Don't Leap with the Sheep: And Other Scriptural Strategies for Avoiding Satan's Snares

One summer. . . we came across six lambs out on the desert. . . They were wild, and roughly a year old. We decided to try to catch them and take them back to the ranch. . .

In spite of all our talk about individualism and doing our own thing, mankind seems to have a built-in herd instinct. This can work for us or against us, depending on which way the herd is moving. Unfortunately, most of the herd in the modern world is jumping over a moral cliff.

In Lehi's dream, "numberless concourses of people' pressed forward toward the tree whose fruit would 'make one happy." (1 Nephi 8:21, 10.) But as they traveled, "there arose a mist of darkness ... insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost." (V. 23.)

In Don't Leap with the Sheep, author S. Michael Wilcox identifies more than 25 "mists" that Satan uses to ensnare us — mists we can avoid if we're aware of them. Each mist is illustrated with a memorable story from the scriptures or from Brother Wilcox's life. Among others, the stories include:

• Don't Leap with the Sheep
• Don't Go to Caiaphas' Palace
• Talking with the Donkey
• Making Bricks without Straw
• Listen to the "Wild Men"
• Facing the Lion and the Bear
• Avoiding Delilah's Barber Shop
• Beating Down the Gopher

Brother Wilcox writes, "The multitudes Lehi saw wandering in the mists were looking for the fulfillment that only the tree can offer. It is no wonder the tempter wishes to hide the fruit 'desirable to make one happy' (1 Nephi 8:10), 'for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself.'(2 Nephi 2:27.)

"When the potential to receive 'a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory' (D&C 132:16) rests upon us; when we view our own frailness in facing the opposition spoken of by Nephi; when we feel compelled to pray, 'Father in Heaven, don't let us fail! Clear the mists of darkness from before us that we may partake of the fruit of the tree of life!' there is calm assurance available. If we listen carefully, we will hear the Lord answer."