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. 

Helaman 1-2

Helaman 1

Conflict arises over the election of a new chief judge after Pahoran dies. Three of his sons—Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni—are all running for the position. When Pahoran wins the election, Paanchi and his supporters are so upset they plan to launch a violent rebellion, but Paanchi is arrested and condemned to death before the rebellion erupts. This doesn’t stop Paanchi’s supporters from plotting, and they sent a hit man—Kishkumen—to secretly murder Pahoran while he is sitting on the judgment seat. Yikes! This secret band will grow to cause deep and significant problems among the Nephites.

So now Pacumeni (the brother who didn’t win the election, and didn’t start a rebellion) becomes the chief judge. But then the Nephites are attacked by a giant army of the Lamanites, now led by a ex-Nephite named Coriantumr. The Lamanites audaciously march to the center of the Nephite lands, right to the capital city, and attack. They kill Pacumeni, take over the city, and then begin marching to the next city nearby to continue their take-over. No!!!

But by now the new captain in town—Moronihah—has sprung into action. He and captain Lehi are able to easily surround the Lamanites because of their foolhardy attack into the center of the land, and the Lamanites are conquered and Coriantumr is killed. The Lamanite captives are permitted to return home in peace.  

Helaman 2

Helaman, the son of Helaman (who, if you remember, is the one who is writing this record now) is appointed to be the new chief judge. But Kishkumen and his secret band (remember, the ones who murdered Pahoran the chief judge) are still actively plotting. Their goal is to get their leader—named Gadianton—to be the chief judge. So Kishkumen sets out in the night to murder Helaman just like he did Pahoran. But Helaman has a clever and brave servant who has secretly learned of Kishkumen’s plans, and even knows the secret signals of Kishkumen’s group, so Kishkumen thinks this servant is on his side and helping him. But as the servant is taking Kishkumen to Helaman, the servant stabs him in the heart, then runs to tell Helaman all that has happened.

Unfortunately, Gadianton and his secret band escape into the wilderness before the government is able to capture and prosecute them. This group, which is known as the “Gadianton Robbers” will cause big trouble—nearly the entire downfall of the Nephite nation (see vs. 12-14).