Lyings Sent Forth

After the incredible miracle of a day and night and day without darkness, there were many Nephites who started to believe and “began to know that the Son of God must shortly appear.” It would seem that with such an incredible miracle—visible to all the inhabitants of the land—all doubt would flee. But the adversary was determined to fight against these miracles and signs. Immediately after this happened, “There began to be lyings sent forth among the people, by Satan, to harden their hearts, to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen.” Mormon recorded one of the tragic effects of these lyings sent forth among the believers: “And there was also a cause of much sorrow among the Lamanites; for behold, they had many children who did grow up and began to wax strong in years, that they became for themselves, and were led away by some who were Zoramites, by their lyings and their flattering words, to join those Gadianton robbers. And thus were the Lamanites afflicted also, and began to decrease as to their faith and righteousness, because of the wickedness of the rising generation” (3 Nephi 1:17, 22, 29-30). These lies sent forth by Satan impacted this rising generation who were swayed by the world to disbelieve in the spiritual knowledge of their parents. The people, and surely these young people of the rising generation, “began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen—Imagining up some vain thing in their hearts, that it was wrought by men and by the power of the devil, to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people; and thus did Satan get possession of the hearts of the people again, insomuch that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing” (3 Nephi 2:1-2). These verses serve as warning for us today that great spiritual manifestations are often accompanied with great efforts by the adversary to discredit that which is good and true.

                Yesterday I had a conversation with a friend who lamented the terrible effect social media can have on the young. He was mourning the end of a marriage of a close family member whose wife had let social media turn her against her husband. I thought of that in connection with these verses, for perhaps these events at the time of Nephi were recorded to help warn us in our day against the pernicious effects the digital climate we live in today can have. It was more challenging to spread “lyings” in the meridian of time, and yet the adversary still made it happen. Now with access to millions of people instantly through social media, the lyings and deceiving and flattering words and anger and hate can be spread almost instantly. Surely this description is valid for our time as much as it was for the Nephites and Lamanites: “Satan did go about, leading away the hearts of the people, tempting them and causing them that they should do great wickedness in the land” (3 Nephi 2:3). In the wake of a terrible shooting last week, the Utah governor warned again about the dangers of social media and the hate and polarization it can produce. He said to our rising generation: “I want to challenge you to spend less time online where outrage has become so normal and more time in the real world, put down your phone, read something that lifts your spirit, go outside, laugh with your friends, serve your neighbors.”  Surely we do need more of those things, especially the youth. The deceitful words and ideas spread by the adversary after the incredible signs from heaven among the Nephites and Lamanites led to the worst possible outcome: the cultivation of the Gadianton robbers: “The Gadianton robbers had become so numerous, and did slay so many of the people, and did lay waste so many cities, and did spread so much death and carnage throughout the land” (3 Nephi 2:11). That is where Satan wants to lead us, and we must be vigilant to protect the rising generation from the lying and deceiving and evil so readily accessible online which seeks to pull them down forbidden paths. Instead, we must follow the counsel of Lachoneus who stood against them: “As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers” (3 Nephi 3:15). We need more repentance and prayer, combined with more faith and unity, to combat the world’s deceit seeking to drive the rising generation away from the covenant path.