Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: All right. Dawn, can you spot the counterfeit money?
[00:00:03] Speaker B: Oh, wow, wow, wow.
[00:00:05] Speaker A: Some are pretty obvious, right? You got the Monopoly money.
You got this little fake one right here. But there is some counterfeit versus some real, I mean, play money that my kids use. Can you spot the real dollars versus the counterfeit? Is it kind of hard?
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of hard, actually. Yes.
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Okay. Two of them are real. I'm not going to tell you which ones they are because I want you to think about this idea of counterfeit. Something I learned was that In World War II, Hitler and the Nazis decided that they were going to collapse the United States financial institutions by making counterfeit US Dollars. Which kind of blew my mind. But it didn't work because the people who were on the other side were absolute perfectionists. And they were so good at spotting counterfeit money. But then I learned the reason why they were able to find the counterfeit money isn't because they could spot counterfeit money. It's because they were experts at the real thing. They could absolutely tell by the look, by the touch, and even by the smell of what the genuine real money was. That's how federal agents are able to spot counterfeit money, by studying. I know.
It's so cool when you think about this idea that in order to be really good at citing the counterfeit is by being excellent at finding the genuine, the real stuff. So we're going to take that idea and apply it to our lesson today. Because if we can become absolutely experts at sighting through touch, feel, maybe even smell of Christianity and Christ's like qualities and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we're going to be able to spot Satan's counterfeits like that.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: What a great analogy.
[00:01:27] Speaker A: Thank you. So, Don, tell us about this idea of counterfeit and truth and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: Yes. In this episode, we're going to examine some of the ways that Satan tries to fool us.
[00:01:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: His counterfeit. And so I want to first point out two passages of scripture, out of others that say that Satan is a liar and deceiver.
[00:01:47] Speaker A: And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And Michael and his angels overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: I've used this last verse a lot, showing that Michael and his angels overcame Satan. His angels, the blood of the Lamb, which is the atonement.
And by their testimony, the power of the testimony whatsoever is more or less than. This is the spirit of that wicked one who was a liar from the beginning. That astounds me. At the very beginning, he was a liar. Not down the road, at the beginning. I don't comprehend it. I don't have an answer.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Yeah, but it is pretty astounding.
[00:02:33] Speaker B: From the beginning, Satan imitates Jesus. Satan cried with a loud voice and ranted upon the earth and commanded, saying, I am the only begotten. And we learned earlier, the Savior is the only begotten. So he's lying and he's trying to trick someone.
He's trying to imitate Jesus.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: And the Lord said, whom shall I send? And one answered, like unto the Son of man, here am I, send me. And another answered and said, here am I, Send me. And the Lord said, I will send the first. And the second was angry and kept not his first estate. And at that day, many followed after him.
[00:03:12] Speaker B: Yeah. So the first verse, Satan is trying to imitate Jesus by saying, I am the only begotten. In the second one, he copies Jesus. Jesus says, here am I, Send me. And the other one says the same thing. Here am I, send me. He's imitating him.
[00:03:30] Speaker A: Exact same wording.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Now, here's another passage. This is from Isaiah 14. And I want you to notice how many eyes this is. Lucifer. Or in the Hebrew, it's Hillel ben Shachar, which is Shining One, Son of Dawn. I just thought I'd point that out from the Hebrew, so.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Well, that's imitating him right there.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: Yeah, that's Shining One. Yes, yes, yes.
[00:03:52] Speaker A: Just his name, the meaning of it.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Okay, so he says, I.
I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north. Notice the mountain idea here. There it is. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high.
And then this passage is even more direct.
The devil seeketh the throne of him who sitteth upon the throne, Even the Lamb. Now, I've listed some ways through scriptures and the teachings of prophets that Satan tries to counterfeit. And I didn't make it a complete list.
[00:04:30] Speaker A: So false prophets, False, false prophets always arise to oppose the true prophets. And they will prophesy so very near the truth that they will deceive almost the very chosen ones.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: And in my lifetime, I've met a couple false prophets, really? But the Spirit told me they're false. Plus, knowing the doctrines of the gospel, well enough I was able to know.
Like your counterfeit money. I could say false, false, false, and do it with humility. Of course, we always must act with humility, but those were interesting times.
[00:05:05] Speaker A: Well, I like that. Because you've paid the price to become an expert in the truth. And all of us are doing that. We're all just trying to pay the price to become experts in the truth. And we'll talk about that later on. But I love that you brought that up, that you knew it was false because you paid the price to know what's true.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:05:18] Speaker A: That's very cool.
[00:05:19] Speaker B: The next one is False Christ. For there shall arise false Christs. This is Jesus himself teaching and false prophets and shall show great signs and wonders insomuch that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: False prophets, counterfeit Christ's apostles, the miracles.
[00:05:37] Speaker B: Of Moses versus Pharaoh's magicians. We have sorcerers, exorcists, examples of sons of Sceva.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: Counterfeit signs and wonders, false scripture, speaking.
[00:05:49] Speaker B: In tongues, Satan's angels appearing as angels of light.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Counterfeit temples with altars, efficient sacred vestments, unholy sacrificial offerings.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: When I was a kid, maybe 12, my parents took us to Alameda, California, which is in the Bay Area, to see grandma and Grandpa.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:06:06] Speaker B: They also took us to San Francisco to see some different sites. And we walked down a sidewalk and we saw a window. And in the window it said the Church of the Devil.
[00:06:16] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:06:16] Speaker B: I was astounded. And I was just a little kid and I thought, what is this about?
But yeah, false. Even in the Old Testament he has false altars and false temples.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: The fortune teller's crystal ball or clairvoyance scriptural like texts. False teachers bring a damnable heresies.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: This is what President Joseph F. Smith said. And when I look through different quotes by prophets and apostles in our day, there are so many statements on this, but this one just seems to really fit. Let it not be forgotten that the evil one has great power the earth and that by every possible means he seeks to darken the minds of men and then offers them falsehood and deception in the guise of truth. Satan is a skillful imitator. And as genuine gospel truth is given the world an ever increasing abundance, so he spreads the counterfeit coin of false doctrine. Beware of his spurious currency. It will purchase for you nothing but disappointment, misery and spiritual death. The father of lies he's been called. And such an adept has he become through the ages of practice in his nefarious work and were it possible, here we have this again. He would deceive the very elect.
[00:07:33] Speaker A: Oh, I like this. We have this idea, Spuracy, currency and the counterfeit coin of false doctrine. Because I think that's very prevalent in the world we live in today. And we just have to be so careful when we come up to it. Many times people will send me videos or questions. They ask me questions about things. Then they say, is this true? Do we believe this? And I can't believe how often it's not true.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: Now, how do we protect ourselves from Satan and his counterfeits? We must accept and follow Jesus, who received a fullness of truth, yea, even of all truth.
[00:08:04] Speaker A: God sits enthroned with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy, and an infinity of fullness. From everlasting to everlasting.
Jesus comprehended all things that he might be in and through all things the light of truth.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life.
[00:08:25] Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. Now look at this one. What is truth? We have some scriptural definitions of truth. Okay. Truth is knowledge of things as they are and as they were and as they are to come. I love that. What is truth? It's knowledge past, present and future.
The glory of God is intelligence, or in other words, light and truth. What's intelligence? It's light and truth. And many scriptures connect light and truth.
Many look at this one. Truth shineth. This is the light of Christ.
For the word of the Lord is truth. And whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit, even the spirit of Jesus Christ. And then I love section 88, 40, and it says, truth embraces truth. And I think those of us who are disciples of the Savior also want to embrace truth as if it's a spouse or a child or mother or whatever.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: I say it, that you may know the truth, that you may chase darkness from among you. Light and truth forsake the evil one. Well, that's a good one.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: But beware. That wicked one cometh and taketh away light and truth through disobedience from the children of men and because of the tradition of their fathers.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: That's interesting, isn't it?
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Yeah, that is. Tell me about that tradition.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Well, I think of key phrases through disobedience. When we're disobedient, that allows the wicked one to take away some of our light and truth. Notice this. How do we access truth? He that keepeth his commandments, that's the key. Keepeth his commandment.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: I wanna, like Underline that, highlight that.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: In that I like that one. They receive truth and light until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things. And notice another way how to access it. The virgins who kept oil in their lamp are wise. So that's one clue. Received the truth. We're talking about truth and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide and have not been deceived.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: The third one, truth, is part of the whole armor that we're supposed to put on. We're speaking symbolically a helmet and a breastplate and a shield and so on. Have your loins girt about with truth. And that will protect you also from Satan.
[00:10:37] Speaker A: Absolutely. So as you were talking about this, Don, it made me think of a scripture. And so I want to go in the Bible to John chapter 8, and it's in verse 32. And one of the things we know in the Scriptures is that many of the. The Jews and many of the people at Jesus Christ's time, they didn't believe anything that Jesus was teaching. And then you get into John chapter eight, and he has a chance to confront his biggest critics. And he's speaking to them, and he notices that some of them are believing him. And he turns to them and he says this verse in John chapter 8. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him. If you continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. And then he says, and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And I like this verse because we read earlier that I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. And so Jesus Christ, one of his monikers is truth. He is the truth. And I read this verse and it says, you will know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Could it be that he's saying, you will know me and I will make you free?
[00:11:34] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:11:35] Speaker A: And that if you believe in me.
[00:11:36] Speaker B: Oh, I love it.
[00:11:37] Speaker A: And so when we come right here to this idea, well, then how do we access truth? Or how do we access Jesus Christ? Or how do we become experts in Him? For me, I would add a scripture by Tammy Hall, Chapter 5, Verse 1. But I accessed this truth as a young child when my parents showed me what truth was. And I remember two very vivid examples. As a little girl, I was running through the house trying to find my shoes because I was late for school. We lived across the street from the elementary. I don't know how I was always late. And I'm screaming, mom, where are my shoes? And she wasn't answering Me. And I was so angry. And I went running down the hall, and her bedroom door was slightly closed. And I kicked the door open, and I yelled, mom, where are my. And I saw her on her knees saying her morning prayers.
[00:12:17] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: And I was like, oh, sorry. And I backed out. In that moment, it didn't teach me that I should pray every day. It taught me how important my mom's prayers were to her, that she didn't jump up to help me find my shoes like she wanted to finish her time communing with the Lord. And I was a little girl, and I've never forgotten that. And then I think of the times in my family's life where we might have been struggling financially. And I'll never forget the checks my parents wrote out to pay their tithing stuck on the board, the bulletin board. And so I just think of the moments in my life where. How do I access truth as a young child is where it started for me. And I learned that Jesus Christ is the truth and that if I believe in him this verse right here, that the truth, Jesus Christ will make me free. And so I love that you've taught us about this, because that's how we access truth. And when you think about your life, is there one? What is one of the ways that you've tried to access truth? If we were to have a. Don Perry, chapter five, verse one.
[00:13:07] Speaker B: Study the Scriptures. Study the Scriptures. Get to know the Scriptures. Get to know how God operates through all dispensations, through all ages of the world. How does he operate? How does he work with people?
Study the Scriptures. And then when you see a falsehood in the world and a false prophet or false Christ or false scriptures or false. Anything you can say that does not square with the scriptures. And then, of course, study the Scriptures with the power of the Holy Ghost.
[00:13:32] Speaker A: Oh, and you can't go wrong. Absolutely. So thank you, Dawn. This was a great discussion on this idea of counterfeit money. Our challenge to you is to become an expert so that you can fully understand the truth. Become an expert in the way it feels, in its touch, in its smell, and anything you can to become so expert that you can absolutely look at counterfeit money and know that's not right, because you know what is right. So there's our money again. You want to know which one's real?
[00:13:56] Speaker B: Any guesses? Yeah. Tell, tell.
[00:13:57] Speaker A: Tell me this one is real.
[00:13:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: $2 bill. And this one.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:14:01] Speaker A: And then these are the fake money that they make for little kids to play score with.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: So nice.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: There you go.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: Yeah. So fun. So thanks for joining us this week. Have fun with this lesson as you have the opportunity to teach about light and truth and counterfeit. Have a good week. Shalom and goodbye.
