An Enemy to All Righteousness

Alma 34:23 Yea, cry unto him against the devil, who is an enemy to all righteousness.

Last night, I called the devil our "common enemy," and said that "our real enemy isn't other people, but the devil himself." I thought I would draw special attention to that because there is far too much divisiveness in the world, and people are too quick to label each other as "enemies." I guess that most people have forgotten that we're all on the same side, or rather, all of us have forgotten, and most people haven't been reminded yet.

Before we were born, we all took part in a great war in heaven. The devil and his angels fought against Michael (aka Adam) and his (or rather, God's) angels, and the good side won. The devil and his angels were cast out, and Michael and his angels were sent down to be born on Earth as Adam, Eve, and the rest of the human family. We are all brothers and sisters, and we all fought side by side against our common enemy.

This war continues of Earth. The devil and his angels are still trying to tempt people into following paths that lead to destruction. Unfortunately, he seems to be rather successful, as many people have chosen to follow such paths, and even celebrate that they follow those paths. Some of them even antagonize those who don't follow such paths and don't support or promote the following of such paths. Yet, as much as we may antagonize each other, we are not each other's real enemies. Our real enemy is the devil, the enemy to all righteousness and to all who strive to be righteous. If you care at all about morality, if you believe that people shouldn't do bad things, then your enemy isn't other people, it's the devil.

I do not support or promote sin, and I try not to actively support or promote people engaging in sin, yet that does not mean that I consider sinners to be my enemies. We are all sinners, though we all sin in different ways and some of us try not to sin at all. If I saw sinners as my enemies, then I would have to be enemies with literally almost everyone, which is exactly what my real enemy wants.

The devil wants us to see each other as enemies so he can promote hatred and violence. He wants us to contend with each other and afflict one another, if for no other reason than to spread pain and suffering. I'd rather not play into his hands. I'd rather see people as friends than as enemies. They're imperfect, misguided friends, perhaps, but they're still friends, not enemies. My only enemy is the devil, and I fight him by resisting his influence and by trying to reduce his influence on myself and others. This can be done without name-calling, accusations of apathy and/or villainy, or any other form of antagonism. We don't have to be enemies. We should instead focus on fighting our common enemy, the devil.