23 And they said unto me: What meaneth the rod of iron which our father saw, that led to the tree?

24 And I said unto them that it was the word of God; and whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction. (1 Nephi 15:23-24)

Lately, one question I found that I had was this: just what are the fiery darts of the adversary? Obviously “fiery darts” is being used as an image for an idea, so what is the fiery dart representing?

Fiery darts are poison darts. They spread infection and corruption. Fiery darts are insults and slurs cast against our faith, targeting our identity, our self-esteem. They are often intended to make us feel bad about our previous decisions to choose the right. They are accusations against good works that put the worst possible construction on our motives and acts. The fiery darts are aimed at our eyes to try to blind us, or to make us see good as evil.

Or they may not even be directed at us; they can be directed at church leaders and against God and we’ll still feel like we got hit. Fiery darts can be used at long-range to keep us out of the battle. Compare this to our offensive weapon—the sword of the Spirit—which is used at close range in hand-to-hand combat. (http://demondope.com/site/?p=243)

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (Ephesians 6:16)

The shield of faith quenches the fiery darts, causing them to lose effect. And as Nephi described, the rod of iron (the word of God) keeps us from being blinded by the fiery darts of the adversary.

In what way do we hold up a shield of faith in our lives? What do we have faith in?

We have faith most of all in our Savior Jesus Christ. How does that become a shield to us from the adversary?

For me, when I realize that I have done something wrong, my faith in Christ shows me I can repent and escape that sin. I don’t have to live with my sins forever. It shows me that I can rely on Christ to help me become better than I am.

We have faith in living prophets. How does that shield us from the adversary’s fiery darts?

We have faith in the scriptures. How does that shield us?

What other faith that we have shields us?