Satan's Traps

Feb. 20

2 Nephi 27-30

27:1 "But behold, in the last days, or in the days of the Gentiles - yea, all the nations of the gentile, and also the Jews... they will be drunken with iniquity and all manner of abominations."

Application: Don't start in Satan's game. You can't win.

Principle: When we sin it changes the way that we think and the way that we act. 

Doctrine: We are held captive by the effects of our sins. 2 Nephi 2:26

• Just yesterday i saw this principle take effect. I was sitting down, and I was all prepared to study. Before my studies I decided to heck my phone for something, and next thing I knew I was messing around with some game on my phone. I got bored with that one so I moved on to another one, and then I got bored with that one so I moved on to watching movie trailers. I had spent over an hour messing around, and between the idleness and some inappropriate movie trailers my brain was shot. I was apathetic, "Who cares about biology? It's a stupid class anyway, it won't hurt my GPA too bad if I get a C." At one point I even considered bagging the whole thing and not even taking the test. I also felt a little frustrated, "Does my professor understand the purpose of a general education class? He is making this test way too hard. I'm going to have to read from every chapter in the book and it's going to take hours because he won't give us a study guide like all the other professors." Inside I felt like all my arguments were wrong. However, I was doing a pretty good job of convincing myself. I was as good as drunk. 

          Luckily the guilty feeling that I had prevailed. I realized that I wasn't in the right state of heart and mind and so I prayed for forgiveness. It took     

          a while, there were a lot of prideful ideas and wrong desires that I had to get rid of, but in the end I felt light, humble, and ready to study. I      

          was inspired as to how I should make my own study guide, and the Lord helped me as I reviewed the material. I was able to study every 

          principle we've discussed this semester in a surprisingly short amount of time, and I did much better than I would've expected on the test.

          Our iniquities can literally leave us drunk to the point where we no longer act or think like we normally would. Inspiration is replaced with a 

          repetition of hollow promises and false ideas to the point where we are intellectually convinced that wrong is right, and the only thing to tell us     

          otherwise is the guilty promptings of the Spirit. That's why it's important that we don't start Satan's game, because we can't win, and only 

          through repentance can we get out.

27:3 "And all the nations that fight against Zion, and that distress her, shall be as a night vision; yea, it shall be unto them, even as unto a hungry man which dreameth, and behold he eateth but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or like unto a thisty man which dreameth and behold he drinketh but he awaketh and his soul is empty; or like unto a thirsty man which dreameth and  behold he drinketh but he awaketh and behold he is faint, and his soul hath appetite; yea, even so shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion."

A: Ask why you do what you do. You'll find that you do things in order to fulfill needs that can only be met by the Atonement (ex. self worth) Then recognize that Satan is trying to give you things that look like they fit the need but they won't (ex. nice clothes). Avoid the counterfeits, replace with the Atonement. 

P: Satan tempts to needs. He will create counterfeits that look fulfilling but are not. 

D: Wickedness never was happiness Alma 41:10

• Note that the rest of 2 Nephi 27 explains that the Scriptures will help us recognize our sins and understand how to apply the Atonement in our lives. 

27:35 "They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine."

28:8 "And there shall be many which shall say: eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God- he will justify in committing a little sin"

A: Before you way the good and bad to make a decision, consider if anything is truly worth the bad. Think of the movie with the "one bad part". 

P: We often think the there are different magnitudes of sin that "we can handle". 

D: Pride. We don't need God to take on the things that the devil throws our way. 

• We often forget that repentance is the process in which we humble ourselves to the point where the Atonement can heal us. If our repentance is lazy or insincere then we will not draw upon the Atonement and we will be left unfulfilled. 
• The little sins that we willingly choose to commit can be the most deadly because repentance won't come until we are truly humbled, which usually requires a much larger, more destructive accumulation of sins down the road. 
• In other words, every sin is a gateway sin, and the trails of small ones can be the most deadly because they're sneakier that the big sins. 

28:28 "And in fine, wo unto all those who tremble, and are angry because of the truth of God! For behold, he that is built upon the rock receiveth it with gladness; and he that is built upon a sandy foundation trembleth lest he shall fall."

• A good way to tell if we're "drunk on iniquity" is to see how we react when someone invites us to be more Christlike. The righteous are grateful for it and are excited to act, while the wicked make excuses. 

30:12-15

A: Don't make any negative comments about people. When you judge people it doesn't make you any better than them.

P: In the last days all will be united and at peace with each other. The Saints must lead that.

D: Charity is the pure love of Christ for all men regardless of what they've done.