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We take for granted that angels are silent notes taking, but did you know that Satan is too?

As a youth, I recall having vague notions about the actions that were necessary to avoid temptation, but if you would have asked me, say, last week, I don’t think I would have had the temerity to assert that “Avoid vocalizing your thoughts!” is one of them. I mean, that’s just magical thinking that I can hardly pin on the church, right?

Well, I obviously wasn’t paying attention very well during the April 2017 General Conference to church publications, because it took a prominent collaborative online effort of like-minded female members of the church to turn a portion of Elder Lawrence’s talk article “The War Goes On” into a meme to realize that, no, I wasn’t just making things up and, in fact, this is no mere folk doctrine. In his talk, Elder Lawrence declares that

It is important to know that there are limits to the power of evil. The Godhead sets those limits, and Satan is not allowed to cross them. For example, the scriptures assure us that “power is not given unto Satan to tempt little children” (D&C 29:47). Another significant limitation is that Satan does not know our thoughts unless we tell him. The Lord explained, “There is none else save God that knowest thy thoughts and the intents of thy heart” (D&C 6:16). Perhaps this is why the Lord has given us commandments such as “Do not murmur” (D&C 9:6) and “Thou shalt not speak evil of thy neighbor” (D&C 42:27). If you can learn to bridle your tongue (see James 1:26), you won’t end up giving too much information to the devil. When he hears murmuring, complaining, and criticizing, he takes careful notes. Your negative words expose your weaknesses to the enemy.

I guess it makes sense—if we believe in prayer as more than an exercise in listening to ourselves talk (or think, as the case may be), and we certainly do, then there must be something bouncing around out there, and why wouldn’t the devil have signals intelligence of his own to try and intercept these various and sundry communications for his own ends?

I suspect that the belief in the devil having (limited) access to our communications is as storied and widespread as the belief in good and evil itself; it’s certainly not something the Mormons made up. The angels keeping score on the one hand and the devil trying to trip us up on the other no doubt gives the pious believer all the motivation she needs to stay on the strait and narrow and avoid the sins so anathema to power and authority: murmuring, complaining, and criticizing.

What kind of experiences have you had with this belief? Did you grow up with it? Hear it for the first time in April? Does it make you roll your eyes or bear fervent testimony? Do tell!