We have a friendly nickname for our son Isaiah. Many of you have already heard it. We call him Huckleberry Finn.
If you know Isaiah, you will understand why this name fits so well. I have a story about our little Huck that will illustrate for you the topic of my post.
Isaiah loves to be outdoors, playing in the woods, making forts, riding on the tractor with his dad and siblings, watching us mow the lawn, taking five mile bike rides without his mother's permission, etc.
But I think his favorite thing is to play in or around our lake. We have fish in the lake that he watches quietly for hours. He walks around and around the lake watching, throwing crickets, bread chunks, bugs, and watching the fish eat the treats he scatters.
One day Andrew went around the lake with Isaiah and came back to report that the fish follow Isaiah around the edges of the lake. Where he goes, they go. I thought that was pretty humorous. They follow him even when he doesn't throw food. This has gone on for months.
Well, recently I bought him a fishing pole.
Do you think it took long for Isaiah to get his first catch?!
Before I could hardly say "Huckleberry Finn", he had two huge bass ready for the frying pan!!
As I pondered this event, I began to think about how Satan deceives us. I think like this story, he is slow, steady, patient, and maybe even a bit friendly. (I am in no way comparing my son to the devil, only trying to illustrate what has to be done if you want to bait, catch, or trap something.) 
Likening how Isaiah baited the fish for months with free food with no hooks attached, I think Satan baits us for a long time before he moves in for the kill. He makes us feel safe first. How about the scripture in 2 Nephi 28:21-22? 21And others will he pacify, and LULL them away into carnal SECURITY, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea Zion prospereth, all is well--- and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away CAREFULLY down to hell.
22And behold,others he FLATTERETH away, and telleth them there is no hell; and he sayeth unto them: I am no devil, for there is none--- and thus he whispereth in their ears, until he grasps them with his awful chains from whence there is no deliverance.
A very interesting quote from C.S. Lewis gives us keen insight into devlish tactics. In the fictional letter, the master devil, Screwtape, instructs the apprentice devil, Wormwood, who is training to become a more experienced devil:
" You will say 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 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."
Many years ago, President Monson was on assignment to the Island of Tonga. He tells of visiting a classroon where the instructor had in his hand a strange appearing lure made with a round stone and large seashells. It was called a maka-feke, meaning "octopus lure".
The teacher explained that tongan fishermen glide over a reef, paddling their outrigger canoes with one hand and dangling the maka-feke over the side with the other. An octopus dashes out from its rocky lair and seizes the lure, mistaking it for a much desired meal. So determined is the grasp of the octopus, and so firm is its instinct not to give up the precious prize, that the fisherman can flip it right into the canoe. President Monson says, "Today we are surrounded by maka-fekes with which satan attempts to entice us and then ensnare us. Once grasped, such maka-fekes are ever so difficult-- and sometimes nearly impossible-- to relinquish."What are the maka-fekes in our lives? We can think of the maka-fekes of the world, such as drugs, alcohol, immorality, pornography, etc. I have thought of a few others that can become maka-fekes if not in proper balance:
How about shopping...Love of money, pride...
How about abusing our bodies with food, making it our comforter?I am sure we can all personally think of many, many more.
May we all pray for discernment, so that we will not be "led carefully down to hell", having our souls cheated by the devil who pacifies and flatters us.
This post has been adapted and condensed from a talk I gave recently in church.
4 comments:
Shellie, thanks for sharing this.
I carry around a quote in my scriptures that reminds me of this:
"Every transgression, regardless of how minor, makes us more susceptible to Satan's influence the next time he tempts us. Satan takes us an inch at a time, deceiving us as to the consequences of so-called minor sins until he captures us in major transgressions. Nephi describes this technique as one of pacifying, lulling, and flattering us away until Satan grasps [us] with his awful chains, from whence there is no deliverance."
Richard C. Edgley.
Thanks again!
I love the Isaiah/huck finn and maka feke analogies. I saw a similar example when I was at PCC. Some of the islanders were showing me how to catch prawns off the edge of a river bank. If the prawns see you, they hide as quickly as possible. The lure that seemed to make them loose all sense of danger, however, was simply a piece of coconut on the end of the stick. The snare was another small coconut leaf spine with a slip noose at the end.
Once you offer the coconut, the prawns come right to it and eat it eventhough they can see you. The snare is slowly moved past the prawn, to the tip of its tail and then very gently moved up the underbelly and then with a simple yank, becomes dinner.
When I saw this, I immediately made the connection with Satan and how he tempts us. Hopefully we stregnthen ourselves so that we are not as predictable as the feke, the fish or the prawn.
Very thought provoking. Thank you. I love the story of Huckleberry Finn. How cute. That is so funny that the fish love Isaiah so much.
Thank you, Shell, and thanks everyone for your thoughts and comments. It really gets you thinking, doesn't it?! We can all do better, can't we?! Thanks for the reminder. :-)
Cute story about Huck, too! :-)
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