THE ACCUSER
One day early in the morning Jesus went into the
Temple. All the people came unto him and
he sat down and taught them. Then the
scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in the very act of
adultery. Their motive was to tempt him
into making a mistake so they could have something to “accuse” him. We all know the
story which is a classic teaching tool for various doctrines. I want to focus on the accuser.
“ 7 So when
they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is
without sin among
you, let him first
cast a stone at
her.
9 And they
which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience,
went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and
Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
10 When
Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her,
Woman, where are those thine accusers?
hath no man condemned thee?” (John 8:7-11)
One of the names of Satan is the Accuser. He was literally a
spirit son of God who was in a position of influence in the pre-existence. He presented his plan of salvation as
alternative to our Father’s plan supported by Jesus Christ. His plan was to withhold free agency from all
of God’s children and thus guarantee that all of them would return to our
Father’s presence due to forced righteous living. No Savior would be necessary. He also had a greedy streak and demanded to
receive Father’s glory for his plan. He
did not seem to understand or maybe even care that our experiences with moral agency
on earth brought about the very growth we needed in order to continue
progressing. Without the ability to
choose while experiencing life, adversity, and successes; we could not learn
Christ-like attributes of gratitude, patience, charity, longsuffering,
sacrifice, forgiveness, etc.
He openly rebelled when his plan was not accepted and he
persuaded 1/3 of the spirit children of our Father in Heaven to follow
him. He and they were cast out of heaven
for rebellion and trying to destroy the agency of man. He is still trying to win that rebellion.
I can just imagine the jealousy and resentment that Satan
must have chose to hang-on after his plan was rejected. He was obviously emotionally connected to his
position. He probably felt then and
still feels his plan was perfect and nobody should have had the right to
discard it.
We get a glimpse into why one of his names in the scriptures
is, Accuser. He accuses each of us (God’s
children) day and night, meaning I presume, all the time. In Revelations we read:
“10 …for the accuser of
our brethren is cast down, which accused
them before our God day and night.” (Rev. 12:10)
Every time we make a mistake we disqualify ourselves from
returning to our Father in Heaven unless we use the atonement. Satan rejects the atonement. He hates Jesus Christ who championed the
competing plan in the pre-existence. He
mocks Christ’s atoning sacrifice. He
resents our efforts to improve as we make course corrections in life.
Every time we make a mistake, I imagine him accusing and whispering,
“Now, look what you have done. You have
disqualified yourself. This would have
never happened if you had supported my plan.
You can never get back.” Such promptings
are discouraging to people.
When we are critical of the shortcomings of others, we can
become the accuser for Him. The whole
end result is people giving up on the atonement. I believe that Christ could have easily been
talking about the great Accuser as he questioned the woman, “…where are those
thine accusers?”
We and those we teach need only to remember that the
atonement is free for us to use to return to our Father in Heaven, regardless
of the mistakes.
“27 Hath he commanded any that they
should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath
given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they
should persuade all men to repentance.” (2 Nephi 26:27)
Protection against the influence of the Devil is found only
by righteous living and obedience to the commandments. Righteousness and peace will ultimately win
out over error, sin and war. There will
be a complete and lasting victory of the righteous.
President Robinson
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