Today I read Revelation 20 and I've got to say, it's nice to read about something other than destruction in the scriptures. It feels like that is all I have read out the last few days. But this is about the millennium. A time of joy and temple work. I have often wondered about Satan being bound for the duration of the millennium. I have heard both side of the argument that he is bound only by the people because they pay him no heed at all, and that he is actually forbidden to tempt the people during those 1000 years.
Now, on the one hand, we already have a real life example of a people over the course of 2 generations not giving any heed to Satan at all and he was fully allowed to tempt them as far as we know. I am of course speaking of the Nephites who met with Jesus Christ. They were righteous and did not heed Satan at all for 200 years. So it is possible to still have Satan trying his best to tempt mankind but not able to do so. And I definitely think that a group of people during the millennium who have access to Jesus Himself would be able to resist temptation just fine. But what about those others in the world? Jesus can't be everywhere at once and not everyone on the earth during the millennium will be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There will be non-Mormons too. What about them?
That is what leads me to lean more towards the idea that Satan will actually be forbidden to tempt the generations of the millennium, much as the imagery of the scriptures describe. I don't know for a fact but that is what I believe will happen. It really is not all that important to me how it happens so much as that it does. I believe the scriptures so I understand that it will happen. It is a reason I hope to be around when the millennium comes around. It will be like living inside a temple all the time! To be free of Satan's temptations and influence all the time, it's like a dream come true!
Of course if Satan is only bound because the people pay no attention to him, then we can effectively create our own millennium experience right now. All of us have the choice to heed Satan or not. Nothing will change at all to my understanding if Satan is not actually bound but rather is rendered impotent because of the people failing to pay heed to him. We can start now and start ignoring him and his temptations. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day and it will not happen overnight. However, it is possible to not pay heed to Satan right here and now. All it takes is us shunning the world and overcoming it.
Of course, that is easier said than done. Temptation is all around us and the natural man wants to participate. I imagine it will be easier to keep our thoughts clean with pornography is not jumping off the television screen and computer screen all the time at us. I do imagine we will still use the internet and television during the millennium but they will be uplifting programs and will be full of genealogical data and other helpful resources. Not the horrible shows that are currently shown on TV that have 3/4 nude women and lewd men on them all the time. I don't even like watching regular TV because of it. My family typically keeps the channel on the Food Network or something else educational such as the Discovery channel or the History channel. We try and avoid prime time TV because there is nothing wholesome about it.
Our choices define who we are. We can start the millennium right now for ourselves and for our families by the choices we make. How are we spending our evenings? Are we parked in front of the TV? Or do we take the opportunity to go to the temple and do some of the Lord's work? Do we read the scriptures with our families, or do our children see us reading questionable magazines such as Vogue or Maxim? Is our speech about what we learned in Sunday School this past week or are we spreading gossip? We each of us have work to do to get better and I am no exception. I choose to listen to music on the radio just as often if not more often as I choose to listen to the most recent General Conference on CD. I am guilty of not reading the most uplifting books around. I like to play video games when I could instead be doing genealogy work on my computer. Each of us has to make the determination for ourselves where we can improve and then, most importantly, do it!
It's all well and good to analyze ourselves and see what we can do to be better, but then we actually have to do it. The millennium can start now for each one of us by the choices we make. Are you biding Satan and kicking him out of your home? Or are you inviting him in by the kinds of programs you watch on TV? Is Satan comfortable in your home because of your literature and music? Or does he squirm and feel uninvited? Only you can answer those questions but remember, God knows the answer to them and if we are honest with ourselves, so do we. Make the right choice and kick Satan out of your house once and for all. Don't wait for some future date, the spiritual millennium starts now! Until tomorrow.
“When Satan is bound in a single home—when Satan is bound in a single life—the Millennium has already begun in that home, in that life” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 172).
ReplyDeleteThis is a truth that I learned during the lesson last year on the Millennium.
It's a sobering thought and reminds me to do a personal inventory and see how well I am bounding Satan in my own life.