Blinded by Lies

… And then received ye spirits which ye could not understand, and received them to be of God; and in this are ye justified?
… that which doth not edify is not of God, and is darkness.

Doctrine and Covenants 50:10-23

And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice.

Moses 4:4

Satan’s purpose on this Earth is to deceive and blind us. He is very good at this. He has a wide variety of tools that he uses; and our modern means of electronic communication has given him even greater flexibility and power.

We know that he is the father of lies. We know that he can dress up his lies in various ways to make them attractive. We even know that he can manipulate numbers and language to make lies appear to be true. The problem is that we, ourselves, are lazy. In our pride we believe that we are smart and informed and cannot be fooled, so we do not bother to make the effort to examine political claims for their truthfulness. We simply accept what others in our tribe around us seem to accept.

This tribal laziness makes us an ideal target for those evil men who want to manipulate us, and garner our votes, so they can acquire power and gain to themselves.

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

1 John 4:1

Deceived by tradition

Many Latter-day Saints, especially in Utah, are also being deceived because of the traditions of their fathers. If you come from a family that has traditionally voted Republican, it is harder to see that the Republican Party has abandoned its roots and has become a threat to our Constitutional form of government.

And that wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth, through disobedience, from the children of men, and because of the tradition of their fathers.

Doctrine and Covenants 93:39

A strong clear warning

I am deeply concerned for the members of my Church who are blinded by the blatant lies and the sophisticated false reality created by right-wing media. So I want to say the following as strongly and as clearly as I can:

Donald J. Trump is in league with the Prince of Darkness. His history, his interests, his language, his behaviors, his tantrums, and his lies are all completely consistent with someone who has sold his soul. He is both immoral and amoral. He cares for no one but himself. He puts personal gain ahead of any other priority. He lashes out at anyone he perceives as his enemy. He is completely faithless to America’s allies, to the Constitution, to his employees, and to his wives.

It is critical that Latter-day Saints stop supporting this man, stop making excuses for this man, and stop voting for people who enable this man. He is extremely dangerous. He leads through fear, anger, and lies. His constant lies distort reality. He has corrupted our political institutions and traditions. He is destroying our Republic. And he has blinded and deceived far too many Saints who will someday, unless they repent soon, have a very rude awakening.

Nevertheless, when the wicked rule the people mourn.
Wherefore, honest men and wise men should be sought for diligently, and good men and wise men ye should observe to uphold; otherwise whatsoever is less than these cometh of evil.

Doctrine and Covenants 98:9-10

Sources: Neil Steinberg, “Trump v. Jesus: Christians can’t follow both,” Chicago Sun-Times, October 19, 2019.