One of my favorite speakers is President Thomas S. Monson. I remember as a young girl, tuning in and out of conference as I watched it with my parents. However, whenever President Monson came on, I listened intently. He has a way of telling a story that will appeal to all ages. I was anxious to reread his talk from the Saturday morning session, “True to the Faith.”
President Monson opens this talk describing a visit to a school in Tonga:
“This, I learned, was a maka-feke, an octopus lure. In Tonga, octopus meat is a delicacy.
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 tenacious is the grasp of the octopus and so firm is its instinct not to relinquish the precious prize that fishermen can flip it right into the canoe.
It was an easy transition for the teacher to point out to the eager and wide-eyed youth that the evil one—even Satan—has fashioned so-called maka-fekes with which to ensnare unsuspecting persons and take possession of their destinies.”
President Monson then listed four maka–fekes that can ensnare each us if we are not careful. He talked about immorality, pornography, drugs and alcohol and excessive debt. I was surprised that excessive debt was listed with the three other sins, which I consider very serious. Although I know that church leaders have always told us to avoid debt, and personally debt really scares me, I didn’t think of it as being a maka-feke.
President Monson said this about debt:
“The final maka-feke I wish to mention today is one which can crush our self-esteem, ruin relationships, and leave us in desperate circumstances. It is the maka-feke of excessive debt. It is a human tendency to want the things, which will give us prominence and prestige. We live in a time when borrowing is easy. We can purchase almost anything we could ever want just by using a credit card or obtaining a loan. Extremely popular are home equity loans, where one can borrow an amount of money equal to the equity he has in his home. What we may not realize is that a home equity loan is equivalent to a second mortgage. The day of reckoning will come if we have continually lived beyond our means.
My brothers and sisters, avoid the philosophy that yesterday’s luxuries have become today’s necessities. They aren’t necessities unless we make them so. Many enter into long-term debt only to find that changes occur: people become ill or incapacitated, companies fail or downsize, jobs are lost, natural disasters befall us. For many reasons, payments on large amounts of debt can no longer be made. Our debt becomes as a Damocles sword hanging over our heads and threatening to destroy us.
I urge you to live within your means. One cannot spend more than one earns and remain solvent. I promise you that you will then be happier than you would be if you were constantly worrying about how to make the next payment on nonessential debt. In the Doctrine and Covenants we read: “Pay the debt thou hast contracted. . . . Release thyself from bondage.””
Each of us needs to make sure that we are not holding on to a maka-feke that Satan is using. Debt is something that should be avoided. I have witnessed the weight that debt takes on families, and individuals. It rules your choices, actions, and future. I hope that we can all apply the words of President Monson to our lives.