Helaman 13-15

Helaman 13 

 Usually the Lord sends Nephite prophets to preach to the unbelieving Lamanites. But right now the Nephites are all very wicked, and the Lamanites are humble and faithful to God. A Lamanite prophet named Samuel is commanded by God to preach to the Nephites, and when the Nephites kick him out of the city, God tells him to go back and try again. So this time Samuel climbs up on the city wall and preaches from the top! I think Samuel is pretty cool. He has some important messages to deliver from the Lord, including:

• The Lord is going to curse the land because the people are full of pride and their hearts are set on riches. They will hide their riches, and never be able to find them again (vs. 22-23, 31-36).

• They have “have sought for happiness in doing iniquity” (vs. 38) which never ever works out in the end.

• They have rejected the words of the prophets, and without even realizing it.

It’s very easy for us to look at people in Biblical times and say “wow, how could the people have been so bad and stubborn?” or “how could the people have ignored a man sent from God?” But here's the hard question -- what about you, today? Are you letting God’s servants and spokesmen get through to you? Or is that just a thing of the past? Can you see any modern application for Samuel's words to the Nephites?:

 25 And now when ye talk, ye say: If our days had been in the days of our fathers of old, we would not have slain the prophets; we would not have stoned them, and cast them out.

 26 Behold ye are worse than they; for as the Lord liveth, if a prophet come among you and declareth unto you the word of the Lord, which testifieth of your sins and iniquities, ye are angry with him, and cast him out and seek all manner of ways to destroy him; yea, you will say that he is a false prophet, and that he is a sinner, and of the devil, because he testifieth that your deeds are evil.

27 But behold, if a man shall come among you and shall say: Do this, and there is no iniquity; do that and ye shall not suffer; yea, he will say: Walk after the pride of your own hearts; yea, walk after the pride of your eyes, and do whatsoever your heart desireth—and if a man shall come among you and say this, ye will receive him, and say that he is a prophet.

Helaman 14

The most important message that Samuel the Lamanite has to deliver to the Nephites is that the Son of God, the Savior of the World, the Messiah whose coming has been prophesied by all prophets since the beginning of the world, would be born in five years. Five years! In the span of earth’s history, that’s the blink of an eye! This is huge news. The Messiah will be born across the ocean, far away from the ancient Americas where the Nephites and Lamanites are, but Samuel tells them of signs that will occur when the Holy Baby is born:

1. “There shall be great lights in heaven, insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it was day. Therefore, there shall be one day and a night and a day, as if it were one day and there were no night…for ye shall know of the rising of the sun and also of its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born.” (vs 3-4)
2. “There shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have beheld” (vs. 5) Does this sound familiar? Cool huh? The star that was seen by the shepherds was also seen by wise men in the far East, AND was also seen by Nephites/Lamanites in the far, far West!
3. “And behold this is not all, there shall be many signs and wonders in heaven.” (vs. 6)

Big news, right? But this isn’t all. Samuel also prophecies of the signs that will occur in the Americas when the Son of God is killed. These include:

1. “In that day that he shall suffer death the sun shall be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead.” (vs. 20)
2. “At the time that he shall yield up the ghost there shall be thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the earth shall shake and tremble; and the rocks which are upon the face of this earth…shall be broken up” (vs. 21)

You will find that all these prophecies come to pass, just as Samuel said (so keep reading!). While it is cool and interesting and important for the Nephites to know about these earthquakes, and a night without darkness, and new star, etc., the primary purpose for Samuel (or any prophet) sharing these prophecies is to increase our faith, and encourage us to repent so that we will be ready to meet Christ. If you truly believe something, it will change you.

12 For this intent have I come up upon the walls of this city…that ye might know of the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and of earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and that ye might know of the signs of his coming, to the intent that ye might believe on his name.

 13 And if ye believe on his name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits.

Helaman 15

Nobody likes it when their rivals are held up as an example for them to follow, but in this case the Nephites needed/deserved it. Samuel the Lamanites is still preaching to the Nephites from on top of the city wall, and he talks about how good and righteous the Lamanites have become, and how wicked, prideful, and rebellious the Nephites have become despite all the miracles and blessings the Lord has sent to them.

Samuel prophesies that the Nephites will be completely destroyed if they don’t repent (see vs. 17; and spoiler alert—it happens as Samuel says), and the Lord will show mercy to the Lamanites because of this great period of goodness from the Lamanites. Samuel also prophesies that if the Lamanites ever “fall away” from the Lord again, the Lord promises to bring them back someday.

12 Yea, I say unto you, that in the latter times the promises of the Lord have been extended to our brethren, the Lamanites; and notwithstanding the many afflictions which they shall have, and notwithstanding they shall be driven to and fro upon the face of the earth, and be hunted, and shall be smitten and scattered abroad, having no place for refuge, the Lord shall be merciful unto them.

 13 And this is according to the prophecy, that they shall again be brought to the true knowledge, which is the knowledge of their Redeemer, and their great and true shepherd, and be numbered among his sheep.

Guess what -- this happened, too. The Lamanites are the ancestors of the Native Americans and the people of Central and South America. We all know how these people were “driven to and fro upon the face of the earth, and hunted, and smitten and scattered abroad” by the Europeans who came to settle this continent. And now, today the fastest growing area of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in Central and South America, among these descendants of the Lamanites who are being “brought again to the true  knowledge of their Redeemer” as the prophecy stated. Pretty cool, huh?

Helaman 10-12

Helaman 10

Have you ever become burned out in your efforts to help someone or do good in some way? Have you ever worked your guts out to make a difference for someone or something—even just to change yourself—and been utterly discouraged at the lack of results or the endlessness of the effort required? I have been (being in the middle of launching/growing a new business, I’ll admit I am currently feeling that way). During multiple such occasions in my life, Nephi has been a hero I have looked to with admiration and respect. 

He has spent years preaching to the Nephites, only to watch them drift further and further from faith in God. He has just had a particularly baffling experience where he prophesied a remarkable event that was fulfilled in front of hundreds if not thousands of people. And still the people just departed from him, returning to their old lives and their old ways. He seems to be devoting every hour of his life to bringing people to God, and yet the people only get worse. Talk about discouraging. 

I feel a little hope in the fact that Nephi—a great and faithful prophet—felt discouraged. It says he was walking home and “much cast down because of the wickedness of the people (v. 3)” when a voice spoke to him saying:

 4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.

 5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will.

Unwearyingness—what a cool word! Nephi spent all of his time doing what God wanted him to do, and he never gave up, even when he wasn’t seeing results. He cared much more what God thought about him than what other people thought about him. I wish I could be more like that.

And because Nephi had turned his life over to God, he was basically granted ultimate power from God. Whatever he says will happen. God gives him this power because he can trust him. This is a very meaningful lesson to me; I can’t always control what other people do, and whether or not others will change or do what is best for them, but I can control myself and find happiness and blessings, including power & strength from God, as a reward. 

Nephi in his remarkable faith and obedience turns on his heels immediately after talking with God and returns to preaching, despite the incredibly discouraging experience he had just had with preaching to the Nephites. I am in awe of Nephi.

 12 And behold, now it came to pass that when the Lord had spoken these words unto Nephi, he did stop and did not go unto his own house, but did return unto the multitudes who were scattered about upon the face of the land, and began to declare unto them the word of the Lord which had been spoken unto him, concerning their destruction if they did not repent.

Helaman 11

The people have rejected Nephi’s preaching and a great war breaks out among them. Nephi exercises his new powers from the Lord, and requests the Lord to smite the earth with famine instead of with war. The Lord grants the request, and before long the people stop their fighting because the famine has become so severe that people are dying in large numbers all across the land. The famine serves its purpose, and causes the people to be humble and finally start thinking about repenting. The people repent and beg Nephi to ask God to take away the famine. The famine is removed, and the people begin to prosper again.

But the peace doesn’t last long, as a group dissents into the “mountains and the wilderness” and begins to build up a secret band of Gadianton Robbers again. No!! The Gadianton Robbers are always big trouble in the Book of Mormon. More and more people dissent and join the secret group, and even though the Nephites and Lamanites both send armies into the mountains to try to destroy the robbers, they are unsuccessful, and the robber group grows steadily while the Nephites and Lamanites fall back into wickedness and pride themselves.

Helaman 12

Mormon, who has been summarizing these swings between wickedness and righteousness, laments over the unstable nature of men. It seems that in some cases it is man’s own fault for the misfortune that comes upon him, because his pride and forgetfulness has caused God to shake him to remembrance.

1 And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.

4 O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world!

5 Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths!

 6 Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.

Helaman 6-9

Helaman 6

There are a couple times in the Book of Mormon where the Lamanites become more righteous than the Nephites. This is one of them. The Nephites and Lamanites are at peace with each other, and they do business & trade together and travel freely among each other. That hasn’t really happened before! But the wealth and prosperity that comes from these collaborative years begins to foster pride amongst the Nephites, and pride is always the poison that ruins peace and leads to destruction. A band of the secret “Gadianton Robbers” re-emerges, who pledge to defend and support each other in their covert attempts to gain power. This secret society grows until it becomes very strong among the Nephites, but the Lamanites seek it out and preach the word of God and squash the growth of the secret band before it takes over. So at the end of the chapter, the Lamanites are in a much better position than the Nephites, who are starting to destruct from within.

Helaman 7

Nephi, the great missionary, has returned from his missionary efforts to his homeland of Zarahemla and is weighed down by the wickedness and corruption that is taking over the Nephites. One day Nephi is sitting on a tower in his garden, which is apparently right by a major “highway” of the Nephites, and starts praying his heart out to God, feeling totally discouraged by the wickedness among his people. Many people traveling on the highway hear him and stop to listen. Nephi eventually discovers he has an audience, and turns around to preach to the people who have gathered. Honestly, I’ve always thought that was a little weird, because why was Nephi praying so loudly and openly when he knew his back garden was right along a public thorough-fare, but I guess sometimes people (even prophets) do funny things.

Helaman 8

Nephi has been preaching to the crowd of by-standers outside his garden, telling them about their wickedness and prophesying of their destruction if they don’t repent. Some people in the crowd (the guilty ones, of course) are angry with Nephi and try to stir the crowd up against him. Others in the crowd believe Nephi and tell the others to listen to him and leave him alone. He has enough support in the crowd that the angry/scheming people don’t dare to touch Nephi, and he is able to continue preaching.  His primary message is the message all prophets are sent to testify of—that the Son of God will come into the world.

And while Nephi has the “spirit of prophesy” upon him, he receives and shares a revelation of political significance:

26 Yea, even at this time ye are ripening, because of your murders and your fornication and wickedness, for everlasting destruction; yea, and except ye repent it will come unto you soon.

 27 Yea, behold it is now even at your doors; yea, go ye in unto the judgment-seat, and search; and behold, your judge is murdered, and he lieth in his blood; and he hath been murdered by his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment-seat.

 28 And behold, they both belong to your secret band, whose author is Gadianton and the evil one who seeketh to destroy the souls of men.

Helaman 9

Five men in the crowd listening to Nephi run to the judgment seat to see if Nephi’s prophecy is true—to see if the chief judge has really been murdered. They are shocked to discover the chief judge lying dead, and fall to the earth with fear and amazement because they now believe Nephi and everything he has been preaching. Unfortunately for these men, it looks bad when all the servants of the king come in to find him lying dead surrounded by these 5 men, and of course they are accused of being the murderers and thrown in prison.

The next day at the funeral, the crowd from Nephi's house starts asking what happened to the 5 men who went to see if Nephi’s prophecy was true. At that point they learn that 5 men were captured at the scene of the crime, and they are able to testify that the 5 men are innocent and release them from prison. But then the people turn on Nephi, accusing him that he plotted with someone to kill the chief judge so he could “prophesy” about it and look like a great prophet.

Nephi squashes that accusation with another prophesy. He tells the men to go to the house of the chief judge’s brother, and accuse him of the murder. Nephi predicts he will deny the crime, but then if the men examine his clothing they will find blood on his robes, and if they continue to accuse the brother he will start shaking and confess. The men go, and the events occur just as Nephi prophesies, and the brother also says that Nephi was not involved in any way.

I found a video of this story! Warning: it's definitely old school--probably 20 to 30 years old--so set your expectations accordingly. :)

Helaman 5

Helaman 5

This is one of my favorite verses in the Book of Mormon. I believe that anyone whose foundation is built on Christ will not fall, no matter what happens to them. The big question is, what does it mean to build your foundation on Christ?  To me it means that Christ is your priority. You make time for Him every day, you learn His words from the scriptures, you pray to God often, you consult God for help in the challenges you face each day, and you care more about what God thinks than what people think. I think it means you do the things God has asked you to do. What does it mean to you to build your foundation on Christ?

The rest of the chapter tells us of the great missionary adventures of Nephi and Lehi—sons of Helaman. Nephi gives up the judgment-seat in order to devote the rest of his life to preaching the word of God with his brother. They are a powerful missionary pair. So powerful that 8,000 Lamanites are converted and baptized. So powerful that many Nephite-dissenters are convinced of the error of their ways and “immediately return to the Nephites to endeavor to repair unto them the wrongs which they had done.” (vs. 17)

A miraculous conversion occurs in one particular city of the Lamanites. I don’t know how to summarize the story, so I’ll just let you read it:

22 And after [Nephi and Lehi] had been cast into prison many days without food, behold, they went forth into the prison to take them that they might slay them.

23 And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi were encircled about as if by fire, even insomuch that they durst not lay their hands upon them for fear lest they should be burned. Nevertheless, Nephi and Lehi were not burned; and they were as standing in the midst of fire and were not burned.

26 And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did stand forth and began to speak unto them, saying: Fear not, for behold, it is God that has shown unto you this marvelous thing, in the which is shown unto you that ye cannot lay your hands on us to slay us.

27 And behold, when they had said these words, the earth shook exceedingly, and the walls of the prison did shake as if they were about to tumble to the earth; but behold, they did not fall.

28 And it came to pass that they were overshadowed with a cloud of darkness, and an awful solemn fear came upon them.

29 And it came to pass that there came a voice as if it were above the cloud of darkness, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, and seek no more to destroy my servants whom I have sent unto you to declare good tidings.

30 And it came to pass when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul—

35 Now there was one among them who was a Nephite by birth, who had once belonged to the church of God but had dissented from them.

40 And it came to pass that the Lamanites said unto him: What shall we do, that this cloud of darkness may be removed from overshadowing us?

41 And Aminadab said unto them: You must repent, and cry unto the voice, even until ye shall have faith in Christ, who was taught unto you by Alma, and Amulek, and Zeezrom; and when ye shall do this, the cloud of darkness shall be removed from overshadowing you.

42 And it came to pass that they all did begin to cry unto the voice of him who had shaken the earth; yea, they did cry even until the cloud of darkness was dispersed.

44 And Nephi and Lehi were in the midst of them; yea, they were encircled about; yea, they were as if in the midst of a flaming fire, yet it did harm them not, neither did it take hold upon the walls of the prison; and they were filled with that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory.

46 And it came to pass that there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper, saying:

47 Peace, peace be unto you, because of your faith in my Well Beloved, who was from the foundation of the world.

48 And now, when they heard this they cast up their eyes as if to behold from whence the voice came; and behold, they saw the heavens open; and angels came down out of heaven and ministered unto them.

 50 And it came to pass that they did go forth, and did minister unto the people, declaring throughout all the regions round about all the things which they had heard and seen, insomuch that the more part of the Lamanites were convinced of them, because of the greatness of the evidences which they had received.

Two important points I want to highlight from this story:

The voice of the Spirit of God was powerful enough to pierce their hearts… but it didn’t shout. The Spirit doesn’t shout. It gently whispers. And you have to be listening to hear it.

Second, the Lamanites in the prison were engulfed with an awful darkness, and it was only by calling upon the Lord that the darkness was lifted. I have experienced the Lord lifting gloomy darkness from me, in various different ways. This can apply to any sort of dark times we are going through.

Helaman 3-4

Helaman 3

Mormon skims over 10 years of Nephite history in one chapter. Helaman is the author of most of the book of Helaman, but remember that Mormon compiles a summary of all the Nephite records, so this chapter is an insertion (written a couple hundred years down the road) in his voice. And he lets us know that “a hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, yea, the account of the Lamanites and of the Nephites, and their wars, and contentions, and dissensions, and their preaching, and their prophecies, and their shipping and their building of ships, and their building of temples, and of synagogues and their sanctuaries, and their righteousness, and their wickedness, and their murders, and their robbings, and their plundering, and all manner of abominations and whoredoms, cannot be contained in this work.” (vs. 14)

Mormon tells us that the people of Nephi are multiplying and spreading across the land. They have some years of pride and contention amongst themselves and even in the church, and some years of great prosperity and peace. One of the themes of the Book of Mormon is warning against the “Pride Cycle.” The Price Cycle looks like this:

The Nephites demonstrate this cycle over and over again in the Book of Mormon, and they even go through a mini-cycle during the 10 years covered in Helaman 3. The way to break the pride cycle is to remain humble and obedient to the Lord even when you are prosperous and richly blessed. Most people aren’t very good at that.

I love a short passage in this chapter that talks about the goodness of a small portion of the church, who humbly respond to the pride and persecutions of the rich people in the church who are turning rotten:

33 And in the fifty and first year of the reign of the judges there was peace also, save it were the pride which began to enter into the church—not into the church of God, but into the hearts of the people who professed to belong to the church of God—

 34 And they were lifted up in pride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction.

 35 Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

I learn a deep lesson from these humble people. In the middle of unfair persecution from people who knew better (their own brethren/sisters in the church!), they could have turned bitter…

Instead they chose to be humble and to pray more.

As a result, their faith in Christ became firmer and firmer.

As a result of firmer faith, their souls were filled with joy and consolation.

The joy and consolation purified and sanctified their hearts.

And ultimately this beautiful transformation in the midst of persecution and sorrow occurred because the people chose to yield their hearts to God, rather than turn bitter, angry, or prideful themselves.

Helaman 4

Mormon is brief in his summary of big events. The Nephites are becoming more and more wicked, and drifting further and further from God. The worst of the Nephites rebel, fleeing to the Lamanites, and convincing them to attack the Nephites. The Nephites are nearly completely taken over by the Lamanites and Nephite-dissenters, and it is only through a few righteous leaders who encourage repentance and humility and that little ground is re-gained:

14 But behold, Moronihah did preach many things unto the people because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their sins.

 15 And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper.

 16 For when Moronihah saw that they did repent he did venture to lead them forth from place to place, and from city to city, even until they had regained the one-half of their property and the one-half of all their lands.

Notice how Moronihah waited to fight back to regain their land until he had witnessed some repentance among his people. He knew they would not be successful otherwise, because they would not have the help of the Lord. As Mormon goes on to summarize, the people begin to realize that without the Lord, they are not strong enough to survive against their enemies.

24 And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples—

25 Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should cleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish.

 26 For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was as great as their strength, even man for man. And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many years.

I think the most important lesson from this chapter comes from applying it to our normal-life battles, not just a time when our nation is at war. It certainly applies in war-time that we need the strength of God, but I have needed the strength of God in my daily battles at work, at school, at home, and in helping family and friends with their personal battles. If I had to face my battles “man for man” with only my own strength to rely on, that prospect terrifies me. I need the Lord. 

One more thought: sometimes people think that bad things happen as a result of God punishing us. Most of the time, I think the case is that God has simply withdrawn his support and protection, which He doesn't want to do but has to because He can't be with people who are not living as they know they should (see verse 24 above). And when God's protection is withdrawn, harmful forces or even the consequences of our own bad choices have full access to attack us, and we now stand without protection.  It was our own choice.