Lately, I have had some random discussions with my dad about the church. I have been quick to point out that members really really get on my nerves and that I don't want to be associated with them in any way. To even be called a Mormon is starting to offend me, but who knows when I'll resign.....So, most of the time, I just tell my dad that I don't like the members and will not say anything further unless he really presses me. One time, after about 10 minutes of him prodding me, I just exclaimed, "I don't like living in a fairy tale!" Another time, I told him that most of what members believe in is just hearsay from other members and superstition based on things that might or might not even be true after which I brought up Paul Dunn. He didn't like that but acknowledged it.
Last semester, I was up at USU and I was playing games at someone's house after ward prayer. They were quick to talk about supernatural occurrences, such as the visitation of evil spirits around the Logan temple at a sister's apartment and not so quick to talk about God and such. I always felt like my parents, although good people, were too quick to talk about Satan and not so quick to talk about God. That always bothered me about the "church." As a child, I always found Mormon literature to be fascinating, but as I grew up and was urged to adopt the framework of Mormon belief as literal truth, my brain couldn't cope any longer. I just couldn't imagine God dealing with his children in such a way. My dad has told me that what people do is simply in response to an eternal war being waged courtesy of God and Satan and that we're just pawns. That was a response to me telling him about suicide bombers and Islam and talking about the dangers of religion. He tried to downplay that whole concept by stating that we're merely in an eternal war and that the problem goes deeper, but that it is just simply symptomatic of said war. I myself am more of a believer in human dignity and of our great potential to accomplish good in this world. To dumb down that potential and to say that we're just pawns in an eternal war is actually very offensive to me and goes to show how easily people are duped into merely accepting a role in an institution that supposedly takes God's side and offers you a vehicle for martyrdom, or as I like to say, cannon fodder.
I think that it is in everybody's self interest and the interest of the rest of the world to become our own masters and to be self-motivated to do good among others. To simply believe something wholesale from books such as the Koran or the Book of Mormon or the Old Testament is like living in a fairytale. I no longer believe in Mormonism but I hear things from my parents all the time about supernatural occurrences, which is all hearsay, and sometimes long to be apart of that mystical, black and white world where I can feel safe, basking in the assurance that we're God's chosen people and that we're protected. But on the flip side, I always felt disgusting and violated and also felt darkness whenever Satan would be brought into the picture, along with the Mormon mindset about the whole thing. One of the former mission presidents to the Poland mission, under whom I never served, was said to have supposedly gone to the mountains and had revelations and visitations by angels. At the same time, it was also speculated by those on my mission that it was a false visitation. It was at that exact time that I felt like I could no longer know what was real and not real and posed some serious problems for me in interpreting the world around me. I was still a believer at the time, but later, I couldn't handle the feelings of darkness that I felt when fellow Mormons would talk about spirits and such. The church may claim to be on the side of God and may say much about him at times, but it is my experience that the church is more Satanic than of God, if I were to even believe in Satan. At certain points on my mission, I even tried to discern whether people had the spirit or not, and upon deciding that they did not, I would feel that they were just doomed to be on the other side as Satan's pawn and consequently had a negative view of them. As soon as I dumped the whole mindset of Mormonism, my world got brighter and people got more colorful and I started to perceive more of a potential in them to be great people, if they already weren't. So, for those of you that think that Mormonism is of the occult due to symbols that can be found on the temple and such, just remember that the problem goes deeper than that. Mormonism is a dark place and should be shunned by rational people everywhere. There is even more to what I have experienced in the church that I will not go into, but it is enough to say that the church dark and has filled me with despair at times, as well as others. For those who haven't already done so, avoid it.

The devil has the ability to hear you speak and plan accordingly. He flattens your tires on the way to the temple, he makes you sick on the day of your baptism, and controls the media that you see, hear and play. He answers Adams prayer in the temple, while God has to ask Jesus/Jehovah what's happening down on earth.

The only answer is to accept that in the millenium things will be put right. In the meantime, we just trust that God really is in charge and that by being faithful to our temple covenants we will prevail at the last day.

And of course, don't forget:
If we pay out tithing and are found doing our duty, the devil will have no power over us.

I submit for your consideration that just like many other churches, the fear of satan is the prime motivator. Salvation is pretty cool, but in the end the churches need you to be afraid so that you will do as they wish. Fear is a powerful tool and is more powerful on a primitive level than hope.