2 Nephi 28:20-22

In the last days, Satan will do many things to destroy the Christ’s church.  Anger will be one of his tools.  Lehi, speaking to Jacob, told him that Satan “had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind” (2 Nephi 2:18).  John the Revelator was shown that “it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations” (Revelation 13:7).

Anger is an intriguing and powerful emotion.  It can be used for good, as in righteous indignation.  Most of the time, anger is a destructive emotion.  It divides us, causes conflicts, and destroys families and friendships.  It is at the root of violent crime.  The devil loves this tool.  Christ is love.  Christ is persuasion.  Satan is destruction.

Though anger is an effective tool, the devil is a cunning enemy of righteousness.  He knows our weaknesses and uses them to defeat Christ’s work and us.

He attacks members of the Church.  He wants us to believe, “All is well is Zion.”  He lulls the member and that person becomes complacent.  When you become complacent, you are ripe for the picking.  The devil then “cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell” (2 Nephi 28:21). 

Jacob was concerned about this complacency of the soul.  When preaching to the people under Nephi’s direction, he warned, “O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one.  Remember, to be carnally–minded is death, and to be spiritually–minded is life eternal” (2 Nephi 9:39).

He also warned his people, “O my brethren, hearken unto my words; arouse the faculties of your souls; shake yourselves that ye may awake from the slumber of death; and loose yourselves from the pains of hell that ye may not become angels to the devil, to be cast into that lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death” (Jacob 3:11).

Hugh Nibley observes:

And so the timely reminder to the Church is this: Do not "suppose that ye are more righteous than the Gentiles. . . . For . . . ye shall . . . likewise perish; . . . ye need not suppose that the Gentiles are utterly destroyed" (2 Nephi 30:1). The Church is in the same danger as the Gentiles: "Wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion. Wo be unto him the crieth: All is well!" (2 Nephi 28:24—25). Here we see how the label of Zion has been processed in a smooth soft-sell by broadcasting: "All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well . . .—the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell" (2 Nephi 28:21). That's the business of advertising, to cheat and lead carefully.[1]

Another tool of the devil’s is flattery.  He will flatter people, whispering in their ear there is no devil nor is there any hell.  People will begin to believe this and become wrapped by “his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance” (2 Nephi 28:22). 

Alma₂ understood what Nephi meant when writing about the chains of hell.  “Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death”  (Alma 36:18).

Let’s close with the words of Hugh Nibley.

The most famous passage relevant to our subject is from another medieval epic, the opening refrain from Macbeth: "Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air” … The worst thing about the "filthy air" is that it turns out to be a smoke-screen; Macbeth is led on and put off from day to day until he is done in. It is a smooth, white-collar scam such as Macbeth half suspected from the beginning: "But 'tis strange; And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, The instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray 's In deepest consequence."¹⁶ What kind of honest trifles? Such pleasant bits as those pacifying public relations assurances, "We are not monsters or ogres, we are people just like you. We love our families just like you, we go to church too!" Or to quote the scriptures, "I am no devil" (2 Nephi 28:22). That, of course, is all perfectly true—the workers are not the culprits, but the pawns of owners, who use them to justify profitable pollution while hiring as few workers as possible and paying them as little as possible.[2]

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[1] Last Call: An Apocalyptic Warning from the Book of Mormon, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed December 4, 2013.

[2] Stewardship of the Air, Hugh Nibley, Maxwell Institute, accessed  December 4, 2013.