Episode #165 - The Lies He Tells Us

While we often speak of the Savior and his healing methods it is important to recognize the methods of the Adversary and the Lies He Tells Us.  This episode discusses those lies and how to recognize them for what they are.

Transcript

Welcome to Episode #165 – The Lies He Tells You!  I am your host Damon Socha.  Now I don’t like to talk about Lucifer.  I simply don’t like to give him a stage.  He is the Destroyer, Perdition, the Evil One.  His whole design and purpose is to make every one of our Father’s children as miserable as he has become.  However, I know that if you deal with mental illness you will tangle with him.  It has been my experience that for reasons unknown to me, Lucifer appears to have greater access to us spiritually when we suffer through our episodes.  Whether it is because we have trouble hearing and feeling the spirit, or the depressing, anxiety laden feelings or even the bulletproof mania I am not sure.  And I am not entirely sure the reason matters.  What matters is that he does.  This is actually important to understand if you are suffering with mental illness in any form.  When one descends into the dark abyss of depression, or the prison of anxiety, or even the lofty highs of mania, Lucifer finds a weakened state of emotional resistance and he preys on such events mercilessly.  Before this gets to dreary and we think that he might have some influence over and above the Savior, let me be firm in saying that Lucifer cannot go beyond the equality equation.  Lucifer can have no greater access than the Savior does.  Meaning access to our souls and to the influence of our mind is restricted in the sense that the level of access that Lucifer has is always matched and equally influence by the spirit of the Lord.   And when we have made covenants, the Lord always has the upper hand, even when it might not feel like it.  The Lord will never give him greater access to your soul, however it is important to understand that by our own will we can give him greater access and that is the lesson for today.

When I think of Lucifer and his methodologies, I am almost always reminded of Lehi’s dream.  The Lord through that dream exposed Lucifer’s methodologies and certainly the countermeasures we need to employ when we are in the fray of the fight.  I recommend that you quickly read or listen to chapter 8 of 1st Nephi to refresh your memory as I will not be repeating it here.  I will expect that you have at least perused it or at the very least know the major points of the dream and the message.  As we are going to look at Lucifer’s methodologies it is important to understand why they were included.  The Lord knows that the best defense is a good offense and he provided keen insights into Lucifer throughout the Book of Mormon and the strategies he has used from very early beginnings in the pre-mortal world.  You will find Lehi’s dream, and a few conversations with a couple of anti-Christs.  However, today we are going to stick with just Lehi’s dream.

As this dream of Lehi begins, we find Lehi in a large field who when he has prayed has a vision open to him of the world.  He can see the entire scenario from beginning to end and is even given some experiences to fully understand the meaning.  The entire dream centers around the Tree of Life and the fruit of that tree.  We understand the Tree to be the Savior and the fruit of that tree which causes great joy is the love of God what the Savior referred to as the change of heart necessary to become celestial.  The entire dream is a vision of various types of individuals and their interactions with the tree and the people partaking the fruit of that tree.  We find that at the head of a fountain of water there was an extended plane from which people were walking towards the tree.  Lehi states multitudes were pressing forward to obtain the fruit of the tree.  This is where we encounter Lucifer’s first method of madness.  Lucifer is responsible for the mists of darkness.  The intent is simply to obscure the tree, the path to the tree and even the rod of iron if one steps away from the path.  This obscuring of the tree comes in almost every form but it is interesting that Lehi notes three in particular and then adds a fourth unique type of diversion not necessarily related to the mists of darkness.  The first are those individuals who get lost on strange roads.  The second are those who drowned in the filthy water.  The third are those individuals feeling their way to the great and spacious building and fourth are those individuals who make it to the tree but find embarrassment in partaking of the fruit.  Let’s talk about the mists of darkness.  The mists of darkness are intended to obscure the path to the tree in any way possible.  The mists are not darkness but mists meaning they obscure not entirely block the light. This is Lucifers main weapon, disinformation.  Lucifer will use any type of disinformation to obscure the true path to the tree.  This has taken on many forms throughout the centuries but it is always the same.  Generally, Lucifer mixes truth and lies, scripture and philosophies of men, the truths of science twisted into the rationalities of men.  While he does broadcast these things in a grand manner everywhere, he knows that any good marketing plan requires individualizing the message.  He knows us intimately as he lived with us for a long time in the pre-earth life before his rebellion and he has watched us closely here.  Members of the Lord’s church are less that one tenth of one percent of the population of the earth.  He is fully aware of us consistently.  He understands the weaknesses we carried with us to the earth and he knows what entices us and what does not.  In addition to knowing our weaknesses, he also knows that poison is most easily ingested in small portions over time and with a great deal of sugar.  So while he likes to lie big, he knows that to get us to walk away from the path he needs us to step away in small degrees.  Most individuals do not walk away from the pathway running or leaping.  They walk away by degrees.  Taking their hand off the iron rod, while remaining close to it.  Then of course they become distracted by the world around them and they leave the path for a time but keeping it in sight.  They might return to the path and maybe even touch the rod but then become distracted again.  The key is the distraction and disengagement with the path and the rod through enticement and disinformation.  One must become comfortable with the distraction and believe the disinformation to be full truth.   Then Lucifer moves to the next phase of his disinformation campaign.  Now once one is comfortable without the rod and the path, he can then entice individuals into one of two pathways.  The first is playing in the water.  

It is interesting that the river of filthy water is not far off the path and most certainly the water is shallow near the banks.  It is also certain that the water feels refreshing and appears to lack the danger so often reinforced by those who know.  But the intent is to get one comfortable enough to try the deeper water until they are fully engulfed.  The water is also noted as filthy but most certainly the mists of darkness obscures that fact.  Also even muddy water when held in your hand doesn’t appear that muddy.  Once in the water the muddy bank and slippery slope make it difficult to return to shore and most certainly the mists of darkness do not allow one to see the rod entirely from the river.  Swimming for a time might not be an issue but it is not about the first swim but exhausting ones strength.  This river is the drug, alcohol, sexual promiscuity and the enticing chemicals of the world.  They can seem very harmless at first and even exciting and refreshing but it does not take long to drowned in them and feel as though there is no way out.  This is often one of the most difficult problems of mental illness. The pain and suffering caused by the illness begs for relief and the cool refreshing water chemistry can feel good but in the end it will become all consuming.  This will be Lucifer’s first lie.  He knows that the mortal body seeks for relief from pain and the more intense and longer the pain the more enticing are the mortal substitutes for pain relief.  Now this is not using medications for their intended purpose.  We can do that while still holding onto the rod.  These chemicals are the filthy ones.  The ones that entangle, entice and require increasing amounts.  These are the chemicals used to self-medicate and provide temporary solutions.  This will always be a significant problem with mental illness because not only does it cause suffering but emotional confusion.  And it is why Lucifer uses this tactic most often and never leaves it alone.  When we are suffering we will always be offered temporary solutions that become terrible masters.  He wants our minds and bodies further clouded and overcome with addiction.  When we are suffering this is the first level of the disinformation lie that must be avoided at all costs.  There is no value in short term chemical solutions.  Drugs, alcohol, pornography and enticing chemicals used in the form of self-medication is his number one methodology and the near perfect disinformation.  Because it gives false positive reinforcement or feels harmless at first and even helpful until one is fully engulfed and the negative consequences and drowning become all too real.

The next lie is somewhat more subtle but as effective.  It doesn’t use chemistry.  It is the art of rational distraction.  This is where the philosophies of men collide with gospel truth.  It is so easy from the mortal perspective and a veil over our previous experience to become rationally disoriented.  The main tactic here is to use rational philosophies to bludgeon the truth into submission.  The key to this tactic is doubt and most often it is in combination with the physical senses.  If you can’t see it, hear it, touch it, smell it or taste it then is doesn’t exist.  When Lucifer attacked the Savior during his initial temptations, he consistently used the word “if”.  What Lucifer needs is a window of doubt.  You have never seen God.  How do you know he exists?  People see hallucinations all the time, what if prophets are just hallucinating? How do you know that the law of chastity is true?  Your religion, your belief doesn’t seem to match with what science and psychology are seeing.  How do you even know if you have a spirit inside your body?  Isn’t religion just made up to explain things people don’t understand?  Science has true answers, not some feelings of the heart?  Feelings are just imaginations of the heart and don’t really matter in the sense of what is real.  I could go on and I am sure you could but you get the message.  Lucifer needs doubt and then doubt to become a quasi-truth.  This is where the forbidden roads appear.  And they stretch on forever.   These are the “ever learning but never able to come to the truth” type of roads.  And they are consistently filled with doubt.  Once you start down this road of doubt and disillusion you will never find anything of any value, although Lucifer will tell you that the new truth you have found is extremely valuable.  Everything is a distraction on this road and value is a shifting sand dune dictated by the whims of a society void of moral stability and full of group think mentality.  These roads are so very enticing with mental illness.  One will have great difficulty trusting emotions and feelings because of the nature of the illness and it is very easy to lean entirely upon the rational and the scientific.  There is nothing wrong with seeking out knowledge in a rational way and learning about this world but rational mentality leads down some dark moral roads.  When you look at everything in a rational way without the ideals of moral values and a true understanding of eternity, lines can become quickly blurred and all paths seem identical in value.  It is very easy to become lost in rational feel good quasi-truth.  Lucifer knows how difficult it is for those who suffer with mental illness to trust their feelings as so often their feelings have been altered by the illness and can be very difficult to trust.  His second lie is to distrust your feelings.

If Lucifer cannot obtain us with these two powerful enticements aimed directly at the weaknesses of the illness, he will use another method of inclusion and popularity.  He will call the truth exclusionary, bigoted and hypocritical.  He will tell you that you don’t belong but that there is a place you can belong and feel welcomed and appreciated.  This is the praise of the world and their philosophy.  But there is something interesting about these praise people, you must agree with them and become part of them to be included.  Sadly they are just as exclusionary and hypocritical as they call the truth seekers. Just like the gospel, they have rules for inclusion and acceptance.  You must think a particular way, dress a particular way, listen to a particular type of music, live in a particular neighborhood, have a particular body type, you must alter who you are to become like them.  It is so very interesting how a group that claims to be so inclusionary actually is quite exclusionary to anyone who does not fully believe as they do.  Yes I know that this happens within the gospel as well.  The gospel is full of imperfect people and at times very imperfect and they at times have difficulty including people not of their particular way of believing.  But the gospel teaches that we should continue to include and love those who are struggling in various ways.   But that is rarely true with these other groups.  What is most interesting is that all other groups tend to be of a selfish nature while the gospel consistently persuades us to look beyond ourselves and to extend our lives to others without thought of reward.  This is the hallmark of these groups in the great and spacious building.  They are ego centric and their concern is what others think of them.  They build spacious buildings around themselves that feel solid and are beautiful but have no foundation.  Everything they build ends at death.  Their philosophies, their rules, their entire way of life.  The reason that those at the tree can extend help and aid and look outside themselves is that they are built upon a foundation of truth.  They internalize that truth rather than build palaces around them.  They have an internal immovable foundation of truth.  This type of worldly enticement can be very alluring to the individual suffering with mental illness because praise feels good and so does the inclusion offered by accepting their philosophies.  The praise of others and their inclusion causes chemicals in the brain to react favorably and that praise can become a terrible drug not unlike cocaine or heroin.  And similarly the desire for it is never quenched.  Those in the building are consistently wandering looking for someone to tell them that they are beautiful, smart, intelligence, sexy, desirable, and that they match up to the standards of the building.  The drug of praise is difficult to ignore when your illness causes you to feel worthless and meaningless and even that you don’t belong anywhere.  A little praise goes a long way mentally and it is not difficult to be standing at the tree and then all of the sudden over a few years and episodes you are commenting on how ridiculous it is that those people are happy just eating fruit from a tree.  This tactic is pure disinformation.  It is belonging without really belonging.  It is praise without substance and building one’s personal behavior upon the whims of social pressure and desires to belong.  This particular lie is terribly destructive and is perhaps the most alluring to someone who is suffering from low self-esteem, isolation and loneliness because of the emotional difficulties of the illness.

That leads me to the final tactic Lucifer employs.  If you make it to the tree and partake and even partake regularly, Lucifer knows that if he can get you distracted and listening to the people in the spacious building he has a chance.  Now this is not a matter of praise.  No just the opposite.  This is ridicule, scorn and derision that you have chosen a piece of fruit over everything they have in the great and spacious building.  They show you the outward signs of what they call happiness, clothing, cars, status, power, beauty on the outside and they mock you for your simply beliefs and simple ways.  This is not a matter of seeking praise but being able to stand firmly while others deride and mock you for what you believe.  They cast those ideas that feelings are just chemical signals in the body and they don’t mean that God exists.  It is just something you want to believe.  They show you the delicious foods, the fast cars, the alcohol and fun they are having.  Because we as human beings cannot feel another’s feelings but only read external cues, we wonder if what they have is better.  This wonder, again a doubt is the key to these individuals’ success.  These individuals redefine happiness to meet their own definitions.  And sometimes they even define misery as happiness.  This is not the happiness of the gospel but all other counterfeit forms of happiness that the world provides.  And when happiness is fleeting through an episode of depression and/or anxiety or when the mania is so high that everything feels right, we can easily redefine our value and measure of happiness.  And it doesn’t have to be just one thing.  Most often the world’s rules of happiness are combinations of praise, ingested chemistry, pleasure, power and seeking for short-term solutions.  So yes these mocking people come in every form and manner and they might mock in ways that feel friendly and loving, but mock they do.  However, when we suffer to feel happiness we can at times begin to seek it in different ways or simply even redefine it so that we can obtain it in the way we desire.  Mocking takes on so many forms and masks and the intent is to bring another into their definition of happiness and in so doing reinforce what they have defined to be happiness truly is.  The problem with redefining happiness is that it is a hollow shell with no core.  And that type of happiness always feels not quite right, not quite whole and always a little empty.  That is important as it will keep you chasing it.  Lucifer knows that if he can get you to redefine happiness, you will never find true happiness because you are chasing a figment of your own imagination or someone else’s.  Sometimes when we struggle for happiness, it can feel so out of reach that we just pick a point that is far closer or even an alternate happiness and call that our place of happiness.  What we don’t always fully realize is that we full well know what true happiness is because we felt it regularly in our previous pre-mortal life.  Our soul fully understands happiness in the truest sense and that is why happiness redefined always feels hollow.  The final lie Lucifer employes is to cause you to redefine happiness in ways that do not match the formula provided by the Lord and his gospel.  Any happiness defined outside of gospel patterns, laws and doctrines will be false and always feel hollow and empty when compared to true joy.  It is so easy to get caught in the trap of seeking happiness in alternative ways because the world offers so many of them.  And so many of them seem good and they can even feel good.  That is because so often these new forms of happiness rely upon the chemistry of the body and mind.  They rely upon the happiness of the natural man and then they mix this happiness with small measures of true happiness and the lie of the altered happiness entangles one so deep that it can be terribly difficult to separate what is true and what is not.

As we seek peace and belonging through the gospel and its countermeasures, it is important to see the lies Lucifer tells us and his subtle but in many ways obvious methods.  One must understand that Lucifer has honed his craft over long period of time and as much as we might not think it, he can be very patient and most of all relentless.  His lies are alluring to anyone who has a mortal body and when you add the emotional weaknesses that occur with mental illness the enticements become significantly more appealing and eventually ensnaring.  However, a good defense evaluates the offensive weapons of their adversary not to engage with them but to avoid their destructive nature.  My heart has often been drawn out to those who have fallen prey to Lucifer and his offensive weapons.  I have never found anyone truly happy or at peace who has partaken of the lies because his final lie is that they are living the truth.  In the deepest part of my soul, I hope that you find the Savior waiting with open arms to heal and cut you from any of these terrible entanglements.  He is the light, the truth and the only way to true happiness and joy and the peace of eternal life.  May you do your part and come to him, so that he may do his and run to you.  Until next week.