(Essay on deception by SMSmith, posted in installments, from last to first; #2 of 7. © 2002)
This first recorded deception was twofold. First, that Lucifer could redeem all mankind so that not one soul would be lost; and second, that his genius merited exceptional reward above all others, including the Father (D&C 29:36; Isa. 14:13-14). We do not know the intricacies of Lucifer’s plan , but he sought to win allegiance to himself by promising some variance of the Father’s multifaceted Plan consisting of the plan of salvation (Alma 42:5); the plan of restoration / justice (Alma 41:2-3); the plan of redemption / mercy (Alma 42:11- 15);4 and the plan of happiness (Alma 42:8), all sustaining the eternal principle of agency.
Somehow a third part of the hosts of heaven were deceived into believing that the assured redemption promised by Lucifer was preferable to the Father’s plan (D&C 29:36). One can imagine the fear Lucifer sought to instill as he enumerated the perils attending every mortal experience, but even more alarming, the odds against a mortal Jesus remaining sinless while subject to the flesh.5 If, by some impossibility such were realized, what chance, he might have argued, was there that the Savior would then honor his commitment to suffer beyond measure and die when the power was in him to live forever? If Jesus failed on either count, then even those who had chosen righteousness would be irretrievably lost (Jacob 7:12; Alma 34:9). There had to be an easier, surer way to inherit eternal life!
And so the deception began—one that soon evolved into a theology of redemption through the grace of God without need for repentance, baptism, obedience, or endurance. Nehor taught this doctrine of reward without requisite effort (Alma 1:4, 15; 15:15), and it persists to this day—dark shadows from the premortal council.
This easier-way rationale translates into a something-for-nothing or a disproportionate-reward syndrome. This is the deception that excuses idleness; claims privilege without responsibility; and seeks happiness without obedience. It underpins gambling and sweepstakes addictions and motivates some aspects of the drug and alcohol culture as partakers attempt a chemical shortcut to a spiritual place.
The Lord’s response to this short-cut theology is the law of the harvest. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal. 6:7; also D&C 6:33; Mosiah 7:30).
The “surely-I-will-do-it” attitude lives on in every oppressive personality. Deceived as to their own self-sufficiency, they or their oppressive regimes pursue visions of utopian control, trampling upon God-given rights and proscribing others in their opinions and beliefs. At another extreme, this same self-sufficiency underpins the tragic misconception of good people who strive to achieve personal perfection by their own endeavor without looking to “the great Mediator of all men.”
The “my-way” mindset leads many to reject the will of God and the missions of their life because “When they are learned [or stubborn or in love] they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves,” (2 Ne. 9:28). But those who reject God’s path will someday have to acknowledge “that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness” (Alma 38:9). The promise is sure that “whoso would hearken unto the word of God, and would hold fast unto it, they would never perish; neither could the temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction” (1 Ne. 15:24).
The second aspect of this first deception—the glory-seeking—still fills the world. It feeds the demand for excessive compensation, honors, powers, or privileges because of talent, ingenuity, education, wealth, position, race, social ranking, fame, and so forth. It supports the class system that was so distressing to Alma (Alma 4:12, 15) for it proves the cause of so much oppression, suffering, sorrow, excess, and poverty.
To those who seek elevated privilege, the Lord’s example is enlightening: “But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10: 42-45); “and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Ne. 26:33; see also D&C 38:24-25).
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4 Jacob refers to a plan of deliverance (2 Ne. 11:5), but this seems to be a broader term encompassing both the plan of salvation (from physical death) and the plan of redemption (from spiritual death).
5 Jesus was also divine (see James E. Talmage, Jesus the Christ, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1970, p. 21), but the mortal aspect of his nature was that which might have been perceived to put the Father’s plan at risk.
