Today I read 1 Samuel 28 where Saul goes to see the woman who practices sorcery. This chapter has caused a lot of fear and controversy over the years among Latter-day Saints. People wanted to know how a women who practices sorcery can have power over a righteous spirit like Samuel. Joseph Fielding Smith gave an answer to this in his book Answers to Gospel Questions. He stated that such people can have no power over the righteous spirits and that all she did was summon one of Satan's followers, a spirit, who masqueraded as Samuel.
It has been said by many that the devil will tell a thousand truths to get you to believe one lie. I believe this is one instance of him telling the truth to deceive. To my knowledge everything the spirit who posed as Samuel told Saul was true. However, by telling him the truth, he caused Saul to despair and told him the date of his own death which would cause any person to freak out! I remember I had a friend once who was with some of his friends and came upon a fortune teller and he absolutely refused to have anything to do with her because he remembered the experience of Saul. I personally believe that strange happenings that seemingly can't be explained, such as fortune tellers, voodoo and others are the work of the devil.
The devil has great power if we will let him into our lives. However, if we follow the teachings of Jesus and stay away from those things that are connected to him, he can have no power over us. He is impotent with his inability to do anything to us. We just have to stay on the straight and narrow, follow what Jesus and Heavenly Father has taught us, listen to the prophets and do the primary answers and we will be safe. Temple attendance is another really big way to keep us clean and safe from those very real forces that would harm us. Make no mistake, he is real, remember the experience of Joseph Smith and the first vision. But just like Joseph Smith, we can overcome it by calling on God and remaining true and faithful to our covenants. Until tomorrow.
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