest unto them, and they receive not the light’ (D&C 93:31).” The devil will attempt to keep our children in ignorance about this truth: “The most valuable knowledge is knowledge about how to get the spirit,” and thus experience true happiness. When the Lord reaches out and blesses them with this knowledge, salvation is at hand. Joseph Smith defined salvation this way:

“Salvation is nothing more nor less than to triumph over all our enemies and put them under our feet. And when we have power to put all enemies under our feet in this world, and a knowledge to triumph over all evil spirits in the world to come, then we are saved.”

All Enemies Defeated

Imagine the day when our children turn to Jesus Christ as Alma did. Then they will likewise experience the Lord’s grace as he helps them to triumph over all their enemies, and “put them under their feet,” never again to be afflicted by those evil spirits in this world or in the world to come. Then they will know as the Gods know good and evil, for engaging in a mortal experience and being redeemed was how the Gods also became Gods. First they experienced a Fall, wherein they encountered evil and sinned, whereby they were redeemed, whereby they gained the desire and power to redeem others, whereby they were exalted. It is a process that none of use can escape. It is the process of true happiness.

            Like Paul and Alma, our children are experiencing an important part of the process of salvation, and, like Paul and Alma, once they have completed it, they will be presented with a clear choice to forsake their sinful ways, experience redemption, ascend from their fallen state, and bring others up with them. This is the pattern, and this, we hope, will be their destiny.

Moroni 8:8, 12

Blaine M. Yorgason, I Need Thee Every Hour, p. 65-67

Blaine M. Yorgason, I Need Thee Every Hour, p. 65

Dr. David Dressler, “Youth in a Troubled World,” Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year, 1960, p.6

Mosiah 3:19

Alma 5:7, 9

M. Catherine Thomas, “Alma the Younger (Part 2) Man’s Descent,” Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

H. Burke Peterson, “Our Responsibility to Care for Our Own,” Ensign, May 1981

Mark E. Petersen, “Sunday School Is Everybody’s Business” Ensign, December 1974

D&C 93:23, 29

Jack Marshall, Address at Education Week, 2002

Neal A. Maxwell, But for a Small Moment, p.103

Jeffrey R. Holland, “Missionary Work and the Atonement,” Ensign, March 2001

James R. Clark, comp., Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 3:27

D&C 109:34

Ether 12:27

Alma 36:2

Orson F. Whitney, Conference Report, April 1929, p. 110-11

Boyd K. Packer, “Our Moral Environment,” Ensign, May 1992

Moroni 9:6

Orson F. Whitney, Conference Report, April 1929, p. 110

Joseph Fielding Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,  p. 322; M. Catherine Thomas, “Alma the Younger (Part 2) Man’s Descent,” Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

M. Catherine Thomas, “Alma the Younger (Part 2) Man’s Descent,” Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

M. Catherine Thomas, “Alma the Younger (Part 2) Man’s Descent,” Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship

Joseph Fielding Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 297

Genesis 3:5

President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “You face so much evil…I do not know that there was ever a time in the history of the world when there was greater evil in the world than there is today.”[1]

If you are a parent with a wayward child and feel the associated pain and guilt, maybe you should step back and go a little easier on yourself. This world is a hard place; in fact it is one of the hardest places. Because we have the inherent ability to acclimate to our environment, we get used to conditions and imagine them as normal. But not in this case. Not here on this earth.

A heartbreaking story

One writer in Idaho contributed this sad but familiar story:

“Our community in Idaho is predominantly LDS. People move here from all over the United States to escape wickedness and to give their children a fighting chance to grow up clean and safe. I wonder if such a place exists anymore.

“My sister, Lisa, began using drugs when she was twelve and in grade school. She started with alcohol and tobacco and progressed to street drugs such as marijuana and cocaine. By the time we realized what was happening, she was already in the early stages of addiction. When we did our first intervention on her, she was in the late stage of addiction and her chances of recovery were not very good. By the time she was a young adult we had already spent tens of thousands of dollars on treatment, wiping out my parents’ precious resources. Lisa’s addiction caused untold suffering for our family.

“After the second intervention, Lisa remained sober for four years, but after her third failed marriage, she began to use again and she has never stopped. She has done jail time and destroyed her health; she cannot keep a job, and she has damaged or destroyed most of the important relationships in her life. Drug addicts end up dead, in jail or insane. In rare cases and with great effort, they overcome and recover. That is our hope.

“Amazingly, Lisa is still alive, and at the moment she is not in jail. With such bleak prospects, some people ask me what keeps us going. The answer is as long as Heavenly Father doesn’t give up on her, neither will we. We love her and pray for her, and we are ever watching for yet another opportunity to help her. And if the next opportunity is not successful, we will wait for another.

“We will never give up on Lisa. We are assured that sometime, somewhere there will be another opportunity to help her, and we are doing all we can to prepare ourselves to be ready when that day comes. That is our faith and our peace.”

The battle for the universe is here

Our world is far from normal. It is the exception. This is the place where the war that began in heaven plays out–a war of gargantuan proportions and eternal and universal implications, a clash of Titans, if you will.

Here on this earth, we are experiencing the continuing conflict between the two greatest powers in the universe-their fight to the death, so to speak. We know the outcome, of course, but in the meantime, we are caught in the middle of a war that only a God could wage. And there are casualties-billions of them. This earth seems to be a frontline of a cosmic battle where sides are drawn…again. One side is for the Eternal God and his Christ; the other side is for Lucifer, the usurper and impostor, the one who would wrest the kingdom from the Father and proclaim himself god.[2]

When we align with Heavenly Father, we are at enmity[3]-enemies–with the devil, and he will use every resource at his disposal to injure and destroy us, including targeting our children. There is no mercy in him, only eternal hatred. Once in the distant past, we helped to defeat him, and he remembers. That fact alone should cause us to shudder; it should summon our constant vigilance to “watch and pray always lest [we] enter into temptation; for Satan desireth to have [us].”[4] So why should we be surprised when Satan aims for us, ambushes our children, and enjoys it?

We are in good company

When our children are attacked, we can take some comfort in knowing that we are not alone. In fact we are in some pretty good company. Other righteous parents have suffered the artillery launched by Satan toward their children: Adam and Eve; Isaac and Rebekah; Jacob and Rachel; Lehi and Sariah; Alma the Elder and his wife; King Mosiah and his wife; even Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith had a problem child, William, and so did Mary the mother of Jesus, who, after Joseph died, struggled with her disbelieving children, who could not accept the fact that their older brother, Jesus, was the long-anticipated Messiah.[5] Clearly, no family is immune.

Therefore, when we feel the war intrude upon our family, perspective might help. Perspective tells us that, as telestial worlds go, we are not in a “normal” environment. Perspective tells us that we do not face a typical enemy; even the worst tyrants who have ever lived are tame compared with the master tyrant who taught and controlled them. Perspective tells us that both our circumstance and our adversary are extraordinary. Perspective opens our eyes to see things as they “really are,”[6] and to see our children and ourselves for who we “really are.” Such perspective, then, directs us to the only Power upon whom we may draw strength to do the work of reclamation and redemption, which only a god can do.

A cosmic perspective of local wickedness

A theatrical technique to awe an audience is to begin the show in front of the curtains, and then, when the introductory act is completed, to draw back the curtains to reveal the majestic sets. The more the curtains are withdrawn the more the audience sees until it is thoroughly immersed in this new world on stage.[7]

Enoch experienced this drawing back of the Lord’s curtains. In vision, the Lord began by parting the veil and showing Enoch some of the workmanship of his hands. Of course, Enoch was awestruck. Struggling for comparatives, he exclaimed, “And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still…”[8] revealing infinitely more.

In that cosmic view of the universe, Enoch saw “millions of earths like this,” and likely he saw the “inhabitants thereof,”[9] other sons and daughters of God. Then, as he wondered, he saw the Lord weeping. How could this be? Why, in the midst of the grandeur of eternity would the great Creator of the universe weep? So Enoch asked, and the Lord responded with an answer that should give every parent in Zion cause to tremble: “…among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren.”[10]

Interpreted narrowly, the Lord’s answer might be thought to reference only Enoch’s generation. That was the generation preceding the great Flood, which, by all accounts, was a generation so wicked that it warranted destruction, a generation that some have suggested was destroyed because its children no longer had a chance to grow up without being overwhelmed by pervasive sin. But because Enoch was enjoying a sweeping view of the ages, we might interpret the Lord’s statement as including us in the last days.

The latter days are among the worst

Therefore, we latter-day parents realize that our children are at terrible risk. Enoch saw that our day would be much like his-a day defined by gross wickedness, the likes of which would equal then exceed the depravity achieved by the people in the days of Noah. “But as it was in the days of Noah, so it shall be also at the coming of the Son of Man….”[11]

The message is clear: Enoch’s “brethren,” who would live upon this earth across the ages of time, would sink to one of the lowest levels in all the universe, and scripturally we understand that some of the worst conditions are here and now. Brigham Young said,

“We are inhabitants of a world of sin and sorrow; pain and anguish, every ill that can be heaped upon intelligent beings in a probation we are heirs to. I suppose that God never organized an earth and peopled it that was ever reduced to a lower state of darkness, sin and ignorance than this. I suppose this is one of the lowest kingdoms that ever the Lord Almighty created….”[12]

Speaking of the evils facing our youth in “epidemic proportions,” President Boyd K. Packer, said, “These are days of great spiritual danger for our youth.” Continuing he said that he knew of no time when worse things were so widely accepted in the world, not even in the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. While evil was localized then, he pointed out, it has now spread across the world.[13] Sodom and Gomorrah and the world of Noah are examples of civilizations whose wickedness became so oppressive that it strangled agency and overwhelmed children before they could make informed choices. Such conditions demand extermination for the merciful sake of the children.

The impact of our world’s wickedness on the host of heaven

Evidence that our world and situation are extraordinary can be found in a further reading of Enoch’s vision. After the Lord reminded his prophet that no wickedness in the universe exceeds that which is found upon this earth, he stated, “…the whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands….”[14]

We are being watched!

The events that transpire on this earth are likely viewable by heavenly hosts, who see us and mourn. The powers of darkness that prevail upon this earth and the enemy that has combined against us have corrupted all flesh “in the presence of all the hosts of heaven, which causeth silence to reign, and all eternity is pained.”[15] Imagine!

Have you ever witnessed something so abhorrent that speech fails you? What you are viewing “causeth silence to reign.” Such may be the case with “the hosts of heaven.” With jaw-dropping disbelief, they are evidently sickened to the point of silence. All eternity is pained. The awful wickedness that occurs on this world apparently rouses profound anxiety among even the angels of God who await “the great command to reap down the earth, to gather the tares that they may be burned.”[16] There could be no other divine reaction; there never has been. Only the patience and mercy of God stays certain retribution for the sake of his elect.[17]

The unique identity of this world

The hosts of heaven have a good reason to watch us. Here, their Savior came to work out the universal atonement to make the inhabitants of all other the worlds “begotten sons and daughters unto God.”[18] Moreover, this world is destined to be crowned with glory and the presence of God the Father[19] and belong to Christ[20] and his saints,[21] which suggests that this earth–presently one of the lowest, darkest and most wicked object in the heavens–will be exalted high in the heavens and become one of the greatest and most brilliant luminaries in the universe, a significant celestial kingdom where Christ shall dwell.

Therefore, extremes define our earth, and the “hosts of heaven” are watching. Some of the worst acts of wickedness and some of the greatest act of righteousness have been and are being played out on this planet. The salvation of the universe depends on the success of events that happen here. This should tell us something about our children and ourselves. We–our children and us–have strengths beyond our imagination, and over time the Lord will help us remember then employ our abilities to do the work of redemption among those who are temporarily deceived or wounded in this benighted world.

Prophetic description of our time

Nephi’s vision of the latter-days is chilling.

“And it came to pass that I saw among the nations of the Gentiles the formation of a great church. And the angel said unto me: Behold the formation of a church which is most abominable above all other churches, which slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity. And it came to pass that I beheld this great and abominable church; and I saw the devil that he was the founder of it. And I also saw gold, and silver, and silks, and scarlets, and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing; and I saw many harlots. And the angel spake unto me, saying: Behold the gold, and the silver, and the silks, and the scarlets, and the fine-twined linen, and the precious clothing, and the harlots, are the desires of this great and abominable church. And also for the praise of the world do they destroy the saints of God, and bring them down into captivity.” [22]

In the language of war, Nephi describes an organized effort to slay the saints. The sole purpose of the “great and abominable church”-for it truly is a consuming religion to its founder and its adherents-is to torture, bind down, yoke with a yoke of iron, and bring down into captivity the covenant people. To accomplish this “slaying,” the devil dangles bait like a fisherman will dangle a lure to entice fish to bite. Whereas tragically the young and inexperienced are often the most fascinated by the lures and draw close and are caught, the older and wiser recognize the lures for what they are and seldom pay them any mind.

In the devil’s creel is an impressive arsenal of lures-if he can’t catch us with one he will simply change lures and keep trying. According to Nephi’s vision:

• The pursuit of wealth is a lure-”gold and silver.”
• Fashion and materialism are lures-”silks and scarlets and fine-twined linen, and all manner of precious clothing.”
• Sexual sin of every variety is a lure-”many harlots.”
• Peer acceptance and popularity are lures-”praise of the world.”

Whether or not these lures are employed singly or in combination, or whether or not they are chosen or imposed upon us, the intention is the same-”to destroy the saints of God, and to bring them down into captivity.” With some degree of confidence, then, we can retrace a child’s footsteps to waywardness–by his choice or by his victimization–to his being hooked by one of the devil’s lures.

Even Satan seems to be amazed by his success

Is Satan’s strategy working to deceive and destroy even the very elect?[23] Evidently better than he had hoped. He has made us to “bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression.” He has “strongly riveted the creeds of the fathers, who have inherited lies, upon the hearts of the children, and filled the world with confusion,” which condition of wickedness and confusion has been “growing stronger and stronger, and is now the very mainspring of all corruption, and the whole earth groans under the weight of its iniquity. It is an iron yoke, it is a strong band; they are the very handcuffs, and chains, and shackles, and fetters of hell.” Satan has been so successful that even he is astonished. His “dark and blackening deeds are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.”[24]

Perspective and hope

This would be a dismal view were it not for Jesus Christ, who anticipated, suffered for and overcame each problem that every wayward child encounters. Therefore, he can speak with optimism when he promises a successful outcome. Why? Because he has already accomplished the outcome. He knows!

Joseph Smith said, “I have a declaration to make as to the provisions which God hath made to suit the conditions of man…. What has Jesus said? All sin, and all blasphemies, and every transgression, except one, that man can be guilty of, may be forgiven; and there is a salvation for all men, either in this world or the world to come…. Hence God hath made a provision that every spirit in the eternal world can be ferreted out and saved…. God has wrought out a salvation for all men…and every man who has a friend in the eternal world can save him…. And so you can see how far you can be a savior…. Hence the salvation of Jesus Christ was wrought out for all men, in order to triumph over the devil; for if it did not catch him in one place, it would in another; for he stood up as a Savior.”[25]

Despite what may seem as evidence to the contrary, our children are ultimately safe in this wicked world. And so are we.

I invite your stories. Other despairing parents need information and hope. Visit my website: www.larrybarkdull.com.

Next time

“Redemption is possible from extreme distances”

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[1] Gordon B. Hinckley, “Inspirational Thoughts,” Ensign, September 2007  

[2] See D&C 29:36

[3] Moses 4:21

[4] 3 Nephi 18:18

[5] See John 7:5

[6] Moses 7:30

[7] Jack Marshall drew this analogy in a 2002 BYU Education Week presentation

[8] Moses 7:30

[9] D&C 76:24; 88:61

[10] Moses 7:36

[11] JS Matthew 1:41

[12] George D. Watt, ed., Journal of Discourses, Vol. 10, p.175

[13] Boyd K. Packer, “One Pure Defense,” CES Devotional, February 6, 2004

[14] Moses 7:37

[15] See D&C 38:11-12

[16] D&C 38:12

[17] See JS-Matthew 1:20

[18] D&C 76:24

[19] D&C 88:19-20

[20] D&C 130:9

[21] D&C 103:7

[22] 1 Nephi 13:4-9

[23] Matthew 24:24

[24] D&C 123:7-10

[25] Joseph Fielding Smith, ed., Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 356-57, emphasis added