Tools of the devil

[AtlanticMike]

Over on the social Hall there's a thread talking about the Word of Wisdom, is it a commandant or not. And the past few days I've been asking myself is the WoW a commandment or just advice for Mormons to follow and show dedication to the Lord and his teachings. 

    When I was young, my siblings,  Mormon cousins and Mormon  friends were taught that the devil had certain tools he used to tempt us and if he was able to persuade us to partake of what he was offering, we would be under his power of influence and be living a life of sin. I'll admit, it scared the crap out of me. 

    Up to my late twenties I believed 100% that coffee, tea, tobacco, caffeinated soda and especially any kind of alcohol were tools of the devil. Partaking of any of these substances was giving in to the power of the devil and his minions. Now looking back, I realize I was using these substances to harshly judge anyone who used them in their daily life, I automatically saw anyone who used them as sinners and under the devil's influence.

     I can remember the day my eyes were opened and I started viewing "sin" in a different light. Just after I was married, the bishop asked me to go on a camping trip and be a chaperone for a young man whose dad was out to sea in the Navy. There was 12 of us on the camping trip, the bishop and a young man he was looking after, two days with two sons each, one dad with his son and me with the young man I was looking after. At around 10 pm three of the boys walked to the bathroom that was probably 300 yards away. The bishop and I were sitting at the fire talking when all of a sudden he looks at me and says, do you see that?!?!  We're staring in the direction of the boys walking back and every few seconds we could a little tiny orange glow that went out after about a second. And then all of a sudden, the bishop realized the glow was a cigarette, and it as if the devil and his minions were tunneling up from hell and trying to swallow up the three boys walking back from the bathroom. 

    When the boys get close, they immediately gather around the fire throwing wood on it, stirring the coals and trying to get as much smoke as possible I guess to cover up the smell of the cigarettes. Well, the bishop pulls me and the boy I was chaperoning aside with the father of the other two boys who were smoking and starts to grill the 3 young men asking who was actually smoking. The young man I was chaperoning handed over a pack of cigarettes and apologized to the bishop and the other dad for bringing cigarettes on the camping trip. A few minutes later the bishop  told me to take the young man home and he would deal with the situation later. This was the first time in my life I actually looked at any man in the church who had authority and said, NO, I'm not taking him home, he misses his dad dearly and I'm not going help you ruin this young man's camping trip. I walked over to the tent we went to sleep and the next morning even though things were a little tense, nothing else was said. From that day, I have taught myself how not to judge people so harshly because of something they might be doing that I consider a "sin".

     What's weird, for some reason, me standing up to the bishop started my path of always having a calling in scouts. The bishop was a good man, I think he realized he was a little too upset over the cigarette incident and was glad I calmed him down by just saying no, calm down man. He and I had a wonderful relationship after that. 

   So, in your opinion, what are actual tools of the devil and have we along with other Christian denominations misunderstood some of the Lord's teachings over the years since his mortal ministry?

[Amulek]

52 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

 So, in your opinion, what are actual tools of the devil [...]

Cats. 

Mostly cats.

Oh, and Harry Potter. 

Microtransactions probably fall in there somewhere as well. 

 

[rodheadlee]

4 minutes ago, Amulek said:

Cats. 

Mostly cats.

Oh, and Harry Potter. 

Microtransactions probably fall in there somewhere as well. 

 

Bite your tongue. Cats rule, dogs drool. Some of the tools of the devil are;

Meth

Pornography

Cocaine 

[Stargazer]

1 hour ago, AtlanticMike said:

NO, I'm not taking him home, he misses his dad dearly and I'm not going help you ruin this young man's camping trip.

Good for you!

What I regard as "tools of the devil" are the various means that are used to try to convince people that there is no sin. And it turns out that peer pressure, movies, and other forms of entertainment can be used as such tools. As it turns out, further, the same tools can be used to teach righteous principles as well.

The preaching of Korihor:

16 Ye look forward and say that ye see a remission of your sins. But behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind; and this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions of your fathers, which lead you away into a belief of things which are not so.
17 And many more such things did he say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of men, but every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime. - Alma 30:16,17

That's the message of the media, or at least some of it. And the messages that are the tools of the devil are what Korihor was trying to promulgate. The tools of the devil are, in other words, enticements to commit sin. 

 

[secondclasscitizen]

On the night of the martyrdom Joseph smith sent for some wine, pipes and some papers of tobacco. We know for sure they drank the wine to bring up their spirits. I don’t recall if they smoked the pipes but they (Richards, hyrum, taylor and Joseph) did pass the bottle around. 
 

You did the right thing. The bishop should have been slapped for being so insufferable. 

[Duncan]

two words Elvis Presley

 

My Mom was a teenie when he was enormous and she was saying that the parents were beyond outraged and stores, in their local country town, didn't even carry his records. She said you had to special order them , somehow I have no idea, and they were treated as contraband! Now though, they play Elvis at every church dance and no one thinks twice about it. 

[secondclasscitizen]

14 minutes ago, Duncan said:

two words Elvis Presley

 

My Mom was a teenie when he was enormous and she was saying that the parents were beyond outraged and stores, in their local country town, didn't even carry his records. She said you had to special order them , somehow I have no idea, and they were treated as contraband! Now though, they play Elvis at every church dance and no one thinks twice about it. 

Yep just like back in the day where I grew up drinking a coke or Pepsi would get you a trip to see the bishop. Now the bishop shows up to church with a monster lol. 

Edited June 12, 2021 by secondclasscitizen

[Tacenda]

See, you were pretty cool even then!

Imagine if that kid was taken home and his camping trip ruined how he might feel about the church afterwards?

Good job!

 

[CV75]

1 hour ago, AtlanticMike said:

   So, in your opinion, what are actual tools of the devil and have we along with other Christian denominations misunderstood some of the Lord's teachings over the years since his mortal ministry?

I think the tools follow spirit, so the spirit of contention is at the root of most of them. A little creativity (when intentional) or lack thereof (when not intentional) can go along way! I think the most hard-to-recognize tool of this spirit is pride.

[AtlanticMike]

35 minutes ago, secondclasscitizen said:

You did the right thing

Thank you.

35 minutes ago, secondclasscitizen said:

. The bishop should have been slapped for being so insufferable. 

No. As far as bishops go he was fairly young. I think the fact that the boys were bold enough to think they were going to come back and no one was going to notice they had been smoking, pissed the man in him off, not the bishop in him.  He was and still is a really good guy, it was just one of those moments in life you go, you gotta be kidding me and he got wrapped up in the moment. Like I said, it was a turning point in my life, and he and I worked it out and he called me as assistant scout master. Which tells me he understood he was wrong in how he first approached the situation. Kudos to him for sleeping on it and letting it go the next day. That's life, live and learn.

 

[AtlanticMike]

1 hour ago, Amulek said:

Oh, and Harry Potter

Blasphemy 😂

[AtlanticMike]

20 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

See, you were pretty cool even then!

Imagine if that kid was taken home and his camping trip ruined how he might feel about the church afterwards?

Good job!

 

I think you're cool also👍

[AtlanticMike]

16 minutes ago, CV75 said:

! I think the most hard-to-recognize tool of this spirit is pride

So true

[AtlanticMike]

43 minutes ago, Duncan said:

two words Elvis Presley

 

My Mom was a teenie when he was enormous and she was saying that the parents were beyond outraged and stores, in their local country town, didn't even carry his records. She said you had to special order them , somehow I have no idea, and they were treated as contraband! Now though, they play Elvis at every church dance and no one thinks twice about it. 

In my best Elvis voice, thank you thank you thank you very muuuch😁

[Chum]

11 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

In my best Elvis voice,

In which we learn you have a selection of Elvis voices.

[Chum]

1 hour ago, Duncan said:

...Elvis Presley.  My Mom was a teenie when he was enormous

So about 1975 then

[AtlanticMike]

11 minutes ago, Chum said:

In which we learn you have a selection of Elvis voices.

Correct Ahab, ooops I mean Chum😁.

[Chum]

23 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

Correct Ahab, ooops I mean Chum😁.

I got things. You go be Ahab.

[AtlanticMike]

1 minute ago, Chum said:

I got things. You go be Ahab.

Like you said, we're all Ahab! Or something like that.

[CA Steve]

In many cases, within Mormonism, what is considered evil or sinning seems to be a function of our Mormon culture. If we go back a hundred years we can find prophetic warnings against card playing and ankle length skirts, ninetyish years ago a greater emphasis on following the WoW was started by President Grant, sixtyish years ago it was communism, birth control and mothers working, recently the term "Mormonism" has changed into a tool of Satan.

[california boy]

The biggest tool of the devil is being judgmental of other peoples flaws or shortcomings.  I didn't say sin on purpose because many cultural things that may be flaws are not sins.  Listening to Elvis Presley is a great example of that.  The WoW is another perfect example.  Smoking is definitely a health problem.  But a sin?  Probably not.  Coffee/tea?  Hardly even a health issue.  In fact there can be some health benefits to drinking coffee and tea.  Alcohol?  Yes it can be a problem when not done responsibly.  But the vast majority of people do drink alcohol responsibly.  

"The leading global risks for mortality in the world are high blood pressure (responsible for 13% of deaths globally), tobacco use (9%), high blood glucose (6%), physical inactivity (6%), and overweight and obesity (5%)."  As a health code, the WoW falls pretty far short of the intended goal. The WoW only addresses one of those health risks directly.  

I remember going to my grandfathers during the summers.  He was an active member of the Church, yet he drank Sanka with his breakfast.  I thought for sure, he wasn't a good Mormon, never taking into account the rest of his life and how he treated others.  I grew up being told that even decaffinated coffee was a sin.  I remember some quote about are you going to let a cup of coffee keep you out of the Celestial Kingdom?  It was me committing the sin, not my grandfather.

[Duncan]

1 hour ago, Chum said:

So about 1975 then

well, more like 1950 something something!

[Chum]

12 minutes ago, Duncan said:

well, more like 1950 something something!

1950s was skinny hot Elvis. Enormous Elvis was def a 1970s phenomenon.

[mfbukowski]

2 hours ago, secondclasscitizen said:

Yep just like back in the day where I grew up drinking a coke or Pepsi would get you a trip to see the bishop. Now the bishop shows up to church with a monster lol. 

They now actually sell caffeinated soda like those in our temple cafeteria 

[Rain]

Pretty much anything could be a tool of the devil. Or of God.

But that is a separate thing from judging others.