Satan's Pacifying Tactics

We had a really interesting lesson in Book of Mormon this week. I guess a lot of times I feel like I won’t hear things that I haven’t heard about the Book of Mormon, but always I learn new things that I’ve never considered before. This week we were reading through the end of 2 Nephi and into Jacob. Specifically we covered a verse that I really have never spent much time thinking about. In 2 Nephi 28:21 it reads:

“And others will [Satan] 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.”

I always felt like this verse was pretty straight forward, so I never spent much time thinking about it. However, my teacher put this into a completely new perspective. He had us break it down into words.

First we considered the word pacify. He discussed what a pacifier is: an item that pacifies the baby because it is a cheap imitation of the real thing. However, no matter how hard that baby tries, he will never obtain milk.

What is our application? Satan tries to offer us the cheaper imitations, whether that be inappropriate sexual intimacy, drinking to find pleasure, lying to avoid punishment, etc. However, no matter how much we use those to find happiness, happiness cannot be attained through those channels. Wickedness never was happiness.

He then had us consider the word lull and security. The teacher compared this to a security blanket in which a baby is wrapped, followed by a lullaby that gives them security and puts them to sleep. The baby does not realize that it has been lulled into security until it wakes up in its crib, no longer with its mother.

Our application? Satan will wrap us up in false security in our sins, telling us that what we desire is acceptable and our choice. His coaxing and deceptive words act as the lullaby that put us in spiritual sleep. We only recognize how far we have fallen when we have hit rock bottom and realize our need to repent and for the Savior.

Satan does not always whack us over the head. He whispers and coaxes until we have sunk into the quicksand. We have to be ever vigilant and hold tight to the Atonement and to Jesus Christ. I know that Christ is the only way that I can find happiness. Even when the worldly ways could be easy, I want to always remember that Christ’s way will be the only true way to return to happiness and our Father in Heaven.