Angel of Light - 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

11:13 - It’s interesting how God works because as we get to the part of the chapter that discusses false prophets and false doctrine, what do I hear on my way to work from the Ensign but a discussion about Korihor and him leading people astray because of false teachings. Korihor was obvious in his opposition to the gospel, teaching that there was not God, etc. This kind of deception might be more obvious because it all clearly contradicts the prophets and scripture. But I think the more sinister and pervasive destroyers are the ones Paul talks about who “are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.” It’s easy to look back at Paul’s day from our own and think, “how could someone possible say that they were an apostle of Jesus Christ, when they weren’t called and set apart into the Quorum of the Twelve?” We have to remember that even though the gospel is the same, circumstances were different back then. Now we have an organized world wide church which is familiar to billions around the world and has been for centuries. In Paul’s day, communications were limited, organization might have been there but this was a tumultuous time for Church leadership with people being martyred and imprisoned or just dying or apostatizing. I’d imagine that as Paul progressed in his missionary journey, he showed up to cities where no one had heard of Jesus Christ or did they know who he was. So by that logic, it’s reasonable to see how people could claim God’s authority and others could accept that. Especially when we consider that these people who are claiming to be apostles might have said, “Oh Paul said I could be the leader of the Church here when he was here last time.” And by the time it takes for anyone to verify that with Paul through letters, it’s probably been several months and this person has wreaked havoc by that point. This is why it’s so important for every Christian to be able to discern truth from error. 11:14 - This begs the question, why would someone be involved in the church at all, if they don’t want to follow the teachings? This was a very difficult concept for me to understand because I would never abuse my position in the church to manipulate people into doing what I want, so it never occurred to me that other people would do that. Honestly, learning this lesson was very painful. The gospel and Christ’s atonement are the reasons that we are here on this earth. His gospel brings hope, joy, love, happiness, fulfillment, and direction. By that logic, everything we do, say, and think about should be focused on the Savior and His teachings, because it’s literally the whole reason that we are here. Somewhere in this journey of humanity, people have decided that they don’t want to do what Jesus tells them to do, so they break away from it through various means, either flat out rejection or by tweaking gospel principles to suit their purposes. I believe that the vast majority of people who have ever lived are good people who have wanted to live in peace with their families. I believe that one of the reasons that religion is such widely accepted thing throughout the world, regardless of what the teachings are, is because we recognize the structure of a belief system that we knew in the premortal world. We walked by faith before we were born, and even though it was walking, it was still by faith. We did not have a perfect knowledge of all things, we believed what Heavenly Father told us, and I believe that we recognize the same mechanics of faith and belief and obedience in this life as we did premortally, even if the belief system isn’t focused on Jesus Christ. This means that belief systems can be incredibly powerful, because almost all contain pieces of truth that our spirits recognize and cling to, almost subconsciously. The power that is inherent in belief systems can be utilized for good, such as serving others, but it can also be manipulated for personal gain. I wonder at what point in human history, someone figured out that they could say something that someone agreed with and then change it just so slightly so that they could get money out of them, or influence, or sex, or food, or a better place to stay, etc. I bet it didn’t take very long. I imagine myself as someone who was raised by Adam and Eve in the gospel, but now as an adult I don’t want to make sacrifices anymore, or pray, or worship. But I also don’t want to go off into the desert alone, and everyone else still believes in the gospel. What do I do to get what I want? Would I respect everyone’s agency and be satisfied that they would make their own choices? Probably not. I would probably take the person that I was closest to and start poking holes in doctrine. I wouldn’t come out and say “I don’t believe it anymore and I don’t want you to believe it either so I feel less alone and guilty about my choices.” I would say, “yes the gospel is true, but…” or “I think that this certain teaching actually has this other meaning as well.” I would meet them where they were, which is believing in the gospel, and just slowly sow seeds of doubt. But here’s the kicker, you can’t sow seeds of doubt by teachings true doctrine, but the truth carries power with it, so I’d have to start changing things subtly. So again, why would someone be involved in the church if they didn’t want to follow the teachings? Because there is the potential for power and influence there, and they want some of that. Even Korihor and Sherem began their nefarious activities by being part of the gospel and just “interpreting” it differently than the prophets. They meet people where they are in their beliefs and instead of building up their faith and testimony like Jesus does, they tear them down. Paul even notes, “for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” People typically don’t respond well when someone comes out in open opposition to what they believe, even if their faith is flawed. But when someone approaches you appearing to be on the same level, they are easier to relate to, and convince. Just like knowledge of the truth is built line upon line, the tearing down of knowledge is usually also line by line. This is different than when people want to believe but genuinely have doubts or questions. They go searching for answers, looking for guidance, and that’s different than purposefully teaching false doctrine to manipulate people. Another question that is obvious is “why would people pretend to believe in something that they don’t and lie to others about it to turn them away from what they believe?” In our cynical world, I think it’s easy to see why people would do this. Beliefs, especially religious beliefs about a higher power, are extremely powerful. Someone who wants to be the center of that power doesn’t care about the well being of his followers, but instead only cares about their own welfare. Followers can and have been convinced to give money to their spiritual leaders, in fact this was a big contention between Paul and the Corinthians. Remember from yesterday, that the people of Corinth had been convinced by these false teachers that Paul’s authority was fake because he didn’t take money from them? That paves the perfect way to start a conversation about why they should get paid by the people though. Super shady. The natural motivations behind most people’s behavior is money, control, or sex. This is human nature and part of the “natural man” that the gospel cleans out of us. Because really, if we all lived this way, then the world would get really bloody really fast. And there are varying degrees of this in everyone, not everyone is a sociopath but without God or morality to temper these tendencies, then many more people would be unconcerned with others and more focused on themselves. But knowing these primitive driving forces can help us decide if someone is teaching what they believe to be truth or if they are trying to be manipulative. Let’s look at Paul for instance, not counting the fact that we know him to be a properly called and ordained Apostle of Jesus Christ. We just discussed his unwillingness to take money from the people. We know that he delegates his authority and praises the faithfulness and righteousness of those who work with him. And we know that he preaches and lives the law of chastity. What other motivations could he have for the work that he’s doing if not love and faith? People who are using their “beliefs” to manipulate others take their money, almost always, to enrich themselves. This is different than Paul accepting donations to help the less fortunately saints in other places, because he doesn’t use that money to make his own life more comfortable. For instance, I know with how much tithing I personally pay that the bishop could buy a brand-new sports car, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t increase the ease or luxury of his own lifestyle with any tithing money or church donations. This leads me to look at the other typical motivations to determine the worthiness of his message. Paul praises his companions publicly for the work, dedication, knowledge, and love. The manipulators take credit for the work done by the people below them, and praise the people above them because they think it will conjure favor for themselves. Being able to control the behaviors of others can not only give you a huge ego boost, but basically makes them your slaves. That’s the thing I realized when studying the war in heaven previously. Satan didn’t want to take away our agency so that we could all be saved in the celestial kingdom. He wasn’t trying to spare us any heartache or suffering. He was trying to make us slaves, and that’s what control is about. Then there’s sex. People use positions of authority and religious trust to sexually abuse others or convince or coerce them into a sexual relationship. This can be about the physical gratification but it can also be about power and simply the ability to hurt another person. Honestly, long story short, people are crazy and use religion and beliefs for their own personal gain all the time and in so many different ways. So, we need to be careful with what we take as gospel and what we question further. No one who is a genuine disciple of Christ will EVER dismiss your desire for personal confirmation of their teachings. They will welcome it because ultimately, your testimony is your own, and turning to Christ for assurance and further knowledge is how a strong testimony is built.