0:00:00 - 0:00:23 Satan is a liar. From the beginning. We are going to highlight some ideas here uh as briefly as we can. And if you want to know more about these ideas, recommend a few books, one is called Commanded in all things. Uh I would start with that one if you haven't read it before, if you're interested in this 0:00:22 - 0:00:45 topic. Second is the glory of God is intelligence and the third is seek you this Jesus. Now, all three of these are available on amazon.com for print cost and they're available for free as PDF S at upward thought.blogspot.com. As I mentioned, we'll just cover these briefly, but they're very important 0:00:45 - 0:01:11 topics. And I hope that this uh presentation entices you to study these topics further. You'll get much longer um more detailed and uh I I guess treatments of these things and also some additional information by reading those books. And uh we'll also hit on some topics and ideas that you can study yourself 0:01:10 - 0:01:30 in the, in the scriptures and also pray about and think about. And I encourage you to do that. These are very central ideas and uh gaining a better understanding of these ideas will help you tremendously in your progress with God. Let's start here. What is truth? Truth is things as they really are now 0:01:30 - 0:01:54 in normal conversation. We don't say things as they really are. We say reality and that's what it means things as they really are. This is what God knows. This is what God reveals and this is what God lives. And so if you want to know more about God, the key is to embrace reality. Now, we have to make 0:01:54 - 0:02:16 a very important distinction here. What you perceive as truth is not actually truth. Truth is infinite, which means that uh whatever you acquire from truth is only uh partially what is available. It's only a piece of what is available. Your perception is finite, it's limited truth is unlimited, but your 0:02:15 - 0:02:38 perception is limited, your perception, what it is, it's a finite estimation of infinite truth. So it's uh it's, you know, reality is a landscape and your perception is a picture of that landscape. It's cutting a lot of things off. It's oversimplifying a lot of things. Uh But we, it's not a bad thing 0:02:37 - 0:03:03 . Um Finite approximation is required for us as humans to interact with reality. We don't do well with infinite things. So we chop them off and we uh summarize them and we limit them so that we know how to interact with them. But we have to always remember these limitations and seek to obtain a, a more 0:03:02 - 0:03:26 refined or a fuller estimation of what reality is. So, whenever you hear someone say, I know some flag should raise in your head. Really? What they're saying is I estimate. Or according to my observations, here's my best idea of how things work. It's always going to be inaccurate and, or incorrect. And 0:03:26 - 0:03:47 again, that's not a bad thing. You can do very many things with knowledge that is inaccurate or incorrect. Newton's laws were sufficient to get people into space and back. Um They're sufficient to know ballistic targets and things like that, but they don't explain everything there is to know, they break 0:03:47 - 0:04:13 down in very small and very large situations. So this is how it works with all knowledge. All knowledge has a scope where it is sufficient and there exists scopes where it's insufficient and uh we have to remember this. So if you ask someone, what is the purpose of life? I mean, you can get a multitude 0:04:13 - 0:04:31 of answers, you can get a multitude of correct answers. Of course, not all answers to that question are correct, but one slice of this, one particular answer that would be correct is that the purpose of life is to acquire and dissimilate more truth. In other words, the purpose of life is to produce more 0:04:31 - 0:04:54 correct estimates or approximations of truth. Satan's purpose is the opposite of this. His purpose is to slow to stop or to reverse your acquisition and assimilation of truth by the way. What's the difference between acquiring truth and assimilating it? You can be aware of truth without having uh reconciled 0:04:53 - 0:05:19 your life to it. So you can know that smoking is bad for your health without actually abstaining from smoking, right? So there's a difference. OK. So uh if you understand this purpose in life and also Satan's purpose to detract from that, then you'll have powerful tools to recognize his tactics and fight 0:05:19 - 0:05:43 them. Here's an idea for you. Temptation comes through masking consequences or exaggerating benefits. This is the case for all temptation. All temptation at its root consists in um distortion of reality. That's it. And so if you know that you now have the key to fight all temptation because the cure 0:05:43 - 0:06:09 to temptation is more um a better understanding of reality. It's information in Genesis 217 God says of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat for the day. Thou eats thereof, thou shalt surely die. He's revealing reality to Adam and Eve. Satan comes along and he says, ye shall 0:06:09 - 0:06:32 not surely die for God doth. Know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil. Satan distorted reality by saying you shall not die by eating the the fruit of the the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And so he masked the consequence of 0:06:32 - 0:06:56 the cause, the eating of the fruit. Then eve uh comes along and it says that uh she saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree to be desired to make one wise and she ate it well, all of those benefits are true. The tree was good for food. It was pleasant to the 0:06:56 - 0:07:24 eyes and it was desired to make one wise. That is the effect of eating that fruit. But what's not included here in this list of, of outcomes is the fact that by eating it, she would die. So Satan had effectively altered the perception of reality that Eve had by removing this true consequence of the behavior 0:07:24 - 0:07:45 that she was about to do. And this is what he does. Now, this is one specific example. But if you take this format, you can analyze any temptation. There is any temptation, there is only exists because of a lack of information, it only exists because of an inadequate perception of reality. And if you 0:07:45 - 0:08:14 knew all things, you would not be tempted, the spirit speaketh the truth and lieth, not it speaketh of things as they really are and of things as they really will be. God reveals reality, the more you acquire this understanding of reality, the less susceptible you will be to temptation, you gain power 0:08:13 - 0:08:39 over the devil over the world and over yourself through acquisition of truth. In DNC 6320 we read nevertheless, he that endeth in faith and doeth my will. The same shall overcome, overcome all things. The key to acquiring that information is faith in doing God's will. That's the, that's the path in revelation 0:08:38 - 0:08:58 12. We read, I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is come salvation and strength in 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 that Satan and there overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by 0:08:58 - 0:09:21 the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto death. The way we overcome, Satan is through the blood of the lamb. When we become sons and daughters of God, we are uh reborn in three ways, the spirit, the water and the blood. And that's not the topic in this presentation, but the, the 0:09:21 - 0:09:40 symbolism here of overcoming by the blood of the lamb. It's, it has multiple meanings. But in this sense, uh in the sense of this presentation, the important thing is that we're sanctified through the blood of the lamb. We're sanctified by receiving information from God about what He knows and what his 0:09:39 - 0:10:07 character is like so that we can assimilate those things into ourselves and become like He is. So uh the more truth that you obtain that that is the path to overcoming the world. Uh I will make another presentation that focuses primarily on trusting in God and breaks that down. But this one is, is meant 0:10:07 - 0:10:28 to be from the perspective of temptation and the lies that Satan tries to pass off. But the point is that you acquire truth by trusting God seeking him and doing what He tells you to do. So, don't think that just because you overcome Satan's lies through information, that means that somehow you don't 0:10:28 - 0:10:50 need God or that you save yourself or any of these ideas. That's not the idea. That's not the point. And that's not the way it works, the way it works is that if you submit to God, he will teach you the things that He knows. And that's the source and that's grace and that's truth. The lie from the beginning 0:10:50 - 0:11:12 when Jesus and everyone else call Satan a liar from the beginning. The lie from the beginning is the idea that somehow you can violate reality, that somehow there is some other way. So everything in God's creation is cause and effect. Everything is ruled by this relationship, this law, this set of laws 0:11:11 - 0:11:34 , these consequences, you have cause and consequence, right? And um the life from the beginning is to believe that somehow you can inject something new into that or something different in Alma 525. He says, I say unto you nay, except you make our creator a liar from the beginning. Or suppose that he 0:11:34 - 0:11:53 is a liar from the beginning. You cannot suppose that such. He's describing sinners can have place in the kingdom of heaven, but they shall be cast out for. They are the Children of the kingdom of the devil. It's cause and effect. Now, that's one specific relationship that Almo is referring to. But it's 0:11:52 - 0:12:14 true everywhere in everything, you can't change that, that pattern. It's ordained from the foundation of the world, the way things work is ordained from the foundation of the world. And um you can change what happens around you. You can change the kind of person you are et cetera. But how you do it is 0:12:14 - 0:12:37 already defined, you can either use the pathways that are created or you don't, but you can't create new ones. You can't, you shouldn't seek effects when you aren't willing to seek the cause. So almost everybody violates this rule. If you think about your life in the last three days, you can probably 0:12:36 - 0:12:56 enumerate 20 cases where you saw someone who had some issues or maybe this is you because they were seeking something that violated reality. That's what it means to love a lie. That's a phrase that's used in the scriptures a couple times. That's what it means to believe the lies of Satan and that's what 0:12:56 - 0:13:16 it means to succumb to temptation. It means to try to get something in a way that violates the way that was ordained from the foundation of the world. Now, I've given you some specific examples here, I'm sure they're gonna offend tons of people. But, oh, well, this is just the way things are. And, uh 0:13:16 - 0:13:33 , you know, you can bash your head up against a brick wall, but you're not going to break down the wall. You'll be the one that, that fails first. And that's how it is with reality. If you don't like the way things are, you should seek God to get a better understanding of why they are that way because 0:13:32 - 0:13:55 he's perfectly good and perfectly loving. That will always end. If it's, if it's pursued with humility and sincerity, it will always end in a better position for the person seeking the knowledge. So one of these lies is that somehow homosexuality can bring the equal state of happiness that heterosexuality 0:13:54 - 0:14:17 can. Uh it's just not true. And in this case, science backs it up. Homosexual people are much more likely to have mental problems than heterosexual people. They're much less likely to be happy. And there's a reason for that, that you can't find something in something that it's not designed to bring another 0:14:17 - 0:14:37 lie is that suicide is an escape from, from torment. Now, I'm not debating that people who contemplate suicide are in torment, but all you're doing by killing yourself is making other people suffer for your selfishness. And in the meantime, uh avoiding the fact that you're not going to escape anything 0:14:36 - 0:14:58 , your torments just gonna continue. And that's a test. You will not get out of until you go through it and you learn the things that you lack, which are causing your torment sex outside of marriage is a good idea. That is a lie. And anyone who practices that will encounter the consequences, which are 0:14:57 - 0:15:18 negative, your situation is someone else's fault. That is a lie that is very prevalent in society today. The question is, what are you going to do about it? And that's where the, the productive thinking takes place. Another lie is that you can reap without sowing. People want to be rich and they want 0:15:17 - 0:15:37 to be comfortable and they want to be smart and they want to earn a good income and have a happy family and be a good person and all these things. But they don't want to do the work that it, that is required to come to that point. And uh you reap what you sow is a law. It's ordained from the foundation 0:15:37 - 0:15:58 of the world and you can't break it, it'll break you, but you can't break it. The biggest one. And it contains all the ones I just enumerated and all the other ones besides is that you can be saved without actually keeping God's commandments. Now, God's commandments, that's much more than just the 10 0:15:58 - 0:16:24 commandments. It's everything as it really is. It's all those principles that I mentioned upon which reality functions. You can't violate the laws of reality. You can't, you can try and you'll be miserable forever. What you can do is learn more about them and submit to them. In Alma 1137 it says, I say 0:16:24 - 0:16:44 unto you again that he cannot save them. Jesus cannot save them in their sins for I cannot deny his word. So this guy didn't make up this idea that Jesus can't save people in their sins. Jesus said that he said it multiple times continuing the quote and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit 0:16:44 - 0:17:06 the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, how can ye be saved except ye inherit the kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins. So, if you want to obtain positive consequences, you have to live the laws, those consequences are predicated on. And if you want to learn more about those consequences 0:17:05 - 0:17:28 , the source is God. He will teach you these things and every violation of this is just a lie. It's not going to uh lead to what you think it will. So, in conclusion, we ought to embrace reality, which is things as they are. We ought to seek God for greater knowledge of things as they will be. So in 0:17:28 - 0:17:50 the future. So to learn more about what we can do now and what effects that will have later. We ought to limit Satan in his, his attempts to minimize the consequences of reality. We ought to reject his lie. And there really is only one and that is that there is some other way to obtain things and, and 0:17:49 - 0:18:03 outcomes and conditions than what God has laid out there is only one way. So we ought to trust God and keep His commandments. That's really the point of all of this. I hope this is helpful.