General Prophets

I have recently read Milton’s Paradise Lost. I have never read the entire poem, only excerpts from my undergraduate years with Professor Waterstradt. I remember sensing the poem’s significance, but I’ve been so intimidated by it for all these years that I’ve not touched it since.

However, I’m grateful for this recent reading. It is a difficult read, but it is worth the effort. I read it in preparation for a class I’m teaching this fall on Creating Peace, and I wanted to use parts of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. So now I’m trying to determine what passages and what approaches to make this selection meaningful and workable in class.

Initially, when I thought about it, I would consider Satan’s dialogues which are very captivating and memorable, and I have suddenly realized that Satan’s intrigue is one of his tools. Satan can easily be seen as the hero or protagonist of Paradise Lost because of the focus he demands. However, the protagonists are Adam and Eve and their creation, fall, and redemption. It’s because of their actions, because of their faith, because of their submission to God that makes them the epic heroes with qualities for us to emulate.

What I’ve learned from Paradise Lost is that every mature person has lost paradise within. Everyone confronts temptation and choice; everyone falls, or loses innocence. Many also experience some kind of regeneration, through the Savior, through love for others, through families, and through service. Paradise Lost deepens our understanding of relationships between parent and child, husband and wife, individual and God. Through this poem I realize that as a father who watches his sons struggle, grow, assume responsibility, and make their own decisions, that at times they will fall, but that through the Savior’s love and Father’s great plan, all will work out for our good.

This poem is also powerful in its depiction of war, or eternal wars. The war is Satan against God and His plan, and Satan wants us to be the casualties—he’ll use every subtle and brazen tactic to destroy us. But as Paradise Lost shows us, God provides teachers, prophets, angels, and families to strengthen and heal us. The War in Heaven still continues in full force. But it wasn’t until just this morning I realized the real and symbolic image that reminds us of this battle and of our promise to succeed and win. That image is the Angel Moroni who stands atop nearly all the temples of the world. Moroni is both a prophet and a general who leads spiritual and temporal war against Satan. At times it may appear that Satan has won, but that glorious angel blowing his trumpet above the temples powerfully announces to the world that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ are our leaders, and if we turn to Them, we will be successful and blessed and protected in this great war that will end at the Son’s Coming to usher in peace and righteousness.