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.

________________________________________
[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

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

(Note: This article is adapted from The Three Pillars of Zion, a series of books on becoming a Zion person. This series of books will be released in August.)

Jesus said we cannot serve God and mammon. Mammon is “the standard Hebrew word for any kind of financial dealing.” Serving both God and mammon is as impossible as simultaneously walking east and west. The two are polar opposites like love and hate. To the degree that we give our affection to one, we withhold our affection from the other: “either [we] will hate the one, and love the other; or else [we] will hold to the one, and despise the other.” Neither can we choose to participate in both God’s and Satan’s economies: Zion and mammon. According to Hugh Nibley, “Every step in the direction of increasing one’s personal holdings is a step away from Zion.”

The test of riches

The harsh reality is this: life is a test. At the center of that test is money. Our attitude toward our financial dealings serves to prove the condition of our heart, loyalty, character, willingness to sacrifice, and trustworthiness. We can no more avoid this financial test than we can avoid choosing between the relentless opposing forces that try to influence our financial dealings. But choose we must. If we fool ourselves into believing that we can succeed in choosing both God and mammon, we are deceived. But that has not deterred people from trying. Most of humanity has attempted to combine God and mammon, but not one person has ever succeeded-and we will not be the first. From the first moment that we make the attempt, we have already chosen Satan and his economy. Jesus’ words are perennially true: “no man can serve two masters.”

So what should we do? Should we take the concept to extremes, take a vow of poverty, shun money, and live lean like medieval monks? Of course not. “You always do have to handle things,” Hugh Nibley says. “But in what spirit do we do it? Not…by renunciation, for example…. If you refuse to be concerned with these things at all, and say, ‘I’m above all that,’ that’s as great a fault. The things of the world have got to be administered; they must be taken care of, they are to be considered. We have to keep things clean, and in order. That’s required of us. This is a test by which we are being proven. This is the way by which we prepare, always showing that these things will never captivate our hearts, that they will never become our principal concern. That takes a bit of doing, and that is why we have the formula ‘with an eye single to his glory’ (Mormon 8:15). Keep first your eye on the star, then on all the other considerations of the ship. You will have all sorts of problems on the ship, but unless you steer by the star, forget the ship. Sink it. You won’t go anywhere.”      

The test of wealth determines if we can we be trusted with God’s resources-those things that he has placed in our hands for safekeeping and prudent management. As accountable stewards, some pointed questions are always before us: Will we choose to remain within the guidelines of stewardship? Will we manage the stewardship according to God’s desires or will we “cheat the Lord?” Will we redefine the terms of stewardship, claim ownership of the Lord’s property then enlarge and indulge ourselves with the proceeds rather than use the surplus for its intended use: to take care of God’s children and build up the Kingdom of God for the establishment of Zion? Our answers to these questions determine our passing or failing the mortal test of riches.

Only the pure in heart can pass this test

Without divine intervention, we could not have the power to choose God over mammon. Babylon simply has too great a hold on the hearts of men. Consequently, only the pure in heart who receive a spiritual endowment can make this choice and thereafter live the Law of Consecration. The pure in heart alone receive the spiritual help to view money for what it is and put it in its proper place. They are children of Zion who do not venture into Babylon and partake of its philosophies. Rather, they enter the temple and make an informed, resolute covenant to receive and manage the Lord’s property in an ordered way; then they return to the world and implement that covenant as the Lord directs. Clearly, this test is too hard for the natural man. Only those who know and love God can do it. Hence, God or mammon is the ultimate test that determines the condition of the heart and lands us in or out of the Celestial Kingdom. Nibley writes:

God has always given his people the same choice of either living up to the covenants made with him or being in Satan’s power; there is no middle ground (Moses 4:4). True, we spend this time of probation in a no-man’s-land between the two camps of salvation and damnation, but at every moment of the day and night we must be moving toward the one or the other. Progressive testing takes place along the way in either direction; the same tests in every dispensation and generation mark the progress of the people of God.      

(1) Do you, first of all, agree to do things his way rather than your way-to follow the law of God? (2) If so, will you be obedient to him, no matter what he asks of you? (3) Will you, specifically, be willing to sacrifice anything he asks you for? (4) Will you at all times behave morally and soberly? (5) Finally, if God asks you to part with your worldly possessions by consecrating them all to his work, will you give his own back to him to be distributed as he sees fit, not as you think wise?      

That last test has been by far the hardest of all, and few indeed have chosen that strait and narrow way. The rich young man was careful and correct in observing every point of the law-up to that one; but that was too much for him, and the Savior, who refused to compromise or make a deal, could only send him off sorrowing, observing to the apostles that passing that test was so difficult to those possessing the things of the world that only a special dispensation from God could get them by. 

The Lord’s willingness to be tested

Perhaps because this test requires so much faith, the Lord both promises and offers evidence that if we will live the Law of Consecration, he will take care of us and even prosper us. The law of tithing, as we have observed, is one of his proofs: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Paying tithing is always an act of faith. The math doesn’t make sense. Ten minus one is supposed to equal nine, but somehow the product is always more than ten. Clearly, celestial math is baffling in a telestial setting, and only faith can urge us on. But if we will persevere and apply the principle of tithing then experience the pouring out of blessings, we will be prepared to employ that principle to other consecrated offerings, which will require even greater faith.

Alma taught that faith grows like a seed. First, faith takes root in our hearts by hearing the word of God. Then it sprouts and blossoms by continual nourishing, which we are willing to do because we observe incremental proofs that the plant is growing. Over time, the seed becomes a great, fruit-bearing tree. Tithing is such a tree, and it provides us a way to test the Lord on the principle of consecration; tithing allows us to get to know each other. Once we discover that the Lord will not let us down and that he will prosper us, we are willing to take the next step and pay offerings. Once again we discover the Lord’s care and abundance, and as we do, we grow in our appreciation of consecration until we can live the law according to its ideal. But every step of the way, between initial tithing and eventual total consecration, requires our venturing into the darkness hoping and anticipating that the light will appear. Each step demands giving before we receive, and every time we take another step, it will make absolutely no mathematical sense. The laws in Babylon that govern finance will scream at us to hold back: “It won’t work!” Only our testimony of the celestial laws of tithing and consecrated offerings can provide us the confidence that all will be well and that the outcome will result in safety and abundance. Nibley writes,

In giving his children the law, God repeatedly specifies that he is placing before them two ways, the ways of life and death, light and darkness. For parallel to the one law runs another. It is part of the plan that Satan should be allowed to try us and to tempt us to see whether we would prove faithful in all things: Who does not live up to every covenant made with the Lord will be in his power (cf. Moses 4:4, 5:23). So we find ourselves drawn in two directions (Moroni 7:11-13). Thus this life becomes a special test of probation set before us in this world-it is an economic one. If the law of consecration is the supreme test of virtue-the final one-money is to be the supreme temptation to vice; sex runs a poor second, but on both counts, this is the time and place for us to meet the challenge of the flesh. It is the weakness of the flesh in both cases to prove our spirits stronger than the pull of matter, to assert our command over the new medium of physical bodies before proceeding onward to another state of existence. As Brigham Young often repeats, “God has given us the things of this world to see what we will do with them.” The test will be whether we will set our hearts on the four things that lead to destruction. Whoever seeks for (1) wealth, (2) power, (3) popularity, and (4) the pleasures of the flesh-anyone who seeks those will be destroyed, says the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi 22:23; 3 Nephi 6:15). Need we point out that those four things compose the whole substance of success in the present-day world. They are the things that money will get you.    

Tithing, therefore, is the preparation to become Zionlike; offerings are the opportunity to become Zionlike. In each case, God is willing to be put to the test. The only question remaining is are we? Do we really want to become Zion people or not?

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.37

See Howard W. Hunter, Conference Report, April 1964, p.35

Matthew 6:24

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.37

See Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1962, p.94, quoting Matthew 6:24

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.336

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.426

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.342

Malachi 3:10

See Alma 32:28

See Romans 10:17

See Alma 32:28-37

See Alma 32:37-42

Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.434-35, emphasis added

Why does Satan tempt us to commit sin? To make us miserable is the quick answer. But if we dig deeper and gain understanding of how misery is produced, we will unearth Satan’s sinister strategy.

The Influence of the Adversary

A mother of seven spoke of sin as disempowering spiritual hemorrhaging that renders a person ignorant of God and of the simple truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ:

Two of my seven children left the Church, leaving me hurt and confused. For a while, I beat myself up over my apparent failure as a mother, but that did little good. Despite all my suffering and soul-searching, I could not discover where my husband and I had gone wrong. Not that we are perfect parents-we are not-but why had we lost these two children? They were brought up alongside our other children who had remained true. When I decided to give myself a break and look for another reason, I took my question to the Lord. My conversation went something like this: “These children have not only left the Church and are critical of it, they also seem absolutely ignorant of the most basic gospel principles! That is the most confusing part to me. It is as though they had never heard of gospel concepts before-like everything is foreign to them. How could this be? They grew up in our home where we had family prayers, family home evenings, and gospel discussions. Weren’t they listening? They went to church with us and had equal opportunities in the gospel with our other children, and yet they seem to be as clueless as new investigators. They seem to have forgotten everything that we taught them. How did this happen?”

As I pondered, a scripture was impressed upon my mind: “That wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience.” I couldn’t remember the location of the scripture, but I soon found it in Doctrine and Covenants 93:39. The adjoining verses read, “I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth,” and “Light and truth forsake that evil one.” Suddenly, I realized what had happened. My husband and I had tried to bring up our children in light and truth, but these two children had chosen to commit sin in their youth. Worse, they had failed to repent. Their disobedience and disregard for repentance had opened the door for Satan to come and take away their light and truth. Now they were rendered ignorant, as though they had no gospel literacy at all.

When they lost their light and truth, they filled the void by adopting bizarre philosophies to explain life and spiritual things. Now I knew why their inactivity and rebellion had happened, and now I gained a greater appreciation for the prophets’ counsel to repent quickly and sincerely. Procrastination, I learned, causes gospel stagnation at best and gospel illiteracy and captivity by the devil at worst. Now armed with this understanding, I center my prayers on asking for opportunities to reintroduce basic gospel concepts to these children with the hope that they will one day remember and respond.

Defining Terms

Light. This mother used the words “light” and “truth” as though they were a substance. In fact, they are. A survey of the scriptures reveals that the word light is synonymous with truth, spirit, intelligence, power, law, life, agency, and glory, to name a few. Joseph Smith revealed: “All spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes; We cannot see it; but when our bodies are purified we shall see that it is all matter.” Clearly, spirit or light is a substance, and Satan tries to steal it. The absence of light causes misery.

Natural man. There are a variety of definitions about the natural man, but one characteristic that we ought to explore is that the body of the natural man is made up of telestial material. A reality of that condition is the fact that celestial ideas are wholly foreign to him, as are putting forth celestial efforts and living celestial laws. The nature of the natural man is to follow the instincts of his telestial body and partake of that which naturally resides in a telestial environment. Consequently, by nature the natural man is “carnal, sensual and devilish.”

Carnal, sensual and devilish. Beyond being a list of loathsome characteristics, carnal, sensual and devilish seems to form a downward, spiraling cycle. To be carnal is to be of the flesh; that is, we naturally pamper the physical body and are inclined to succumb to its passions and appetites. Both the apostle Paul and Nephi’s brother, Jacob, state that “to be carnally-minded is death.” That is, if we give in to carnality, we will eventually give in to sensuality by seeking more and more physical and sexual pleasures. At least two things are automatic with sensuality: lying and a damaged testimony. The carnally minded who become sensual will stop believing and begin seeking physical evidence as signs to confirm the truth. This condition is spiritual death. Such behavior weakens us to the point that Satan can take control of our bodies and then we become devilish. Now our behavior begins to mirror that of Satan; we become sexually perverted, sinister, cruel, scheming, deceitful, and mischievous. We begin to act like the demons who prod us to become like them. The carnal, sensual and devilish cycle inevitably leads to apostasy. Breaking covenants is inevitable, and that tragedy summons the judgment of God and damnation of the soul.

Stealing Light

Because Satan knows that the body is highly susceptible to suggestion and can be acted upon by outside influences, he knows that he can tempt us to sin. If we cave in, something terrible happens: “That wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth.” How does Satan take away light and truth? “Through disobedience.” Literally, sin creates a gash in our souls, allowing Satan to gain entrance. Now light hemorrhages from us. Once inside, Satan can drain us of truth, spirit, intelligence, power, law, life, agency, and glory.

Are we listening to the scriputres? The strategy of Satan is to tempt us to sin so that he can gain entrance and drain us of light!

How does he accomplish this feat? Through direct temptation, deception, flattery, and sometimes abuse: “Yea, he stirreth up their hearts to anger….Yea, he saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him. And thus he flattereth them, and leadeth them along until he draggeth their souls down to hell; and thus he causeth them to catch themselves in their own snare. And thus he goeth up and down, to and fro in the earth, seeking to destroy the souls of men.”

If he can empty us of light, we will be left in darkness, and then the mischief begins. Without light, we are without truth, intelligence, power, law, and agency, the capacity to choose: “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. And every man whose spirit receiveth not the light is under condemnation.”

Do we grasp the meaning?

When Satan gains entrance to our souls and convinces us to sin, he steals our light and thus our ability to act and choose is greatly diminished. Satan has won after all. Our agency, that for which we fought in the war in heaven, is now his…and we hardly put up a fight.

Inside Our Souls

Does it terrify us to think that Satan can actually take up residence in our souls by convincing us to sin? He might tell us otherwise, but it is true. Once inside, Satan can fill our thoughts with myriad evils and convince us to experiment with all sorts of wickedness. We must keep in mind that the body has no inherent capacity to act on its own, but rather must be “acted upon” by another source. If that source is evil, carnality will soon give way to sensuality and eventually devolve to devilishness.

Now Satan can explain away spiritual events, including our testimony. He can change our opinion of people we love so that we see them through the filter of criticism. He can ruin our perception of ourselves, and plant the idea in our minds that we are beyond forgiveness and beneath God’s consideration. He can parade our sins and the sins of others before our eyes and torture us with ugly memories. He can replay sinful events as though we were watching a movie. He can invade our sleep with horrifying dreams. He can render us powerless to resist further temptations. He can tell us what to think and what to do, and we will do it! He will tell us that we are good people after all, and what we are doing does not qualify as sin; we should go easy on ourselves and other people, and we ought to adopt the attitude of tolerance-a prevalent latter-day deception. Clearly, with a ruptured soul that is bleeding light, we are as impotent as a victim of a stabbing.

Satan’s Arsenal

With one-third of the hosts of heaven and a legion of disembodied unclean spirits at his command, Satan enjoys almost unlimited access to talents and abilities beyond our imagination. Within his demonic realm are skilled artists and musicians, medical personnel, mechanics, people who understand the workings of the mind, others who peddle sex, businessmen, philosophers, scientists, and geniuses of war. Clearly, he can sabotage the arts, cause illnesses, aggravate us with break downs, torment our minds, lure us with sexual perversions, attack our livelihoods, advance seemingly reasonable philosophies and theories, and turn us against each other. Moreover, he can enlist weak-minded or wicked individuals on the earth to do his bidding. Whereas the Holy Ghost imparts spiritual gifts to the righteous, Satan gives counter spiritual gifts to his followers, then he uses those people as his instruments. Unfortunately, the weak-minded, spiritually immature, and sinful people cannot readily discern his tactics.

Satan is the devourer. Therefore, we must “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” With little imagination, we might expect that he would have a counterfeit to Home Teachers and Visiting Teachers, except his companionships would be assigned to carefully observe their charges with the purpose of identifying weaknesses. Perhaps then they would report back and devise a strategy to destroy us in the same way we would report to our church leaders for the purpose of creating a plan to give charitable service.

The Sin Becomes a Cancer

Once Satan has succeeded in causing us to act on his temptation, he attempts to hold the sin in place by persuading us to wink at the transgression, disregard it, or feel so much guilt that we are paralyzed to seek wellness through repentance. The problem with unrepentant sin is that it is the seed of a spiritual tumor, which grows inside the soul until it has consumed it. The seed of unrepentant sin is never dormant; its cells divide like cancer until the system is overwhelmed by it. When Satan convinces us to sin and persuades us to procrastinate repentance, he enjoys free reign to dull our conscience, steal away our light and truth, and render our soul spiritually illiterate. The cumulative effect weakens the soul so that Satan can shackle it and lead it carefully down to hell.

The Atonement-The Only Source of Healing

Only repentance made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ can once again infuse light and truth into the soul and free it from Satan’s grasp. We must examine ourselves for unrepentant sin and get ourselves to the Healer, whose servant is the bishop. Only the bishop holds the keys to direct the healing process; only the Melchizedek Priesthood has the power to eject an uninvited influence from afflicting our souls. We can no more heal ourselves of a serious spiritual disease than we can heal ourselves of a serious physical disease without consulting medical professionals. To assume the contrary is a deception perpetrated by Satan for the purpose of remaining inside and in control. Elder Boyd K. Packer said,

In the battle of life, the adversary takes enormous numbers of prisoners, and many know of no way to escape and are pressed into his service. Every soul confined to a concentration camp of sin and guilt has a key to the gate. The adversary cannot hold them if they know how to use it. The key is labeled Repentance. The twin principles of repentance and forgiveness exceed in strength the awesome power of the adversary.

The Body’s Difficulty with Retaining Light

Finally, we must wage our defense against the forces of darkness from a point of view of knowledge. We must know our enemy and we must understand his strategy. Clearly, the adversary’s attack is aimed at our most vulnerable area: the physical, telestial body. The body of the natural man seems incapable of maintaining the substance of light, which is essential to spiritual life. That is our primary weakness, as Moroni pointed out. Whereas a resurrected celestial body “shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in [it],” a mortal telestial body must receive ongoing transfusions of light in order to exist spiritually. Therein lies our answer.

Armed with this knowledge, we know how to defend ourselves and to heal from former sin. The Lord has told us how we can infuse light into our systems and thus protect ourselves. A few transfusion methods are scripture study, partaking of the sacrament, anointing with oil, charitable service, temple worship and, of course, prayer. The more our bodies are filled with light, the more we can comprehend all things, and the more we can detect and resist the onslaught of Satan’s temptations.

With light and truth re-entering our souls, something marvelous begins to happen: “Light and truth forsake that evil one.” The combination of confession to and counseling with the bishop, sincere repentance, infusing light and truth into our souls, and, if necessary, receiving a blessing by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood, carries the power of casting away Satan, obtaining forgiveness from the Lord, and achieving total spiritual health. Whereas sin breaks and divides, the Atonement mends and makes broken things one. The Atonement provides a constant pull to bring together fractured parts into their perfect form. Therefore, the frightening realities of sin can be overcome and eradicated by the merciful Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Atonement allows us to experience life without being destroyed by our choices.

Once we are delivered and re-lighted by Jesus Christ, we are commanded to light other people whom Satan has wounded and entered. The singular commission to the repentant and the forgiven is to reach out to those who are spiritually dying and to bring them to the Light, even Jesus Christ.

The process of leaving Babylon and coming to Zion begins with the discovery that we are not home. We have fallen into a lone and dreary world that is as foreign as hell is to heaven. From the moment of that discovery and for the rest of our lives, if we want to be Zion, we must point our direction away and up.

The Originator and Promoters of Babylon

This earth began as Zion but soon was infiltrated by a being, who determined to wrest ownership from the Creator and reign as the god of this world. That being, of course, was Satan. From the outset, he systematically reversed every Zion doctrine with his anti-Christ philosophy, which he designed to appear so reasonable and close to the truth that he could even deceive the very elect. Imitating God the Father, Satan searched for a son to champion his anti-Christ gospel. He found a willing candidate in Cain, who advanced a doctrine so damaging that the entire antediluvian world became irretrievably corrupt and eventually warranted annihilation in the days of Noah.

After the Flood, Cain’s descendant, Nimrod, became heir to the diabolical throne, and a new anti-Christ dispensation began. Nimrod perfected what Cain had started by conquering much of the world and building a capital with a tower or temple to ascend illegitimately into heaven. Nimrod’s temple city was called Babel or Babylon. Forevermore, Babylon would be the code name by which prophets of God would identify and describe the Satanic culture, which always led its people to individual damnation and collective destruction. Sodom and Gomorrah are examples. Today, the anti-Christ philosophy dominates the earth. Both figuratively and literally, it “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.”

Escaping Babylon

In one way or another we have all been infected by Babylon, and when we become sufficiently sick, we seek heavenly help to get out and go home. To escape Babylon completely requires information, courage and covenants. In the process of leaving, we might react like Laman and Lemuel for a season, constantly looking back and longing for life in Babylon. But at some point we will come to realize that Zion and Babylon do not mix and we have to make a choice. We can only straddle the gulf between Zion and Babylon for so long; because the two go in opposite directions, we will eventually be forced to jump to one side or another. The only safety, according to Nephi, is summed up in his statement: “We heeded them not.”

Descriptions of Babylon

Babylon is so diverse, pervasive and disgusting that the prophets seem to struggle to find adequate language to describe her. Babylon is often called “the world,” but that term usually gives way to more graphic descriptors that focus on Babylon’s central elements: “whore” to portray her many sexual perversions; “The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” to illustrate her continually spawning myriad seductive evils; “carnal, sensual devilish” to depict her strategy to exploit our human nature, tempting us to gratify our senses, which will cause us to become like the devil; “Great and Abominable Church” to illustrate that she is full of idolatry, envy and covetousness, and that her vile desires and philosophies are worshipped by her adherents as if they were doctrines of a perverse religion; and “Great and Spacious Building” to express her pride and scope of influence.

By whatever name, Babylon’s aim is to trap and destroy us. Nephi reveals Babylon’s four-fold strategy:

1. The pursuit of wealth 
2. Fashion and materialism 
3. Sexual sins 
4. Peer acceptance and popularity

This strategy is so successful that even Satan is taken aback by Babylon’s “dark and blackening deeds [which] are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.” Without question, Babylon has made us to “bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression.”

Nephi describes Babylon in terms of the extent of her detestable deeds and the depth her corruption. His list includes:

• • contention 
• • man’s wisdom replacing God’s wisdom 
• • denying the power of God 
• • “eat, drink and be merry,” as a way of life 
• • pride 
• secret sinning 
• reviling against that which is good 
• placing trust in carnal security 
• flattery 
• taking and giving offense.

These items and more define Babylon as a physical location, and a spiritual condition: i.e. false philosophies and doctrines, and a corrupt condition of the heart.

Competition

In Babylon competition rather than cooperation is the name of the game. In Babylon, competitive enterprise is the primary engine that drives progress. Competition, however, spawns more losers than winners, and therefore is the cause of widespread misery. Competition accounts for social classes, educational disparity, poverty, oppression, dishonesty, murder and war. Like it or not, Zion is devoid of competition. If we love to compete, we are living in the right place.

Hypocrites

Babylon is filled with hypocrites, whom Jesus labeled the worst sinners-those people who pretend to be what they are not, to be better than they really are, or to appear pious and virtuous when they are not. Hypocrites have no place in Zion.

Man’s Philosophies and Pseudo Religions

Babylon bounces her adherents from one false philosophy to another, always keeping them off balance so that they will never find the truth. These man-made philosophies are like flavors of the month; when one fades in popularity, another takes its place. These philosophies are embraced by the people of
Babylon as pseudo religions; humanism, intellectualism, atheism, fundamentalism, modernism are a few. All these are designed to limit or remove God from our consciousness and to enthrone man and his genius.

Babylon Today

Prophets have compared Babylon today to the days of Noah and Lot, whose antediluvian world and later the societies of Sodom and Gomorrah were completely obliterated, as punishment for their sins. To negotiate through Babylon’s filthiness in the last days, the Lord has given us the Book of Mormon. This book of scripture contains two accounts of once-mighty nations that imploded by their embracing Babylon ideals.

Do we really believe we are immune?

President Kimball stated that latter-day Babylon would deceive even the very elect-as many as half the saints, according to the parable of the Ten Virgins, would not be ready for the Savior’s coming. President Kimball had three primary concerns: 1) The abuse of the environment: the pollutions of mind, body and our surroundings; 2) The pursuit of personal affluence: man’s transferring his trust in God to trust in material things, in an effort to assure security and happiness for the remainder of his life; 3) Trust in military security. The folly in pursuing these elements of Babylon can only result as it did for the Jaredites and Nephites.

Babylon’s Pervasiveness

Jesus, John, Paul, and Moroni join Nephi and other prophets, who foresaw Babylon’s latter-day dominance. Their descriptions are chilling, and yet many of us still make no attempt to flee. Jesus portrayed our day as a time when “darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.”

We live in physical Babylon and partake of spiritual Babylon as though we have no option. At times, we seem powerless to cease participating in her lifestyle and believing her philosophies. We assume that this is just the way life is and that we are helpless to change things. The people in the days of Noah and Lot held similar views and were caught up in the destructions: “And as it was in the days of [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that [Noah] entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Babylon’s Future

Babylon will fall. Can there be any doubt? From the days of Enoch to the present, Babylon’s latter-day demise has been prophesied repeatedly. There have been countless prophetic descriptions of Babylon and myriad authoritative declarations concerning why she must be destroyed once and for all. When we consider Babylon’s characteristics, we are astonished that anyone would want to stay.

Zion is Our Only Safety

The prophets have indicated that Zion will rise in proportion to Babylon’s collapse. So we have a choice. If Babylon and Zion were two elevators, one crashing and the other ascending, which would we choose to ride? We cannot choose both. The one and only solution for safety and security in a world gone mad is to flee to Zion and hold fast to the true doctrines, covenants and ordinances. Without sounding alarmist, the days of indecision and straddling are past. We must make a choice. Hugh Nibley said, “Babylon’s time is all but used up, and the only thing for the Saints to do is to get out of her.”

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