And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
Colossians 2:4
Beguile (verb) – HOODWINK: To lead by deception
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
The apostle Paul warned the members of the church against people who would try to deceive them. His warning is even more pertinent today.
There are many people and organizations in our world who want to “beguile” us. As the Book of Mormon teaches, these evil people are motivated by their desire for worldly power and gain. Paul pointed out that their primary tool is “enticing words.”
Entice (verb) – To attract artfully or adroitly or by arousing hope or desire: TEMPT
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Latter-day Saints are not immune from deception
Members of the modern-day Church of Jesus Christ are not exempt or immune from beguilement or temptation. In fact, we are the primary target. The Church of Jesus Christ is (or at least should be) the primary force for love, peace, goodness, and truth in the world. If Satan can deceive the Latter-day Saints, he will have gone a long way toward accomplishing his goals.
Here is the bad news. Satan is succeeding. He has hoodwinked a large portion of the members of the Church. In fact, many members of the Church are actively working to promote Satan’s program of hunger, poverty, disease, ignorance, division, violence, and misery.
I am, of course, referring to these member’s continued blind overwhelming support for the unapologetically divisive, corrosive, corrupt, authoritarian, fascist, Republican party and their narcissistic, whiny, bullying, would-be dictator, leader.
Let me say this clearly. Do not be deceived. The Republican party is actively working to destroy democracy in America. They have already corrupted the courts; they continue to attack voting rights; and now they have placed a 2020 election denier (and co-conspirator) as second in line to the presidency.
Also, many Republicans in the House of Representatives are working against funding to support Ukraine in its war against the Russian invaders. Vladimir Putin is very pleased.
It will be our fault
The Book of Mormon shows repeatedly what can happen – what might be about to happen. If our democracy collapses, just as in the Book of Mormon, it will be the fault of the members of the Church who became corrupted (or blinded) and actively supported the overthrow of the government.
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Colossians 2:8
Vanity (noun) – inflated pride in oneself or one’s appearance: CONCEIT
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
As Paul points out, deceit works through our vanity. Our conceit makes us vulnerable to trickery. The easiest person to fool is the person who doesn’t believe they can be fooled.
People go along with the lies and deception, even make excuses for the liars, because their vanity leads them to believe they are always right. This is especially dangerous for Mormons because we believe we have special access to the truth through revelation. We forget that finding truth requires the humility to listen, a willingness to learn something new, and the ability to change our minds.
Many people grew up believing (mistakenly) that their church beliefs required them to vote Republican, and they have (blindly) done so their entire lives. Their pride (and vanity) will not allow them to recognize that the moderate Eisenhower Republican party is long gone. Even the corporate-loving, union-busting, Ronald Reagan would not recognize the current Republican party.
To use the words of the Apostle Paul, a combination of “enticing words” and vanity have “spoiled” modern American Republicans.
Spoil (verb) – To damage seriously: RUIN
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Wake up and repent
LDS Republicans have had multiple opportunities, over decades, to wake up and repent. The Republican party, while pretending to represent “family values,” has long been hostile to living wages, affordable health care, public and higher education, a clean and healthy environment, affordable child care, lower drug costs, affordable housing, public transportation, common sense gun regulation, and equality under the law.
The continual Republican political efforts to oppose making life better for the people are NOT, in any way, Christian. Elected Republicans favor power and money over people EVERY TIME. To see the majority of Latter-day Saints (in the U.S.) voting for these corrupt, selfish, demagogues, in election after election, saddens me deeply.
I don’t get why people like being lied to.
Adam Kinzinger, former Republican US Congressman
Political sanity
But the ultimate litmus test for political sanity is whether a person supports Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States.
Perhaps someone could have voted for him the first time out of party habit (if you ignored “Grab ’em by the ___”). If you completely disregard 4 years of bullying, narcissism, cozying up to dictators, and dangerous incompetence while he was in office, perhaps someone could have voted for him a second time.
But his behavior after losing the 2020 election, his BIG LIE and his organized attempt to violently overthrow the Constitution, completely disqualifies him from ever holding ANY public office ever again. By not repudiating Trump after January 6, 2021, the Republican party has lost any remaining integrity it may have had.
After avoiding major consequences for his crimes for decades, this toxic narcissist has now been charged with 91 criminal offenses in four different jurisdictions – including conspiracy to defraud the United States. The amount of evidence against him is staggering.
How, in the name of all that is holy, can this illiterate bully possibly be the overwhelming frontrunner for the Republican nomination for President?? And how can his strongest support continue to come from people who claim to be Christian???
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Matthew 24:24
Apparently it is possible to “deceive the very elect.” It is happening right before our eyes.
Sources:
Adam Kinzinger, “Rep. Adam Kinzinger on investigating Jan. 6 and being a ‘Renegade’ in the GOP,” Fresh Air, NPR, October 31, 2023.
Amy O’Cruk and Curt Merrill, “Donald Trump’s criminal cases, in one place,” CNN, Updated August 31, 2023.
Yeah, it’s a mystery. But not an un-precidented situation.
3 Now the leader of those who were wroth against their brethren was a large and a strong man; and his name was Amalickiah.
4 And Amalickiah was desirous to be a king; and those people who were wroth were also desirous that he should be their king; and they were the greater part of them the lower judges of the land, and they were seeking for power.
5 And they had been led by the flatteries of Amalickiah, that if they would support him and establish him to be their king that he would make them rulers over the people.
6 Thus they were led away by Amalickiah to dissensions, notwithstanding the preaching of Helaman and his brethren, yea, notwithstanding their exceedingly great care over the church, for they were high priests over the church.
7 And there were many in the church who believed in the flattering words of Amalickiah,…
9 Yea, and we also see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men.
10 Yea, we see that Amalickiah, because he was a man of cunning device and a man of many flattering words, that he led away the hearts of many people to do wickedly; yea, and to seek to destroy the church of God, and to destroy the foundation of liberty which God had granted unto them, or which blessing God had sent upon the face of the land for the righteous’ sake.
The other choice is this one:
7 Now it came to pass that while Amalickiah had thus been obtaining power by fraud [consider the current trials] and deceit [consider the thousands of documented lies], Moroni, on the other hand, had been preparing the minds of the people to be faithful unto the Lord their God.
When winning votes takes precedence over principles, that is when we are in trouble. We are in trouble.
The BofM is full of examples of what is happening today…and still many LDS just follow along blindly the very man (?) who claims “I alone can fix it”..while the scriptures tell us to be wary of these types of people and yet so many in the church have complete faith in him but all I can see is thathe has divided many families, friends and communities in this country.