Captivity - how to avoid it

1 Nephi 14 explains that those who fight against the church and the Lamb of God will fall prey to their own traps.

3 And that great ^apit, which hath been digged for them by that great and abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children, that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell—yea, that great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their utter destruction, saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of the soul, save it be the casting of it into that ^bhell which hath no end.

4 For behold, this is according to the ^acaptivity of the devil, and also according to the justice of God, upon all those who will work wickedness and abomination before him.

As I've thought more about captivity, I've learned that it's the wickedness of the world and unwillingness to keep the commandments of God that brings captivity. That's what ensnares the wicked. As they fight against God and his commandments or express ignorance in spiritual matters, they become stuck in bad thoughts/habits that will drag them down.

Thus, it's the righteousness of the Saints that protects them as the Saints avoid the evil of the world and the bad habits/ruts that come with it:

13 And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to ^afight against the Lamb of God.

14 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were ^aarmedwith ^brighteousness and with the ^cpower of God in great glory.

As the time comes closer to the coming of Christ, it'll be more and more clear which side we're on. Our lives and the choices we make each day will delineate for us:

7 For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a ^amarvelous work among the children of men; a ^bworkwhich shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto ^cpeace and ^dlife eternal, or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the ^ecaptivity of the devil, of which I have spoken.

Have a good day: