The spirit of the Accuser and The Spirit of the Advocate

You are old.  You are very old.  Although we may have some aging people in our stake, that is not what I mean.  All of us are very old.  We existed for ages and aeons as spirit children of our heavenly parents before we were born.  We “developed aptitudes, talents, capacities, and abilities of every sort, kind, and degree….[A]n infinite variety of talents and abilities came into being….[and] no two spirits remained alike” (Bruce R. McKonkie, The Mortal Messiah, 4 vols. (1979–81), 1:23).  Each one of us was unique.   When we were born on earth, a veil or curtain was drawn closed in our minds so that we could not remember our prior life in heaven.  This shutting down of heavenly memory was crucial to the agency, testing and growth we that we were intended to experience here on earth.  But always remember this important truth:  Heavenly Father does not have a veil in His mind.  He knows us perfectly and remembers us as we were in heaven.   

Many of you know the late Audrey Beck who used to reside in this stake.  I knew her for about 30 years.  She is a talented pianist and musician, a fun conversationalist, and smart as a whip. After she had a stroke she struggled in many ways and moved into an assisted living facility just down the street from us.  It was pathetic and heart wrenching to see her try to play the piano she loved with only one working hand, awkwardly plunking with one stiff finger on the other hand. When she would try to express herself, the words often came out jumbled and confusing.  One Sunday, as I was driving Audrey home from church she could not manage to say something clearly.  After trying unsuccessfully to communicate several times, she shook her head in frustration and said: “I am so stupid.”  I was shocked and dismayed.  With tears in my eyes, I said:  “Oh Audrey. No. No! You are not stupid.  Not at all.  I don’t know how much you remember, but I know you well, and I have known you for a long time.  I know that you are a brilliant, intelligent woman.”  I realized that because her memory was impaired by her stroke, while my memory was not, I knew her better than she knew herself.  Then it hit me, and the spirit testified to me that although we do not remember it, Heavenly Father has known us for a very long time.  He knows our strengths and our talents.  He knows us better than we know ourselves.  He knows the greatness in us, and when we pray to Him and when He looks upon us, that is what He sees.  As we allow His love into our hearts, He will help us to know ourselves, as we are known, and to grow into the potential of our divine origins.    

Our Stake Patriarch, Jim Maxwell, spoke yesterday about how Heavenly Father sees us, and it is with much more confidence and positivity than we accord ourselves.  I would like to provide a second witness to his remarks.  My father is the Fort Collins, Colorado Stake Patriarch.  A young man and his parents came to my parents’ home for a patriarchal blessing.  As my parents visited with the family for a few minutes, it became very obvious that the young man had no confidence and no social graces.  He would just look down when spoken to and seemed extremely withdrawn.  My father’s impression, he honestly disclosed, was that the young man had very little to offer and would never amount to much.  My father took the young man into the other room to interview him alone, before giving him his blessing.  After the interview, my father’s impressions had not changed. The young man seemed to have very little capability, very little drive to accomplish anything.  After that interview, my father invited the parents into the room for the blessing.  As my father laid his hands on the young man’s head and began pronouncing his blessing, his view of the young man changed dramatically.  Heavenly Father knew that young man’s strengths and capacity better than anyone else, better than the young man, better than his parents, better than the patriarch.  The blessing that was given through God’s understanding and grace painted a picture of a young man who had great capacity and an important mission to accomplish.  Everyone in the room was quite surprised at the glowing and impressive terms of the blessing.

A few months later, the mother reported that a major change had occurred since the blessing. After feeling Heavenly Father’s love and confidence in him, that young man saw himself differently and started to behave differently, with more striving and more self-assurance.  His parents perspective had changed also, and they started to treat him as a person who could succeed in life and do an important work. She expressed to my father much gratitude for God’s goodness and grace felt through that patriarchal blessing, a blessing inspired by God but delivered through an imperfect man, my father, serving as a patriarch.  I am constantly amazed at how God uses imperfect but striving people to do His work and bless His children.  When we feel the Spirit, we feel God’s love for us and confidence in us.  When we understand how our Heavenly Father feels about us, it makes a dramatic difference in our lives and our happiness.  It makes life abundant and joyful.    

[Show the Tree of Life picture from ward conferences.]   The tree of life is a representation of God’s love which sheds itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men like the light of the sun.  I Nephi 11:22-23.  If God’s love is constantly available to us and filling the immensity of space, why do we not feel it at times?   Mists of darkness--a representation of the temptations of the devil. We tend to think that Satan is trying to get us to sin.  While that may be true, Lehi’s dream teaches us that Satan’s main focus is to prevent us from feeling God’s love.  If we understand how he does this, we can better resist his efforts.  So let’s take a look back at Satan and how he tried to influence us in during the war in heaven, to gain some insight into how he works against us today.  

Satan was the original perfectionist.  After hearing God’s plan, he said: “I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor.”  

Satan sought to get glory through his perfect performance. Not one soul would be lost. No failures.  No sins.  Surely I will do it, Satan said, meaning I will do it on my own without help, so give me the honor.  Since I will do it on my own, I deserve all the glory.  

Are we like that sometimes?  Thinking it is our performance that gets us glory, rather than focusing on our connection with our Father?

Instead of allowing us to learn by experience, by trial and error, through sins and mistakes, Satan sought to impose perfect performance on us.  No sins or mistakes.  No agency.  No freedom to choose.  He would have controlled all of us by force of his will to make himself look good.  Sometimes as parents we can be a little bit like that, trying to control our children because they reflect on us, and we want to look good.  Satan’s plan was rejected and Satan rebelled and made war.

Revelation Chapter 12 tells us about the war in heaven in which Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels.  At the conclusion of that war, Satan and 1/3 of our brothers and sisters who followed him were cast out.  How did Satan get the 1/3 to follow him?  Let’s look carefully at these verses:

9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony....

So Satan’s approach in the premortal life was to accuse people, not just to accuse them, but to accuse them day and night, persistently, and not just to accuse them persistently, but to accuse them—God’s children—right in front of our Father in Heaven: “for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”  Why would Satan be casting accusations against those he wanted to follow him?  Why would he be communicating his accusations to God? Was he giving information to God about our weaknesses that God did not know? No. Was he trying to persuade Heavenly Father? No. Were his accusations true?  Probably.  We were imperfect, had weaknesses, and needed further progression. That is why we were coming to earth.  The fact that he spoke truth or partial truth about our faults was perhaps precisely why his accusations pierced his listeners.  But, the way I see it, Satan’s purpose was not to convey information and not to persuade Heavenly Father, but rather for us to observe and experience him pointing out our faults and weakness to God. He was trying to influence us through his accusations. He was trying to convey an attitude that he wanted us to adopt towards our imperfections and our relationship with God. Satan accused us all before our Heavenly Father, because he wanted us to feel ashamed so that we would shrink from God’s presence.  He wanted us to feel unworthy of God’s love and help.  He wanted to use our faults that he was pointing out so diligently as a wedge between us and God.  He wanted us to feel unlovable and to doubt God’s love for us.  When we do not feel God’s love and support, we feel less capable, we feel insecure, we fear failure.  Satan’s tactics worked on one third of our brothers and sisters.  Satan continues these tactics here.  

In general conference, Elder Klebingat described Satan’s tactics this way:  

“Whenever the adversary cannot persuade imperfect yet striving Saints such as you to abandon your belief in a personal and loving God, he employs a vicious campaign to put as much distance as possible between you and God. The adversary knows that faith in Christ—the kind of faith that produces a steady stream of tender mercies and even mighty miracles—goes hand in hand with a personal confidence that you are striving to choose the right. For that reason he will seek access to your heart to tell you lies—lies that Heavenly Father is disappointed in you, that the Atonement is beyond your reach, that there is no point in even trying, that everyone else is better than you, that you are unworthy, and a thousand variations of that same evil theme.
    As long as you allow these voices to chisel away at your soul, you can’t approach the throne of God with real confidence. Whatever you do, whatever you pray for, whatever hopes for a miracle you may have, there will always be just enough self-doubt chipping away at your faith—not only your faith in God but also your confidence in yourself. Living the gospel in this manner is no fun, nor is it very healthy.”  End quote.

These are the mists of darkness.  Satan is constantly trying to separate us from God’s love. Satan is always trying to convey an attitude about our weaknesses and faults that separates us from God. We must learn to battle the thought patterns and narratives he encourages.

In contrast to Satan our Accuser, we have Christ our Advocate.  He is our advocate with the Father.  Instead of accusing and condemning us, Christ took it all upon himself.  He understands us completely and loves us completely.  In the atonement, Christ became at one with us.  We are graven on the palms of His hands.  His love will never fail us.  He is fully at one with us. He does not condemn us, but instead offers complete understanding, healing and cleansing.  Instead of trying to control us and force his will upon us, He stands at the door and knocks patiently waiting for us to open the door.  When we do, He comes in and heals and blesses us. He lifts and teaches us. He reconnects us to our Father and enables us to feel that great love. He is our advocate with the Father.   

A sister was sitting in the temple.  The day  before she had just learned that her husband had committed adultery. She had no prior suspicions and she was devastated.  The husband was very repentant and was trying to make things right.  It is beautiful that this dear sister went to the temple instead of rebelling against God in her pain.  She was pleading:  “How can I ever trust him again?  How can we ever recover from this?”  The Savior appeared to her in vision, looked her in the eye and asked:  “Do you trust me?”  After she responded, “Yes, of course” the Savior simply said: “I can vouch for him.”  She held onto those words in the difficult weeks and months that followed, and now their marriage is better than it ever was beforehand.      

Let’s see what Christ says about his role as our advocate.  

D&C 45:3-5

“Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him—
Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou wast well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified; Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life.”

Does Christ say anything suggesting that we need perfect performance?  No. He makes it clear that he paid the price and that all those who believe in Him and come unto Him will have eternal life.   Does Christ say anything about the need for perfect performance?  No.  Is Christ giving to God information about us that God does not already have?  No.  Is he trying to persuade God to change his mind?  No, they are already one.  I believe He revealed this symbolic communication between Him and the Father because He is trying to convey to us an attitude about our sins and weaknesses and our relationship with God.  Just believe in me and come unto me, and your sins and weaknesses will be covered.  I will work with you and you will learn grace by grace.  God does not reject you.

Let’s take the most famous scripture in Christendom and make it first person.  “For God so loved the [me] that he gave his only begotten son....  God sent not his Son into the world to condemn [me], but that [I] through him might be saved.”  Because of Christ we are not separated from God.  Everything that Christ does is in an affort to reconcile us to God, to bring us into the light of God’s love.  Christ is the rod of iron in Lehi’s dream.  Hold to him and he will lead us into to light of God’s love, now and forever.   Christ said this in D&C 29:5 “Lift up your hearts and be glad, for I am in your midst, and am your advocate with the Father; and it is his good will to give you the kingdom.”  I love that.  Christ is here with us helping us along.  We have the greatest advocate in Christ, and he is advocating to the Father who already wants to give us the Kingdom.  We have is so very good!  

Our relationship with God will improve dramatically if we resist the influence of the Accuser and trust our Advocate.  As we come unto Christ, we learn the difference between the spirit of the accuser and the spirit of the advocate.  We receive Divine love and grace and are able to reflect it to others. Now I will ask you an important question:  In your interactions with others, do you carry with you and do you reflect the spirit of the accuser or the spirit of the advocate?  This is a question I ask myself regularly.  When I find the spirit of the accuser in my heart, I feel the need to repent and be more Christlike.  Christ understands perfectly and had charity for every person I meet.  He can help me to see them as they should be seen. He can help me to love them as they should be loved.  Joseph Smith said this: "If you do not accuse each other, God will not accuse you. If you have no accuser you will enter heaven, …. If you will not accuse me, I will not accuse you. If you will throw a cloak of charity over my sins, I will over yours—for charity covereth a multitude of sins."   

Nanette Okoren’s experience.

As a father of young children, I experienced Heavenly Father’s knowledge of His children’s strengths in a life changing way.  When our third son Joshua was about 10 years old, he could be quite difficult.  He was so stubborn, hard-headed, difficult, and uncooperative.  It seemed that he was always the one throwing a wrench in the works and preventing things from going smoothly. We had six children in less than 10 years, and things were challenging enough without Joshua being particularly uncooperative.   At the beginning of the school year it came time for father’s blessing.  We went from oldest to youngest.  When it was Joshua’s turn, I paused and took several deep breaths.  I was so angry at that child; I honestly did not feel like giving him a blessing at all.  I knew I had to, so I struggled to be more humble and I placed my hands on his head and proceeded, hoping for the best.  During that blessing, I was given a realization that his strength of will and determination (which I had been viewing so negatively, as the accuser) would in the long run enable him to do great things and become a great man.  I was changed by that blessing, because Heavenly Father knew him better than I did and helped me to see more clearly.  From that moment on, my relationship with Joshua improved dramatically, and now I just adore him and love spending time and working on projects with him whenever I can. It has been a beautiful thing to see where his determination and will-power have taken him in athletics and writing and in obedience.  I know by experience that Heavenly Father can give us the grace to see ourselves and others more accurately and positively.  

    May we become a Zion people by receiving and reflecting divine love and grace.  That we may we resist the spirit of the accuser and embrace the spirit of the Advocate in our relationship with God and in our relationships with others is my prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.