The complacent constitute the second category of those drawn into the devil’s snare. They do not actively embrace evil (like the angry), but they are passive in not resisting it. Nephi here warns those associated with the apostate churches. Regardless of the goodness to be found in these groups, they lack the fulness of the gospel. Because they are satisfied with less than the true gospel, they inadvertently follow Satan’s designs—not because they are evil but because they will not focus their hearts, souls, and energies on following the true way.
This warning is also relevant for Latter-day Saints who appreciate the restoration of the gospel but who do not actively seek the fulness of the gospel or its transforming power. The Lord warned, though Joseph Smith: “Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness; For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their reward. But he that doeth not anything until he is commanded, and receiveth a commandment with doubtful heart, and keepeth it with slothfulness, the same is damned” (D&C 58:27–29).