The War to Overcome Evil

 "Wo unto them that call evil good, and good evil . . ."  Isaiah 5:20

For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.  And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say:  All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well--and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.  2 Nephi 28:20-21
 

And God shall show unto you that that which I have written is true.  Moroni 10:29

Even in the bleakness of winter, there is something bright and beautiful.  These berries were found on a climbing vine or shrub in Darwen

At a recent District Meeting for missionaries, Elder Blain, a retired Air Force veteran from the Vietnam era, discussed war strategies called "rules of engagement," as an analogy for what is going on in the world today with the war between good and evil (Satan and God).  Below are my notes.

• We need intelligence services to keep us informed of what tactics the enemy's is using to destroy us.
• Intelligence services provides true information about the enemy and where the threats are.  Some of the things we can learn from Intelligence are:
• who the enemy is
• what the enemy's strengths are
• what variety of tactics we must plan against
• how the enemy operates in certain circumstances 

Never underestimate the power of the enemy!

Intelligence services provides something called TAC DOC, which is tactical doctrine.  In the Church we have this in the form of scriptures and modern day revelation.

We can be lulled into a feeling of false security if we don't study and keep up on the latest information from the TAC DOC.  (The attack on Pearl Harbor is a prime example).

Pride causes people to feel they need no help, that they can handle things by themselves (General Custer is a good example for pride going before the fall).

There will always be opposition.  Remain cool and calm so you can think clearly and make correct decisions.  Do not let the enemy anger you.  Anger will cloud your judgment and cause you to lose control eventually.

The enemy always tries to disrupt communication in warfare. 

A pilot must always know the flight plan and path--altitude and speed, but the enemy wants to know that too.  The enemy will send out no information about where he is, or he will use deceptive tactics like sending out faulty information or even try to block communications to cloud vision and hearing by releasing chaff, which is a mass of little pieces of aluminum foil that forms a cloud against the radar.  Noise and confusion is sent out to interrupt communication.  (" . . . the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray . . . "  2 Nephi 32:8)

Pilots are always needing to send out information and wait for information to come back as they proceed in the flight plan (similar to us using prayer--" . . . ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."  2 Nephi 32:9).  Giving and receiving true information is vital to survival.  Do not allow the enemy to block your ability to communicate with the intelligence services.

Both sides use similar tactics in warfare in order to deny the enemy the ability to find and destroy their plane.  When a heat seeking missile is launched, the target for that missile can confuse it by sending out flares that are hotter than the plane engines, so the missiles (hopefully) chase the flares instead of the plane.  Stay stronger than that which is attempting to destroy you.