2 Nephi 28:20-21

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Reference Search: 2 Nephi 28:20-21

20 For behold, at that day shall he rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.

21 And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.

Quotes for Discussion

“Pacify”

Today, in America, we are living in a fool’s paradise. We have permitted ourselves to be pacified and lulled away into carnal security as the Book of Mormon prophets predicted.

Ezra Taft Benson, A nation Asleep [salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1963], 26

“And thus the devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell.” And that is the way he does it, that’s exactly the way [satan] does it. He does not come and grab you bodily and take you into his territory, but he whispers, “Do this little evil,” and when he succeeds in that, another little evil and another, and, to use the expression quoted, “He cheateth their souls.” That’s what he does. He makes you believe that you are gaining something when you are losing. So it is every time we fail to observe a law of God or keep a commandment, we are being cheated, because there is no gain in this world to come but by obedience to the law of our Heavenly Father. Then again, that peculiar suggestion, “And he leadeth them carefully away down to hell” is significant, that is his method. Men and women in the world today are subject to that influence, and they are being drawn here and there, and that whispering is going on and they do not understand what the Lord desires them to do, but they continue in the territory of the evil one, subject to his power where the Spirit of the Lord will not go.

Elder George Albert Smith, CR, April 1918, 18

We live in a day of slick, quiet and clever sins.

Ezra Taft Benson, A Nation Asleep, p. 44

I like that word “carefully.” In other words, don’t shake them, you might awake them.

Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, Apr. 1918, pp. 39-41

An influence is in the world today trying to make people believe that by their own intelligence and by their own power they can gain eternal life….He does not come and grab you bodily and take you into his territory, but he whispers, “Do this little evil,” and when he succeeds in that, another little evil and another….He makes you believe that you are gaining something when you are losing….that is the condition of the world today. Nephi could not have stated it plainer if he had been right here in the world now.

Elder George Albert Smith, CR, April 1918, pp. 39-41

The safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

C.S. Lewis, Screwtape Letters, p. 56, as quoted by James E. Faust, Ensign, Nov. 1987, p. 35

Every transgression, regardless of how minor, makes us more susceptible to Satan’s influence the next time he tempts us. Satan takes us an inch at a time, deceiving us as to the consequences of so-called minor sins until he captures us in major transgressions. Nephi describes this technique as one of pacifying, lulling, and flattering us away until Satan “grasps [us] with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance.”

Richard C. Edgley, Ensign, Nov. 1994, p. 40

Satan…seeks to deceive us about right and wrong and to persuade us that there is no such thing as sin. This detour typically starts off with what seems to be only a small departure; “Just try it once. One beer or one cigarette or one porno movie won’t hurt.” What all of these departures have in common is that each of them is addictive. Addiction is a condition in which we surrender part of our power of choice. When we do that, we give the devil power over us….

If we choose the wrong road, we choose the wrong destination. For example, a friend of many years told me that her husband, always a “good kid” in high school, took a few drinks that he thought would help him forget some problems. Before he knew what was happening, he was addicted. Now he is not able to support his family, and he is ineffective at almost everything he tries to do. Alcohol governs his life, and he cannot seem to break free of its grip.

Dallin H. Oaks, Conference Report, Oct. 2004 [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004], 46-47

But if he can’t get us to succumb to blatant evil, the adversary tries to coax us onto his side of the line by resorting to strategies that slowly wear us down, weaken our resolve, and dim our memory of who we are….Lucifer whispers that it doesn’t matter what we do now, that there is plenty of time later to get our spiritual act together….He feeds our vanity with promises of popularity, power, and prosperity. He tells us…that if we experience pain or underserved difficulties the gospel must not be working. He always promotes shortcuts….

He wants us to compare ourselves to others and then to criticize and judge one another. He numbs us to a sliding scale of mortality….He wants us to believe that anything short of blatant immorality is just sport….He wants us so absorbed with school, dating, and careers that we don’t have time to really live the gospel—to learn how to receive answers to prayer, to immerse ourselves in the scriptures, and to go to the temple. He rejoices in even small breaches in our integrity because he knows that unless checked they will ultimately lead us “away carefully down to hell” (2 Nephi 28:21; emphasis added).

Sheri Dew, BYU Speeches: Living on the Lord’s Side of the Line, 21 Mar. 2000 [Provo, UT: Publications and Graphics, 2000], 3

Last Sunday the Deseret News carried a detailed feature story on underground drug parties that go by the name of Rave. They run from 3:00 until 7:30 of a Sunday morning. Here young men and women, in their late teens to early 20s, dance to the metallic beat of so-called music pouring forth from stacks of amplifiers. “Some are wearing brightly colored beads; others are waving glow sticks. Some have pacifiers in their mouths, while others are wearing painter’s masks” (Deseret News 17 Sept. 2000, B1).

Drugs go back and forth from sellers to users at $20 to $25 a pill.

I know of no better answer to these foul practices that confront our young people than the teachings of a mother, given in love with an unmistakable warning.

Gordon B. Hinckley, General Relief Society Meeting, 28 Sept. [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2000]. 3

One evening I picked up the morning paper….My eyes stopped on the theater ads, so many of them an open appeal to witness that which is debauching, that which leads to violence and illicit sex.

I turned to my mail and found a small magazine which lists the television fare for the coming week and saw titles of shows aimed in the same direction. A news magazine lay on my desk. This particular issue was devoted to the rising crime rate. Articles in the magazine spoke of additional billions for increased police forces and larger prisons.

The flood of pornographic filth, the inordinate emphasis on sex and violence are not peculiar to North America….The whole dismal picture indicates a weakening rot seeping into the very fiber of society….

This is done in the name of freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of choice in so-called personal matters. But the bitter fruit of these so-called freedoms has been enslavement to debauching habits and behavior that leads only to destruction. A prophet, speaking long ago, aptly described the process when he said, “And thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell” (2 Nephi 28:21).

Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, Sept. 2004 [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004], 3

It is his plan to divert every soul, and to degrade him and enslave him to that end, the arch deceiver has studied every way possible to achieve his ends, using every tool, every device possible. He takes over, distorts, and changes and camouflages everything created for the good of man, to make it desirable to men so he may take over their minds and pervert their bodies and claim them his.

He never sleeps—he is diligent and persevering. He analyzes carefully his problem and then moves forward diligently, methodically to reach that objective. He uses all five senses and man’s natural hunger and thirst to lead him away. He anticipates resistance and fortifies himself against it. He uses time and space and leisure. He is constant and persuasive and skillful. He uses useful things as radio, television, the printed page, the airplane, and the car to distort and damage. He uses the gregariousness of man, his loneliness, his every need to lead him astray….He overlooks nothing that will deceive and distort and prostitute. He uses money, power, force. He entices man and attacks at his weakest spot. He takes the good and creates ugliness. He takes beautiful art and gives it sensualness. He takes divine music and changes it to excite passion and lewdness. He uses sacred things to divert.

Spencer w. Kimball, “How to Evaluate Performance,” Improvement Era, Oct. 1969 [salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1969], 12