In The Lion King, we are following the story of Simba, who "apostatizes" from the kingdom, his family, and responsibilities as rightful heir after he witnesses the tragic death of his father. Simba is saved from death by Timon and Pumba, who teach him about "Hakuna Matata," which basically means live life without worries. Now, Simba and his two pals were living a pretty great life, because Simba had followed their counsel by "putting his behind in his past," or rather "putting your past behind you." (Before there is an uproar over the villainization of Timon and Pumba, please don't think I'm trying to do that: I'm merely illustrating a point here.)
Simba may be living a good life, but he turned his back on his family, the kingdom, and his responsibilities. Then his childhood friend Nala comes onto the scene, and tells him about all the awful things going on in the kingdom: the kingdom followed Simba and fell into "apostasy," which in this case means grey skies, no food, and hyenas running rampant in the kingdom. Simba doesn't want to hear it though, and remains steadfast in his "Hakuna Matata" philosophy.
But the kingdom is in need, so Rafiki appears on the scene. Rafiki is very wise, and is more in touch with spiritual things than anyone else in the Pride Lands. He comes to Simba, and offers him some counsel, pointing out the flaws in his new found philosophy, and even opening a vision of Mufasa to Simba. This helps Simba come to a realization of the error of his ways, and he runs to Pride Rock to win the kingdom back from the evil Scar and his hyena posse.
This helps to illustrate several key points when talking about prophets, apostasy, and agency, which is our God-given ability to make our own choices. We are all like Simba, and have turned our back on God at some point or another, but because He loves us, He will always try to reach out to us and bring us back. Apostasy doesn't just happen out of the blue: people start making a little bad choice here, and small bad choice there, continuing in this pattern as the mistakes grow larger. These bad choices lead to apostasy: whether in individuals, groups of people, communities, or nations, apostasy is a result of the misuse of agency.
But the same agency we may have misused to make bad choices that didn't lead to lasting happiness can be used to make good choices that bring us closer to finding happiness that lasts. When the individual or group of people start searching for help in making better choices, God sends another prophet, with the authority and revelation, to lead these people in that path to happiness.
This is the cycle I mentioned earlier: people listen to the prophet, and they are blessed. After receiving so many blessings, the people start to love their possessions more than they love God, and they turn away from Him, and so He takes the prophet away. Eventually, the people are left to their own devices, and find that they weren't as happy as they used to be. This causes them to search for guidance, and God answers their prayers by sending them a prophet with the guidance and authority they need.
This cycle repeats itself over and over again, and because our Heavenly Father loves His children, He is always giving them another chance to come back to Him. Isn't it great to know that God loves you? I haven't always made the best choices, and you could say that I have apostatized from time to time because of my choices. But I know that God loves me, because He was always sending me another person to try and help me, or leading me towards a better path without my knowledge. I know that God loves each of us, and that's why He has always given His children guidance and direction through prophets.
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