Two Weapons in this War

Last Tuesday, during General Conference Book Club, we discussed Elder Holland's talk "We Are All Enlisted".  

In his simple, yet powerful way, Elder Holland declared that we are at war--a war between good and evil.  He said that in this "war" the Lord needs people who will "take as their weapons 'every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.'"

He then quotes Elder Packer when he says that Satan's "effort to stop the work will be reasonably well served if he can just bind the tongue of the faithful."

I too believe that we are living in the middle of a struggle between good and evil.  I do what I can each day to prevent my friends from becoming casualties of that war and to bring them to a safe place where they can enjoy the peace and love of the Savior.

So, let's review:

Our weapon:  "every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God."

Satan's weapon: "to bind the tongue of the faithful"

Sounds pretty straight-forward, right?  I wondered, "How can we unbind our tongues here in Central PA?"

Later in the week, I was given an opportunity to "unbind my tongue".  

After reading 8 different articles in mainstream media that day suggesting that many people are not sure what Mormons believe, I decided to let my friends on Facebook know that I would gladly answer any questions they might have about the Mormon faith.  

Sixty-nine comments later, we had ourselves a pretty good discussion.  Among other things, my friends learned that, yes, Mormons like tacos, celebrate birthdays, worship God in the name of Christ, perform baptisms for our loved ones, and wear garments as a sign of temple covenants.  It was a good exercise in answering questions about our faith.

And I realized how easy it can be to "voluntarily bind our own tongues," if we do not seize every opportunity to "sign on and speak up."  What will you do this week to voluntarily UN-bind your tongue and to take as your weapon "every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God?"

PS - If you'd like to read the entire discussion, you can access it on my personal FB page.