#43 "Take Upon You My Whole Armor"

New Era 2009 January, The Armor of God; Ensign 2004 July, Be Strong in the Lord; President Harold B. Lee Put On the Whole Armor of God, p330-339 Selected Sermons and Writings of…

Okay now you are going to go through this lesson thinking this lady is on drugs or something, because I myself wasn’t sure this is the lesson I was supposed to give. I received this lesson on Sunday (last week) and I laughed at the visual picture, however I thought there is no way this will fly, so I kept praying for a different idea. I found as I prayed that this idea kept coming, and more details kept creeping into the plan, before I knew it, my lesson was complete and so I prayed one last time to make sure that this was the lesson I was supposed to give. The question I asked, “Will this lesson be effective?” I received a strong impression that it would, so here goes.

We know there are 2 forces at work in this world, the Father’s who just wants to help us and love us back into His presence and the other guy who doesn’t care what happens to us, as long as we don’t end up back in the Father’s presence. The Lord gives us helps along the way. These helps are found in D & C 27:15-18 which we will look at further in just a minute. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin warned us about the other guy by stating, “ Satan seeks to find any chink in the armor of each person. He knows our weaknesses and knows how to exploit them if we allow him to do so. We can defend ourselves against his attacks and deceptions only by understanding the commandments and by fortifying ourselves each day through praying, studying the scriptures, and following the counsel of the Lord’s anointed” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1988, 44; or Ensign, Nov. 1988, 35).

Let’s talk about this for just a minute. How does he find our weaknesses? Let’s face it this guy has been around the block a few times. He knows what worldly things to use and how to use them against us; He just needs to keep throwing the same things at us until he finds that “chink” in our armor that weakens us to the point of misery. He banks on the fact that sometime or another we will allow ourselves to become vulnerable enough to strike.

So what are the same temptations he uses over and over all throughout time? Or even just through our time?
* the following ideas will each be written on a blank piece of paper in marker to be given to someone to make a paper airplane out of-yes a paper airplane, to be used later.
Temptations Satan uses: Immorality- gay rights, adultery, sexual innuendo, gender confusion, bad music choices, clothing choices, questionable Entertainment, racy internet sites,
Dishonesty-lying, cheating, stealing, under-the-table business practices, vulgar language choices, degrading yourself, offending others, judging others, gossiping, gluttony concerning food, stuff-too much stuff!, $$, power, fame etc…

We could go on forever writing every little thing, but I hope we have the major ones covered. So those who have papers will you please make paper airplanes out of them and hold them until the time comes to use them.

Now let’s talk about the armor the Lord gives us to combat these temptations.
*For this part I asked previously for a young, in-shape guy to help me out-he has to have a fun personality and be willing to play along.

This guy represents each of us as we go through mortality. We need him to be dressed with the armor to go to war. As we go through each piece, we will be putting it on our guinea pig.

D & C 27:15-18
V15 your Whole Armor- I didn’t put anything on him, I felt the garment to sacred to mess with, but pointed out that my helper was indeed wearing them. For those who don’t wear garments I suggest the clothes you wear can represent your whole armor, how we dress determines, how we act. Elder Carlos E. Asay suggests that this could represent our temple garment. He suggests that when we don’t wear it always and properly it can be a “chink” in our armor,#1 “I fear that too many church members take for granted the promise of protection and blessings associated with the temple garment. Some wear it improperly, and others remove it to suit whims of circumstance. In such cases, the instructions of modern prophets, seers, and revelators are ignored and spiritual protection placed in jeopardy. In a letter from the First Presidency dated 3 July 1974, church members were reminded of the sacred nature of the garment: “The sacredness of the garment should be ever present and uppermost in the wearer’s mind;…the blessings which flow from the observance of our covenants are sufficiently great to recompense for any mere inconvenience. To break our covenants is to forfeit the protection and blessings promised for obedience to them.”

V16 Loins girt about with truth-I made a loin shield made from poster board that had a tie on it to connect it to his waist; on it written: “TRUTH”.
D&C 93:24 Defines “truth as knowledge, knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come”, Now think about where this is tied on what it is protecting; Satan tries to confuse us about our identity, our gender attraction, and what kinds of things can arouse us.
President Harold B. Lee points out what this shield of truth is-what will protect us from all that satan has to throw at us in this area. “Man and woman are the offspring of God and created after His own image and likeness as mortal beings.” (What would this truth do for us? If we knew who we were and what we were trying to become, who we were patterned after, would those temptations be easily defeated?) He continues, “One of the first commandments given to our first mortal parents, “to multiply and to replenish the earth,” has been repeated as a sacred instruction to every faithful and true latter-day saint young man and young woman married in holy wedlock. To the end that this sacred purpose of parenthood be realized, our Creator has placed within the breast of every true man and woman a strong mutual attraction for each other, which acquaintance ripens in friendship, thence through the romance of courtship, and finally matures into happy marriage. But now mark you, never once has God issued such a command to unmarried persons! Indeed, to the contrary; he has written high on the Decalogue of crime and second only to murder the divine injunction, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Which is unquestionably interpreted to mean all unlawful sexual impurity, and it has been severely condemned in every dispensation by authorized church leaders). Those who make themselves worthy and enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage in the temple for time and all eternity will be laying the first cornerstone for an eternal family home in the celestial kingdom that will last forever. Their reward is to have “glory added upon their heads forever and forever.” These eternal truth, if you believe them with all your soul, will be as a girdle of armor about your loins to safeguard your virtue as you would protect your life.”

If our sites are on marriage within the temple and we learned the truths throughout those sacred ceremonies, how much stronger our testimony would be on who we truly are, who we will one day be and what we can conquer while we are here.

Next v16 Breastplate of Righteousness-I have a breastplate made from paper with acts of service and good thoughts written all over it. Harold B. Lee states what a righteous man uses to make his breastplate, “The righteous man, although far superior to his fellows who are not, is humble and does not parade his righteousness to be seen of men but conceals his virtues as he would modestly conceal his nudity. The righteous man strives for self-improvement knowing that he has daily need of repentance for his misdeeds or his neglect. He is not so much concerned about what he can get but more about how much he can give to others, knowing that along that course only can he find true happiness. He endeavors to make each day his masterpiece so that at night’s close he can witness in his soul and to his God that whatever has come to his hand that day, he has done to the best of his ability. His body is not dissipated and weakened by the burdens imposed by the demands of riotous living; his judgment is not rendered faulty by the follies of youth; he is clear of vision, keen of intellect, and strong of body. The breastplate of Righteousness has given him “the strength of ten-because his heart is clean.”

V16 Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I put on hospital booties over his shoes or slippers he could slip on with goals and objectives written on them. Goals-when we set goals we are getting prepared to live the gospel, goals such as: daily scripture reading, daily prayer, etc. Any goal set will bring us closer to living the gospel daily. Another set of goals or a gospel plan that has been given to us is the blueprint in the sermon on the mount; Matt. 5-some examples of this: blessed are the peacemakers, blessed are the humble, the meek, those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. These are some great goals and objectives to help us prepare to receive the gospel of peace.

V17 The shield of faith- I have a shield with the words: faith, hope, joy, peace, optimism, reverence, courage, chastity, repentance, forgiveness, and compassion taped all over it.
V18 Sword-we are going to do these together because they go hand in hand. Sword is made from scriptures. (copied pages of scriptures)
Romans 10:17 states “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” meaning when we “hear” the word of God then we hearken (that is to say, live it) then those are our weapons to fight with.
Pres. Lee again, “by faith we surmount daily obstacles and disappointments, and our defeats we thus interpret as necessary for our experience and development” I understood this to mean that if we take our economy, for example; we could get discouraged, depressed, and into a woe-is-my-life sort of a pity party, or we could look at the prophecies in the scriptures and see that all this was going to happen and we are living those prophecies then say, “hey I read this in the scriptures, it is being fulfilled right now, I know that this was supposed to happen, so hey, it’s all good, that just means we are closer to Christ’s second coming and that makes me happy.” You could be the guy walking into work with a huge smile on your face and other people saying what in the world have you got to smile about and you can say, “I saw all this coming-I am sitting pretty because I have on my armor and I will come out of this economy much stronger and better.” They may roll their eyes and avoid you forever, but who cares- you are armed with optimism that will get you through those tough times.

V18 Helmet of Salvation-a ball cap with the word ENSIGN pasted on front, or you could just tie an Ensign magazine to his head.
Pres. Lee, #3 “Our head or our intellect is the controlling member of our body. It must be well protected against the enemy, for “as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”(prov. 23:7) But now in order for this helmet to be effective, it must be of an exquisite design. It must be of a super-material to be effective in our eternal conflict with the invisible enemy of all righteousness. Ours is to be the “helmet of salvation.” Salvation means the attainment of the eternal right to live in the presence of God the Father and the Son as a reward for a good life in mortality.”
He suggests some questions we can ask ourselves about the knowledge we are learning to find out if it is of a good source or a not-so-good source.
“Is it true? Is it uplifting? Will it benefit mankind?” If you want to know if your job is the correct one for you, what magazines you should subscribe to, is this a good TV show to be watching, etc. Whatever we are combating, can be battled by using these questions and approaching the problems intellectually. But there is a warning with this one; that is to be wary of hearkening to the counsel of men (including our own mind) over counsel of God.

One thing Pres. Lee pointed out that these scriptures didn’t is the fact that only his front is armored not his backside, I don’t think it is because He figured we had plenty of padding already, Pres. Lee suggested, #4 “Evidently no one can win this battle running from the enemy. The contest must be face to face. There must be no retreat…Courage and determination and continual aggressiveness to the right are the essential qualities for the battle of life, else all the armor in the world suggested for our protection would be of no avail. Thus equipped within and without, we are now ready.”

Now we are ready for battle. Point out a few who have airplanes have them throw them one at a time. The Warrior will combat them with his tools. Our warrior is able to combat them as they come and does fine, however what happens when the adversary throws several at a time. Have several throw at the same time. It is a little more difficult but can still be done. Now have everyone but one throw theirs. Our warrior can be overtaken and overwhelmed if he doesn’t continue to build on his armor just as Elder Ballard suggests, “Add small, individual pieces of armor each day through prayer, scripture study, focusing on things that matter, and acting in a reverent manner.”
Until your whole body is covered and nothing can penetrate and there are no weakness in your armor.
*Tell your warrior thank you and tell him you have a treat, as he let’s his guard down have the last airplane be thrown at him, and hopefully hit him. Reiterating the fact, one can never let his guard down, especially for treats!!
I have a testimony about arming ourselves daily. I know that when we do let our guard down, we can get overwhelmed. But I also know that when we do those things that keep us close to the Lord our trials and struggles don’t seem so bad in the name of Jesus Christ amen.