I learned about agency one Sunday and it wasnt in church.
Editors Note: This is another in a series of excerpts from the book “The War in Heaven Continues: Satans Tactics to Destroy You, Christianity, the Family, the Constitution, and America” by Gary Lawrence. The book will be published in September.
Next weeks excerpt: “It Doesnt Take a Village, Idiot; It Takes a Family”
I learned that quite nicely one Sabbath and it wasnt in church. I was working my way through college as a rock-and-roll disc jockey in Provo, Utah Beatles, Beach Boys, top-60 hits, enthusiasm, punchy comments, go go go. Tiring as can be. It was in the day when stations signed off at 1:00am and came back on the air at 5:00am, and one Sunday it was my turn to open up. Well, it had been a bad week mid-terms, social life a fizzle, not much sleep, and now I have to be a top-of-my-game DJ? I thought, “This is crazy. Who in the deepest heart of Mormondom wants to hear rock n roll at five oclock on a Sunday morning?” So I went into the stacks, found a long Brahms concerto (dont ask me why it was even on the premises), put it on the turntable and took a nap.
Action. Consequences. Turns out there were people who wanted rock n roll on a Sunday morning before dawn. And they told the boss. Scratch one radio career.
A fine clear-cut lesson in agency.
Force us to do good?
Because of Lucifers boast prior to the war in heaven “that one soul shall not be lost” were he chosen to be the son of God, some have assumed that his plan was to force mankind to do good, thus rescuing them and bringing them all back to live in the presence of God one big happy family.
This doesnt hold up. As Mormon explained:
But whatsoever thing persuadeth men to do evil, and believe not in Christ, and deny him, and serve not God, then ye may know with a perfect knowledge it is of the devil; for after this manner doth the devil work, for he persuadeth no man to do good, no, not one; neither do his angels; neither do they who subject themselves unto him.[1] [Emphasis added]
To think otherwise is to grant Satan an undeserved sliver of sympathy. Can anyone really think that Satan was willing to do the Fathers will, would have paid for our sins, would have redeemed us, would have given his life for us? No. There was and is no love in that being. The good and the commendable have no place in his kingdom. The letters are the same, but Satan is not Santa. He is a destroyer an unadulterated, unalloyed, uncompromising destroyer.
So how did he persuade a third part of the hosts of heaven to follow him?
It doesnt make sense that people would have chosen to be forced to do anything. They didnt. They followed Lucifer because he peddled the whopper that they could indulge their pleasures and he would guarantee they would all return to heaven. This “do whatever you want” enticement this separation of consequences from actions is laid out at least four times in the Book of Mormon: [Emphases added]
- Nephi taught that “there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God.”[2]
- Moroni prophesied that “there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day.”[3]
- Korihor, the antichrist, taught that “every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength; and whatsoever a man did was no crime.”[4]
- Another Book of Mormon villain, Nehor, implied there would be no consequences to actions, no matter number or severity: “And he also testified unto the people that all mankind should be saved at the last day, and that they need not fear nor tremble, but that they might lift up their heads and rejoice; for the Lord had created all men, and had also redeemed all men; and, in the end, all men should have eternal life.”[5]
The same supposed escape from consequences is also embedded in the idea that men will be saved in their sins rather than redeemed from their sins.[6]
No consequences. Squishy justice and warrantless mercy. A guaranteed return ticket, an easy short cut, salvation without effort, something for nothing, risk-free sin. It definitely appealed to the lazy, the gullible, and the free-lunch crowd billions of them.
Who pulls the strings?
I find it intriguing that Lehi, as he counsels his son Jacob in 2 Nephi 2, explicitly mentions “act and not be acted upon” three times, and implicitly a fourth.[7]
Why this emphasis? President James E. Faust gives us the reason:
Being acted upon means somebody else is pulling the strings.[8]
Thats the puppetry visual. When we act, we call out own shots and pull our own strings the essence of agency. When were acted upon, we are puppets and somebody else pulls the strings.
Lehi warned Jacob and all us to watch out for string pullers, those who want to make decisions for us. They are everywhere from well-meaning busybodies to tolerable authoritarians to outright tyrants. They love bossing others around. Each is a danger to your and my eternal progress. Each is a danger to your being your own agent.
Satan wants anybody and everybody to pull your strings except you.
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Gary Lawrence is a pollster and author who lives in Orange County, California.
He welcomes comments at ga**@la**************.com.
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[1] Moroni 7:17
[2] 2 Nephi 28:8
[3] Mormon 8:31
[4] Alma 30:17
[5] Alma 1:4
[6] Helaman 5:10
[7] 2 Nephi 2:13, 14, 26, and 16.