This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
1. Express Your Unique Personality – People get noticed online when they express a unique personality. For example, I post artwork I have done that is gospel-related and photos of my gardening. This shows not only what my hobbies are but what kind of person I am. The more your indicators of personality stand out the better. We tend to want to blend in and adopt the language of the crowd, but we should be doing the opposite.
2. Focus On Positivity – It is easy to get caught up in negativity because that’s what grabs people’s attention and has the most immediate impact. But in a sea of negativity a little positivity provides long-term impact. A simple heartfelt “I love you guys” or photo of a temple do a lot. When angels appeared to Mary and the shepherds, were they negative? No, they were overjoyed. Consider what the vision of your message is and why you should be overjoyed to talk about it.
This is an archived copy. See Original Article Here
Bearing Testimony On Twitter
3. Plant Seeds With Memes – As a missionary, I stuffed stacks of pass along cards in hundreds of mailboxes. I never got a phone call from any of them, but I considered it valuable if just a few people would glance at the cards before throwing them away. The cards functioned as billboards. They let people know we existed and attached an impression of who we are. We need to take control of our public impression. A smiling face next to a McDonald’s logo is all it takes to define what McDonald’s is in the public’s minds. If we are not establishing who we are in the public’s minds, someone else is, and what they establish will be damaging. The mainstream media has people convinced we are a fringe hateful sect, and that will only change through persistent small impressions. We do not use the cross for a logo because the church members themselves exemplify the church’s identity. That does not get exemplified when we hide behind closed doors. Every member has a responsibility to broadcast who we are unabashadly. Memes are a very effective way to do this: quotes, church artwork, funny cartoons, words of encouragement, profound thoughts, etc.
4. Expose What Is Wrong In Secular Society – While focus should be on positivity, folks need a reason to want the gospel. There needs to be darkness for the light to fill. It is most effective to not talk about abstract philosophy but rather very real and pertinent issues, such as loneliness, depression, and broken homes. Describe simple and cutting examples of failure that arises due to opposition ideologies, such as the loss of freedom in Socialist nations. While I see many Latter-day Saints bringing up these issues, what we need to see more of is a simple statement of how the failure can be avoided with the gospel. It can be as simple as: “The homelessness and hunger we see in Socialist nations can be avoided when people give charitably from a loving motive rather than from government compulsion.”
5. Don’t Tell People How To Feel – One mistake I often see with Twitter posts in general is that they are reactionary. Instead of giving an emotional blurb about how we feel about an something, it is more effective to frame the issue in a way that leads to a certain feeling. You could even express a very broad emotion such as happiness or disgust, but people do not like being told specifically how they need to feel about something. For example, do not say: “Abortion is a horrible practice that makes me ill to think about.” Instead, describe what about abortion you consider evil, and finish it up with a throw-up emoji.
6. Bear Testimony In Your Own Words – A testimony is sparked by a basic truth someone else tells and is developed in a very personal way. This is different from mainstream culture, which treats truth as a mimetic package mass produced. Because of this difference, you see lots of mimetic repetition from other ideologies but lots of unique, well-crafted messages among Latter-day Saints. Anti-Mormon feeds tend to be full of retweets and drivel copy/pasted from CES Letter. It is important to stand out by speaking in your own words. Many saints play it safe by posting a meme or a short quote from a general authority, and that is certainly good to do. But I find that a person proves he truly knows something when he can explain it well in his own words, and people pick up on that.
7. Address Basic Existential Questions – Where are we from? How did we get here? Why are we here? Where are we going? These are basic questions of existence that we need to address in concrete and clear terms. Missionary work happens when our testimonies inspire people to believe in God and inquire to God about these basic questions. You do not need to convince someone about some specific detail of the gospel, but use specifics in your testimony to drive home a basic answer to these questions.
8. Make The Length Appropriate To The Medium – I see many people post original memes that are ineffective because they have too much text (I do this myself sometimes). Memes are effective if they produce a reaction from a very quick glance–nobody wants to read walls of text. I categorize my writings based on how long they require to read: meme, post, blog, book. If it takes more than 2 seconds to understand a meme, you should switch to the next highest format: post. A social media post should take no more than 10 seconds to read and understand (that’s why Twitter has a limited amount of characters). If you need more room, a “tweet-thread” allows you to say more–but people are unlikely to bother reading the rest. The first post of a tweet-thread should on its own say something profound that induces people to want to read more.
The next category is a blog post. Many people have told me blogs are dead because nobody has the attention span anymore, but I have found my blog to be very successful when it is used appropriately. It is only for things that require more explanation than can be provided on a tweet thread. There are a lot of things to explain about Joseph Smith’s polygamy, for example, in order to properly understand, and a back-and-forth on Twitter will never be enough. It is much easier and effective to post a link to a blog article than to irascibly argue with someone for hours . If they don’t bother clicking on the link, that’s on them.
Finally, if you want to fully explain an issue, write a book. Everyone should write at least one book in their lifetime. Go ahead and try it. Books are for issues that have not been satisfactorily explained by mere social media posts and blogs yet people are interested in. Pretty much every single of my blog posts could become a book, but I chose to publish a book about the Egyptian Sed Festival and the Book of Abraham because it takes hundreds of pages to satisfactorily explain how Abraham relates to the Facsimiles.
9. Point Out Prophecies Coming True – Lots of prophesies are currently being made by the prophets and coming true. I wish members would talk about how “home centered church” was instituted in late 2018 not long before the pandemic hit, clear evidence that church leaders are prophets. Yet, I hardly ever see this being talked about. We should point that out all the time! Notice when prophecies are being made and being fulfilled, as this will give people reason to consider looking into the gospel.
10. Emphasize The Church’s Financial Success – Recently, there has been a revolution in online defense of the church, as Latter-day Saints successfully swung the narrative surrounding tithing. Anti-Mormons like CES Letter have for so long complained about the church’s wealth a “mega-mall” projects financed by the church, and they felt so secure about their attacks that they took it to ridiculous levels–portraying a church that has no paid lay ministry as a greedy fraud machine. It is plainly obvious that getting money is not the church’s motive. Leaders spend countless hours on church duties and receive little or no financial compensation.
In my 2018 articles on tithing, I pointed this out and went on to describe all the good that the church does with tithing–not only humanitarian work but community building, missionary work, and economic investment in a future Zion. The real revolution is that Latter-day Saints are now excited to donate tithing to the church as part of a future vision. It is a bit like investing in a start-up company that you hope will later be the next big internet sensation. We believe that the church will one day be a flowering institution with a parallel economy of its own. The coordinated heightened propaganda in the news media and news of the church’ “$100 billion slush fund” are evidence that tithing investment is already flowering into the vision of a physical Zion. Latter-day Saints are responding to Anti-Mormon agitation about tithing with the hashtag #MakeItATrillion–a desire to see the church flower into its own major economy. This collective millennial vision is crucial for building an online community.
Basic Rules For Social Media
11. Don’t Use Pronouns For Unfriendlies – Even if someone unfriendly has pronouns in their bio, I don’t risk giving them the ability to complain that I “misgendered” them, which is a bannable offense on Twitter. I refer to an unfriendly person as “this particular individual.” You would think this would make my post awkward and wordy, but I find that it often improves the post. Not only does it remove the risk of migendering, it suggests the reader should see things from my perspective. Consider how Nephi grouped Laban and Lemuel and did not even give the names of the rebellious sons of Ishmael. Less description of the individuals makes the reader less likely to sympathize with those characters.
12. Don’t Respond To Unfriendlies With Less Followers Than You – I avoid spending my time and creating unnecessary risk responding to a hostile low-follower-count person unless I am sure that my message will benefit them or onlookers. The more followers a person has, generally more people will see your responses to them (unless they have few likes/retweets on their feed). I am much more likely to risk responding to a high-follower account because at least a few of those viewers may be benefited. If a lower-follower account gives me a softball pitch, only then will I respond, and it will probably be as a quote-tweet.
13. Avoid Internet Mobs – It is unseemingly for Saints to partake in the internet cancel-mob. Run through this criteria before personally attacking someone:
- Is there a possibility your accusations may be false?
- Are you misrepresenting what someone said?
- Are you generalizing a person’s character based on single sinful behavior?
- Will your post lead to a person getting attacked by a mob?
- Are you inflaming or cooling a conflict?
There is a fine line between “ratio-ing” and mobbing, so be careful. Avoid a spirit of contention and remember that it is possible for anyone to find redemption.
14. Don’t Get Into Long-Drawn Arguments – I don’t bother getting into hostile arguments unless I am arguing with a high-follower account with lots of people paying attention, or unless I am gathering information about Anti-Mormon sensibilities. If you see me making weak or bizarre replies to accusations, the latter is the case: I am figuring out what arguments Anti-Mormons have against a particular pro-church narrative. There is something to learn from everyone, even if the person is a miserable Anti-Mormon and the lesson is why they are the way they are. If nobody is learning, what’s the point of a flame war? Just reply back and forth a couple of times at the most, and let them have the last word. If you are arguing against a high-follower account, their followers will likely be taking pot-shots at you from all sides, and it requires steady focus and calm nerves to proceed. You can make a powerful impression if you are able to argue under these conditions, so go for it if you are able, but be careful.
Recognize where your testimony is weak. One reason Anti-Mormons unleash a barage of attacks is to figure out where your weak spot is. It is amazing how a church member will laugh off Anti-Mormon attacks about one issue and then be sorely injured by attacks about another issue. Humbly recognize where you are weak–we all have weaknesses somewhere–and safeguard that place. Get help from someone who is strong in that area.
15. Block People Who Unfollow You After You Follow Back – A pet peeve of mine is when people follow you, wait a couple weeks, and then unfollow you–so they can boost their followers vs. following ratio. Keep track of your followers and every few weeks or months go through and block everyone who does this. It’s unfair to you.
16. Block Often But Not To Shun – I don’t think it is worth putting up with the negativity of people filling your replies with hatred. When someone replies with personal attacks or dopy gifs, I warn them once and then the next time block. If they reply with something especially hateful or lewd I of course block immediately. Many of these trolls may simply be having a bad day and could be reasoned with on some other day, and it is a shame if this is the case, but you need to recognize that you are not Superman and all that negativity wears down on you. Do what you need to do for yourself first.
Never block to shun. That is entirely un-Chistlike and condemnable behavior. Those who use blocklists and push away people for ideological reasons, I believe, will have to one day answer for it. The scriptures very clearly condemn blocklists, and the gospel is available to all. We likewise should not avoid people except as a necessary defense against personally experienced hurtful behavior–blocking any individual with pronouns in the bio, who uses a certain hashtag, or who appears to be a mean person is not okay.
17. Be Paranoid About Being Tracked – Being paranoid about your posts being tracked has two important benefits:
- Often, there are people keeping screenshots of your posts, and it is possible some mean thing you said when you were having a bad day will appear in the news and humiliate you for the rest of your life. Think three times before you post. If your mind nags you about something you posted, go ahead and delete it. In fact, it’s a good idea to periodically go through your post history and delete everything that is even slightly negative.
- This mindset will help prevent you from partaking in internet mobs or other un-Christlike behavior. You don’t have to reveal your true identity, but act as if ideological enemies have hacked their way in and will email screenshots of your posts to your grandmother.
Do whatever it takes to protect yourself first. Avoid posting photographs or any information that might give some indication of who you are or where you are. Immediately block anyone who gives off a creepy or stalkerish vibe. Report posts that violate the rules (even though Twitter probably won’t do anything about it). Follow your instincts.
18. Reward People For Interacting With You – People are quickly going to give up interacting with you unless they get something out of it. At the very least, “like” comments that are nice. Indulge pleasant conversations and retweet close contacts who say something that stands out. Offer congratulations for people’s triumphs and mourn with those who mourn. Show appreciation for people who promote you or say nice things about you. (I sometimes do not retweet people’s promotions only because I don’t want it to go to my head. I know it easily could.) If you reward people who respond with slight rudeness, it will help sway them to your side, as one reason most people post anything on social media is to feel the dopamine hit of social interaction and affirmation. Use positive psychological reinforcement.
Recognizing when people are using this “reward” technique to manipulate you. Safe guard your testimony. Remember, the most charming, cool, pleasant, exciting, and pursuasive person is who you need to be most wary of–even if that person comes off as a faithful member at first.
19. Recognize When You’ve Found Lightning In A Bottle – If you come across crazy-sounding Antimo post, consider how people will react to it–that your quote-tweet may go mini-viral. Carefully craft your caption, consider screenshotting instead of quote-tweeting to avoid an internet mob, and consider the long-term effects of whether it will actually help missionary efforts. Same goes if you thought of some great joke, breaking news, or especially profound take on something. I frequently find myself wishing I could go back an edit some post that took off, and Twitter does not allow it. Also, there are times a post did not take off as much as it could have.
20. Don’t Get Caught Up In It – We have all had emotional meltdowns because we got caught up in some argument. Everyone’s done it. The humiliation is even worse because it is such an inconsequential thing to get so emotional about–what some anonymous person on the internet thinks. Or anyone who has been the subject of attack by powerful media figures, ridiculed by a high-follower account, or experienced the internet mob knows the feeling of helpless panic. Your mind starts racing thinking about what you should have said differently and all the horrible possibilities of what could happen to you. You feel the same excoriation a person feels who is locked in a pillory and has tomatoes thrown at him. It is the same as a teacher humiliating a misbehaving child by putting a dunce cap on him and having the class laugh at him. It is designed to alter your behavior. Recognize how this negative emotional rush affects you. It profoundly affects you, and likely will alter your beliefs. Don’t pretend like you are stoically immune to the emotional affects, because you aren’t. Your testimony is surely strong but a person’s heart can endure only so much castigation before he breaks under the pressure and finds some excuse to placate the mob.
The answer is to just step away and do something peaceful in real life. Connect with your family and get grounded in your physical reality. Once you have calmed down, approach the situation rationally and avoid freaking out about the possibilities of the future. Read scriptures, pray, and place the social media game where it belongs: secondary to your testimony, and remember to focus on your vision. If it is negatively impacting your emotional state, mental health, relationships, or real-life achievements, stop using social media. Place this missionary work far down your priority list. Don’t stay sitting longer than one hour.
21. Act Like You Are In The USSR – Many are coming to realize that the image of an open social media atmosephere is a mirage. It’s not like the old days when you could say anything to anyone. Powerful men have manufactured a system that grants a megaphone to a selected few and prevent folks like us from reaching people. It is a rigged game. We are risking our own spiritual health every minute we spend on these platforms, as if we are Americans crossing checkpoint Charly to enter the USSR. There is a big difference between social media and doing missionary work door to door on public streets: social media is privately owned. They can do whatever they want, and the “trends”, “likes”, and everything else we see is likely manufactured. Under this strict control, Latter-day Saints are unfortunately treated as hostiles and Anti-Mormons are granted higher platforms. We need to understand how things are so that we don’t get frustrated when one day Twitter randomly decides to ban us. We need to understand that like under the USSR, we need to be covert and avoid the slightest infraction, because they will use the slightest excuse to silence us. Anti-Mormons get away with a lot while the hammer comes down on us for the slightest thing–it’s always been that way and it always will. Don’t fall for the mirage. It will only disappoint you. But understand that even under these horrible conditions there is still a lot of great missionary work we can achieve.
22. Complain About Twitter’s Anti-Christian Bias – At the risk of sounding whiny, I frequently talk about how Facebook has banned Conflict of Justice and other tech companies censor Christians. We must not develop a victimhood mindset or play victim when we aren’t, but also we should be realistic about the true history of this church and what is really going on so that people can adapt properly. Also, it positions us as underdogs against a mechanical corporate Goliath, and foils the cries of Anti-Mormons who themselves attempt to cry victim and censorship.
Debating Religion
23. Talk To Unfriendlies – Most avoid talking to unfriendly people because conflict seems to only make things worse. It seems like nothing short of apology and betraying our faith satisfies them. But I have found that standing up for ourselves is always worth it. If nobody answers them, the vacuum of our voices gets filled by bad actors who instigate further hatred.
An appropriate level of response should be given depending on the category of their unfriendliness:
- Don’t Like What They Have Heard- Many who badmouth the church don’t actually know any Latter-day Saints, but have heard about us on CNN. They would fiercly slam the door on missionaries who show up to their house, but there is no excuse for them to instant-block a Latter-day Saint who replies to something they post about “Mormons.” Focus on setting a pleasant, positive example and lightly correcting misconceptions they have been fed by the media and Anti-Mormon friends. Be nice and cool. Many of these are actually bots who have been programmed by corporations to spread hatred against us, so watch out for fake accounts.
- Resentful Toward The Church – Some who are unfamiliar with the church express cutting resentment of the church due to political or religious ideology. You could try correcting some misconceptions, but the real issue is that their ideology does not tolerate the gospel (both the political left and right lash out at Mitt Romney’s “Mormonism,” for example). You need to realize that they are waging an ideological battle, and you need to demoralize them from their ideology and convince them ours is superior. Make the church look good.
- Bitter About Experiences With The Church – Those who are bitter about the church from personal or family experience need a lot of positivity, and we need to take a bold stand on our morals. For example, if an ex-member complains about a bishop’s interview in their youth asking questions about chastity, you can help by standing up for the bishop and explaining the positive reasons why you are grateful for those interviews. If something truly inappropriate happened, go ahead and denounce it, but make sure to try to de-tangle their hurtful personal experiences from the church. Most of these people will block you, but at least your response will serve as a reminder to them of what’s right, and will be seen by their friends. Sometimes you can actually help someone feel better about the church.
- Servants Of Satan – Hardened Anti-Mormons such as John Dehlin are probably beyond convincing. Unless they think they can convince you to apostatize, they will probably block you, as your responses hurt their message. Consider how scriptural prophets like Alma and Abinadi spoke to hardened Anti-Christs: they told it like it is. Feel free to call them out on their wicked behavior (without judging unrighteously, if you are sure they are indeed trying to get others to apostatize). Express sadness for their fallen and miserable state. Do not get defensive or bitter yourself. Do not get pulled into a angry shouting matches. Do not stalk or target them as cultists would (only reply to their efforts to make others apostatize). Simply testify of the truth boldly and call them out on their wickedness.
- Fellow Latter-day Saints – It is truly sad that this has to be a category, but a lot of opposition will come from others who claim to be members of the church. For example, I am blocked by hundreds (perhaps thousands) of BYU students. This may be because I counter apostasy as I see it from fellow Latter-day Saints. Apostasy from fellow members has become a huge problem. Indeed, missionary work would be booming if not for this apostasy dragging everyone down. The strongest opposition you experience will probably be from this category. The problem can be decreased by avoiding talking about politics. Avoid engaging with them except to correct apostate or false claims about the church.
24. Don’t Waffle But Be Frank – The charitable attitude with which you approach the debate helps to find the fine line between being angrily aggressive and pathetically timid. You need to just tell it like it is. Every statement needs to be carefully crafted to advance your vision, and you need to avoid backtracking, like pieces on a chessboard always advancing. Always follow the vision.
Be able to adapt as you see the situation more clearly. For example, I recently interjected into a conversation between a non-member Christian and an atheist complaining about “Mormon” missionaries who wouldn’t leave him alone. I insisted that missionaries sincerely are out to help people and there is no need to feel harassed. But then the non-member “Christian” replied that “Mormons” are not Christian and our missionaries are nothing like “real” missionaries. The atheist disagreed, and I simply kept quiet as the atheist explained why Latter-day Saints are Christian. Sometimes it is best not to say anything. I then replied that our missionaries should leave people alone who express a desire to be left alone, and we ended the conversation on good terms. The atheist now is more fully convinced that we are faithful Christians after having defended that position against someone from another church, he feels like we respect his wishes, and the Anti-Mormon non-member got owned. Win, win, win. Like rain falling upon the ground, we adapt to the circumstances we find ourselves in but never lose vision of the gravity pulling us everpresently toward the source of all righteousness.
25. Don’t Obsess Over Anti-Mormon Negativity – I have to be careful as I monitor Anti-Mormon spaces like the Reddit hate site, because people tend to become what they obsessively oppose. There is a subconscious reason why some members can’t get a certain Anti-Mormon narrative out of their mind. When you scour apologetics but find no long-term solution it is time to introspectively look for the personal reason for why it is such an issue, such as some repressed memory of a painful church-related experience.
But sometimes there is no pre-existing issue and we construct a doubt inside ourselves simply by obsessing over the Anti-Mormon narratives, because we pridefully feel like we lost the debate. Sometimes you have to humbly bow out and admit you didn’t win the debate. It’s okay. Calmly write down in a notebook what the issue is and make a plan out how to develop an answer. It may take many years before you get the answers you need, and often the thing getting in the way is your own prideful attitude. One step at a time. Reach out for help, read up about it, pray, ponder.
I often find that I need to pause mid-debate to re-center my mind into a holy place. I’ll get caught up in some aspect or let my emotions get the better of me, and I constantly watch myself to detect signs of straying from the position of holiness. I remind myself of the simple fundamental truths of the gospel and what my purpose is for this debate.
26. Focus On The Most Important Issue – I always keep in mind that I am not obligated to answer every little accusation, and indeed it is worthless to chase the barrage of accusations lobbed by Anti-Mormons, like a tennis player striking the ball left and right to make his opponent frantically run. I have written a lot about Anti-Mormon debate strategies and how to counter them. Essentially, you need to figure out the crux issue at hand and address that–all the little issues will fall when that crux issue falls, like branches attached to the trunk of a tree. Skillful Anti-Mormons will throw out a lot of red meat distractions and gull you into a defensive position. But a discerning mind that closely observes the Anti-Mormon’s behavior can figure out what the real issue probably is. Then, strike hard. You will probably feel bad about it because you will see that it causes them pain to talk about it. For example, Anti-Mormons who obsess over polygamy usually (but not always) have a porn addiction problem. You shouldn’t get joy out of accusing someone of having this problem, but it is necessary to tear the bandaid off the wound and address the problem. Instead of Joseph Smith’s history with Fanny Alger, what you need to talk about is real and present issues of chastity and the hopelessness a person feels when they are not advancing toward an eternal companionship.
27. Flip Responsibility Back To Them – “Always be on the offense” is the motto of today’s debate atmosphere. It is unfortunate this is so, and we need to be keenly on the look out for those who are not like this. It is best if we can have discussions where we admit our faults, the church’s faults, and talk realistically. But as much as I want this to happen, I’ve found that in the vast majority of cases people are on pure attack mode. For example, I recently talked to a category “resentful toward the church” person who had been told about a bishop who works for the FBI, and now he thinks Latter-day Saints are a bunch of shadow government spooks. The acquaintance who told him about this bishop probably did so offhandedly and this person showed no sign of being a bigot at that time. But people on attack mode don’t show it outwardly. They quietly soak up any reason they can to attack, and you need to be mindful of that. Trust after you verify. Carefully determine first whether a person can be reasoned with, and then talk realistically. A person on attack mode can still be reached–they aren’t hopeless cases–but it is much harder.
With people on constant attack mode you need to always flip the attacks back on them, always put them on the defensive. Even if you have a good answer to their accusations, forgo defense and turn it around. For example, when Anti-Mormons attack the church for “hoarding $100 billion”, I usually do not explain why the money is necessary and good for the church to keep. Instead, I ask them when the last time is they did anything charitable and what ideological problem they have with a private organization owning wealth. Is this response helpful? It wouldn’t be if I were simply attacking them, but the attacks are coming from themselves and simply being turned around. Anyone with an ounce of self-awareness and moral conscious will be touched.
A lot of Latter-day Saints have a problem with this approach because it appears cruel and un-Christlike, and indeed it would be a cruel way to talk to reasonable people. Even if you are talking to an unreasonable person, it is easy to take it too far and be cruel. You shouldn’t forget to keep it positive. Avoid personal attacks. Yet you need to flip their attacks around on unreasonable people and make it personal. Always make the issue something that deeply affects them directly. This is an incredibly difficult skill. It helps to start with responsibility. Frame it as an issue of who is responsible for what. Is it the church’s responsibility to spend all of its tithing money on humanitarian charity? No. Humanitarian work is important, but that is not what tithing is fundamentally about. Is it an individual’s responsibility to perform charity on his own and promote an ideology of private ownership? Yes. Pretty much every Anti-Mormon post on social media is people avoiding personal responsibility and making the church out to be a whipping boy for all of life’s problems. Feel free to point out when people are doing this.
28. Reverse Demoralizating Attacks – The focus of organized Anti-Mormon efforts by big corporations and individual Anti-Mormons alike is to demoralize us. They want to pressure us into being resentful and ashamed of our faith, like those who partook of the fruit of the tree in Lehi’s vision and cast their eyes shamefully toward the great and spacious building. They make us feel shame by deconstructing our morals and pressuring us to care about other things more than we care about the gospel. Flipping responsibility back on those in constant attack mode helps. It pressures them to question their assumptions and their values, so that they become demoralized. After Fair Mormon published Kwaku’s excellent video series responding to CES Letter, Anti-Mormons were in a frenzy of demoralization–say what you will about the videos, but they were effective reversing CES Letter’s demoralizing attacks. In one fell swoop, we can both block the attacks of hostile Anti-Mormons and demoralize them. Demoralizing does not mean personal attacks and cruelty–again–it means pressuring them to question their assumptions and values by proving that they are beyond ridiculous, hateful, and the cause of misery.
One thing we must not do is humiliate people for their sins. The worldly way is to take something mean someone said 20 years ago and hold it over their heads, or to keep some original sin that they are responsible by being born into some class. The devil’s way is to constantly remind people that they are not good enough. That is not our way. We frankly explain why what they did is a sin, and then we expect them to improve. We encourage them to improve and to leave their faults behind. Instead of focusing on their problems, we focus on what they need to do to advance.
29. Pay Attention To New Narratives By Loudmoth Antimos – Certain loudmouth Antimo personalities get on a lot of people’s nerves, but they serve a purpose as they are canaries in the coal minds for what’s coming. For example, I have noticed that certain apostates at BYU talk about infiltrating scholarly groups not long before that becomes a widespread Anti-Mormon crusade. Or they propagate a certain narrative that they heard at some secret Anti-Mormon conference somewhere, letting the cat out of the bag before the broad Anti-Mormon community has a chance to develop it into a comprehensive big lie. It is useful to pay attention to what they are saying and take that time to develop a strategy to counter that narrative so that we are ready when the broad Anti-Mormon community comes forward with a new attack.
If there is one thing I am tired of, it’s defenders of the faith being caught off guard. How long did it take for defenders to come up with a good response to CES Letter? Right now Anti-Mormons are flooding TikTok with Anti-Mormon propaganda that is corrupting Latter-day Saint youth and hardening Anti-Mormon bigotry among the general population. A few defenders are standing against it, but the big church organizations are scrambling to do anything about it. This chaos can be avoided by listening to the annoying loudmouths who let the cat out of the bag of where the tares are being sown among the wheat.
30. Patiently Develop All The Answers – It takes a lifetime to get to the point where you have all the answers. Conflict of Justice has a little over 300 articles and we have only barely scratched the surface. There is a lot of ground to cover. But there are always answers somewhere; keep an inventory of Conflict of Justice’s article addressing various issues. Feel free to keep links to these articles like arrows in your quiver. If we haven’t addressed it or we didn’t answer it satisfactorily, there is Fair Mormon, the church’s gospel essays, Book of Mormon central, Jeff Lindsay, etc. But in all cases these sites will never replace the need for you to answer the issues for yourself. You need to have an understanding to where you confidently explain the ins and outs of every issue and prove you have a true knowledge. That will take longer than a lifetime to achieve, and that’s alright.
The fundamental way to develop this knowledge is through repentance. It is those who refuse to acknowledge their sins and the injuries inflicted upon them by others who cave to the pressure of Anti-Mormons. They are like weak animals in a herd picked off by carnivorous predators. Repentance is what heals our injuries and weaknesses so that we can stand against the predators. Repentance through the instruction of the Holy Ghost and the atoning grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is not possible without a humble attitude. Don’t act like you know everything, because you don’t. Don’t act like your opinion is always right. Be like a child submissive and ready to learn, but be extra careful that your childlike attitude is not exploited by the Anti-Mormon predators, but directed toward the instruction of God’s Spirit and strengthened by a community of faithful Saints. This will make you a powerful and fierce instrument in the hand of God to the cutting down of the wicked and gathering of Israel. This can and will proceed on social media as much as anywhere else.