Come Follow Me - 3 Nephi 1-7 (Extended Version): The First Nephite Christmas

[Music] when the son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief May our testimonies be as deep and as strong as that of Jacob who when confounded by one who sought to destroy his faith declared I could not be shaken [Music] hello my friends welcome back to unshaken I'm Jared howon and today we'll be studying third Nephi 1-7 the fact we're in third Nephi means that we have left behind what one scholar called the terrifying book of helan and in some ways it truly was terrifying especially

in how applicable it is to our day we're living through some terrifying days and it's all been described in advance in the Book of Mormon but before starting with third Nephi or even looking back to Helman I actually want to begin today in the Doctrine and Covenants quick field trip to Restoration scripture specifically section 118 which is one of the more obscure revelations in this dispensation the main purpose of section8 was to call the corm of the 12 on a mission to Great Britain but the context of the Revelation is fascinating and it has everything

to do with what we're going to be talking about today in third Nephi chapter 1 you see when this Revelation was given it was was July 8th 1838 and the Saints are at Far West Missouri and in verse four of this Revelation the Corman the 12 is told the next spring let them depart to go over the Great Waters and there promulgate my gospel if the Lord had left it at that fairly vague everything would have been fine sometime next spring just head out on this Mission but the next verse verse 5 goes from Fairly

vague to incredibly specific the Lord says let them take leave of my Saints in the city of far west on the 26th day of April next on the building spot of my house sayith the Lord this is definitely not one of those it matth not kinds of mission calls we occasionally see in the doctrine of covenants he puts a finger down and says on this date from this location it's a lot more like modern mission calls this is where you're going to be serving and this is the day you're supposed to report to the Missionary

Training Center well when the Revelation was received there in the summer of 1838 fine I mean they're in Far West so he's basically just saying leave on this date from here but between the receipt of this Revelation and its fulfillment everything changed for the Saints more and more persecution expelled from this area in fact the extermination order which drove out the Latter-Day Saints from the entire state by the time the quum of the 12 was supposed to be leaving on this Mission the saints were suffering in a swamp that was yet to become beautiful Nauvoo

to the point that a lot of church members and even leaders started to wonder about the propriety of fulfilling this prophecy even the prophet's own father said it's not wise to go back to Missouri and leave on your missions from there just leave from here the Lord will take the will for the deed or as we would say it's the thought that counts and yet that Council which seems entirely reasonable to me wasn't enough for the corm of the 12 briam young and others said no if the Lord said through the Prophet Joseph that we're

leaving on that date from that location then we're going to do it and so they set out on what would become one of the most fascinating missionary farewells in church history the story is told best by a man who accompanied the Corum of the 12 back on this trip his name was Theodore Turley he describes an experience he had in advance of this event where he was in the room with a bunch of angry missourians including some latterday Saint apostates who were brandishing this Revelation and saying there's no way this one's going to get filled

Elder Turley so surely you'll deny that Joe Smith was a prophet because we've got a date we can stand in the way we can force this Revelation to be unfulfilled they said to Elder ch you as a rational man will give up Joseph Smith being a prophet and an inspired man he and the 12 are now scattered all over creation let them come here if they dare if they do they'll be murdered as that Revelation cannot be fulfilled you will now give up your faith talk about an ultimatum and that's what points me to third

Nephi chapter 1 but in response what did Elder turle do he jumped up and said in the name of God that revelation will be fulfilled they laughed him to scorn but when the actual day arrived for this prophecy to be fulfilled shortly after midnight on the morning of that date in the darkness of the night at the temple site in Farwest Missouri they conducted their business they sang A Hymn Adam Andaman quietly I imagine and then they high tailed it out of there beginning their trip back to start on their Journey to the mission field

but Elder Turley couldn't quite help himself on the way out of Missouri he stopped by the home of a man who had brought the gospel to him years ago his name was Isaac Russell since then Russell had apostatized well having to rub it in a little bit brother Turley knocked on Isaac Russell's door Isaac Russell's wife opened the door and said oh it's brother Turley come on in and Isaac inside was like are you kidding honey it's not Elder Turley he couldn't possibly be here but when he realized that his wife was telling the truth

he's kind of shocked by this and says what are you doing come on in let's talk and brother toally said oh oh I can't I'll I'll lose my company and Russell was like what company and he just smiled oh the 12 don't you know what today is he explained what had happened in the we hours that morning and said we are now heading off on this Mission and then ELD Turley booked it out of there I admire the courage of brother Turley and the corm of the 12 I even kind of like brother turley's bravado

to go back to Isaac Russell's house and let him know what they'd just done there was something about faith and works coming together in the Fulfillment of that prophecy even when it seemed like their lives were on the line that's exactly what's happening in third Nephi chapter 1 if you remember where we ended last time Samuel the lonite has been prophesying the destruction of the Nephites but that was 400 years away who was going to be around to see if that was fulfilled prophesying the death of Christ and the destruction that would take place surrounding

those events well that was less specific as far as when it would occur but 5 years from now a sign of Christ's birth will come and it will come so unmistakably that it will be brutally obvious when it happens or if it doesn't and as the date approaches the disbelievers make sure that it is a life or death proposition just as it would have been for the apostles in 1839 so let's start in thir Nei chapter 1 verse 1 we start with two dates the 90 and1st year of the reign of the judges and the

600th Year from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem that's an important recognition on the historian's part because way back in second Epi 25 we're told for according to the words of the prophets the Messiah cometh in 600 years from the time that my father left Jerusalem so you have Nephi's ancient prophecy and a much more recent Prophecy from Samuel the lonite unfortunately for the Believers at this moment none of the people that made these prophecies are still around obviously that original Nephi is long gone but if you remember from hel in chapter 16 after Samuel

the lonite jumps off the wall escapes with his life returns to his own people and is never heard of again Among the Nephites and perhaps even worse for the locals here verse two Nephi the son of helan the one that had made his own incredible prophecies regarding the murder of the chief judge and so on well he's gone too he had departed out of the land of zarema passing all the responsibility down to his son Nephi and then in verse three that Elder Nephi departed out of the land and withi he went no man knoweth

I imagine this would be a little nerve-wracking for the members of the church it's one thing for Samuel to leave he didn't live here he came in gave his prophecies and then went back but Nephi and the details of his departure are kind of nebulous he just departed and we don't even know where he went is he getting out of Dodge is he avoiding D-Day when the Fulfillment of that impossible prophecy was supposed to come to pass now now if that fact is making it harder to believe thankfully verse four is making it a little

bit easier behold the Prophecies of the prophets began to be fulfilled more fully there began to be greater signs greater Miracles wrought among the people so Faith did still have a leg to stand on but unfortunately so did doubt and the disbelievers did everything in their power to shift the center of gravity from Faith to doubt from belief to disbelief verse 5 there were some who began to say the time was passed for the words to be fulfilled which were spoken by Samuel the lonite I mean there's some wiggle room here right is it 5

years to the day of the prophecy or sometime in that fifth year that's a little bit unclear I mean they knew the year but not the day nor the hour to borrow that language that phrase the time was passed actually reminds me of an interesting verse from second Peter chapter 3 this whole chapter by the way fits this context perfectly fits our own context anticipating the second coming perfectly but verses 3 and 4 Peter says this there shall come in the last days scoffers remember Samuel was mocked well these Latter-Day scoffers will be walking after

their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation time goes on days come and go the years Roll by and it's all the same now again it wasn't greater sign greater Miracles prophecies being fulfilled but in some ways it's easy to downplay those and just say same stuff has happened it's always happened there have always been earthquakes there have always been famine there's always been plague there's always been wars and rumors of wars signs of

the times these are signs of all times anything to downplay the significance of the time that they're living in and then notice verse six they began to Rejoice over their Brethren thats a little like the scoffing that Peter talked about and they they said behold the time has passed the words of Samuel are not fulfilled Therefore your joy and your faith concerning this thing hath been vain you've believed for no reason your faith is unfounded and not just your faith your joy see there seems to be almost this tug of war this wrestling over rejoicing

in verse 6 the disbelievers rejoicing over their Brethren and trying to take away not just the faith but the joy of those that they're opposing Alma and kahor back in Alma 30 were similarly wrestling over the idea of joy of what constitutes real lasting happiness and who deserves to have it it is an interesting recognition on the disbelievers part however that a life of discipleship did seem to be joyful to those that were engaged in it verse 7 it came to pass that they did make a great uproar throughout the land the people who believed

began to be very sorrowful see the pendulum swing gone from from Joy to sorrow sorrowful lest by any means those things which had been spoken might not come to pass interesting how often doubt becomes an emotional issue where sorrow worry concern fear all of those emotions come into play and it's interesting to see that exact kind of thing happening in our day a Believer reads something on the Internet listens to a podcast watches a video is confronted with information and misinformation mingled together in one that seems to call into question their faith and the joy

they've been feeling in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ and they start to wonder they start to question they start to ask what if what if it might not be true and as that question begins to weigh down upon them there is sorrow that follows sometimes there's anger even and I think those feelings are totally natural the question is what do we do with them in verse eight the Believers did watch steadfastly for that day and that night and that day which should be as one day as if there were no night and why so

Vigilant so that they might know that their faith had not been vain that's their hope I just don't want to have believed in nothing or lived a certain lifestyle for no good reason now even in the absence of absolute Assurance there has been good reason there has been joy throughout it all no they don't wonder if their Joy has been vain that happiness was real I just wonder about my faith I even see that in people that I work with and talk to that are leaving the church it's almost always Doctrine or history that they're

questioning not the Latter-Day Saint lifestyle they tend to see goodness there they tend to recognize the joy they felt in fact in some ways they miss that Joy because now weighed down with doubt they're only feeling the sorrow that's mentioned in verse 7 but notice how they're watching in verse 8 I love the adverb that's chosen they watched steadfastly makes me wonder how do we watch as we're looking for information to confirm our faith as we're waiting for assurances which we typically hope will be intellectual not emotional or spiritual just prove it to me so

I don't have to wonder and I don't have to worry and I don't have to watch anymore let me just lay it all to rest well these Believers watched steadfastly but do we sometimes watch nervously do we watch impatiently do we watch desperately or on the flip side do we watch pridefully is it pride that's keeping us grounded oh oh you just wait eventually I'll be able to throw this evidence in your face but I worry about quote unquote Faith or hope devoid of Charity faith hope and charity all need to come together so even

if you're holding to your belief if you're watching pridefully then there's some repenting that needs to happen on our part too by all means watch for further Evidence further confirmation of your faith but watch Faithfully watch patiently watch humbly watch steadfastly the signs will come well as far as the disbelievers were concerned even that level of faith and patience we're too vague no we're going to establish a day we don't know exactly what day Samuel had in mind and so we're going to pick one and in verse 9 there was a day set apart by

the unbelievers that all those who believed in those Traditions should be put to death except the sign should come to pass which had been given by Samuel the prophet now how they could get away with making belief in false prophecy a capital offense I don't know there's no Authority for that but if they had the power to do that then who cares about Authority we'll see that later in these chapters but just like the apostles going back into Missouri where there is an extermination order for any Latter-Day Saint well this too was a prophecy that

dealt in life and death verse 10 when Nephi the son of Nephi our new Prophet when he saw this wickedness of his people notice he's still claiming them they're his people but seeing their wickedness his heart was exceedingly sorrowful notice Nephi's sorrow in 10 is very different than his people's sorrow back in verse 7 in seven they sorrowed over their own possible lack of faith in 10 Nephi is Sorrowing over his people's lack of righteousness and with sorrow moving him apparently more than fear in verse 11 he goes and Bows himself down upon the Earth

and cries mightily to his God in behalf of his people beautiful possessive pronouns there yay those who were about to be destroyed because of their faith in the tradition of their fathers he recognized their doubt and its cause he recognized what they were up against but he recognized their faith too faith in spite of the odds verse 12 he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day this was enus intensity and for good reason but by the end of that day the voice of the Lord came unto him and notice what he said starting in

verse 13 lift up your head and be of good cheer in this tug of war over joy in this struggle over sorrow lift up your head cheer up Joy was yours in your time of Faith Joy can still be yours even in this wrestle of Doubt cheer up things will get better for behold the time is at hand and on this night shall the sign be given and on the tomorrow come I into the world now I don't know if these disbelievers just happened to pick the right date their D-Day was incredibly coincidental or if

perhaps the Lord in his tender Mercy said oh that's the day I'm happy to bump up my due date in case of emergency and this is an emergency and then the Lord premortal soon to become mortal tells Nephi two reasons why he's coming at this moment of great alarm first to to show unto the world that I will fulfill all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets I love that's the first reason the Lord gives oh I'll come then not just to save the lives of my followers

but to defend the words of my prophets in last week's lesson I kept saying that time vindicates the prophets Hugh nibbi gave an incredible lecture series decades ago with that as the title but it's not just that time vindicates the prophets the Lord personally vindicates the prophets and again notice the personal pronouns in what he said I will fulfill it because I caused it to be spoken because those are my holy prophets I've got their back because they've got my name and my authority and are delivering my words to My People prophets indeed may be

mortal but they do have Divine backup later in the chapter verse 20 beautiful phrase it came to pass yay all things every wit according to the words of the prophets of course it did that was the first reason the lord gave everything they said every wit I'll make sure it comes to pass he reiterates that at the beginning of verse 14 so still the first reason he's coming behold I come unto my own to fulfill all things which I have made known unto the children of men from the foundation of the world so this isn't

just for Samuel the lamanites sake if all the holy prophets have spoken more or less of Christ as the Book of Mormon says then the Savior has a whole host of witnesses to vindicate from Adam on down so there's the first reason the second he then says and to do the will both of the father and of the son so if in some ways the first reason was the Lord looking down at his servant saying I've got you the second reason was him looking up at his father saying I'll follow you too the word of

prophets and the will of God come together with Christ in the middle fulfilling those words and fulfilling that will Jesus after all is the intermediary between God and man he's pulling them together in all that he does but then he clarifies what he meant by the father and the son and it goes beyond doing Heavenly father's will he says of the father because of me and of the son because of My Flesh now this ties us back to that very difficult passage in mosiah chapter 15 that describes Jesus as the father and the son if

that still confuses you go back and watch that lesson it's an important one where Jesus is both father and son this is not Crypt trinitarianism noin is not trying to explain the nature of the godhead he's trying to understand and explain the nature of Christ that enables him to perform the atonement the why of his coming grows out of the how of his coming and it's the doctrine of the Incarnation that Jesus has a father side and a son side a Divinity and Humanity melded in one fully God and fully man again I go into

that in detail in that lesson in mosiah 15 but here he's reiterating it I'm not just coming to do Heavenly father's will although that's definitely the case he's here to do his own will at least the father side of him that's what he says of the father because of me here he is in premortal at least for a few more hours right this is who I am I chose this here am I send me still applies I'm coming because of me that is the father side of me Divinity speaking out and I'm coming to do

the will of the Sun the sun's side of me that which I'm about to step into because of My Flesh the word this is so fascinating the word made flesh well the word is about to become flesh and it's that side of him that is willing Jesus forward into mortality and through mortality as well I love that the Lord is giving this hint of the doctrine of the Incarnation hours before he fully condescends to participate in it and I also love that those two sides of him the Divine and the Mortal the father side and

the son's side are in full agreement as to their will we want to come to the world the closer Jesus gets to Gethsemane you see this almost Schism of Soul this wrestle between his two sides as he approached the agonies of Gethsemane the will of the son was truly tested but I love that here stepping into mortality the savior's two sides are fully reconciled this is one will as Father and Son me and my flesh about to come together and even as mortality throws all that it can at him those two Wills would never fully

separate it's the fusing and the Fulfillment of those two Wills that allows Humanity to be saved at the death of Christ and it's here that we see it saving them even at the birth of Christ as he says at the end of verse 14 the end of this visit of assurances behold the time is at hand and this night shall the sign be given I remember my wife's feelings on those nights before a birth was to take place how nervous how excited how hope ful how scared she was me too I can only imagine all

that is taking place within Christ's mind and heart here perhaps his compassion and empathy and understanding for what Nephi and his fellow disciples were feeling was more perfect than we might imagine but he's coming and you'll be fine so lift up your head and be of good cheer nothing to sorrow over you know I find it fitting that the Lord would come to visit Nephi with assurances this night but what's interesting about that is the Assurance wasn't necessary because the night was going to come and the sign was going to follow so even if he

hadn't told Nephi in advance Nephi would be fine Nephi was getting a preview of Coming Attractions but the attraction was on its way with or without the preview things were going to be fine in fact if I were making up this story myself I'd probably leave out that reassurance because then it really cranks up the emotional intensity of this moment can you picture the sun setting over the distant Hills and Twilight and you start to worry well start to they've been worrying for a long time but that moment of greatest alarm the first time I

felt this way about anything was years ago studying the story of Elijah and the Widow of zarap she's about to die herself right her and her son one last meal and Elijah comes and says feed me first first and then spoiler alert Elijah don't say anything just let her feed you and then ask her to make one more for herself and her son as she thinks are you crazy you just saw me use the last bit of my meal and oil well just reach in one more time can you imagine the look of shock as

she reaches in and finds that the barrel is not empty after all wouldn't that be so much more dramatic than the way it played out in scripture man Elijah you hold her in advance too bad Elijah stole his own Thunder but then it dawned on me in my Zeal to make things a a little more epic a little more intense I felt this kind of chastisement saying this is already intense enough she's about to die so she thinks and a promise of reassurance is not the same thing as the Fulfillment of the promise itself in

either case you still have to trust the prophet the Widow of zarapa still has to exercise faith in Elijah's word Nei here still has to exercise faith in the Lord's promise I'm grateful that the Lord does not withhold his word just for dramatic effect our lives are dramatic enough and if he will whisper reassurances to me through the words of a living Prophet I am grateful for that reassurance in advance these spoilers May rob a bit of intensity from the actual fulfillment of the promise but I will take these previews of Coming Attractions any day

thank heaven literally that the Lord will do nothing save he revealeth his Secrets unto his servants the prophets and that in advance of their fulfillment by the time we reach verse 15 and I don't know how much time Nephi had to spread the good news but it came to pass that The Words which came unto Nephi were fulfilled according as they had been spoken for behold at the going down of the sun there was no darkness and the people began to be astonished because there was no darkness when the night came verse 19 goes into

further detail it came to pass that there was no darkness in all that night it was as light as though it was Midday and it came to pass that the sun did R in the morning again according to its proper order and they knew that it was the day that the Lord should be born because of the sign which had been given can you imagine seeing the sun rise and it not adding any illumination to the day there's a different source of light anything but artificial but no sunlight needed because even before Dawn it looked

like midday it reminds me of creation some people have attacked the Bible saying the creation story is nonsense because God says let there be light and yet he doesn't create the Sun for a few more days well where on Earth is that initial light coming from in the very first day of creation to which we with the help of Doctrine covenants 88 for example would say oh that light is Jesus the Light of Christ which fills the immensity of space that light which gives the sun its light essentially when God said let there be light

at the dawn of creation he was saying let there be Jesus after all creation occurred when God spake and Jesus is the word so whether it's God speaking that's Jesus whether God declaring let there be light that's Jesus the light of the world has come he's not dependent upon the son for illumination like I already said all Humanity would receive its opportunity for salvation with the death of Christ but for this group of desperate disciples they were saved by Christ's birth the promises of Christmas and Easter truly came together in one for this group and

they knew it they knew what the sign signified they knew that Jesus had come into the world the same is true of us we will know that Jesus has come into our world when you find reassurance in the face of your deepest despair when you find yourself surrounded by light even in your darkest moments when you find life even when you're staring death in the face when you find yourself able to stand through those experiences you will know that Jesus has come that he's here that he's a Part of Your World part of your life

you've come unto him he's come unto you lift up your head and rejoice the fact that you're ever able to do that against the odds is evidence of Christ in you of Emmanuel God With Us at that moment of unmistakable recognition when the Believers are lifting their heads up the disbelievers are falling down verse 16 there were many who had not believed the words of the prophets who fell to the Earth and became as if they were dead there's some Poetic Justice there too death was going to come upon one group or the other they

were threatening the righteous with physical death well here they are feeling an emotional death a spiritual death of sorts realizing that they had cut themselves off from Christ who had come the way that verse continues lets us know about something else for they knew that the great plan of Destruction we always talk about plans of Salvation a plan of happiness but a great plan of Destruction which they had laid for those who believed in the words of the prophets had been frustrated for the sign which had been given was already at hand too late for

them it already came you see what they were after it was the plan of the disbelievers we have to somehow Rob prophets of credibility they're a rival Authority surely people wouldn't hold to their testimony of prophets if we made it a life and death proposition well now our plan has died our credibility has perished and Prophets are looking better than ever God has Vindicated them and again as part of this plan if we can just tie it to some natural or in this case completely unnatural event then we look totally innocent we can wash our

hands of and say well it's not us killing you we're not persecuting you you've just been proven wrong we can look innocent we can look objective we can look rational right it is not reasonable that such a being as a Christ should come certainly isn't reasonable that there'll be a day night and day with no Darkness this is insanity on your part and we will make the grave your Asylum but no none of that worked instead in verse 17 they began to know not began to believe it was too late for that remember we talked

about that last week this sign is going to be so unmistakable that not only would there be cause to believe that's why signs are given but also that there would be no cause for unbelief mercy and Justice coming together at the Fulfillment right they began to know too late to exercise faith that the Son of God must shortly appear yay in F all the people upon the face of the whole earth this is universal Knowledge from the West to the east the North to the South they were so exceedingly astonished that they fell to the

Earth and then back to knowledge for they knew that the prophets had testified of these things for many years the plan had been to delegitimize the prophets but these signs fully legitimized them the sign which had been given was already at hand they began to fear because of their iniquity and their unbelief belief and behavior always come together in this case bad behavior iniquity and bad belief unbelief again I think we need to sit with that for a moment to begin to know it's now too late to exercise Faith because I can't not know and

where there's no room for doubt there's no room for Faith where doubt is not a danger faith cannot be a courageous Choice an exercise of agency a moral decision this is now simply a fine grasp of the obvious surrender in the face of unavoidable defeat no wonder they began to fear because that is the opposite of faith and they never had it then and they can't have it now it's just pure knowledge I alluded to Elder Maxwell's statement last week I actually want to quote it clearly today because this is such an appropriate place for

it in a talk he gave in October of 1974 called why not now which in my opinion is one of the most amazing pieces of reverse psychology I've ever seen in a general conference address it's so worth reading but he concludes his talk with this question if you sense that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord why not do so now for in the coming of that Collective confession it will mean much less to kneel down when it is no longer possible to stand up returning

to third Nephi it will mean much less to know then when it is no longer possible not to know take advantage of these days of Doubt to exercise and build your faith someday it will not only be less necessary it will be less possible because we will know now these poor frust gred disbelievers you got to credit them for their persistence and their Ingenuity even in the face of absolute knowledge they still tried to force disbelief back in verse 22 it came to pass that from this time forth there began to be lying sent forth

among the people you see it couldn't just be planting seeds of doubt it had to be fullon dishonesty the truth was known so their only hope was through lies they were sent forth among the people by Satan with this intent to harden their hearts to the intent that they might not believe in those signs and wonders which they had seen later we'll see that he tries to Blind their eyes but it's still too early for that it's obvious it's right in front of you you do have a reason for the hope that is in you

well we can't attack the reason anymore we tried that in the last chapter but now let's attack the Hope let's try to harden their hearts but again too early for that notwithstanding these lying and deceiving the more part of the people did believe and were converted unto the Lord again how could they not admittedly so much of our modern secularized world gives Faith an uphill battle but the day will come where it's doubt that has to play uphill and as a result of this flourishing of Faith verse 23 Nephi went forth among the people and

also many others he wasn't alone after all even after Samuel's departure and they were baptizing unto repentance in the which there was a great remission of sins I love that Collective confession to borrow Elder Maxwell's phrase again this great remission of sins with all these people coming to be baptized unto repentance and there's peace verse 24 there were no contentions well save it were a few but notice the type they were arguing over theology some endeavoring to prove by the scriptures that it was no more expedient to observe the law of Moses now in this

thing they did Heir having not understood the scriptures now that could go in both a negative as well as a positive way if we interpret this negatively some might have been saying oh Jesus came and his salvation is meant to be Universal and so we don't have to keep any Commandments anymore he's come to cover everything so put it on his tab live however you want now that's the negative approach the positive is kind of what we saw at the end of second Epi chapter 25 we teach the law because we live under it but

we also teach the deadness of the law so people will know that their life is in Christ the law was just the school master all along and we're ready to graduate into the gospel I would hope that theirs was the positive approach to this misunderstanding assuming that Christ had come to fulfill the law not hoping that he'd come to destroy it but either either way verse 25 they were soon converted and convinced of the error that they had made so by the end of the verse they were brought to a knowledge of their error and

did confess their faults you see in the middle of that they were told no no no the law isn't fulfilled until the death of Christ not the birth we still got another 33 years of offering animal sacrifice but I love the enthusiasm I mean it's easy to make this mistake after all we were saved by his birth but that was just physical we're not saved spirit spiritually until we're saved by his death so keep living the law of Moses but I do love those three C's in verse 25 converted convinced and confess that's real repentance

now in verse 26 the Glad Tidings are being spread throughout the people all because of the signs which were coming to pass and all that according to the words of the prophecy of all the holy prophets do we sense that over and over in this chapter that God vindicates His prophets he did for them he will for those today verse 27 begins in peace and yet shockingly there were still gadian and robbers infesting the land with strongholds and secret places such that the righteous could not overpower them in fact in verse 28 those gadian and

robbers began to increase in a great degree why because there were many dissenters of the Nephites who did flee unto them I wonder about that verb flee you've just had absolute knowledge of truth no more room for doubt and yet you're not just joining the gadian and robbers not just dissenting from the truth but fleeing from it what are you afraid of what are you running from it's almost like they're trying to get away from themselves or at least get away from others that would force them to recognize themselves it's tragic but often when people

descent from truth they don't want to hang around it staying friends and neighbors is still too difficult the Jack in the Box is always in danger of popping up and reminding me of Truth things as they really are I've just got to get out and I want to get out fast it may seem strange but it is true so often when people dissent they dissent fleeing and their flight from Faith as we see at the end of 28 causes much sorrow to all those who remain I have felt that sorrow when loved ones leave and

it's a different sort of Sorrow than what we saw at the beginning of the chapter Sorrowing wondering if what if what I believe isn't true after all no this is sorrow that it is true why can't they recognize it it may have been even worse for the lamanites mentioned in verse 29 a cause of much sorrow among the lamanites because this seems to be a new experience for them Nephites have struggled with the centers for centuries it seems but the lamanites they have now have many children who did grow up and begin to waack strong

in years that they became for themselves I've got a son that just turned 18 and he's constantly reminding me of the fact I'm an adult now he's become for himself but these youth this Rising generation of adults quote unquote were LED Away by some who were zoramites that's an name typically taken by denters they were LED Away by them by their lying and their flattering words to join those gadian and robbers and thus were The lamanites Afflicted also and began to decrease as to their faith and righteousness shocking that we're reading that about these descendants

of the anti- Nephi Lehi or those who had been so powerfully converted by the preaching of Nephi and Lehi just a few chapters earlier remember we saw that back in Helman 15 they were firm and steadfast well now they're starting to decrease as to their faith belief and righteousness Behavior but it's because of the wickedness of the rising generation so often the faith and the fears of older folks rise and fall on the back of the rising generation we're counting on you and your struggles are sometimes the source of our own this is the lame

monite equivalent of what the Nephites felt way back in mosiah ch 26 a rising generation unfamiliar with the words of King Benjamin unconverted by that experience and afflicting and affecting older folks who are wondering about the future of their faith now with chapter 1 behind us a true Masterpiece in the Book of Mormon chapter 2 presents us with the polarization of the wicked and the righteous we started seeing that at the end of chapter 1 to deny as obvious a sign as what you just saw this this explains a certain level of obstinance that is

shocking to me this isn't dwindling in unbelief this is coming out in open Rebellion it's not apathy it's antipathy and so no wonder things get polarized we actually see that at the end of section one of the doctrine of covenants fascinating verses verse 35 the Lord says that the day speedily cometh the hour is not yet but is is nigh at hand when peace shall be taken from the earth sounds like those terrifying days in helan and now in early third Nephi Christ is coming soon next week in our study so in our day the

time is n at hand peace shall be taken from the earth and here's why the devil shall have power over his own dominion and conversely verse 36 also the Lord shall have power over his Saints you sense that polarization taking place throughout history there seems to be this bell curve of righteousness and wickedness with most of humanity somewhere in the middle I'm on the Lord's Side I'm pretty good not as bad as others but not as good as those those extremists that are really trying to live the gospel But as time gets closer to the

end time that bell curve will flip as there is no more Middle Ground choose you this day whom you will serve as for me in my house right or how long Hal ye between two opinions if the Lord be God follow him less and less middle ground in the last days you see in war when the bullets start flying you got to pick aide and dive in the trenches there is no spiritual Switzerland in the last days Satan will have power over his Dominion total loss of agency no wonder so many sins are described as

addictions in our day and the flip side the Lord shall have power over his Saints not because he takes his followers agency but because they surrender it to him they yield to the will of God that you see happening in third Nephi chapter 2 the process is fascinating verse one it came to pass that thus passed away the 90 and fth year also and the people began to forget if remember is one of the key words throughout helan throughout scripture in general then forgetting is one of the first steps towards losing faith the people began

to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard and began to be less and less astonished at a sign or a Wonder from heaven in so much that they began to be hard in their hearts and now joined by the next and blind in their minds and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen verse two they were imagining up some vain thing in their hearts that it was rought by men and by the power of the devil to lead away and deceive the hearts of the people and thus did Satan get

possession of the hearts of the people again in so much that he did blind their eyes and lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and a vain thing and it came to pass that the people began to wax strong in wickedness and Abominations and they did not believe that there should be any more signs or wonders given and Satan did go about leading away the hearts of the people tempting them and causing them that they should do great wickedness in the land you could write volumes about those three verses

notice how it began they forget past signs Next Step they become less and less astonished at present signs and then jump ahead to verse three they do not believe there will be any future signs you see how past present and future are interrelated In this passage if we get forgetful of the past and then apathetic in the present then of course we have no faith for the future this is a principle I've taught elsewhere so if you've heard this before please bear with me it's worth repeating sister Camila Kimble president Kimble's wife was a lifelong

learner her last name was Irene after all before she got married yes that Irene family of deep and critical thinkers and with that critical mind there were some questions she had about the gospel that she just couldn't answer she couldn't resolve but she didn't let her question marks overwhelm her exclamation points instead as she famously described she would take her questions and put them in a metaphorical box which he would place on a metaphorical shelf no need to let questions hold hostage the answers she'd already received well I know enough ex latterday Saints and anti-

latterday Saints to know that they hate that analogy they think it's a copout that we're sticking our head in the sand not wanting to face the difficult questions oh sure just put it on your shelf but this dawned on me once when I was speaking to a group of members of another church when I lived in Tennessee I was trying to expl the apostasy to justify the need for a restoration and one sweet little old lady not so sweet at the moment got mad at me and said how dare you claim that yours is the

only true church and in my efforts to try to defend that position gracefully I reassured her in the same way I had people on my mission that by teaching apostasy and restoration we're not trying to take anything away from other people's faiths we're not saying other churches are false we're simply saying that they're incomplete and then I read her body language and her facial expression and realized oh she doesn't like the word incomplete any more than the word false and so as I scrambled internally wondering what do I do here I've offended her and I'm

the only latterly Saint in the room I have no backup well the backup came and I heard myself saying to her and the congregation yes your church is incomplete and so is mine and then I wondered what am I saying I thought we had the fullness of the gospel and then the Ninth Article of Faith came to my rescue and I explained it to them there are actually three shelves sister Kimble not just one because we believe all that God has revealed that's Revelation past we believe all that he now reveals that's Revelation present and

we believe that God has yet to reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God that's shelf number three Revelations yet to come you see sister Kimble's shelf is shelf number three in the Ninth Article of Faith and as I tried to explain to this congregation there are things we don't know yet either we believe what he's told us and others in the past what he's telling us now but we believe what he'll tell in the future and that it will come in the same means it always has through the conduit of

prophets and apostles that's the difference between us in our shared incompleteness it always comes back to prophets and apostles whom God chooses to vindicate as we've seen But tying together sister Kimble shelf and the three elements of the Ninth Article of Faith was a revelation to me I'm sure it blessed me that day far more than it blessed the congregation I was trying to explain the restored gospel to it's helped me ever since and helped a lot of people that I've tried to work with navigate their own crises of Faith because what they're dealing with

is an overloaded shelf number three and they only label it doubt instead of labeling it Revelations Yet to Come how did that lesser label stick to it because they don't have anything on shelf number two and all that once was on shelf number one has gotten Dusty to the point of Oblivion you see the order here in verses 1 2 3 if you're forgetting the signs and wonders which you've already heard you've allowed everything on shelf number one to grow Dusty I often will tell students or people that I'm working with inventory shelf number one

seriously make a catalog of them spiritual experiences you've had if you were to literally fill up a shelf of souvenirs a leaf from the sacred grove a white handkerchief from a temple dedication a vial of consecrated oil a copy of your patriarchal blessing a well-worn set of scripture memories remember what God has done for you dust it off recall remember and then shelf two is it occupied is God revealing things to you right now in your scripture study in your pondering in your prayer what is he revealing to you as we speak because if you

are engaged in current Revelation and remembering and rejoicing in Revelation past then you're thrilled about shelf number three cuz you know what it is revelation yet to come you're excited you have stuff on on the Shelf up in the Box things that God will yet reveal to you and as life proceeds you just keep rearranging things along the shelves what you learned today on shelf number two gets moved down to shelf number one tomorrow making room for whatever God wants to take out of shelf number three and move down to shelf number two for you

that's the process of living in Revelation and these people have halted it forgot shelf one Dusty less and less astonished at shelf two taking it for granted and then denying that anything will ever move out of shelf 3 when that happens an empty two a Dusty one then an overloaded three just collapses and brings down the whole bookcase it's exactly what the adversary is attempting to do here there's something else worth seeing in this passage at the end of verse two it seems to all lead up to believing that the doctrine of Christ was a

foolish and a vain thing you remember how Nephi ended his books back in second Nephi I'm done I'm good to go but I just want to reiterate the doctrine of Christ one more time and it consisted of Faith repentance baptism Holy Ghost and then endured to the end that's 2 Epi 31 that is the doctrine of Christ it's the Fourth Article of Faith in a nutshell and Satan's goal here is to get us to believe that that's foolishness that's vanity why would anybody Place faith in the nonverifiable the irrational it's not reasonable why would you

repent of sins when there's no such thing as Sin we live in a world of moral relativism or Universal salvation take your pick either way just do what you want to do and as if repentance wasn't bad enough baptism covenanting to stay within that life of repentance being baptized un repentance are you kidding me why would you immerse yourself in that kind of restrictive lifestyle and then after baptism Holy Ghost you want some unseen Source there to confirm the insanity of your decision talk about foolish and vain doctrine of Christ who needs that but here's

the irony as the adversary tries to lead us away from the doctrine of Christ he can't remove it he simply replaces it this is how it typically works right if you have our four Faith repentance baptism and Holy Ghost typically what the adversary does in this process is eliminate the holy ghost first he's just going to reverse the process okay and he does the first by getting us to stop doing whatever it was that invites the Holy Ghost into our lives we often hold on to the social strand of our conversion but we've often given

up on the spiritual strand I'm either doing things that offend the spirit or I'm not doing the things that invite him sins of commission of omission take your pick but without the Holy Ghost confirming my belief then no wonder my covenants get a little shaky the grip that I was holding to them gets a little more tentative I'm not as immersed in that lifestyle as I once was and then my behavior seems to follow I'm not repenting I'm not keeping my covenants I'm not having the spirit confirmed that I should and with just Faith Holding

On by a thread no wonder it seems to snap and we fall but as human beings we can't live without faith I know in our secular World they don't want to accept that but they just want to place faith in something else and call it by some other name there will always be some Central unifying principle that governs your life some ultimate concern some Anchor Point that keeps you grounded pick whatever you want I tend to label them as some kind of ism Mormonism as we used to call it the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ

was your central unifying Anchor Point it no longer is but what's your new ISM it could be some other form of religious denominationalism or something non-religious at all it could be Hedonism it could be secularism it could be intellectualism it could be fanaticism in some kind of sport or activity it could be environmentalism it could be more political with either conservativism or liberalism it could be consumerism or commercialism you'll find something to revolve your life around and with that as your new object of Faith then the Fourth Article of Faith the doctrine of Christ or

his replacement just naturally kicks into gear you found your new ISM your object of Faith you will start behaving in a certain way to fall into line with it your behaviors will change based on your faith in fact it'll get to the point that you immerse yourself in that lifestyle you commit to it and then you'll start looking for confirmation that what you chose was the right choice until something gets in the way and you don't feel quite so confirmed in that decision you become less committed and immersed to it your behavior starts to change

and then finally you switch out that ISM for something else and then it just keeps working back down and back up and down and up up and down the Fourth Article of Faith that's life unless you're firm and steadfast fast in the true ISM the true faith faith in the Lord Jesus Christ I've often asked my students what are the most important five words in the Fourth Article of Faith and sometimes they'll say oh Faith repentance baptism Holy Ghost five words that sums it up and I said I didn't ask for a summary I asked

for the most important five words and those five most important words are in the Lord Jesus Christ the faith repent baptism Holy Ghost will always be there it's just a question of what are you placing your faith in here the adversary is leading them to believe that the doctrine of Christ is a foolish and vain thing so replace that object of Faith with something else something lesser take out those five words in the Lord Jesus Christ you'll still be following the Fourth Article of Faith with something one last El element worth recognizing in these three

verses is how often the adversary aims for The Head and the Heart the two body parts that God focuses on in the spirit of Revelation do Kev to Section 8 this is what God speaks to the mind and the heart so if the adversary can jam the channels of communication that's good military strategy right take out the communications of the enemy run interference Jam the frequency then no wonder faith can be repl placed with something else over and over in these three verses you'll see the mind and the Heart side by side attacking the heart

verse one hard in their hearts verse two imagining up some vain thing in their hearts later in two lead away and deceive the hearts of the people end of two Satan got possession of the hearts of the people again verse three leading away the hearts of the people it's unmistakable and the flip side the mind they began to forget verse one blind in their minds verse one blind in their eyes verse two that still seems to be cognitive lead them away to believe that the doctrine of Christ was a foolish and vain thing verse two

change your perspective on the gospel mind change how you feel about the gospel heart and as well you see this relationship between belief and behavior if I can get you to believe the doctrine is foolish if I can get you to disbelieve all that you heard and seen then no wonder by the end of this passage I can tempt you and cause you to do great wickedness true Doctrine leads Behavior upward president Packer said which means that false Doctrine would leave Behavior downward beliefs and behaviors always seem to come together now summarizing the rest of

this chapter more briefly from verses 4-8 time passes they begin to recalibrate their calendar from the coming of Christ verse 9 n Nephi is still nowhere to be found and sure enough we never will see him again verse 10 the people remain in wickedness there's a lot being pulled to that side of the spectrum but there's plenty on the other side too not withstanding the much preaching and prophesying which was sent among them we're seeing polarization again in verse 11 the gadian and robbers continue to increase they lay waste cities they spread death and Carnage

to the point that both Nephites and the lamanites have to unite to fight against them and that's exactly what happens in 12 all the lamanites who had been converted unto the Lord did Unite with their Brethren the Nephites they were compelled for the safety of their lives and their women and their children to take up arms against those Gadi Anan Robbers no chance for the pacifism of the anti- Nephi Lehi anymore they have to take up arms to maintain their rights their privileges of their Church their worship their freedom their Liberty this is Title of

Liberty two .0 but as a result of this full unification of the righteous regardless of lineage or Heritage or race verse 14 those lamanites who had United with the Nephites were numbered Among the Nephites and then 15 their curse was taken from them and their skin became White like unto the Nephites now I talked about this last time with Samuel the lonite we had a long discussion about this in the lesson from Elma chapter 3 with the amoc sites the curse and the mark as two separate distinct things the curse was and always is separation

from God whereas the mark can be anything skin color mark on the forehead presence or absence of the Holy Ghost is the ultimate and unmistakable Mark so again do not conflate the two do not make the curse and the mark synonymous they aren't even here in verse 15 there seems to be two separate things happening the curse was taken from them in fact they took it away from themselves they were not separated from God or his people and His prophets there was full unification between righteous Nephites and righteous lamanites so no curse at all and

then secondly separately this verse says that their skins became White unto the Nephites as well again as I hinted about it last week there are all kinds of different interpretations about these things whether the skin is literal or metaphoric just in terms of the scales of Darkness falling from our eyes for example or the light in our eyes the savior's image in our countenance or coats of skins used to cover their nakedness and some kind of animal skin representing righteousness or wickedness all kinds of possibilities there but I think in context what's most meaningful to

me is all of this in the spirit of unity that there is no difference between them on the inside separation from God or full Unity with him and therefore there should be no distinctions on the outside at least none that would tempt us to color our perception of someone else who knows exactly what's happening here on the spectrum of literal and symbolic but as far as personal application is concerned I do love the lesson it teaches us about being truly one because we have finally become truly christs and here the Lord was erasing all distinctions

between them you're one you're mine there's no distinction there's no differentiation there is no division it's almost like the last 600 years of nephite lonite History are getting a reboot let's erase all external identifiers and really what's going to separate people will be their internal identities who they choose to follow sure enough From This Moment forward all differences between Nephites and lamanites will be based not on Race but on righteousness not on color but on commitment on Covenant on internal choices not on external identifiers I think this idea of a reboot really is worth considering

by the time you get to verse 17 after all this talk of unity it says that the people of Nephi began to gain some advantage of the robbers unfortunately in 18 which reintroduces wickedness and contentions and dissensions in other words a lack of unity no wonder that verse ends with the gadian and robbers gaining many advantages over them you see 17 and 18 is this tug of war over who has the advantage and it all revolves around the issue of Unity versus Division A house divided against itself cannot stand we will always be at a

social and spiritual disadvantage as long as we allow divisions to separate us advantage on the other hand will always come as a result of becoming truly one the choice is theirs as the choice is ours and as the chapter ends in 19 the sword of Destruction is hanging over them just as Samuel the lonite had prophesied now the polarization that we saw in Chapter 2 will continue in chapter 3 this time it really comes to a head as we see a gadianton robber against a nephite chief judge the governor of the gadianton robbers is a

man named ganai and the governor of the people of Nephi is a man named leonius who has a chief Captain named gadoni I'm sorry that both names start with G it can be really confusing gidan high is the bad guy G goni is the good guy and here in this chapter leonius is a good guy as well now what you see in chapter three is the robbers making certain demands of the righteous Nephites and then those Nephites making certain preparations in response gide anhi the bad guy writes a letter to leonius the good guy and

that goes from verse 2 through verse 10 and it can be boiled down to this Surrender Your cities or Die the gon robbers just wanted to take over everything and so threatening the Nephites with destruction but rhetorically this epistle is fascinating I'll leave you to read it start to finish but if you take apart the phrases and start organizing them along rhetorical lines what are what is he trying to accomplish there's some fascinating insights here for example he begins with flattering words we see that phrase often in the scriptures as those are attacking Believers look

at verse two leonius most noble and chief governor of the land and he just sents this epistle just dripping with sugary sweet flattering words I'm trying to convince you to be on my side to lower your defenses verse two is full of it I write this epistle unto you and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of your firmness and also the firmness of your people later he says you do stand well in the defense of your Liberty and your property and your country oh kudos to you leonius you're doing a great job over

there in zarem verse three he calls him again most noble leonius verse five he speaks of their Noble spirit in the field of battle can you sense gide anide just buttering him up trying to get in his good graces so often I see that in people trying to attack Faith or simply to persuade us into taking their side on any position now the flattering words quickly shift into what I would call subtle insinuations maybe this guy's not quite as friendly as he first appears so in verse two in the midst of all this flattering words

he uses phrases like you're maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and Liberty just that word suppose is that subtle insinuation in the middle of that compliment that you stand well in defense he he pulls it back just a touch when he says as if ye were supported by the hand of a God that as if tips us off that he's not really offering that compliment in fact at the end of verse two when he says you've been Defending Your Liberty and your property and your country he then weakens that by saying or

that which you do call so we'll see soon he doesn't really consider it their property or their country but you call it that you see the subtlety on Gideon's part well he went from flattering words into subtle insinuations and now into more fully demeaning words in verse three for example when he says oh most noble leonius please don't be so foolish and vain that pair seems to go together frequently we just sought in the previous chapter about the doctrine of Christ not quite so flattering as he used to be right well you'll also see in

this epistle evidence of insincerity that ganite is simply a pretended Peacemaker in verse three he says oh it seeth a pity unto me I really don't want to go down this path I I I I would hate to to have to attack you in verse five he says I'm I feel for your welfare verse 10 again this feigned innocence this insincerity this pretended peacemaking I hope that you will deliver up your lands and your possessions without the shedding of blood again it would be a pity to have to kill you over this but the demand

the more forceful demand is always lurking somewhere behind it comes out most obviously in verse 6 I write unto you Desiring that you would yield up unto this my people your cities your lands and your possessions now these demands are accompanied by some promises I'll let you decide how sincere you think these promises are but in verse 7 he says yield yourselves up unto us Unite with us become acquainted with with our secret works and become our Brethren that you may be like unto us not our slaves but our Brethren partners of all our substance

that begs the question then who are you going to pray upon you are gadianton robbers after all and if your victims all of a sudden become fellow partners then who are we going to victimize this system doesn't seem to be sustainable unless there are Outsiders to pray upon but here's his feigned promise he even says in verse 8 I swear unto you with an oath you won't be destroyed now if these soft promises are the equivalent of his earlier flattering words then there is a certain intimidation factor that goes along with the subtlety and demeaning

words that came before as well so get a sense of this intimidation through some of the threats that he levels some of the foregone conclusions that he presents back in verse three don't suppose that you can stand against so many brave men who are at my command he says they now at this time stand in their arms they're ready in waiting they do await with great anxiety which we would say eagerness not fear for the word go down upon the Nephites and Destroy them in verse four they have an unconquerable Spirit we've proven it in

the field of battle they have an everlasting hatred towards you and as a result they would come down against you and visit you with utter destruction still feeling pretty good about those promises and the pretended peacemaking in verse six when he says to yield up the their cities and possessions he threatens them at the end that would be better than visiting you with a sword and destruction coming upon you in verse eight I swear unto you with an oath to send my armies they shall spare not but shall slay you until you shall become extinct

now in spite of all this intimidation gide anhai still tries to come across as innocence personified he seeks to establish his own credibility his own respectability that's best seen in verse 9 I am the governor of this the secret society of gadianton see it sounds legitimate it's a society there's a governor which society and The Works thereof I know to be good well from your perspective I guess and they are of ancient date and they have been handed down unto us you see we have tradition on our side we have Antiquity speaking to our respectability

he doesn't clarify that it's been handed down from the devil that the ancient source seemed to be Cain not exactly the most credible precedent but then in an even greater attempt to shift things to shift the morality or the respectability of these two parties having claimed credibility and respectability on his part he then lays the blame at the feet of the Nephites we've seen zorm mites and lamanites do that before in verse four he speaks of the many wrongs which ye have done unto them no wonder they're justified in their anger in verse 10 he

says they have descended away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government so of course I need to come to avenge their wrongs you see what he's done start to finish so fascinating to flatter and insinuate to demean to pretend to make demands and offer promises but Veil and unveil threats to wrestle over credibility and blame so interesting what this gadianton Governor is up to but starting in verse 11 we see the Nephites response through their leader leonius when he received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished I would be

too because of the boldness of gide anhai demanding the possession of the lands of the Nephites and also of threatening the people avenging wrongs of those that have received no wrong save it where they had wronged themselves by descending away unto those Wicked and abominable robbers it's like are you serious back in verse 10 when it said my people may recover their rights and I will avenge their wrongs do you have any idea what Rights and Wrongs are about gideoni you've completely reversed them the only wrongs that have been done are self inflicted wrongs on

your part remember Samuel prophesied of that he that doeth iniquity doeth it unto himself well notice what leonius and his people start to do verse 12 leonius was a just man he could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber love that about him he's not taken in by this rhetoric so he will not hearken to the Epistle of ganai but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them I guess that was one part of the

epistle that he did believe in you're threatening us with destruction and I do believe that you mean to try to conquer us you were hoping for an easy Victory well that's not going to come well we don't believe in an easy victory for ourselves either it's going to take our efforts and most importantly it'll take the strength of the Lord notice leonius doesn't fear his enemy he fears God and he doesn't just put his trust in his own people he puts his trust in the Lord great lessons on God versus man here then verse 13

he sends a proclamation that all of his people should gather together unto one place remember Advantage comes through unity and he's going to try to take advantage of that fact verse 14 we then see physical preparation they cause fortifications to be built round about them the strength exceedingly great places guards round about them to watch them to guard them from the robbers keeps them there day and night talk about watching steadfastly like we saw earlier hypervigilance here strong fortifications and then the physical preparation in 14 is accompanied by spiritual preparation in 15 he says unto

them as the Lord liveth except ye repent of all your iniquities and cry unto the Lord ye will in no wise be delivered out of the hands of those gadian and robber remember president hinckley's famous statement in the conference right after the 9/11 attacks our safety lies in Repentance our strength comes of obedience to the Commandments of God leonius gets that thankfully his people get it too verse 16 so great and marvelous were the words and Prophecies of leonius that they did cause fear to come upon all the people but not fear of their enemies

fear of God in a good way they did exert themselves in their might to do according to the words of leonius will prepare on the outside and the inside the physical and the spiritual in 17 he appoints Chief captains over all the armies so that they can command those armies at the time that the robbers should come down out of the Wilderness against them I love that he in as the centralized leader is preparing in advance to delegate Authority when the fighting actually comes I can't decide everything from my single vantage point I have to

teach correct principles and then when push comes to shove let you govern yourselves interesting to see in our day just how much the church is decentralizing certain things home Church Home Center Church supported we have a leonius in Salt Lake that is appointing Chief captains within every family in the church you have to be ready to follow local commands fight the battles Within your immediate area without having to wait for Central Command now the chief among all those Chief captains we meet at the end of 18 Again his name was GID gadoni but in 19

we learned something about him and something about leonius it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their Chief captains say it were in their times of wickedness when this wasn't an option to appoint someone that had the spirit of Revelation that's the gift of the Holy Ghost and also prophecy that's the testimony of Jesus therefore this gadoni was a great prophet among them as also was the chief judge what's going to prepare us to win this war to defeat the dangers of our day Gathering becoming one fortifying ourselves repenting of our sins

heeding the words of our prophetic leaders and preparing to lead our own families ourselves having prophets at the helm Guided by the spirit of Revelation and prophecy now there's an interesting balance between receiving delegated authority like we see in verse 17 and still trusting those Chief captains who are inspired of God in 19 and you see that in 20 and 21 because in 20 the people having received some of that delegated authority say to their leader gadoni hey let's pray unto the Lord and let us go upon the mountains and Into the Wilderness that we

may fall upon the robbers and Destroy them in their own lands let's take the battle to them let's go on the offensive and yet G gadoni respon and 21 oh the Lord forbid if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands and we will gather all our armies together and we will not go against them this cannot become an offensive War it must remain on the defensive we will wait till they shall come against us therefore as the Lord

liveth if we do this he will deliver them into our hands go phrase by phrase verse 21 and what is gadoni calling for what is the Lord calling for an inoffensive prepared centered gathered immovable patient expectant covenant-keeping Faith filled people of God that's who will win this war that's who we must become trusting that inspiration more than their own best thought verse 22 they do as commanded they gather all the people and all of their substance and they go forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together to defend themselves

against their enemies and that was the area that stretched from zarahemla to Bountiful now zarahemla is synonymous with the church Bountiful becomes synonymous with the temple zarahemla is synonymous with the prophet Bountiful become synonymous with the Lord himself where will we gather and Center ourselves to defend ourselves from our enemies in the church and the temple following the lead of the prophets and the Lord sink your roots build your foundation in Zion and we will always be able to keep Babylon at Bay there assembled in verse 25 they did fortify themselves against their enemy they

did dwell in one land in one body they did Fear The Words which had been spoken by leonius again good fear in so much that they did repent of all their sins and they put up their prayers unto the Lord their God that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle you get a sense of Zion there one heart one mind dwelling in righteousness no spiritually poor among them verse 26 they also make weapons of of War of every kind and become strong with armor Shields and

bucklers after the manner of gadoni instruction you want to be ready for this then get armed and armored take upon yourself the whole armor of God and do it after the instruction of the prophets that God has placed before us with that level of protection and preparation we can do what Elder Joseph BW worin wants counseled us to do to face the world around us and say Come What May and love it by the time we get to thir Nei chapter 4 we have seen prophecy and time vindicate the prophets we have seen polarization and

preparation in the face of mounting opposition we've seen Division and unification and the advantages and disadvantages that go along with them now in chapter 4 we will see two leaders of the gadianton robbers one after the next in their attempts to attack the people of God and their ultimate approaches to that teach us some interesting principles the first leader was gide anhai who we met in chapter 3 he ended up opting for an open battle against this gathered group of Nephites he saw no other way his successor Zara opted for Siege Warfare and I think

if you compare those those two it's fascinating the open battle versus The Siege how do the adversary try to attack people of Faith there is open apostasy and then there is more subtle inactivity some people fight against Faith While others simply dwindle in unbelief doesn't that seem to be what Siege Warfare is trying to do Satan attacks us with transgression and temptation but also with distraction sometimes he leads with Stony ground in Hope that the sun will just Scorch our plants and other times he simply introduces Thorns weeds so that your plant can stay it

will just have all of its strength pulled away into lesser Endeavors again open Warfare versus a Siege approach which one are you in more danger of succumbing to Satan's going to try either one now for the open battle Jump Ahead to verse seven they did come up to battle and behold great and terrible was the day that they did come up to battle that phrase should tip us off that this is symbolic of the second coming also the last days are described as great and terrible or great and Dreadful notice how they're dressed they were

girded about after the manner of robbers and they had a lamb skin about their loins and they were dyed in Blood and their heads were shorn and they had head plates upon them great and terrible was the appearance of the armies of ganai because of that armor and because of their being DED in blood talk about counterfeiting the cause of Christ we will take the skin of the lamb and use it to cover our nakedness we'll dye ourselves in blood even while we deny that the blood of Christ the Lamb of God can do anything

to save us we'll shave our heads which often in Old Testament culture was symbolic of Contrition of humility of a new birth like a baby with no hair to have this headplate High priests wore a headplate that said Holiness to the Lord across it that was supposed to always be on their minds protected by the armor of God again in every aspect the armies of the robbers were counterfitters of the cause of Christ it is only the righteous that have true coats of skins to cover their nakedness who are truly died in the blood of

the lamb whose Contrition is sincere for whom Holiness truly is on the Mind those who legitimately wear the true Armor of God now in the face of this great and terrible sight in verse 8 the armies of the Nephites when they see this they'd Fallen to the Earth they lift their cries to the Lord their God that he would spare them and deliver them out of out of the hands of their enemies they're not afraid of ganai to the point of begging them for Mercy theirs is the fear of God and turning to him for

help now those two can look similar from the outside so in verse 9 the armies of ganai see this they Shout with a loud voice because of their Joy they thought the Nephites had fallen with fear because of the terror of their armies but verse 10 clarifies that that was not the case the Nephites didn't fear them they feared their God and did supplicate him for protection therefore when the armies of gideoni did Rush upon them they were prepared to meet them yay in the strength of the Lord they did receive them verses 11- 15

describe this battle great and terrible comes up several times the worst Slaughter in lehit history but the Nephites won by verse 14 ganai is dead and 15 the Nephites return to their places of security the open battle approach of the G Anon robbers was unsuccessful but never one to give up easily what's the second option verse 17 they appoint a new leader whose name is z Nara and notice his approach in verse 16 there's some powerful phrases here after going home to lick their wounds and get ready for the next attack the armies of the

gadianton robbers came up on all sides to lay Siege round about the people of Nephi so we clearly see that this is the their new strategy and why did they opt for it for they did suppose that if they should cut off the people of Nephi from their lands and should hem them in on every side and if they should cut them off from all their outward privileges that they could cause them to yield themselves up according to their wishes now that's a perfect description of Siege Warfare just surround them and then starve them out

eventually they're going to run out of food in there run out of water I don't know run out of stuff to do and they're going to have to come out and then we can attack them it's a kind of gentler form of warfare it's inactivity not apostasy it's dwindling and unbelief not coming out an open Rebellion but I love the phrases that are used to describe it hemming them in or my favorite the last one cutting them off from all their outward privileges doesn't that sound like the way some people attack members of the church

that oh you guys your religion is so restrictive you can't do anything have even seen shirts that t-shirts you can buy on the internet that says I can't I'm Mormon and you see what enemies are trying to play on what they're trying to leverage against us you're cut off from your outward privileges your church won't let you do anything come on out have some fun and I think so often that's one of the things the adversary uses to try to coax us away from our covenants to make us feel that we're trapped within this restrictive

religion that won't let us do anything we want well before we lament our loss of outward privileges what really is on the outside of Zion's walls compared to what's on the inside look at Verse 18 but behold this was an advantage to the Nephites for it was impossible for the robbers to lay Siege sufficiently long to have any effect upon the Nephites because of their much provision which they had laid up in store you see back in verse 4 the Nephites had reserved for themselves Provisions that they might subsist for the space of 7 years

in the which time they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land this was no mere 72-hour kit this wasn't even just a year supply of food seven years of plenty on the Inn in hopes that eventually seven years of famine on the out would lead to some changes in what they were up against in other words when the gon robbers were taunting them saying we've got all the good stuff out here you're cut off from your outward privileges the Nephites could just smile and say actually we have everything we

need right here remember that was the wisdom of King Hezekiah in the Old Testament back in the days of Isaiah when he realized if the Assyrians come and attack I hope we'll be safe behind our city walls but we do have one problem there's no water source within so what are we going to do and what Hezekiah decided was there is a spring outside the walls of the city if we can dig a tunnel under the walls and connect that spring to the lowest elevation part within the walls then the water can flow underground under

our walls and we will have a water source within the Jews were famous for digging systemns in their places of Refuge so that they could fill them up with water and be able to survive sieges well here the Nephites have seven years worth I sometimes picture lehi's dream superimposed over this kind of of battle strategy as if the great and spacious building were spreading and starting to surround the Tree of Life on all sides do you kind of get that sense sometimes do you ever feel like the world is laying Siege to the kingdom of

God there's no way of escaping nowh to retreat to well I picture then those at the tree taking that iron rod and refashioning it to Circle it is God's word that will separate the righteous from the wicked it is God's word that will keep deception at Bay and within that Circle within the confines of Covenant what do we have everything we need the tree of life is an everlasting food source with fruit that is the most delicious thing that you could possibly partake of the dream also suggests that the tree of life was accompanied with

a a Fountain of Living Water so we've got a water source too no need to dig a tunnel like Hezekiah did but if we do take hezekiah's initiative and just make sure that there are sources of the bread of life and Living Water the fruit of the tree right here then be my guest cut me off from outward privileges you don't have anything out there that I need all my needs are met right in here within the confines of Covenant in fact it's even better than that because at the beginning of this chapter when it

describes the Nephites all coming together and and amassing that seven-year stockpile it describes almost almost a scorched Earth policy outside we're going to have everything on the inside and make sure there's nothing on the out in verse two there's no wild beasts or game in the lands that the Nephites deserted so there's no game for the robbers in verse three the robbers could not exist save it were in the wilderness for the want of food for the Nephites had left their lands desolate end of verse five gide anhai found that it was expedient that he

should go up to battle against the Nephites for there was no way that they could subsist save it were to plunder and Rob and murder you see even ganai had preferred The Siege approach initially the reason he' shifted to a Flatout open battle plan was because they were starving to death which again shows why his false promises of joining and we won't pray upon you you'll be brothers and equal with us no you got to have somebody to pray upon we are gadianton robbers after all not gadianton workers or agriculturists or hunter gatherers no we're

plunderers that's it you see the irony here so that in reality when Zara is taunting them saying you're cut off from your outward privileges the Nephites could look out there and say wait wait then who's the one starving to death see verse 19 because of the scantiness of Provisions among the robbers they were the ones that were about to perish with Hunger who's starving out whom you see the irony of the army that's laying Siege is the one that's starving to death whereas the ones that are trapped cut off from outward privileges have all that

they need reminds me of the story in Acts chapter 16 when Paul and Silas are in prison and the Jailer is on the right side of the bars right and till that night when the Prison Walls crumble to set the prisoners free and the soldier realizes I'm going to be killed because of this jailbreak that I couldn't stop and through the dust and Rubble he hears the voice of his captives Paul and Silas say don't do yourself any harm you see he was about to commit suicide knowing that that would be what he would face

by his superiors anyway but they say do yourself no harm for we are all here and you can picture the Jailer scratching his head going you guys are the dumbest prisoners I've ever met why didn't you escape when the walls fell and you can picture Paul saying to him because we were never the ones imprisoned to begin with we were on the right side of the bars we know the truth and the truth is what sets us free you're the one trapped in your own ignorance but we can let you out and they did they

preached the gospel to him that night and he and his whole family were baptized I had a student years ago Seminary Student fun kid that used to say you know I used to think the church was so restrictive until I realize that when I go to the zoo I am grateful for the bars understand what he meant by that we're not on the wrong side of the bars when we're at the zoo we're free it's the dangers that are trapped the righteous here gathered together from Zarah hemlet to Bountiful understood that we have everything we

need within the walls of Zion these are inward privileges those on the outside are the ones starving for the fruit of the tree of life I won't come out but I'd love for you to come in now from 21 to 27 in this chapter the robbers withdraw from The Siege they go in search of greener pastures which then allows the army of gadoni to March out and cut them off in their in their retreat they end up surrounding them again interesting reversal here you were the one surrounding us well now we're the one surrounding you

and as a result many thousands of them become prisoners of War others are slain in verse 28 Zara is taken and executed specifically he is hanged upon a tree until he is dead and when they had hanged him until he was dead they did fell the tree to the Earth and then they cry with a loud voice saying in verse 29 may the Lord preserve his people in righteousness and in Holiness of heart that they may cause to be felled to the Earth all who shall seek to slay them because of power and secret combinations

even as this man hath been felled to the Earth this is what is described as a simile curse to make some kind of a simile a metaphor a figurative expression cut down the tree just like God will cut down anyone who fights against him I Al wonder if there's another level of symbolism here because they do tie it more closely to the Lord in verse 30 and 31 and 32 they did rejoice and cry again with one voice saying May the god of Abraham and the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob that's Jesus

Christ Jehovah protect this people in righteousness so long as they shall call in the name of their God for protection and then they break forth all as one there's Unity again in singing and praising their God for the great things which he had done for them in preserving them from falling into the hands of their enemies they cry hosana to the most high God they cry blessed be the name of the Lord God Almighty the most high God they recognize the strength of the Lord and they rejoice in it you see they had placed their

faith in someone else that would someday be hanged upon a tree and yet his tree the cross would stand forever as a symbol of his sacrifice as opposed to this tree that was leveled to the ground along with the one that was hanged upon it for trying to pull this people away from the true savior the crucified Christ you see there was something in ancient Israelite culture that had a concern about being hanged at all Deuteronomy chapter 21 speaking of criminals that are condemned to hanging the law states his body shall not remain all night

upon the tree but Thou shalt in any wise bury him that day for he that is hanged is a cursed of God so you can't leave them on the tree you got to bury him so that the land be not defiled well here they are even taking it up a notch not just take him off the tree but take down the tree itself the land will not be defiled by this wickedness Paul Drew upon that in Galatians when he says that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for

us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree so Paul takes that law from Deuteronomy and applies it to Jesus that Jesus was cursed for having hung upon a tree but he took that curse and turned it into a blessing for all his death leading to Universal Life again I wonder if there's just an added element of symbolism here that we will cut down the tree of zenar RHA leader of those who had counterfeited the cause of Christ so that the only tree left standing is the one that a cursed Jesus

made holy through his sacrifice there chapter ends in verse 33 their hearts were swollen with joy unto the gushing out of Many Tears interesting language in the aftermath of a massive battle filled with swollen muscles and the gushing out of blood but again a beautiful reversal Hearts swollen with joy eyes gushing tears because of the great goodness of God in delivering them out of the hands of their enemies they knew that it wasn't their own swords and strength it was because of their repentance and their humility that they had been delivered from an everlasting destruction

even that clarifies that they knew who the Real Enemy was Zer I could only threaten them with temporal destruction it's the adversary that threatens us with Everlasting destruction and it's the Lord that delivers us from that and with that we go to chapter 5 I love how it begins in verse one there was not a living Soul among all the people of the Nephites who did doubt in the least the words of all the holy prophets who had spoken for they knew it must needs be that they must be fulfilled you compare that to the

way chapter 3 began forgetting old signs taking for granted current signs denying the possibility of future signs doubt running rampant across the land well by chapter 5 No Doubt not in the least they all know that God vindicates the prophets verse two they knew it must be expedient that Christ had come amazing they can finally use the past tense there and they knew it because of the many signs which had been given according to the words of the prophets and because of the things which had come to pass already that's Revelation passed they knew that

it must needs be that all things should come to pass according to that which had been spoken that's Revelation future again clearly recognizing what occupies shelf number one is what gives you Hope and Faith in the presence of shelf number three verse three therefore now that's a great conjunction therefore means consequently as a result because of what I just said before this is why what I'm about to say Hereafter applies so because they knew because doubt had been banished and Faith reaffirmed they did forsake all their sins and their Abominations and their whoredoms and did

serve God with all diligence day and night you see that changed beliefs in verse one and two therefore changed behaviors verse three and the changed Behavior was twofold not only did they forsake their sins and Abominations that's repenting of their sins of commission but they also began to serve God with all diligence day and night that's repenting of their sins of omission that takes us back to King Benjamin right we have no more disposition to do evil no more sins of commission but to do good continually no more sins of omission eliminate the negative that's

justification and then add the positive that's sanctification and then in verse four notice what they do with their PS they cast their prisoners into prison and did cause the word of God to be preached unto them it's like the earlier lonite plan we're going to hunt them down to destroy them and once we found them we're going to preach the gospel to them that was the philosophy of the sons of mosiah we're going to go into lonite territory and preach the gospel to change them that was the philosophy of Elma in trying to reclaim the

apostate zoramites the word was mightier than the sword he knew here they do likewise they did cause the word of God to be preached unto them and as many as would repent of their sins and enter into a covenant that they would murder no more or set at Liberty if accepting the word of God so faith and then repentance and then covenanting we starting to see the doctrine of Christ unfold if that led to Liberty and it does in our spiritual condition just like it did for them in their physical that seems the best way

to go incredibly there were some that didn't choose that talk about obstinance stubbornness willful rebellion in verse 5 as many as there were who did not enter into a covenant who did still continue to have their secret murders in their hearts key Target for the adversary yay as many as were found breathing out threatenings against their Brethren or condemned and punished according to the law anything but a broken heart and contrite spirit so whether it was by converting them or condemning them preaching to the one group and punishing the other thus they did put an

end to all those Wicked and secret and abominable combinations now you can kind of pause the history right then and that's exactly what Mormon does in seven he starts talking about the passage of time which then leads him to talk about his role as a historian I'm so so glad that it took him in that direction because kind of like we saw in Helman 12 where he's so fed up with the pride cycle that he just turns to the camera and says and thus we see and takes a whole chapter of interrupting the narrative here

he does it similarly but much more personally from seven to the end of the chapter we get a glimpse of the narrator here the historian Prophet Mormon years are passing in verse 7 verse 8 there had many things transpired which in the eyes of some would be great and marvelous I just can't write them all down interesting insight into history some people have the eyes to see in history great and marvelous principles things that jump off the page to apply to our own circumstance no wonder Mormon would so often say thus we see because he's

using the eyes eyes that some people share in seeing great and marvelous truths played out on the pages of the past later in that verse he admits this book cannot contain even a hundredth part of what was done which lets us know that everything contained in the Book of Mormon is here at the expense of 99 other things that could have been included I hope we approach the scriptures with that perspective it's here for a reason I really do think it's worth diving deep in every verse knowing the opportunity cost of that passage may we

value the percent the tiny fraction that we actually have in verse 11 he says I do make the record on plates which I have made with mine own hands Nephi said the same thing way back in chapter one of first Nephi and I love that as applied to my scriptures as well my markings my insights the things I've written in the margin the things that have been transferred from this set of plates to the fleshy tables of my heart there's not another set of scriptures on Earth quite like this one for me and the same

is true of your set of scriptures once you have made them with your own hands in verse 12 he gets more personal behold I am called Mormon being called after the land of Mormon the land in which Alma did establish the church among the people yay the first church which was established among them after their transgression remember back in mosiah chapter 18 when it talks about the Waters of Mormon The Forest of Mormon the land of Mormon you can picture Mormon getting a little carried away with them I love this name but what does he

love about it the reminder of all that that name entails if Nephi and Lehi sons of helan were given names to help them remember those people it seems that Mormon was given this name to remember that place this was a name signifying New Beginnings and Fresh Starts of repenting and Covenant making and caring for one another and coming unto Christ that's what that place was that's who this person is verse 13 he knows it and he's not afraid to declare it behold so look fix your eye on this see me poking through the page here

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ the son of God it's because of him that I do what I do I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they might have everlasting life you see the pronouns there him his his my life my calling my work my glory is about him and his word and his people such a beautiful description of the two great Commandments the first looking upward loving God with all his heart might mind and strength I'm a disciple of Christ and the second like unto it looking

horizontally loving neighbor as self declaring God's word to his people because he wanted them to have everlasting life Mormon's identity was an expression of the two great Commandments I love the thought of taking up the cross daily in terms of those two great Commandments fixing the vertical post down into gospel ground first thing when we get up in the morning daily devotion to cement our love of God and with that in place we have something for the horizontal component to rest upon having connected with God I can now connect with others and I have something

to offer them that is taking up the cross vertical and horizontal daily and that is Mormon in 14 another expression of the two great Commandments it hath become expedient that I according to the will of God that's the vertical that the prayers of those who have gone hence who were the holy ones that's the horizontal should be fulfilled according to their faith that's why I make a record of these things which have been done this is like enos's prayer as he pled with the Lord please if my people are destroyed and the lamanites survive please

somehow preserve these records so that our voices can rise from the dust and call them back home to God Mormon would have known all of this Mormon read all these records as he Abridged things he read so much more do see himself his mission his life's work in the context of what he's studying I am doing the will of God and I am answering the prayers of others we don't have to be a prophet historian to do that in whatever aspect of your life professionally educationally personally are we doing God's Will and are we answering

people's prayers when we can answer those questions positively our work does become our Glory it becomes God's glory and he wants to be a part of it in 15 he admits that this is just a small record that he's offering us and yet not too small to make a huge difference in the world in verse 16 he draws that record from the accounts which have been given before and verse 17 then he includes a record of his own things the things he's seen with his own eyes I hope that we see our lives as a

continuation of scriptural history Moroni expects us to do the same remember in that great promise in chapter 10 he says think about the mercies of God all the way from Adam up until the time that you read these things you're a part of scripture history too Mormons bringing this all together in verse 18 He includes his testimony I know the record which I make to be a just and true record even though there are many things which according to our language we're not able to write I can't include everything but what I do include is

true the scriptures can't be all inclusive but boy they are all inspired verse 20 getting even more personal he says I am Mormon and a pure descendant of Lehi I have reason to bless my God and My Savior Jesus Christ that he brought our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem and no one knew it save it were himself and Those whom he brought out of that land and that he hath given me and my people so much knowledge unto the salvation of our souls now for that verse and the rest of this chapter to

make sense we have to understand what it was like to be a pure descendant of Lehi better yet to know what it was like to be Lehi and his immediate family because theirs was an experience of being scattered we keep talking about yeah we get to go to a Promised Land but for a Jewish Family living in Jerusalem they would have thought a Promised Land we're in the promised land the only promised land that the Seed of Abraham was ever given the Book of Mormon is so full of the scattering of Israel because the people

whose story it contains were scattered themselves especially early on with Lehi and Nephi and Jacob the scattering is so prevalent in their writings and the Gathering was something that they put all their hopes on please don't forget us here Heavenly Father well that's what Mormon is seen from his historical vantage point a thousand years after that initial leh height scattering he can say thank you God you knew what you were doing I bless you father and I bless you savior thank you for bringing our fathers out of the land of Jerusalem being scattered was the

most traumatic experience that first family experienced and now with the passage of time Mormon sees it as the blessing that it was meant to be he has received knowledge to the Salvation of his soul verse 21 you still sense that scattering Gathering surely he hath blessed the house of Jacob and hath been merciful unto the seed of Joseph Joseph's seed this tribe that the branch grew over the wall came here to the American continent and flourished 22 as long as they've kept his Commandments that flourishing took place they prospered according to his word 23 yay

and surely shall he again bring a remnant of the seed of Joseph to the knowledge of the Lord their God you see Mormon was witnessing the destruction of that Remnant but he knew it would someday return to the knowledge of the Lord through the book that he was compiling verse 245 and 6 then concludes this chapter with some of the strongest Covenant language you'll find anywhere in scripture it's bookended by the strongest oath language possible you know how sometimes we try to strengthen our promises by saying things like I swear or Cross My Heart Hope

To Die stick a needle in my eye that's kind of brutal when you think about it it's like I'll even take pain and put it on the altar to say this is how strongly I feel about what I'm saying I'll risk my eye on it I'll risk my life on it or in this case I'll risk the existence of God over this promise because he starts 24 and he ends 26 with this language as surely as the Lord liveth that's the first part and the last part yay as the Lord liveth so shall it be

amen again book ending I swear on God's life that this is true and what's the truth he's swearing back to 24 as surely as the Lord liveth will he Gather in from the four quarters of the Earth all the remnant of the seed of Jacob who are scattered abroad upon all the face of the Earth that's the Nephites Grand overarching concern from first NE through Moroni you have sent us away will you please bring us back you see why president Nelson is so emphatic that the greatest cause we can be involved in in our day

is the Gathering of scattered Israel God swore on it His prophets said the same and time will vindicate the prophets as we assure that this prophecy is fulfilled verse 25 the word covenant or one of its forms appears five times in one verse as he hath covenanted with all the house of Jacob even so shall the Covenant wherewith he hath covenanted with the house of Jacob be fulfilled in his own Due Time unto the restoring all the house of Jacob unto the knowledge of the Covenant that he hath covenanted with them and that knowledge will

come through the Book of Mormon that's the title page to make known unto the posterity of Lehi the covenants that God has made with their fathers that they are not cast off forever if anyone has the right to declare that from his vantage point in history and his Mastery of the Thousand Years that went before him it's Mormon you will be restored to the knowledge of that Covenant and then 26 then shall they know their redeemer who is Jesus Christ the great gatherer of Israel the Son of God and then shall they be gathered in

from the four quarters of the earth unto their own lands from whence they have been dispersed yay as the Lord liveth so shall it be amen there is no greater cause that we can be engaged in than the Gathering of Israel on both sides of the veil God promised all of his children and this goes so far beyond the tribes of Israel we were all in God's presence we were all home home and then we're scattered to a Fallen Earth to learn how to return are we Gathering each other God promised he would make it

possible and his faith is banking on our work to make sure that happens now after that beautiful aside Mormon getting caught up in this moment and staring into the camera and speaking to us he gets back to the book and in chapter six he resumes sadly the pride cycle which he's seen over and over and over again after having gathered to be able endure the attacks and The Siege Warfare of their enemies chapter 6 ver1 the people of the Nephites did all return to their own lands they all go home in verse two they bring

all their stuff back with them and in verse three they Grant unto those robbers who had entered into a covenant to keep the peace of the land who were desirous to remain lamanites they granted them l according to their numbers now that's fascinating to me you'd think okay they preach the gospel to them in prison so all those Gant and robbers repented and converted and became faithful Nephites well no some of them simply said I do not want to believe what you believe but I will promise not to fight anymore and the Nephites honored that

there is this sense of we will honor your religious freedom as long as you honor ours this is the 11th Article of Faith we're claiming the privilege of worshiping almighty God we'll fight for that as you've seen seen But if you want to Worship in some other way or not worship at all how where what you may or whatever else will honor that you can have that privilege too if you want to remain lamanites that to me is just fascinating and we do live in a time where many people do just want to remain lamanites

I don't want to be a part of any religious community well can we at least peacefully coexist we've got to learn to but then you see a trigger word in verse four pop up they began again to prosper now we should think oh great good news you're prospering you're waxing great unfortunately we know what Prosperity tends to lead to right we've been trained for that and just in case we missed it with a certain ER of forboding Mormon continues in verse 5 there was nothing in all the land to hinder the people from prospering continually

except they should fall into transgression well now you can read the writing on the wall you could choose to stay in the prosperity stage of the pride cycle nothing can automatically pull you in the adversaries Direction unless you fall in that way and it seems like they might actually stay on the Lord's Side for a while verse six there's great peace in the land verse seven they build many cities a new and repair many old cities and in verse eight they cast up highways and Roads to connect everything I love those elements you build the

new there's spiritual growth you repair the old there's repentance you throw up highways and Roads to connect everyone that's Unity see how good things could be unending Prosperity if progress and repentance and Oneness Prevail among God's people well it lasted for a verse and a half in verse 10 then there began to be some disputings among the people some were it up unto pride and boasting there's great riches there's great persecutions we saw it coming didn't we verse 11 there were many merchants in the land many lawyers and many officers well no big deal those

can all be good but they might not be because Merchants there's the economics lawyers there's litigation officers there's Authority and money and law and power can all point in either direction verse 12 the people began to be distinguished by ranks there goes the unity that was a source of advantage to the Nephites the Oneness that brings the blessings of god notice they were distinguished according to their riches that's the common version but keep going and their chances for learning yay some were ignorant because of their poverty and others did receive great learning because of their

riches it's interesting that here we see the interrelatedness of economics and education that some sometimes inequalities can be systemic and that is largely based on what kind of an education is available to you some had privileges of wealth and others had privileges of education and those were not equal privileges this is not just what kind of school can I get into for college but what kind of school am I forced into in elementary school or High School notice they weren't differentiated because of their intelligence rather their chances for Learning and what kind of opportunities have

I been given through no effort of my own versus other opportunities from which others have been withheld for some the question of pride is how much do you make for others the question of pride is where'd you go to school and yet those questions are divisive they are not unifying and when certain amount of riches leads to a certain amount of educ ation which then perpetuates the cycle leading on to Greater riches and greater education no wonder that is something that is hard to break into now as we've seen before in other rounds of the

pride cycle it doesn't have to be an automatic verse 13 some were lifted up in Pride but not all some others were exceedingly humble some returned railing for railing While others would receive railing and persecution and all manner of afflictions and would not turn and revile again but we're humble and penitent before God now we're not just talking about non-members versus members or the righteous versus The Wicked because notice at the middle of 13 some did return railing for railing and others just took it and didn't return it at all wait a minute so both

groups we're talking about the church it seems both groups were railed at it's just a matter of how do I respond to it the prideful even within the church railed back the humble turn the other cheek no wonder verse 14 doesn't just talk about a great inequality in all the land but specifically something going on in the church the church began to be broken up yay the church was broken up in all the land except one little Enclave of true righteousness a few of the lamanites who were converted unto the true Faith they would not

depart from it they were firm they were steadfast they were immovable they were were unshaken I would add they were willing with all diligence to keep the Commandments of the Lord I just want to be part of that group they remained faithful in spite of the inequality and iniquity all around them where others even others in the church were falling away and here's why verse 15 the cause of this iniquity of the people was this Satan had great power unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity puffing them up with

pride tempting them to seek for power and authority and riches and the vain things of the world no wonder there were so many merchants and lawyers and officers that's what they wanted is that what we want is the adversary puffing us up too if he's pulling us back up the Fourth Article of Faith and wanting to replace the object of our faith is it power is it Authority is it riches is it the vain things of the world because if it is then our Behavior will follow and our commitment will follow that and our confirmation

will follow that too that's how Satan as it says in 16 leads away the hearts of the people to do all manner of iniquity that peace they enjoyed didn't last very long in verse 17 the people had been delivered up for the space of a long time to be carried about by the Temptations of the devil withersoever he desired to carry them to do whatsoever iniquity he desired they should talk about an abdication of agency it's like we saw at the of the lesson with Doctrine covenants one that the devil has power over his own

dominion he's leading them by the leash he can get them to do whatever he wants and worst of all in verse 18 they knew it they did not sin ignorantly they knew the will of God concerning them it had been taught unto them therefore they did willfully rebel against God now again from the pride cycle if the bad news is that Pride leads to destruction the good news is that even in that destruction phase the Lord never gives up on us he calls us to turn and return just come to his side of the cycle

and your humility and repentance will lead you back into Prosperity so in verse 20 there began to be men inspired from Heaven Sent forth standing among the people in all the land preaching testifying boldly of the sins and iniquities of the people that is crying repentance testifying unto them concerning the Redemption which the Lord would make for his people or in other words the resurrection of Christ and they did testify boldly of his death there's crucifixion and sufferings there's atonement Gethsemane Calvary empty tomb it's all there those are the sights of our salvation and those

are the objects of preaching for these men inspired from heaven from 21- 27 we see that there is great opposition to that again we're at this point where they we now pulled in both directions we're at the destruction way and Satan wants to keep us there and deepen that destruction and the Lord wants to turn it to turn us for our good the opposition here focuses on the efforts of Chief Judges High priests lawyers those are all rival authorities to the prophets of God who will we listen to whose authority will we recognize these evil

leaders end up using whatever influence they can to condemn the prophets to put them to death both secretly and illegally before it can come to the attention of other authorities that would stand in their way they have enough connections enough wealth and influence enough persuasive power to make sure they always get off the hook so by the time you get to verse 28 these Wicked Leaders with their friends and kindreds they enter into a covenant one with another yay even into that Covenant which was given by them of old which Covenant was given and administered

by the devil to combine against all righteousness that's where we get the word secret combinations verse 29 they did combine against the people of the Lord they entered into a covenant to destroy them verse 30 they set at Defiance the law and the rights of their country and they Covenant one with another to destroy the governor and to establish a King instead no more liberty no more freedom but subjection to Kings not of their choosing over and over we see the gadian and robers rise and then are overcome only to see them resurrect later on

and in the wake of this resurrection of wickedness things only get worse in chapter 7 nephite Society collapses it sounds a lot like the beginning of the book of heleman there is a chief judge murdered just like happened back then but even worse by the end of verse two they destroy the government of the land and all they're left with their form of social control was by dividing into tribes according to your family your Kindred your friends appointing your own leader and thus they became tribes and leaders of tribes think about it this way disorder

and division sin and separation anything to stop us from being one and therefore stop us from being gods even this idea of tribalism not wanting to be a larger society that has its differences but learn to get long no let's get rid of any overarching Authority let's destroy the government of the land and then subdivide along lines of family or Kindred or friends or common interests or shared identity at the risk of using words with way too many syllables this is where anti-authoritarianism combines with individualism to create the atomization of society in other words I

don't want anyone in charge anti-authoritarianism I want to do things my own way according to my tribe there's the ultra individualism leading to the atomization the separation there's no cohesion there's nothing that unifies us as a culture or Society now please don't get me wrong I am a huge fan of diversity but diversity has to be balanced with unity I recognize that many groups have felt so stifled by culture or society that is too monochromatic but in the face of unity with no diversity they have corrected and overcorrected to diversity with no unity and we

have to be able to prove these contraries we have to be able to find some kind of balance tribalism is not the answer and that's true even if your tribe happens to be the church we have to learn to be better neighbors and get along with people who choose to remain lamanites whatever form that might take now in verse 5 there's still no Wars as yet there's some more foreshadowing but all this iniquity had come upon the people because they did yield themselves unto the power of Satan they just yielded they just gave in they

surrendered they submitted in verse six the government can't regulate anything secret combinations are run in the show they murder the prophets again eliminate rival authorities so that by the time you get to verse 7 they caused a great contention in the land and so much that the more righteous part of the people had nearly all become Wicked yay there were but few righteous men among them all the more reason for us to be part of that faithful few verse 8 it only been six years since we had better days and the more part of the

people had turned from their righteousness and then has this for a graphic image like the dog to his vomit or like the S to her wallowing in the M verse 9-13 describes the growth of these secret combinations they appoint a king among them whose name is Jacob now Jacob's group kind of this core band of gadian and robbers they are outnumbered by all the tribes that surround them and though these tribes can't stand each other they all agree that they hate Jacob's group even more so Jacob ends up Gathering his group fleeing to the north

with all these promises that oh don't worry eventually we'll grow there'll be all kinds of dissenters from those other groups and they'll come and join us as well so with the worst of the worst kind of separated and all these little factions remaining a kind of precarious peace Reigns for a time in verse 14 Society is still heavily split deep divisions between these tribes but at least they had come to an agreement that they wouldn't go to war one with another there was no unified legal system no Unified Government everybody did their own thing honestly

this reminds me a lot of what was said about the period of the judges in the Old Testament which again is pride Cycle Central but that period was defined as in those days there was no king in Israel every man did that which was right in his own eyes and again that describes the individualism and anti-authoritarianism that Reigns today everyone just you do you do your own thing nothing really to bind us together in one we don't have to care for each other we don't even have to really associate with people that we don't want

to associate with but let's at least keep some kind of precarious peace as it says at the end of 14 in some degree they had peace in the land nevertheless their hearts were turned from the Lord their God which suggests that that peace cannot last and they stoned the prophets and cast them out from among them that's another thing they agreed on we don't want the worst of the wicked get rid of Jacob and his group but we don't want the righteous around either so we've got to eliminate the prophets but prophets can't be stopped

right we learned that from Samuel last week so from verse 15 to the end of this chapter Nephi comes back onto the scene and he is Unstoppable he continues to minister in righteousness remember president Irene's promise that the world will never get so wicked that we cannot choose righteousness well Nephi is presenting them with that choice he's personifying it in fact verse 15 Nephi had been visited by angels and also the voice of the Lord therefore having seen Angels being eyewitness having had power given unto him that he might know concerning the mystery of Christ

this is such a beautiful reminder of Jacob versus sheram what's happening to those two on an individual level is now happening between the righteous Remnant and the Gadi Anan robbers on a more macro level what kept Jacob unshaken his word I'd had Angels Minister unto me I'd heard the voice of God speaking unto me in very word from time to time wherefore I could not be shaken same with Nephi immovable in the face of cultural currents in verse 16 he was grieved for the hardness of their hearts we started this lesson back in chapter 1

with his sorrow we see it now again grieve from the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds again jamming the Lord's frequencies he went forth among them in that same year and began to testify boldly repentance and remission of sins through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ we have to reboot the Fourth Article of Faith and get the right five words in place faith in the Lord Jesus Christ then repentance and remission of sins Covenant and Confirmation will follow 17 he did Minister many things unto them all of them can't be written

and a part of them would not suffice so I'm not going to write any of it oh come on Mormon give us a little more of that isn't that worth some of the 100th part I wish we knew more Nephi ministers with power and great Authority and verse 18 as to be expected they were angry with him but here's why number one because he had greater power than they we keep talking about rival Authority well he has more power because his is the power of righteousness and even more frustrating for them I'm sure it were

not possible that they could disbelieve his words for so great was his faith on the Lord Jesus Christ that Angels did Minister unto him daily his faith was so unshakable that it even bled into their disbelief it's like not only does he have more power that others will believe in his words instead of ours I find myself believing in his words too I can't disbelieve remember that's what signs were for remember that's what we saw at the beginning in third Nephi 1 the truth was so obvious that knowledge was there Faith wasn't even required anymore

these people could not disbelieve his words can we teach with that much power that much conviction can we testify that boldly through our faith on the Lord Jesus Christ to the point that people believe us in spite of themselves unable to deny that we know but not wanting to admit that they know too verse 19 this incredible Mighty Prophet Nephi in the name of Jesus casts out devils and unclean spirits he raises his brother from the dead after he'd been stoned and suffered death by the people this is even more miraculous than Samuel the lonite

who couldn't be touched by the Stones and arrows well Nephi's brother was touched by those stones he was killed by them and yet even after the fact you can't stop the Prophet this reminds me of the Book of Revelation that speaks of two prophets being slain in Jerusalem and their bodies being left in the streets but three and a half days later Rising again opposition to the Lord's authorized representatives will never be permanently successful kill Nephi's brother Nephi will bring him back the world's Darkness only makes their light that much more brilliant opposition and persecution

only seems to Fan the Flames of faith for these Great Men verse 20 when the people saw that the raising of Nephi's brother from the dead they witnessed it but they were angry with him because of his power this is like the people in Jerusalem mad that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and trying to plot his second death to try to keep Faith from spreading he also did do many more miracles in the sight of the people and always in the name of Jesus now in 21 the bad news is that converts were

few low in quantity but high in quality for as many as were converted did truly signify unto the people that they had been visited by the power and spirit of God which was in Jesus Christ in whom they believed those Believers had the Devils cast out from them those Believers were healed of their sicknesses and infirmities those Believers did truly manifest unto the people that they had been wrought upon by the spirit of God good can be done even in Days of Darkness Nephi is such a great example of that in 23 he continues to

preach repentance and remission of sins in 24 he continues to baptize those who accept that invitation and repent 25 he ordains others unto that same Ministry to continue to baptize people as a witness and testimony before God that they had repented and received a remission of their sins I love that this chapter ends with repentance and baptism being fused together inseparably because it's not enough to change repentance we need to stay changed baptism we need to Covenant it's our only hope in facing the wickedness that is all around us next week we will see the

results of this polarization we will see the wicked destroyed and the righteous there in the land Bountiful as the Lord Jesus Christ descends are we preparing ourselves for that day are we exercising faith in the Redemption of Jesus Christ are we repenting of our sins are we committing covenanting to that lifestyle and seeking confirmation living worthy of the holy ghost telling us that the object of our faith is exactly what it ought to be Jesus lives he came and the signs of his second coming will all be fulfilled to these nephite disciples and to my

fellow disciples today Bethlehem 3 Nephi 1 lies behind but Bountiful lies ahead may we be prepared to receive him when he comes [Music]