In 1780, Benedict Arnold was given command of the strategic fortifications at West Point, New York. Shortly after his assignment was given, Arnold plotted to surrender his position for a cash payment from the British. His scheme was discovered and he fled for his life to the British lines, where he was given command of the forces fighting against the same troops he had once led.
Arnold lived the remainder of his life in exile in England. His name has since become synonymous with treason and betrayal. To this day, he has been removed or omitted from monuments and many historical records.
Like Benedict Arnold, the scriptures record that an angel of God, "who was in authority in the presence of God", "rebelled against the Only Begotten Son... [and] was thrust down from the presence of God and the Son. And was called Perdition, for the heavens wept over him-- he was Lucifer, a son of the morning" (D&C 76:25-26).
John the Beloved described:
And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him (Revelation 12:7-9).
On earth, the devil and his followers, "maketh war with the saints of God, and encompasseth them round about" (D&C 76:29). They are the authors of the great lies in the world that deny the power of God and seek to destroy faith and families, the unity of communities and the peace of nations. They seek perdition, which is destruction and damnation, and rebellion against the throne of God and His church and kingdom.
Lucifer carries the titles of Serpent, Devil, Perdition and Satan in the same way that Jesus Christ is called the Only Begotten of the Father, the Prince of Peace, Eternal, Savior and Redeemer. The followers of the devil are sometimes called sons of perdition. None of them obtained this status in a rash moment of unclear thinking or by some kind of unfortunate accident. In the premortal realm, these rebelled in the presence of God. Those who join the ranks of the sons of perdition in this world choose to follow Satan in defiance of divine knowledge delivered through the power of the Holy Ghost. President Spencer W. Kimball taught that "the sin against the Holy Ghost [to become a son of perdition] requires such knowledge that it is manifestly impossible for the rank and file to commit such a sin" (The Miracle of Forgiveness [1969], 123).
The sons of perdition are traitors and mutineers. They are men and women who have experienced the favor of the Lord, who know of his blessings and goodness, who have been trusted and rendered service and yet would still betray him and us to crucify the Lord again if they could. They have received every possible opportunity to change and have defiantly remained toxic and rebellious in the most extreme ways. Our own salvation requires their influence be severed from our lives.
Speaking of the sons of perdition, the Lord said:
Thus saith the Lord concerning all those who know my power, and have been made partakers thereof, and suffered themselves through the power of the devil to be overcome, and to deny the truth and defy my power-- They are they who are the sons of perdition, of whom I say that it had been better for them never to have been born; For they are vessels of wrath doomed to suffer the wrath of God, with the devil and his angels in eternity; Concerning whom I have said there is no forgiveness in this world nor in the world to come... And the only ones on whom the second death shall have any power; Yea, verily, the only ones who shall not be redeemed in the due time of the Lord, after the sufferings of his wrath (D&C 76:25-38, emphasis added).
The "second death" refers to separation from the presence of God. Though none of us walk with God as we once did, we are sustained by the Light of Christ, our conscience, and can often feel of God's love and direction through the Holy Ghost. When we die, we will be judged and enter one of three kingdoms of glory. The Apostle Paul explained:
All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial, and bodies telestial; but the glory of the celestial is one; and the terrestrial, another; and the telestial, another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians 15:40-42).
Even the liars, murderers and adulterers in the Telestial Kingdom, those who we might call the "children of their own desire", will be compelled to suffer for their sins in hell for a time and one day emerge from their redemptive process to live forever in a telestial glory. They will be resurrected and experience the presence of God through the Holy Ghost.
The sons of perdition have no such hope. They will be separated from God through all eternity in a dark and miserable hell comparable only to fire and brimstone. Such is the fate of traitors.
The treachery of Benedict Arnold is not in what happened because of his treason. His act was discovered, West Point remained under American control and the United States won the war a couple of years later. Arnold's treason was only directly responsible for one death: the messenger who carried the plot was caught and hanged.
Lucifer's treachery is arguably much more destructive, but the end results are unchanged. The Lord's plan is already accomplished. Christ has won the victory over sin and death. The outcome is certain.
The treachery of Benedict Arnold's treason, and of Lucifer's mutiny, was not the consequences of his choice but simply that he had a choice. He was an American patriot and hero. He needed only to remain loyal to be rewarded far beyond the 20,000 pounds he desired from the British. Instead, he abandoned what he wanted most for a cash payment he never received and a life of shameful infamy.
We also have a choice. In the true church of Jesus Christ, we covenant to take his name upon ourselves through baptism. As we do, we become "the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters" (Mosiah 5:7).
Paul said it simply: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:26-27). "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together" (Romans 8:17).
All Benedict Arnold needed to do was to stay loyal to George Washington and the United States. To receive celestial glory, we need only to become the sons and daughters of God, the children of Christ, through making and keeping sacred baptismal covenants. The results are known, we need only decide whose side we are on-- Perdition, who will lose, or the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Good Shepherd, the Creator, and the Prince of Peace, who has already won.
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