Angry men thought that Joseph Smith was lying to the public about the “golden Bible” that he had.
They thought Joseph was deceiving many people into supporting and believing him.
And so an evil plan entered their minds…
And they chose to keep thinking it:
“Why don’t we steal the transcribed pages, alter them, and then frame Joseph after he re-translates?
“Sure, it involves lying and deception on our end.
“But it’s okay because we are exposing lying and deception.”
Thus, the plan was put in place.
And a book of scripture was lost to our generation.
It can feel tempting to fight sin with the same type of sin and feel justified in doing it.
If someone is angry with me, I’m going to become angry with them, too.
If someone is outraged at something, I’m going to become outraged at how outraged they are.
If someone complains a lot to me, I’m going to complain to other people about how much they complain.
Satan wants us to believe that we are justified in sinning.
And he’ll use any strategy to get us there.
And I think he has succeeded quite a bit with this strategy in particular—
Sinning with the illusion that it is justified because of another’s (real or perceived) sin.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.” (D&C 10:28)
God doesn’t want us “fighting fire with fire.”
He wants us to keep His commandments and show love with integrity to all.
No matter what those around us choose to do.
He wants us to fight fire with love and peace.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
