Why is there so much about the devil and his work in a book of God? Modern prophets have told us that one of the great values of this book is that it exposes the enemies of Christ. We are informed about the evil so we can recognize it and prepare against it. The devil is the supreme rebel, the master terrorist. He stirs people up to “rage” and “anger against that which is good.” He openly denounces that which is good, such as the Book of Mormon, the true Church of Jesus Christ, the power of God, marriage, family, chastity, integrity, and all things spiritual and eternal.
There is more detail on the devil’s methods. These verses lay out four tactics of the adversary: (1) to stir up people to anger against that which is good; (2) to pacify Church members and give them a false sense of security based on the supposed power of humans to accomplish all they want or think is needful; (3) to flatter the prideful; and (4) to deceive people into thinking that there is no such thing as absolute truth, right and wrong, temptation, or the being known as the devil. A fifth tactic implied here is to attack doctrine and ordinances. Of tactic number four, someone once said that to believe there is no devil is roughly the equivalent of not believing in land mines while standing in the middle of a clearly marked minefield.
Note the verbs used in verses 21 and 22: pacify, lull away, cheat, lead carefully down, flatter away, whisper, and grasp. He leads some, even members of the Church, to be pacified and lulled away into a false sense of security, deceiving them to think that “all is well in Zion.” Actually, in one sense, things are well in Zion, meaning the pure in heart, but Nephi seems to be seeing those who are apathetic and not taking a firm stand in defense of the truth; who are basking in the comforts of the world; who are ingesting the low morals of movies, music, and reading material and endorsing the low life of many Hollywood actors and actresses and professional athletes; who are enjoying a celebration of intellectualism and believing that maybe there really is no God and there is no devil—a belief that loosens morals and removes restraints.
This spawns Satan’s strategy of “incremental entrapment,” as John Bytheway likes to call it: “lie upon lie, decept upon decept … little compromises [that] eventually become large concessions.” 86