In Matthew 24, the disciples come to Jesus and ask “what is the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world, or the destruction of the wicked, which is the end of the world?” (Matt. 24:4). The Savior answers, “Take heed that no man deceive you” (Matt 24:5).
This is a fascinating response for at least two reasons. The first is that it doesn’t really answer the exact question that the disciples asked. Instead, Jesus gives a direct mandate — presumably useful counsel related to the time period in question. But the second reason is what I would like to focus on here. In response to the original question, Christ could have said many things, “take heed that ye control your emotions”, or “that ye read the scriptures”, or “that ye love one another”. But that was not the response. He instead focused solely and uniquely on the principle of deception. This chapter goes on to repeat several times how false Christs shall deceive many and “if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Matt. 24:24). Why is that the counsel? What are we to learn from this?
The notion of sin in connection with being deceived is prevalent in the scriptures but represents, perhaps, a departure from how we generally speak about sin modernly. In current church culture we often use expressions like “falling into sin” or “giving in to temptation” — phrases which support the idea that sin is something that occurs when our faith, effort, or power is not strong enough to align our actions with our beliefs. These are scenarios where “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41) and often lead to the kinds of decisions that we make and then shortly after regret. I refer to this kind of temptation as willpower temptation.
If willpower temptation is characterized by scenarios where our actions do not align with our beliefs, another type of temptation can be characterized by scenarios where our actions do align with our beliefs but our beliefs are simply incorrect. In this case, we haven’t lacked faith or strength to do or not do something, we simply have formed a doctrinal belief which is incorrect. We have gotten something wrong. I refer to this kind of temptation as rational temptation. The idea of falling into rational temptation — sin resulting from incorrect beliefs — is what I believe is meant by the scriptural concept of deception. This idea of rational temptation is a topic that I find to be insightful, relevant, and perhaps underserved in modern church culture.
The scriptures are replete with instances of prophets and apostles exhorting us to “Be not deceived” (Gal. 6:7) along with personalized examples that we can learn from of people being deceived. One such example illustrates this well when describing Laman and Lemuel:
“for behold they did murmur in many things against their father, because he was a visionary man, and had led them out of the land of Jerusalem, to leave the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things, to perish in the wilderness. And this they said he had done because of the foolish imaginations of his heart.
“And thus Laman and Lemuel, being the eldest, did murmur against their father. And they did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.
“Neither did they believe that Jerusalem, that great city, could be destroyed according to the words of the prophets” (1 Ne. 2:11-13).
Laman and Lemuel make a few assertions here that end up being incorrect. The easiest to spot is that they fail to believe the words of the prophets that Jerusalem can be destroyed. The Babylonian siege of Jerusalem is a well documented historical event that happened shortly after the departure of Lehi and his family from Jerusalem. The city was dismantled and the inhabitants killed as it was prophesied by their father: “it should be destroyed, and the inhabitants thereof; many should perish by the sword, and many should be carried away captive into Babylon” (1 Ne. 1:13). The belief that Babylon could not be destroyed was simply untrue. Laman and Lemuel got this wrong. They also believed that they were leaving “to perish in the wilderness”. Ironically, this is another belief that turned out to be incorrect as they would make it through the wilderness alive, to the land of promise, and live for several years thereafter.
Interestingly, their argument takes on new shape later on in the Book of Mormon. Instead of arguing that the city of Jerusalem could not be destroyed, they argue that it would not be destroyed because “we know that the people who were in the land of Jerusalem were a righteous people; for they kept the statutes and judgments of the Lord, and all his commandments, according to the law of Moses; wherefore, we know that they are a righteous people” (1 Ne. 17:22). It is instructive not only that their argument changes but that this newer version also proves to be untrue. If we know that Jerusalem was destroyed and we believe Nephi to be a prophet, then we know that “Jerusalem [was] destroyed, because of the wickedness of the people. For behold, they have rejected the words of the prophets” (1 Ne. 3:17-18).
The point of all this is that Laman and Lemuel were deceived. They managed to form beliefs that were incorrect and — without the incessant pleading of their other family members — would have led to them returning to Jerusalem and facing serious, life-altering consequences.
What else do they get wrong? When Laman and Lemuel talk in this passage about leaving “the land of their inheritance, and their gold, and their silver, and their precious things” there is an assumption here that they would have found greater happiness with these material items. Later on in the Book of Mormon this is made clear “Behold, these many years we have suffered in the wilderness, which time we might have enjoyed our possessions and the land of our inheritance; yea, and we might have been happy” (1 Ne. 17:21).
This instance of deception is more subtle and perhaps more sinister as its tougher to identify the lie. Laman and Lemuel believed that living in Jerusalem with their silver and gold would bring them happiness. However, that’s not all they are saying here. Embedded in these statements is the general belief that they can avoid the struggles at present and find greater happiness by not following the prophet’s guidance. They believe that they can be happier by living a life not in congruence with the commandments of God.
This is a critical belief that will go on to make a massive impact in their lives. It’s one that also drastically impacts the lives of many others throughout history and today. Interestingly, if we look at Laman and Lemuel’s journey up until this point, it makes a lot of sense how they could arrive at this conclusion. They have been suffering quite a bit in the wilderness — food is scarce and hunger likely on their minds constantly, fire has been restricted, they are traveling in the hot desert, and they are living in tents and raising a family in all these conditions. Furthermore, they have a perfectly good home not far away that is filled with earthly comforts and it is likely near to friends and activities and things they enjoy. Why should they be here? Why should they do all this?
The Lord commanded Lehi that they should take this journey: “the Lord commanded my father, even in a dream, that he should take his family and depart into the wilderness” (1 Ne. 2:2). The scriptures are clear that going against the commandments of God is antithetical to happiness because “blessed and happy [is the] state of those that keep the commandments of God” (Mos. 2:41) and “wickedness never was happiness” (Alma 41:10). If we believe in the gospel then we know that the best way to achieve maximal happiness is by following the commandments of the Lord; but it can take a lot of mental fortitude and faith to believe in this principle when the present state is difficult. It is hard for Laman and Lemuel, and likely would be for any of us, to hold on to the belief that the Lord’s commandments will bring us the best and greatest happiness we can achieve when following them so far has led to starvation in the desert while sacrificing nearly all the comforts of a previously well-loved life.
What happened to Laman and Lemuel is a common sequence of events that can happen to us. Namely, it is the idea that giving into willpower temptation eventually leads to giving in to rational temptation. In this case, following the commandment of the Lord to leave their lives in Jerusalem and follow their family into the wilderness was hard. It brought hardships and suffering along the way. Willpower temptation tries their strength to keep God’s commands in the midst of these struggles; so much so, that eventually they change their belief that the commandment was divinely inspired at all. Importantly they never argue to go back to Jerusalem for the reason that they lack the strength to follow these commandments from God. They don’t ever argue against Nephi or Lehi saying that they know that God commanded them to do this but they just can’t do it and so they want to go home. Instead they fall into rational temptation and argue the validity of the commandments themselves. As we have seen previously these arguments take on different angles and premises and change from time to time but all of them serve to undermine the divinity of the command to “depart into the wilderness” (1 Ne. 2:2).
Do we not also do this from time to time? When a commandment gets very hard to live and we are tired of struggling or failing, we begin to look for loopholes as to why this commandment should not apply to us. When we repeatedly feel guilt around a certain commandment there is a temptation to change our beliefs on that commandment and thus remove the stimulus of our feelings of failure. For instance, someone may become frustrated with the struggles and consequences that come with keeping the Lord’s law of chastity and begin to rationalize why this commandment does not apply to their specific situation or why they would be happier not living it. Another person may find themselves breaking the law of chastity repeatedly, grow weary of the guilt they feel, and then conclude, in an attempt to find peace, that this law is an antiquated, unrealistic, or even unhealthy standard not relevant to our day. In both cases, there is a moving of the goalposts where the Lord’s truth has been subverted by rational temptation and belief has actually changed.
Perhaps there are some interesting arguments to be made that support these positions. But the question for all of us is this: “how do we know that our beliefs are correct?” How can we be sure that the conclusions we have reasoned our way into are actually rooted in truth and not just a product of convenience and optimizing for comfort in the midst of struggle? How can we not fall into the trap, like Laman and Lemuel, of wanting something other than what God wants and then trying very hard to make it true. If we arrive at this point, we are not even seeking for truth. We are seeking for what we want and we are simply trying to find convincing explanations—some sort of framework of belief—to explain our irrational actions. Most people hate to act irrationally—acting against our beliefs feels wrong. But we also want to do what we want to do. So, instead of starting at first principles and seeking truth, forming beliefs based on that, and then letting actions follow as a natural, principled consequence, we instead make decisions in the moment, act how we want to and then form beliefs to justify the actions so that we don’t feel awful about it. This is unprincipled living and a poor way to find truth and develop correct beliefs.
Getting our beliefs right is critically important because if our beliefs are correct, the correct actions will eventually follow as we continually exercise faith in Christ and repent. But if our beliefs are wrong you will never get correct actions. Because of this, I wonder if the Lord is more concerned with us learning and believing true doctrine and then striving to live it than He is with us actually hitting those benchmarks perfectly. Consider this quote from Hugh Nibley:
“Who is righteous? Anyone who is repenting. No matter how bad he has been, if he is repenting he is a righteous man. There is hope for him. And no matter how good he has been all his life, if he is not repenting, he is a wicked man. The difference is which way you are facing. The man on the top of the stairs facing down is much worse off than the man on the bottom step who is facing up. The direction we are facing, that is repentance; and that is what determines whether we are good or bad” (Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, pg. 301-302).
If we have correct beliefs we can be struggling to keep commandments but still be righteous because we can repent. But if we have incorrect beliefs, we are no longer facing the right way and we cannot repent. I think the Lord would much rather see us continually fall into willpower temptation, admit that we have sinned but continually repent and strive to achieve the standard that He has set than to fall into rational temptation and adjust, reject, or dilute His standard.
I think that is also why Satan works so hard to deceive us and get us to fall into rational temptation — more so than perhaps anything else. In fact, of all the descriptions of Satan, it is possible he is associated with deception more than any other attribute:
“[T]he Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).
“And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will” (Moses 4:3–4).
Not being deceived — and establishing correct beliefs based on truth — is essential to our salvation.
“And the angel spake unto me, saying: These last records… shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and shall make known the plain and precious things which have been taken away from them; and shall make known… that the Lamb of God is the Son of the Eternal Father, and the Savior of the world; and that all men must come unto him, or they cannot be saved.
“And they must come according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb” (1 Ne. 13:39-40).
In many ways, one of the main purposes of the restoration of the gospel was to allow us to have a full knowledge of how to come unto the Savior. It allows us to learn “the true points of [His] doctrine” (3 Ne. 21:6) and to come unto Him — not in our own way but — in His way “according to the words which shall be established by the mouth of the Lamb”.
Let us stay close to God and His prophets so that we can learn truth and form correct beliefs. Sometimes the belief that is the hardest to get right is the truth that God can help us, that He is mighty to save, and that His power can lift us up out of anything. He is there to help us, strengthen us, and forgive us, even when we are too weak to keep His commandments on our own. Being alive today requires a commitment to truth and the ability to discern and not be deceived. As we strive to stay close to God and keep the spirit with us, we can take heart in the gospel promise that:
“they that are wise and have received the truth, and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide, and have not been deceived—verily I say unto you, they shall not be hewn down and cast into the fire, but shall abide the day” (D&C 45:57).
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