The Armour of Light: Ken Follett (The Kingsbridge Novels, 5)

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Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. There is no little loss of light that is insignificant, and there is no little loss of light without the potential of becoming a major breach to the brightness of our armor. As Latter-day Saints we are blessed with the glorious light of the restored gospel. We have no excuse, as the scriptures state, to walk “in darkness at noon-day” (D&C 95:6). In the Doctrine and Covenants we are warned: “He who sins against the greater light shall receive the greater condemnation” (D&C 82:3).

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 4:3-8) And just like Jesus, the sons of God should also walk in obedience to the Word and the Holy Spirit, to resist the devil and don’t give into his deceptions and temptations, which lead to sin. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.

The point is that Advent calls us to look for redemption outside ourselves. Not to be obsessed by our feelings or our identity, not to agonise about our past or our wounds, not to run ourselves into the ground by trying to justify ourselves to ourselves. In this morning’s Sunday Times there is an opinion piece by Matthew Syed which notes the inward, subjective turn in today’s culture. It began with an emphasis on self-help, and then went on to the importance of self-worth and self-esteem, and of course we have ‘selfies’ and emphasise ‘sharing’ our stories, inwardly ‘curating our cosy truths’ as he puts it.

Ken has been active in numerous literacy charities and was president of Dyslexia Action for ten years. He was chair of the National Year of Reading, a joint initiative between government and businesses. He is also active in many Stevenage charities and is President of the Stevenage Community Trust and Patron of Home-Start Hertfordshire. By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, Our Gospel speaks of the casual revellers in the days before the flood, eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, totally unaware that anything else was going until the flood came and swept them away. They remind me of that rueful observation about death bed regrets. You know, no one on his or her death bed regrets not spending more time in the office.

Success!

You shall no longer do the works of the flesh, but through the Spirit, you shall kill the works of the flesh and do the works of the Spirit, which produces life and peace.

The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Ken’s first major success came with the publication of Eye of the Needle in 1978. In connection with this challenge consider striving to make your living areas places where God’s light can shine unobstructed. I currently serve in a branch presidency at the Missionary Training Center. The Missionary Training Center is a place where the Lord’s light shines brightly—it is hard to go there and not feel the presence of the Holy Ghost. There are no questionable pictures on the walls, there is no music with suggestive lyrics, and there is no entertainment that compromises standards. The missionaries are trying hard to avoid the coarse, the unclean, and the vulgar. Christ and service to Christ is at the center. In this environment learning soars, and missionaries are often heard to say, “I have never felt the Spirit so often, or so intensely.” Jesus didn’t compromise and didn’t bow for the devil, but Jesus only bowed for His Father, by staying faithful and obedient to His Father and His will. After Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was baptized in water by John the Baptist and received the Holy Spirit by the Father, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness.

To put off the old man is an action that every believer is supposed to do. No one can do it for you. Not even God. Born on June 5th, 1949 in Cardiff, Wales, the son of a tax inspector, Ken was educated at state schools and went on to graduate from University College, London, with an Honours degree in Philosophy – later to be made a Fellow of the College in 1995. We call people who have an abundance of this light “spiritual.” Jesus Christ is the light and life of the world. Spiritual people—or those who strive to always have His spirit to be with them—reflect the light of Jesus Christ in their lives and in their countenances. I love senior citizens in the Church—those who have been sanctified through continued righteousness over time. Their countenances reflect a life well lived. Having learned to walk in the light, they have become a reflection of that light. This is clearly evident in the radiance of those who give significant time to temple service.