Strategies of the Evil One

This past year has been very interesting and trying for me. I have been tried to the core to see if I will put my faith in Jesus Christ or in man, no matter the consequences. I have found the Book of Mormon is continually revealing the enemies of Christ, as President Ezra Taft Benson declared. Since fear is not of God (2 Timothy 1:7), when otherwise good people let fear enter their heart, they also let the evil one have place in them to guide them in his ways. It is so subtle they don’t realize they are acting and thinking under his influence. The thoughts they have in their minds are directed by the evil one because they have made place to entertain fearful thoughts, thus letting him whisper in their ears. We know that the devil “whispereth in their ears” (2 Nephi 28:22). Therefore, those thoughts that are sprung up in fear are in the devil’s territory. Through fearful thoughts their minds have entered the territory of the evil one, even the one they pretend to abhor. I will share a couple common strategies from the Book of Mormon that they soon fall victim to as they listen to the wrong thoughts.

One is falling into a trap of assuming that a particular action equals a particular outcome. Usually this happens because of one’s own past experiences or what one wants to believe. A great example in the Book of Mormon is when the Lamanite daughters are abducted from their place of dancing and singing. The wicked priests of King Noah had abandoned their families and had found the daughters of the Lamanites in this place dancing and singing. The record states,

“And when there were but few of them gathered together to dance, they [the wicked priests of king Noah] came forth out of their secret places and took them and carried them into the wilderness; yea, twenty and four of the daughters of the Lamanites they carried into the wilderness.
6 And it came to pass that when the Lamanites found that their daughters had been missing, they were angry with the people of Limhi, for they thought it was the people of Limhi.
7 Therefore they sent their armies forth; yea, even the king himself went before his people; and they went up to the land of Nephi to destroy the people of Limhi” (Mosiah 20:5-7).

The Lamanites had been at war with Limhi’s people so they immediately assumed that the people of Limhi were the culprits. They let anger and fear guide their thoughts and immediately accused the wrong people and caused the death of many people on both sides of the conflict because of an incorrect assumption. They spread this assumption through rumor. All of a sudden an entire people are upset with Limhi’s people because of rumors. Fear, anger and rumor are great weapons of the evil one.

The next example is found with Amalickiah, a wicked Nephite dissenter. He is a master of deceit. Through deceit, lies and murder, he becomes the head of the entire Lamanite army. In order to become the head of the Lamanites, he has to eliminate the king. As he returns to the chief city, the king comes out to greet them and Amalickiah’s servants bow as if to reverence him. When the first servant stands back up he stabs the king to the heart and kills him. Immediately the king’s servants flee and Amalickiah’s servants lie and cry out to the people, “Behold, the servants of the king have stabbed him to the heart, and he has fallen and they have fled; behold, come and see” (Alma 47:26). From a distance it appears the lie is true.

The record continues, “And it came to pass that Amalickiah commanded that his armies should march forth and see what had happened to the king; and when they had come to the spot, and found the king lying in his gore, Amalickiah pretended to be wroth, and said: Whosoever loved the king, let him go forth, and pursue his servants that they may be slain” (Alma 47:27). Then Amalickiah’s servants, in their successful attempt to explain to the queen how her husband was murdered, make an appeal to the fact that the king’s servants fled from the scene so it is clear they have committed this murder (Alma 47:34).

The strategy here is to claim someone else is doing exactly what you are doing. My experience has taught me this principle over and over and here it is exposed in the great record of the Book of Mormon. Amalickiah states that the servants of the king did exactly what his servants did to the king and creates the image to support his deceit. So many times in our lives our enemies claim that we do something that they are doing. They then spread the false accusations and lies by describing their own feelings and evil acts but ascribing them to be of their enemy. It is a horrible tactic but as you ponder your life you will notice this is a common tactic of the adversary.

Look at those who accused our Lord. They claimed he was a blasphemer and a child of the devil, Beelzebub, when in reality they were the ones setting themselves up as a light and acting under the influence of the devil. It is a time-tested principle of the evil one, to claim someone else is doing whatever you yourself are doing.

It is hard to love those that persecute you in both of these strategies of the evil one. It is real and it becomes the perfect test of charity. When Jesus taught to love your enemies and those that fight against you and speak all manner of evil against you, this was hard doctrine. There is a reason many fall away from following Him as the intensity of the trials increase and all manner of evil is spoken against you and a lie overshadows you. If you care more of what men think of you than what God knows of you, then you will fall. If you only care what God knows of you, then you will live. Trust in God. Carry on in the paths of truth and righteousness and all these things will be for thy experience and for thy good (Doctrine and Covenants 122:7).