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Lesson 34
"How
Could You Have Forgotten Your God?"
Helaman 6-12
by Jeffrey
Marsh
Imagine
that an advertising agency has the Adversary as a client. The only
product Satan has to offer is "misery." Obviously, there is not
going to be much of a market for this product -- who wants to suffer
misery, either in this life, or in the eternities to come? But,
surprisingly, the misery the Adversary has to offer has been made
to look appealing and even desirable. Today's lesson, Helaman 6-12,
can help us recognize the cycle that leads from righteousness to
misery, and learn how to avoid the fate of the Nephites.
A Social
Role Reversal
At this point in Book of Mormon history (29 B.C.), a social role-reversal
occurred when a significant group of Lamanites became righteous
and the Nephites become wicked. A Lamanite prophet named Samuel
was called by the Lord to preach repentance to the Nephites (Helaman
13). What was it that led the Lamanites to become more righteous
than ever before?
Mormon observed
that it was because of their "firmness and their steadiness in the
faith" (Hela. 6:13) and because the Lord had poured out His Spirit
upon them "because of their easiness and willingness to believe
in his words" (6:36). The Nephites, on the other hand, had "become
hardened and impenitent and grossly wicked, insomuch that they did
reject the word of God and all the preaching and prophesying which
did come among them" (6:2).
This points
to an important Gospel principle. Light and darkness cannot exist
in the human soul simultaneously. Any time the light of the Spirit
is present, darkness has to flee. Even the smallest candle in the
corner of a room dispels darkness throughout the entire room. The
closer we draw to the light of the Spirit, the more power we have
over darkness. The Savior declared "I am the light of the world:
he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have
the light of life." (John 8:12).
Ignoring
the Light
To ignore the light of Christ, the light of His gospel, or the light
of the Spirit is fatal. We can receive as much light as we are willing
to receive and grow from grace to grace (see D&C 93:12-13).
The Lord is willing to pour out his Spirit on any group or individual
"because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his words"
(Helaman 5:35-36). But if an individual or group turns away from
the light, they will begin to:
-deny
revelation from the Holy Spirit (Hela. 6:2)
-show
ingratitude to God for blessings and set their hearts upon their
riches (6:17)
-commit
sins and crimes because of their covetous desires (6:17-31)
-become
"exceedingly wicked" (6:31)
-and
turn away from God (6:31)
We might think
we're immune from such wholesale apostasy today, but Mormon reminds
us that "all these iniquities did come unto [the Nephites] in the
space of not many years" (6:32 and 7:6), resulting in "great sorrow
and lamentation" (6:33). Losing the Spirit has always led to cultural
and intellectual degeneracy (see Joseph Fielding Smith, The Progress
of Man, pp. 199-200). In the Book of Mormon we have seen whole societies
rise and fall dramatically in just a few short years (see Alma 1-4
and Helaman 1-5). The Spirit withdraws because of wickedness and
the hardness of hearts (Helaman 5:35) and the result is that people
begin to "dwindle in unbelief and grow in wickedness and abominations"
(Hela. 6:34).
Drawing Near
the Spirit
But it is important to remember that the opposite is also true.
Those who draw near the Spirit can be blessed. It was King Benjamin
who reminded us of the blessings that flow from obedience to the
light: "And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on
the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments
of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal
and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are
received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a
state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these
things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." (Mosiah 2:41.)
Regardless of
how far away from the light we have strayed, God always invites
us to return (see Mormon 9:16-18, Ether 9:34-35). The door is always
open: "Behold, he sendeth an invitation unto all men, for the arms
of mercy are extended towards them, and he saith: Repent, and I
will receive you." (Alma 5:33.) We can rekindle the candle of the
Lord (the light within our souls) despite the overwhelming challenges
we may face. President J. Reuben Clark said,
"Every human
being is born with the light of faith kindled in his heart as
on an altar, and that light burns and the Lord sees that it burns,
during the period before we are accountable. When accountability
comes, then each of us determines how we shall feed and care for
that light. If we shall live righteously that light will glow
until it suffuses the whole body, giving to it health and strength
and spiritual light as well as bodily health. If we shall live
unrighteously, that light will dwindle and finally almost flicker
out. Yet it is my hope and my belief that the Lord never permits
the light of faith wholly to be extinguished in any human heart,
however faint the light may glow. The Lord has provided that there
shall still be there a spark which, with teaching, with the spirit
of righteousness, with love, with tenderness, with example, with
living the gospel, shall brighten and glow again, however darkened
the mind may have been. And if we shall fail so to reach those
among us of our own whose faith has dwindled low, we shall fail
in one of the main things which the Lord expects at our hands."
(In Conference Report, Oct. 1936, p. 114.)
The Impact of
Righteousness
It was precisely this kind of spiritual rebirth that filled the
Lamanites with charity (the pure love of God) and caused them to
send missionaries to teach the Nephites of faith and repentance
(Helaman 6:5). They preached "with power and authority" (6:6) and
caused a complete change in their society (6:6-9). They preached
so powerfully that even the Gadianton robbers who heard them were
converted to the Lord (6:37).
A Single
Individual
When a large group of people become righteous, it can obviously
have an impact on society as a whole. But how much influence can
a single individual have? Helaman chapters 7-12 answer that question
with the example of Nephi, the son of Helaman.
Almost single-handedly,
Nephi preached with such power and spirituality that his whole nation
began to turn their hearts back to God. He testified that they had
forgotten God and were seeking more after gain and the praise of
men (Hela. 7:20-21; compare D&C 121:35). He warned them of their
pride and arrogance (7:23-24) and testified boldly of their sins
(8:4). But he also pled with them to look to Christ and be saved
(8:14-15). The impact of his example and teachings caused many to
repent and come to Christ (9:39-41).
Because of Nephi's
"unwearyingness" in declaring God's word among his people, the Lord
blessed Nephi "forever" (10:4-5). He gave him the keys of the sealing
power so that anything Nephi sealed up on earth would be sealed
in heaven (10:6-7). Nephi was not only able to preach with power,
but he was able to use the Lord's power to stop wars and cause the
people to hear his message (Hela. 11). As quickly as the people
showed true humility and repentance, the Lord began to bless them
(Hela. 11:11-12.)
Why was the
Prophet Nephi such an effective servant of the Lord? And why did
the Lord pour out His Spirit so abundantly upon Nephi? Because Nephi's
only motive was to do God's will, to keep God's commandments, and
to bless his people (Hela. 10:4-6, 12, 17). In the final chapter
of this block of scripture (Hela. 12), Mormon observes that the
Nephites once again returned to their wickedness because of their
"ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity" (12:2-3). He notes
that these people simply did "not desire that the Lord their God,
who [had] created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding
his great goodness and his mercy towards them" (12:6). Mormon desired
with all his heart "that all men might be saved" but realized that
some would, in the end, choose not to have eternal life (12:25).
The Nephite
Disease
This is one of the great warnings in the Book of Mormon to those
who live in the latter days. Dr. Hugh W. Nibley described it this
way: "What we read about in the Book of Mormon is the 'Nephite Disease'
--and we have it!...We can be most grateful, therefore, regardless
of how sick others may be, that God in the Book of Mormon has diagnosed
our sickness for our special benefit, and prescribed a cure for
us....Plainly it is meant for us, as it reminds us many times; it
is the story of what happened to the Nephites--and we are the Nephites:
'...it must needs be that the riches of the earth are mine to give;
but beware of pride, lest ye become as the Nephites of old.' (DC
38:39). There it is in a nutshell; it is the fate of the Nephites,
not of the Lamanites, Greeks, or Chinese, that concerns us; and
that doom was brought on them by pride which in turn was engendered
by the riches of this earth." (Since Cumorah, 1967, p. 390-91.)
President Brigham
Young expressed his fears that the riches of the world would canker
the souls of his people in our own dispensation, when he said: "The
worst fear I have about this people is that they will get rich in
this country, forget God and His people, wax fat, and kick themselves
out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing,
robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution and be true. But
my greatest fear is that they cannot stand wealth." (See Elder Spencer
W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.48.)
Mormon gave
us this sobering conclusion to these chapters: "And thus we see
that except the Lord doth chasten his people....they will not remember
him." (Hela. 12:3.) So the great question for us is, Will we - who
have been so blessed and surfeited with so many things -- remain
humble and remember God? Or will we turn away from Him and depend
upon our own strength and riches? The message of the Book of Mormon
is clear, no individual and no nation can save themselves. Without
God's help we have no chance for eternal life. All the world has
to offer, Mormon notes, is misery (12:26). But by coming unto Christ
and living His Gospel, we can have "everlasting life" (12:26).
© 1999-2008 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
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