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by Shalissa Lindsay "Shalissa is the mother of eight children - all girls except for six of them. She is the author of "Answers Will Come: Trusting the Lord in the Meantime". She worked as a senior instructional designer within the MTC, creating a temple square display and refining language learning software." 
Instead, God's battle plan lies primarily in the careful use of Secret-Ops agents - brave souls hidden behind enemy lines whose benevolent heroics stay off the radar of media scrutiny. But first, let's understand today's battlefield: Satan continues a scorched-earth policy on his bitter retreat toward hell, intending to burn as many lives as possible with toxic mists of darkness(1) on his way out. VE Day (Victory on Earth Day) was when Christ armed all of humanity with the weapon of mass resurrection and deployed countermeasures of repentance and forgiveness to heal the scars of sin. He achieved this at unspeakable personal cost, becoming essentially a human shield in mankind's behalf. With the final victory already sealed up, today we fight lingering skirmishes aimed at liberating all human beings from Satan's remaining prison camps, where millions suffer slow spiritual starvation and forced labor for enemy purposes. Better than a chess master who sees victory countless moves in advance, God foreordains Secret-Ops warriors and carefully conceals them in strategic places of influence. The scriptures offer many examples. God had Rahab spiritually ready to offer protective shelter for Joshua and Caleb(2). He placed a little nameless Hebrew maid where she could advise Syrian Captain Naaman to visit Elisha(3). He prepared Abish(4), through the remarkable dream of her father, with a readiness to quickly gather all of the city for Lamoni's testimony. God arranged for a soft-hearted jailor to minister to Paul and Silas(5). God knew Alexander Donaphin would refuse to murder the Prophet Joseph. Nephi indicates that in the battles of the last days, God has covenant agents "scattered upon all the face of the earth . . . armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory"(6). God openly acknowledges that He also has reserved unto himself "holy men that ye know not of"(7). The anonymity of such holy persons has nothing to do with them "hiding their light under a bushel"(8). But the lower frequency radar used by today's popular media fails to detect the light broadcast through heavenly channels. Hence, gospel Secret-Ops agents continue their operations in relative anonymity. They do their alms in secret, rather than "before men to be seen of them." They pray in secret and "appear not unto men to fast." They "do not sound a trumpet in the streets that they may have the glory of men." Here are a few other things you should know about these types of little-known gospel warriors "no less serviceable"(9) than the most famous and celebrated ones. Secret Ops agents recognize that fame could compromise their operations. They need to maneuver unencumbered by titles and public demands. For example, Agent Alan observes that people increasingly distrust leadership, but remain open to the real-life testimonials of the average guy next door. Alan believes that many doors - and hearts - open to him precisely because he's NOT a bishop. Secret-Ops agents may have biological cloaking devices such as shyness or social anxiety. These agents often develop laser-like focus for particular forms of service. Agent Peter, over the space of ten years, has deciphered and indexed more than 65,000 genealogical documents so that families can be united for eternity. Agent Annie runs a reconnaissance watchtower. Her prayer list is pages long and her prayers sometimes last for hours in behalf of those suffering on the battlefield. Secret-Ops agents find customized strategies for their service. Agent Tom quietly refills prescriptions for missionaries at no cost when he sees their budgets are tight, and contributes other generous funds behind the scenes. Agent Sarah fights the disinformation from ward gossip with ingeniously designed positive gossip of her own. Rather than compliment a Sunday speaker directly, she asks the youth what they liked about the sermon. Later, she repeats back to the speaker everything positive said behind his back. Through numerous such carefully constructed conversations, Agent Sarah gossips her way to a more unified ward family. Many Secret-Ops agents persevere through physical hardships and psychological fatigue. Agent Amber coordinates compassionate service activities for the sick, pregnant, or bereaved within her local Relief Society. She rarely mentions that she is still recovering from back-reconstruction surgery involving 25 screws along her spinal column. Agent Rebekah mothers a son addicted to drugs and a son with autism. She uses these demanding circumstances to maximize her spiritual alliances with interfaith operatives from many arenas. When Secret-Ops agents complete their earthly missions, we see only the death scenario. In reality, the Home Office has simply arranged a transfer to a new mission. Our immortal souls never cease to think, move and act. For reasons known perfectly only to Central Command Above, the illusion of death serves a powerful purpose in stretching the hearts of those who remain. But while Secret-Ops agents may look dead to some, those with inside intelligence know that such "deaths" merely provide agents with a new assignment within advanced Angelic-Ops(10). That organization runs infinitely more sophisticated covert enterprises than our mortal ones. This is only the tiniest starter list of gospel Special Forces. There are also Endnotes: 1. 1 Nephi 12:17 And the mists of darkness are the temptations of the devil, which blindeth the eyes, and hardeneth the hearts of the children of men, and leadeth them away into broad roads, that they perish and are lost. [back] 2. Joshua 2 As Joshua prepared the Israelites to cross the Jordan River, he sent two spies to Jericho, the first city on the west side of the river. There, a harlot named Rahab took them into her house and hid them from capture. [back] 3. Kings 5: 2-3 And the Syrians had . . . brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. [back] 4. Alma 19:16. [back] 5. Acts 16:25-34. [back] 6. 1 Nephi 14:14. [back] 7. Doctrine & Covenants 49:8. [back] 8. See Matthew 5:15-16. [back] 9. Alma 48:19. [back] 10. See Doctrine & Covenants 138:57, Hebrews 13:2. [back] |