The Great Confounding Tower

Chapter 1: The Enemy’s Attack Pattern

Introduction

Before getting into the bulk of the text, I want to make it clear that this book is not a book of parenting advice, nor tips and tricks to get your kid to stop using an iPad, to stop throwing tantrums, to always do chores, or to start suddenly loving Church. It’s not a one size fits all silver bullet solution to child behavioral problems. This book is about using the resources we have on hand (research, scriptures, and prophetic counsel) to access Christ’s power to properly orient trajectories and improve how we parent in the modern day. I use technology as the primary backdrop and examples for teaching these principles, because I am a technology professional and it is what I know. I’ve worked in cyber security for over a decade and that is where some of my expertise lies, it just so happens that much of cyber security is built around molding human behavior to desired outcomes. Proper human behavior is always the best defense I could ask for when evaluating the cybersecurity of a business.

In my pursuit to put meaning to my daily work I sought to make more of the skills I use to help companies build cybersecurity programs. Many of these skills are transferrable to teaching a family how to properly engage with risks in a way that keeps them safe and helps them to reach their goals. My professional work is a collaboration with company leaders. While I have a set of tech products I generally recommend to a company, I do not work with one-size-fits-all solutions. I meet with company owners and executives to develop a plan that works best for them based on their company’s goals, current cultures, and desired cultures. Sometimes I would have to engage in campaigns to fix company culture to be more security minded. The most successful cyber security plan is one that molds human behavior to act in the way that the company envisions. The biggest threat to any company in cyber security is the very employees they hire. The same is true for a family. A successful risk plan for a family is one that molds individual behavior to act in the way that the family envisions.

A key difference between a company and a family, obviously, is that in a company we can just remove whoever proves to be too big a risk or if they aren’t taking to the company culture. In a family all individuals are stuck with each other. There is no firing your dad, your daughter, or siblings. They are there for your entire life whether you like it or not. Family binds us in a special way. These are special relationships that have the potential to bring ultimate joy or absolute misery. No relationship can uplift or damage like that of the immediate family.

To that end, I began to seek how I might best help families to truly make the desired change in their lives in regard to the risks they face in our time. Like with a company, putting up what we call controls, barriers that force specific behaviors, isn’t enough. People do not like to be barricaded and will find ways to circumvent those rules. I spent my time in high school learning how to circumvent the controls put in place on my school laptop so I could play video games in class. No matter how many controls the school tried to put in place, I found a way to bypass them. The same is true for children and employees. There is no silver bullet that can address every hole and there is always risk that a child will get around a control. Setting filters and putting up blocks is not enough and keeping children in sight at all times isn’t possible. If the parents are easily dissuaded by their children’s reaction to new rules. There is no point in teaching parents how to set up parental filters that prevent a five-year-old from using a tablet for more than one hour a day if the parents give up on that control after a week of tantrums.

My goal is to help individuals with lasting change through skill development. I went back to school to study family relationships and behavior, so I would know the best way to help families to face the modern weapons Satan uses to attack them. And now with AI breaking into our homes without regard, it is more important than ever for us to learn these skills and be prepared to defend against these attacks. We give Satan an open door into our homes if we do not take seriously the threats that modern life poses. This book will weave in and out of scripture and prophetic counsel as well as research to tie together a wealth of knowledge that will help you to build the necessary skills to weather the storm of Satan’s attacks. I’m not here to just give you a guide on best parenting practices. I’m here to help you build practical skills that translate into real change. Change that will ultimately bring you and your family closer to Christ. To start we will go back to before the beginning.

The Enemy’s First Attack

The human race had to start somewhere, by design, and that beginning happened in a garden. The garden story is told in a way to evoke meaning and to teach ourselves about our own natures. We have four accounts of the creation, one of them cut off just before the garden story begins. So, four accounts of creation, three of which include the garden story in its entirety. Genesis is the most lacking of these accounts, missing key details and watered down to the bare essence of Judaic understanding. Its major flaw is that it has been stripped of explicit reference to Jesus Christ, without which the full understanding of man’s purpose and destiny is lost.

The other three accounts (Moses, Abraham, and the endowment instruction) all begin with Jesus Christ and our relationship to Him. He is central to the story in all three of these. The stories are so obsessed with Jesus they can barely get in details about anything else. In the end if we learn anything at all from these creation accounts it should be that Christ is the end all be all of salvation and we look to Him for redemption in all things.

Despite being a fun account of the beginning bumbling of mankind into a harsh world filled with opposition, the garden stories are also a retelling of our individual premortal lives. Yes, all of us have our story told by the garden story. This is plainly stated during the endowment instruction. It’s hinted at in the Moses account and the Abraham account is nothing but premortal councils before cutting off at the beginning of the garden we all know. Abraham did retell that story though. He just told us exactly what the symbolic telling during the temple instruction means to each one of us. Before we get into that, however, it’s important to understand a major player in the story. Because understanding him will make it that much easier to visualize and connect with your own premortal story.

Thanks to the wonderful work of Jonah Barnes in his book “The Lost Gems of Genesis” we’ve got a whole new way of seeing the casting out of Satan. Look closely at both the Abraham account and the Moses account. At the beginning of the garden story in Moses, we get a short account of the war in heaven when Satan was cast out. The reason being that the plan he proposed was passed over and he sought to destroy the agency of man. In Abraham we get a somewhat different account where “one…that was like unto God” proposes that God and his angels make an Earth where man can dwell and be tested. Then God asks who he will send to be the first on this Earth, to which “one answered like unto the Son of Man: Here am I send me.” A second voice repeats the refrain and God sends the first. After which the second falls. Note that the name Michael can be translated into “like unto God.” In his book, Brother Jonah clarifies the timeline and reason for Satan’s rebellion.

The justification given in Moses is that Satan “sought to destroy the agency of man.” Jonah Barnes supposes, through apocryphal sources, that Satan did so because he refused to give glory to Michael, who was a being Lucifer saw as lesser than himself. Because of this, Satan rebelled against God and sought to supplant Michael as the progenitor of man. I think this is made clear in Satan’s reaction to his fall. The first thing he does is try to throw a wrench into the plan, but “he knew not the mind of God” and only furthered God’s purposes. In the temple instruction Satan’s reaction is that of a petulant child who expected to be praised for his interference in God’s plan. He just proved that Michael was a failure, the wrong choice, he proved that his own plan was better. Man would always sin if Satan was not the one to force them all to take the right path. But God’s reaction seems to surprise Satan. The devil whines and cries, shouting that he’s only done what he’s seen others do. God isn’t pleased though; he puts enmity between Satan and the children of Eve before banishing him from the garden. Then, in a chilling proclamation, Satan claims that he will have what he desires. He, and his demons, will lay claim on the physical bodies that God made for Adam and Eve.

Since then, Satan the Father of Lies, has been working tirelessly to undermine the plans of God. He works to thwart the very purpose of this Earth, to show us all that we will not do all things that the Lord has commanded us to do. He seeks to bind us in iniquity and give over to him the bodies that we so pined for in the premortal life. He will stop at nothing to get there. Luckily for us, Satan is predictable. He has been using the same playbook, with one single play in it, for time immemorial and for good reason. It works. It’s an effective strategy. The strongest of men will and have fallen prey to the attacks of the enemy. Adam and Eve, the first people and the closest to God, even succumbed to the pattern.

The pattern is this: Man has access to godlike power, God says using it without Him leads to suffering, Satan tells man that God lies, man uses the power without God, man suffers. This is the Confounding Tower, and this was the first temptation that each one of us had to face in our lives prior to this one. We had a choice, Satan or God. Would we join Satan and follow him in his arrogance and seek to usurp the power of God, presumably attempting to wield the powers of heaven without regard for eternal law? Or would we accept God’s guidance, humble ourselves to his narrow path, and be given God’s power willingly? The garden story tells us exactly how this interaction went for each and every individual person. We faced the same choices that Adam and Eve faced in the garden, take a moment to see the garden as the premortal life. It is a perfect place where man lives without sin and without opposition. He is innocent and without blemish.

This is our state as the spirit children of God, that is until Satan comes rolling up to our premortal suburban homes with pamphlets, a charming smile, and a door-to-door sales campaign that makes even the most gung-ho returned missionary selling pest control look lazy. He’s selling an alternative, a way to power without all the extra work. All we need to do is sign on the dotted line. Then it will all be ours. Much like Satan pointed to the forbidden fruit and told Eve that it was pleasant to behold and delicious to taste, he says to her, “Ye shall not surely die, but you will be as [the] gods, knowing good and evil.” He says to us, “Ye shall not die if you take hold of the power of God, he already gave you a piece to aid in the creation. Why do you need Him to use that power innate to you? Did He not rise to His power on His own? Can we not do the same? Just reach out and take that power for yourself, what is the harm in this?”

It was compelling, something no spirit had ever considered. You only knew God’s way, you never had any other option given to you, but when Satan came to your door and gave you his pitch you saw that you had a choice. Then you considered it and with that consideration you partook of the same fruit that Eve took. That is when Christ and the Father come to your door. Satan, still in your home, bids you to hide. “Quick, hide yourself from them, you cannot be seen with me. They will know what you’ve been considering. Hide yourself and be ashamed that you let me into your home.” Hiding did you no good, God and Christ enter your home (it’s the Father and Jesus, they’ve got a standing walk-in invitation to your spirit house) and call to you. “My child, where have you gone? My Son and I came to give to you your instructions.” Then you reveal yourself, head down, Satan following close behind. “Lucifer came calling and told me his plan, I was considering his offer and when you came to my home, I was ashamed by what I’d done.” The Father looks to Satan and says, “What have you proposed to my child?” Satan responds with a barb in his tongue, “I was simply telling my sibling the way we might gain the very power you have. It is nothing that you haven’t already done yourself.”

The Father, perhaps disappointed despite knowing beforehand the outcome, has but one response to Satan, “My children’s agency is paramount to their growth and because of that I will suffer you to whisper your lies into their ears, but they will not be forced to hear them. All they must do is close their ears to you and open them to my Son. Then you will be crushed and cast aside.” He then turns to you and says, “You must choose this day, knowing the hardness of the path, that you must eat bread by the sweat of your brow all the days of your life, that your children will be born through pain and sorrow, and that you will know death, not only your own but that of the ones you love more dearly than anything else you’ve ever cherished in your life. Their absence will be like a millstone tied around your neck while you are cast into the sea. That is the path that you are to walk but walk it well and all that I have to give, which is the endless powers and kingdoms of the universe, will be yours without limit. All you must do is listen to the words of my Son and do His will as my Son does my will. He will make right what wrongs will be wrought, He will bring you back to me no matter how far you may stray, He will correct the deaths that will pain you, and He will clothe you in his blood so that you will always know by what power it is you can obtain glory.” The Father then may have sighed and looked to Satan, “Or choose captivity and eternal death. Follow Lucifer, give to him your agency, and he will drag you down to hell and misery. For my power cannot be obtained through any means other than the ones I’ve shown you. Any other path will fail and any attempt to wield the power of gods without my guidance will result in nothing but misery. You are free to choose, my child.”

At this point you know what option you chose. Adam and Eve were taught of the Savior from the very beginning, as were you. They both chose to follow Christ, as did you. For Adam proclaimed, “Blessed be the name of God, for because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life, I shall have joy, and again in the flesh I shall see God.” And Eve shouts for joy with, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient.” You saw past Satan’s lies, you saw that his plan was nothing more than smoke and mirrors, a pitiful attempt to gain glory for himself over the Father. Still, his sales pitch worked for one third of the hosts of heaven, that equates to billions of souls. I don’t think the decision was an easy one. Satan is and never has been a weak or stupid being. He is conniving, vicious, and strategic. He did not just walk into your spirit home to speak to you. The first thing he did was spend weeks stalking you on Spiritbook and Spiritinsta. He knows us and knows where the cracks in our armor lie. Because of that he knows which treats of power he needs to dangle in front of our faces to get us to reach into the trap. But we don’t have to reach. If we are aware of the tactics that Satan uses to tempt us, then we can avoid them.

The Confounding Tower

Let’s start with the simple story of the confounding tower. We have two accounts of a tower in scriptures. First comes from Genesis which reads:

“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.”

Isolated from the rest of the bible this is a strange story. Seems like a group of people just got together and decided to found a city and then they wanted to build a tower. What’s the big deal? Why did God just descend from heaven and confound the languages of the nice tower building folk? This is a commonly cited Old Testament story, but it really doesn’t make much sense, on the surface. It’s kind of in a strange place too, the flood happens, there’s a long list of generations, then the mighty hunter Nimrod whose kingdom is Babel, more generations, some folks build a tower where their language is confounded, then a bunch more generations, and bam Abraham. This tower story is just shoved in there and is for some reason tangentially related to this random guy Nimrod, who was apparently so good at hunting that he gets an honorable mention in the Old Testament. Remember where this story starts. It starts with Nimrod founding the kingdom that led to an event that caused such consternation in the heavens that God himself comes down with his heavenly entourage to scatter the people of the Earth and give them all a language lobotomy.

To get to the meat of this message, and the point I will eventually make, we have to dig deeper. So deep, in fact, that we hit the Book of Mormon. Turns out if you dig a hole through the center of the bible you eventually run into that pesky Joseph Smith character. This spiritual giant of a man revealed deep religious truths on a whim and without even a hint of theater. I want to present the second account of the confounding tower, the one retold by Moroni in the Book of Mormon:

“Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some others and their families, from the great tower, at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, and swore in his wrath that they should be scattered upon all the face of the earth; and according to the word of the Lord the people were scattered. And the brother of Jared being a large and mighty man, and a man highly favored of the Lord, Jared, his brother, said unto him: Cry unto the Lord, that he will not confound us that we may not understand our words. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon Jared; therefore he did not confound the language of Jared; and Jared and his brother were not confounded. Then Jared said unto his brother: Cry again unto the Lord, and it may be that he will turn away his anger from them who are our friends, that he confound not their language. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord, and the Lord had compassion upon their friends and their families also, that they were not confounded.”

Now let’s go back to Genesis for a moment and recall what was said of Nimrod, exactly:

“And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel…in the land of Shinar.”

Here we have two pivotal characters in the tower stories. One is Nimrod, “mighty hunter before the Lord.” The other is Mahonri Moriancumer, “a large and mighty man, a man highly favored of the Lord.” The first, Nimrod, led a people down a devastating path of destruction that caused them to lose the precious bonds of communication that bedrock our relationships. The second, the Brother of Jared, saved his people from devastation and brought them to the true promised land. The primary difference the scriptures give us of these two figures is really only a few words. At a glance they are similar men, both mighty and powerful. The difference is Nimrod is before God and Mahonri is highly favored of God. That’s a key difference.

What, then, does it mean to be before the Lord? The King James version of the bible is filled with many of these strange turns of phrase that can be difficult to squeeze meaning from. We have to wrestle with these words; they are placeholders that try to convey the meanings of words from a language entirely foreign from English and on top of that we are over 400 years removed from the form of English used to translate the biblical texts when reading the King James Version. This is the reality we live in, while other translations attempt to smooth the barriers by using modern English, they still have to struggle against the real challenges of taking an ancient Eastern language and finding modern English words that have approximately equivalent meanings. This inevitably means that intent and meaning are lost. We have a few options when we are faced with challenging phrases in the scriptures. For biblical texts we can spend years and years learning ancient Hebrew and Greek to understand the meaning of the words as they were written. Or, for the rest of us there’s Hugh Nibley. Nibley has this to say about Nimrod:

“This Nimrod seems to be the original arch-type of the Mad Hunter. His name is for the Jews at all times the very symbol of rebellion against God and of usurped authority; he it was “who became a hunter of men,” established false priesthood and false kingship in the earth in imitation of God’s rule and “made all men to sin.” A very early Christian writing tells how Noah’s descendants waged bitter war among themselves after his death, to see who should possess his kingship; finally one of the blood of Ham prevailed, and from him the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians derive their priesthood and kingship.”

So, what does it mean, then, that Nimrod was before the Lord? If we assume Brother Nibley is correct in his analysis, then it may be a reference to Nimrod’s wickedness. If we look at the other ways the phrase “before the Lord” is used in Genesis, we can gather hints at what meaning is behind Nimrod’s description.

Genesis 13:13

But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.

Genesis 18:22

And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the Lord.

Genesis 19:13

For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the Lord; and the Lord hath sent us to destroy it.

Genesis 19:27

And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord:

Genesis 27:7

Bring me venison, and make me savoury meat, that I may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death.

We have here five instances of usage and they are used in three different ways. When talking about Abraham, it seems clear that it is in reference to Abraham’s righteousness. He turned to the Lord when others did not. Genesis 19:13 is the voice of the destroying angels to Lot, on an errand to save Lot and his family at Abraham’s pleading. They are talking about Sodom sinning and the Lord seeing that sin, much the same as Genesis 13:13. The third instance of use is Jacob instructing Esau on how he will give his son the birthright blessing, a blessing that will be done in the presence of the Lord, so that God is witness to it.

If we agree with Hugh Nibley, then we can assume that the way Nimrod is described is as a wicked man performing actions contrary to God’s will right in front of the face of God. Meaning Nimrod, like the men of Sodom, had such disregard for God he profaned God’s will and did as he pleased knowing exactly what sins he committed, knowing that he was following Satan’s bidding to create a counterfeit to God’s power. The very same counterfeit that Satan offered to each one of us in the premortal life. It was a promise that godhood could be obtained without any need for God. Is that not exactly what the people of Nimrod attempted to do with their tower?

A common interpretation of the great tower is that it was not a really tall building they were after, but a temple where they would perform unsanctioned temple ceremonies without the proper authority and power of God. Further tradition, according to Hugh Nibley, suggests that Nimrod stole the ancient garment of Adam, the very same garment that Christ himself created in the Garden, and by this relic claimed to have the authentic priesthood of God. In this expanded narrative we have a picture of a man who was seeking to usurp the power of God through relics and buildings. He is taking a shortcut and thinking this will bring him to God, that it will give him a name and keep his nation from being scattered throughout the Earth. To endowed Latter-day Saints this sounds familiar. To those familiar with the Old Testament this also sounds familiar, for similar reasons:

“As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger… all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.”

In direct contradiction to the people of Nimrod, Abraham, instead of being scattered (remember that Abraham and Nimrod were likely contemporaries), is given a name and promised that his seed will be given a land that will be “an everlasting possession.”

But the Lord is not partial to just Abraham, remember there isn’t just one foil to Nimrod. We want to dig through the Bible to the restored scriptures. The Book of Mormon has its own Abraham-like figure to contend with Nimrod in this narrative. See what the Lord says to the Brother of Jared in response to his pleadings at the behest of Jared:

“And it came to pass that Jared spake again unto his brother, saying: Go and inquire of the Lord whether he will drive us out of the land, and if he will drive us out of the land, cry unto him whither we shall go. And who knoweth but the Lord will carry us forth into a land which is choice above all the earth? And if it so be, let us be faithful unto the Lord, that we may receive it for our inheritance. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did cry unto the Lord according to that which had been spoken by the mouth of Jared. And it came to pass that the Lord did hear the brother of Jared, and had compassion upon him, and said unto him: Go to and gather together thy flocks…and also Jared thy brother and his family; and also thy friends and their families...And when thou hast done this thou shalt go at the head of them down into the valley which is northward. And there will I meet thee, and I will go before thee into a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth. And there will I bless thee and thy seed, and raise up unto me of thy seed, and of the seed of thy brother, and they who shall go with thee, a great nation. And there shall be none greater than the nation which I will raise up unto me of thy seed, upon all the face of the earth. And thus I will do unto thee because this long time ye have cried unto me.”

Immediately after this new people, later called the Jaredites, are led directly by the Lord in a cloud. Then the Brother of Jared has his own temple-like experience. Mahonri sees Jehovah and speaks with Him, just the same as Abraham speaks with Jehovah. These two great men, fathers of nations, who lived among the times where Nimrod was a feared and mighty hunter, who conquered nations and thought to build up a power structure that would counterfeit the powers of God, turned away from Nimrod and denied the attack of Satan.

The devil stood before them, having successfully enticed Nimrod and his people into thinking they could save themselves without God. They sought to obtain a name and to obtain protection from scattering. These people lived to see the frailty of the governments of man. They’d seen Nimrod swing down as a mighty hunter and overthrow the nations they pledged loyalty to. They wanted safety and when they saw how powerful and strong Nimrod was and that he wore the garment of Adam, they sought his protection. Satan whispered into their ears the very same lies he presented to us from the beginning. “You shall not surely die but shall be as the gods!” And the people of Nimrod believed him. The wily enemy knew those people, he knew what fears they had and what they wanted to feel secure and safe.

That is often what the desire for power is for many people, nothing but a pursuit of security, safety, and happiness. We want to feel good and we want to feel safe while we feel good. Satan has always offered this to us. He promised us we could have it, if we would only take the power of the gods for ourselves. For if we have the power of the gods, what can harm us? What names can we not take? What power can scatter us abroad?

In their humility and in their wisdom both Abraham and the Brother of Jared seek first the Lord. Both these men sought God as the path to receive security in their times of strife. Abraham explicitly says so in his own words:

“In the land of the Chaldeans, at the residence of my fathers, I, Abraham, saw that it was needful for me to obtain another place of residence; And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.”

Abraham knew where he would find security and peace. The Brother of Jared knew where to find safety. And by that they thwarted the plans of the enemy. Satan attacked them with his best weapon, his best strategy, and failed. All because these men had the courage and the wisdom to get on their knees and pray with faith. In that faith they knew that whatever it was that came in answer to their prayer, they would be bound to do. As they continued to follow what the Lord asked, they were blessed. They made covenants with God, were given names, they were promised that they would not be scattered, that they would father nations, and that so long as their seed continued to make and keep covenants with the Lord, they would receive the same promises and blessings.

The confounding tower is a story of two archetypal men. Nimrod is the man who gives in to the attacks of Satan, he is easily swayed by power and promises of godhood. He is the man who makes covenants among men, while eschewing God. While Abraham and the Brother of Jared are the foil to Nimrod. Instead of giving in to the ways of Nimrod, who by all means was a strong, powerful man who had proven he could bring protection and conquer his enemies, these two men turned to God as their source of strength. They covenanted with the Lamb and clothed themselves in His blood. Nimrod chased after a counterfeit; he built himself a monument to that power in an attempt to usurp the power from God for himself. The result is always the same, suffering. His people received punishment in the exact things they thought to protect themselves against. They lost their names and were scattered abroad. Neither Nimrod nor Satan could protect them from the consequences of seeking after the great tower.

To this day man is enamored by the temptation of the confounding tower. We seek after things that will give us the power of gods. We want to take those powers for ourselves and use them as we see fit, hoping to avoid the consequences. There may not be another time in history where we defend against so many weapons of the enemy. Satan has spent millennia building up his arsenal. He started with a single fruit. Then upgraded to a great tower. Now he has coopted, corrupted, and profaned the very tools that God himself blessed the world with for the purpose of bringing His children home. We are not faced with one, but endless confounding towers in our day. Adults have been fighting our whole lives to avoid the pitfalls of Nimrod. Even still, our own towers were nothing but trivial bumps in the road compared to the weapons of mass destruction that Satan has built in just the last decade. With his ever-growing arsenal, Satan can take the tried-and-true strategy he’s employed for thousands of years and launch hundreds of guided missiles directly at a single target with nothing more than a swipe of a thumb. If parents are not prepared to teach their children how to defend against these attacks, then what chance do those kids stand in this world? Are the parents themselves even capable of putting up a strong enough defense? That is the purpose of this very book. Now that we have a solid understanding of what we are up against, we can start to learn how to defend against it.