The Battle for the Soul
I have been thinking for the last several days that I need to write about this. I have put it off, always having something that 'needed' to be done. Tonight, as I was praying, I felt like I needed to put a few thoughts down, no idea why.
If you were a missionary in la Mision Espana Sevilla in 1984, you heard about this talk. We were taught in Zone Conferences, as I recall. It has remained with me, and I have seen the truth of it in my life.
The talk was by Elder Melvin J. Ballard, given in the Salt Lake Tabernacle nearly 90 years ago. It is a lengthy read, but worth it. The link is below.
He spoke about how we are all in a constant battle against Satan. Satan knows us. He knows our strengths, he knows our weaknesses. He has legions to help him, for while they were outnumbered in the War in Heaven, here, we are clearly outnumbered. But he can only get to us as we let him in.
But the battle Elder Ballard speaks of is really the battle with ourselves.
Elder Ballard spoke of the battle between "me" being our spirit, a child of our Father in heaven, and "it" being the tabernacle of clay created for us. Every time we give in to some inappropriate desire of our body, "it" grows in strength. As we learn to master the body, through obedience, "me" truly has dominion over "it". Mortality is a time of trial. Of faith, and repentance. As we master ourselves in working towards that perfection commanded of us, we will no doubt fall, but if we get up, and continue to focus our life on Christ, it is enough. It is when we give in to the cravings of the body, whether it is a Word of Wisdom issue, or morality issue, that the body controls us. That is how Satan can control us. Again. He knows our weaknesses.
Suffice to say, that Elder Ballard taught that when we face the judgement of God, all of our sins will either have been repented of in this world, or accounted for in the next.
I should caution, that I am departing Elder Ballard's talk here. What follows is opinion, grounded on logic, with some help from instruction received from our last Stake Conference, or rather, what I felt like I learned from it. I am not writing this as doctrine, but fairly educated opinion.
The next step, is that when we are judged, we will be judged on the good that we do. Of course if we didn't do good in this life, and spend the Millennium repenting or paying for the life lived, we won't have much opportunity to do good, will we? But, if we repent, and learn dominion over this tabernacle of flesh, not only will we do plenty of good here, but after our death, we can continue our good works, whether in the Spirit world, before the Savior comes again, or once we are resurrected. So when we kneel before our Savior for judgement, He will say "well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Here is the link: https://www.lds.org/new-era/1984/03/struggle-for-the-soul?lang=eng&cid=facebook-shared
I would love to have some feedback on this. I don't mind criticism, of course, try not to hate.
If you were a missionary in la Mision Espana Sevilla in 1984, you heard about this talk. We were taught in Zone Conferences, as I recall. It has remained with me, and I have seen the truth of it in my life.
The talk was by Elder Melvin J. Ballard, given in the Salt Lake Tabernacle nearly 90 years ago. It is a lengthy read, but worth it. The link is below.
He spoke about how we are all in a constant battle against Satan. Satan knows us. He knows our strengths, he knows our weaknesses. He has legions to help him, for while they were outnumbered in the War in Heaven, here, we are clearly outnumbered. But he can only get to us as we let him in.
But the battle Elder Ballard speaks of is really the battle with ourselves.
Elder Ballard spoke of the battle between "me" being our spirit, a child of our Father in heaven, and "it" being the tabernacle of clay created for us. Every time we give in to some inappropriate desire of our body, "it" grows in strength. As we learn to master the body, through obedience, "me" truly has dominion over "it". Mortality is a time of trial. Of faith, and repentance. As we master ourselves in working towards that perfection commanded of us, we will no doubt fall, but if we get up, and continue to focus our life on Christ, it is enough. It is when we give in to the cravings of the body, whether it is a Word of Wisdom issue, or morality issue, that the body controls us. That is how Satan can control us. Again. He knows our weaknesses.
Suffice to say, that Elder Ballard taught that when we face the judgement of God, all of our sins will either have been repented of in this world, or accounted for in the next.
I should caution, that I am departing Elder Ballard's talk here. What follows is opinion, grounded on logic, with some help from instruction received from our last Stake Conference, or rather, what I felt like I learned from it. I am not writing this as doctrine, but fairly educated opinion.
The next step, is that when we are judged, we will be judged on the good that we do. Of course if we didn't do good in this life, and spend the Millennium repenting or paying for the life lived, we won't have much opportunity to do good, will we? But, if we repent, and learn dominion over this tabernacle of flesh, not only will we do plenty of good here, but after our death, we can continue our good works, whether in the Spirit world, before the Savior comes again, or once we are resurrected. So when we kneel before our Savior for judgement, He will say "well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Here is the link: https://www.lds.org/new-era/1984/03/struggle-for-the-soul?lang=eng&cid=facebook-shared
I would love to have some feedback on this. I don't mind criticism, of course, try not to hate.
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