The Lion Sleeps Tonight. Not!

“What’s One Going to Hurt?”

Fifteen year old Emily said to herself.

Emily’s Dad was Stake President, her mother and siblings were all active LDS.  They went to Church together, prayed together, read scriptures together, and had family home evenings.  Her parents loved her!   She loved them.  She was never abused.

Emily told me how she started drinking. She had one beer at her best friend’s party.  Most of the other teens at the party were LDS.  All encouraging her to try one beer – promising her it wouldn’t kill her.

They were right.  She didn’t die.  In fact it kind of made her feel good!

Satan is a Roaring Lion

In 1 Peter 5:8 Peter warns,

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a

roaring lion

walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

We have all seen in the movies a lion hanging out near a water hole and along comes a lone zebra.  The next thing you see is a lion jumping out of nowhere and in a matter of seconds the lion sinks his teeth into the prey.  It is all over for that zebra.

Like the zebra, Emily was unaware of the danger of addiction and how quickly Satan’s “plague” would consume her.  Emily reached the last stages of addiction within months.  (The same process can take years for an adult.)  Teens are very susceptible to quickly  be bound by “his [Satan’s] strong cord …” (2 Ne. 26:22).   Their naivete, immaturity, underdeveloped brain, lack of coping skills, and other youthful traits thrust them quickly to middle and late seasons of addiction (Spring Season, Summer Season, and Fall Season).   Literally within weeks tolerance developed and Emily was up to drinking a six-pack of beer with hardly feeling drunk!

The Safest Road to Hell is the Gradual One

C. S. Lewis, a Christian author, gave us a keen insight into devilish tactics. In a fictional letter, the master devil, Screwtape, instructs the apprentice devil Wormwood, who is in training to become a more experienced follower of Satan:

“You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. …It does not matter how small the sins are, provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. … Indeed, the safest road to Hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”(“The Screwtape Letters,” (1961), pg.56.)

Who has not heard or felt the temptations of Satan?  His voice typically sounds so reasonable and his message so easy to justify.

Satan, the hungry lion, is checking everything out.  He is watching us.  He is looking for vulnerability, weakness.  He is looking for his next prey to bring down.

Satan and his angels never take a vacation – not a month, not a week, not a day, not an hour, not even a nanosecond.

The Roaring Lion, is Not Sleeping Tonight

Not all youth progress as quickly as Emily.  Within a year she was using heroin, cocaine, marijuana and loved Ecstasy.  She had stopped going to high school and thought she might be pregnant.

By the time I saw her, she was considering suicide.

“Satan has had great success with this gullible generation.  As a consequence, literally hosts of people have been victimized by him and his angels“  James E. Faust, “‘The Great Imitator’,” Ensign, Nov. 1987.

A “Little Sin”

What’s

… one movie with a little sex,
… one comedian with a couple of crude jokes,
… one song with a few bad lyrics,
… missing one family home evening,
… missing one morning family prayer,

…… going to hurt?

It’s the “LITTLE sins” that cause more people to lose their exaltation in the celestial kingdom than all of the other sins combined – like the little sin of “indifference.” (Sterling W. Sill, “The Three I’s,” New Era, Aug. 1979.)

Gospel Principle:

Satan is like a hungry roaring lion.  He and his followers stalk the countryside waiting for you and me to let our guard down.  This “lion” never sleeps.  The only protection lies in the spirit of discernment through the gift of the Holy Ghost.  This gift comes by personal revelation and prayer.

Additional Information:

Using Prayer to fight the Lion.
Elder Bednar talks about prayer in a brief video.

James E. Faust, “‘The Great Imitator’,” Ensign, Nov. 1987.