President Ezra Taft Benson
taught that “the record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior’s visit
reveals many parallels to our own day as we anticipate the Savior’s second
coming” (Conference Report, April 1987, 3;
or Ensign, May 1987,4).
Though President Benson's
message was primarily centered in 3 Nephi, I considered those words as I began
reading through the Book of Helaman last week.
About three decades prior
to the coming of Christ there were wars and rumors of wars among the Nephites
and Lamanites. Because of "their wickedness and their
abomination"among those "who professed to belong to the church of
God," they experienced a "great loss" and "great
slaughter" (Hel. 4:11). The great loss they experienced was that of
"cities," "lands," and "possessions" (Hel.
4:5-10).
Like ancient Israel, they
professed to know God, and with their lips did honor him, but their hearts were
far from him. They had become rich and proud. They were absorbed in
Babylon. In all of their abundance, they regarded not the poor that were
among them. Having both the poor and the rich among them, they
"saith unto the one: Be thou clothed in robes and sit thou here; and to
the other: Be thou clothed in rags and sit thou there," and yet thought
themselves just (D&C 38:26).
They mocked that which was
sacred by professing God but denying the spirit of prophecy and revelation;
speaking in his name, but not having obtained his voice. They thereby
took the Lord's name in vain.
They murdered and
plundered. They were dishonest thieves, stealing that which belonged to
other men and women, including their spouses. They were full of great
contentions, and not unified in the faith. Since they were not one, they
could not belong to the Lord (D&C 38:27).
And after all this kind of
conduct they "boasted in their own strength." Therefore, God
left them to themselves, and their prosperity could not last. They were
"afflicted and smitten, and driven" before their enemies until they
had lost all they thought no man could take. They stored up for
themselves treasures on earth, which things must come to an end.
Moronihah, and Nephi and
Lehi, the sons of Helaman, came among the people preaching repentance (Hel.
4:14). The message that needed to be preached to this people was indeed
repentance. Would we expect something else? They were warned what
would "come unto them" if they chose not to repent of their sins
(ibid.).
"And it came to pass that they
did repent, and inasmuch as they did
repent they did begin to prosper" (Hel. 4:15).
In the year that followed,
during their time of softening and repentance, they began to awake to their
awful situation. They recognized that they were in jeopardy of being
"overpowered, and trodden down, and slain, and destroyed" by their
enemies, which were more numerous than they (Hel. 4:20).
During this time they
"began to remember the prophecies"of the holy prophets. They
knew they had been stiffnecked, and that they had "set at naught the
commandments of God" (ibid.). They then realized they had
"altered and trampled under their feet" the laws they had received,
which God had commanded a prophet to give unto them (Hel. 4:22). They
recognized the corruption that surrounded them, "and that they had become
a wicked people," so much that they were like unto those they considered
their enemies (ibid.). They saw that they had become weak like their
enemies, God having withdrawn the protection of his Spirit. They
recognized the Spirit did not dwell with them, because "the Spirit of the
Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples" (Hel. 4:24). They had
"fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness," which thing
they could not before see (Hel. 4:25).
Sadly, their repentance was
not permanent, and the voices of those "who chose evil were more numerous
than they who chose good, therefore they were ripening for destruction"
(Hel. 5:1-3). Because of
"transgression" they had "fallen" (Hel. 4:26).
All these
things happened in the space of not many years" (ibid.).
In that same address President Benson
went on to say, "The Nephite civilization had reached great heights. They
were prosperous and industrious. They had built many cities with great highways
connecting them. They engaged in shipping and trade. They built temples and
palaces. ...But, as so often happens, the people rejected the Lord. Pride
became commonplace. Dishonesty and immorality were widespread" (April Conference, 1978).
I take President Benson's message as
a prophetic warning. He warned us frequently. He preached Christ
and the Book of Mormon often. He invited the Church to repent and take
the Book of Mormon more seriously, and reminded us we are still under condemnation.
How quick we are to forget. It's
too easy to ignore these things.
Its all about making and keeping covenants. These people had not to many years earlier, at the feet of Captain Moroni, made a covenant under the penalty of being trodden under foot of men(suffering their life to be taken) to preserve freedom, which to me is just a covenant of obedience and sacrifice(obeying the laws of God and doing His will instead of our own)see Alma 46:19-22. Is it any wonder then that when they trampled the laws of God(broke their covenants) that they were in jeopardy of being trodden down by their enemies(having the penalty imposed). We may not invoke the penalties today when we make covenants but our souls will nevertheless be destroyed by the enemy of all righteousness if we fail to keep them.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading this I remember my own weaknesses. When Jesus spoke to the Nephites that were present at His arrival, He perceived that they were weak....like me....sometimes I find it hard to understand what I read.
ReplyDeleteBut we just keep on going.