We have been warned repeatedly that the last days would be perilous. I'm afraid that we are firmly bogged down in these perilous times. There is much in the world that is firmly in the control of the Adversary. But the promises to those who will repent are strong and reliable. If we will come to rely on the Lord and His mighty arm, we will be OK regardless of everything else that's going on in the world. We will overcome.
The Adversary's methods have become refined of late. Gone are the visible idols of Baal and Moloch. Gone are the golden calves and the marbled halls built to a pantheon of gods. Gone are the very obvious devilish and damning practices - they were designed to deceive the weak and they worked for a season. Now he seeks to deceive the strong and he must change tactics.
Now we have Satan whispering in people's ears that there is no Satan. He tells people that a little sin is OK - God loves us and will save all of us! How can we doubt God's love?!? He tells us that it is OK to build up churches that are bedecked with all kinds of finery - after all, God would want His people to be prosperous. He tells us that life is good - all is well - and that we are justified in our lifestyles, even if we forget the poor and the needy. After all, they should learn to take care of themselves - pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps. He tells us that we don't even need to consider God - God understands if things come in the way of attending church meetings or responsibilities. And most insidious of all, he lulls us into a sleep of apathy and ignorance, closing our eyes to the depravity in which we wallow, tempting us not with idols of gold or silver, but of gilt pleasures and empty, vapid smiles. We don't have idols, but we do have American Idol. We don't worship the calf, but we do worship the calfskin or the pigskin or the horsehide or the dimpled white ball or the vacation.
In this way, as Nephi prophecied, our souls are cheated and we are carefully led down to hell.
Marilyn Manson is not the devil. Ozzy is not the devil. The devil does not come in such packages - it's too obvious. The devil works in lies, deceit, and subtlety. He comes in attractive packages and forms. He comes in beautiful women full of lusts. He comes in well-dressed men with learned degrees and smooth tongues. He comes smiling and well groomed and wins our trust with mostly-truths and deceives the whole world. He tells us we deserve a life of ease and comfort while the world languishes. He tells us that our immediate needs and wants are of paramount importance - slaking our thirst for entertainment, fun, adventure, while numbing our souls and distancing ourselves from the things of the Spirit. He tells us that family relationships are tolerated at best and when inconvenient they may be discarded in the name of self realization and self fulfillment. He tells us that that instant gratification is the highest and best avenue for all situations - do whatever feels right and good now, regardless of the consequences. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!
Thus our house looks fine, while the foundation thereof is being slowly eaten away. And the fall will be great and disastrous.
There is a way to avoid this - we must awake ourselves from his awful chains with which we are bound. We need to rouse our faculties to become sensitive once again to the gentle promptings of the Holy Spirit. And in doing this, we must repent and draw close to the Lord. In this way, we will find a truer and more lasting happiness than we have ever known or imagined, a joy that will come from God and will be delicious to our souls as water in the desert to the thirsty and bread to the hungry. Because we do thirst and hunger, but Christ said that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled with the Holy Ghost - that unspeakable gift that is the manifestation and testator of God's love for us.
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