2 Nephi 28

Chapter 28 is an important chapter.  If we read it carefully, we see that it is a “how-to” guide.  It shows us how the devil works; it shows us how he goes about placing us in the chains of hell.  Welch and Welch have put together a chart that will allow us to see how he works.  By paying attention to the devil’s methods, it will be easier to recognize them and defeat his efforts.

The Ways of the Devil[1]

Embedded in Nephi’s prophecy in 2 Nephi 28 are many phrases that describe the conduct of those who follow the devil.  These sins, Nephi states, Will pervade much of society in the latter days.  Today they can be found well-disguised as the philosophies and tendencies listed in this chart.  Such conditions are symptomatic of society’s passive acceptance of “false and vain and foolish doctrines” (2 Nephi 28:9) that can lead people away from God.  Knowing how the devil works and being able to see his tactics in operation in the ideologies of the world around us help prevent us from being taken captive by Satan, who leads people “carefully down to hell” (2 Nephi 28:21).

Tactic	Quotation	Verse
Exclusivism	“I am the Lord’s”	3
Cynicism	“deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance”	4
Secularism	“deny the power of God”	5
Skepticism	“believe it not”	6
Naturalism	“he is not a God of miracles”	6
Hedonism	“eat, drink, and bet merry”	7
Fatalism	“tomorrow we die”	7
Popularism	“many … shall say”	8
Rationalizing	“justify in committing a little sin”	8
Criticism	“take the advantage of one because of his words”	8
Entrapment	“dig a pit for thy neighbor”	8
Permissivism	“do all these things”	8
Leniency	“god will beat us with a few stripes”	8
Egotism	“vain”	9
Imprudence	“foolish”	9
Arrogance	“puffed up in their hearts”	9
Self-Conception	“hide their counsels from the Lord”	9
Oppressionism	“rob the poor”	13
Ostentationism	“because of their fin sanctuaries”	13
Narcissism	“their fine clothing”	13
Supremism	“persecute the meek and the poor in heart”	13
Elitism	“stiff necks and high heads”	13
Immorality	“abominations and whoredoms”	14
Distortionism	“pervert the right way of the Lord”	15
Trivialism	“turn aside the just for a thing of naught”	16
Meanness	“revile against that which is good”	16
Dismissivism	“say that it is of no worth”	16
Tantrumism	“rage in the hearts of the children”	20
Emotionalism	“anger against that which is good”	20
Materialism	“into carnal security”	21
Toadyism	“others he will flatter”	22
Relativism	“there is no hell”	22
Complacency	“wo unto him that is at ease in Zion”	24
Secularism	“we need no more of the word of God”	29
Faithless Humanism	“putteth his trust in man”	30

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[1] Charting the Book of Mormon, John W. Welch and J. Gregory Welch, Chart 79.