There’s a lot in these chapters that I wanted to talk about, so I’m not going to pick just one theme or scripture. This week, I’m going to talk in more of an overarching way about what was in the reading this week. We begin talking about how there were people in these ancient societies that were organized for power and gain. They were willing to do whatever it took to gain more power and money, including murder. They called these people the Gadianton Robbers, or the Band of Gadianton, after their leaders Gadianton and Kishkumen who set up these rites and covenants among the wicked people. They became so powerful that “. . .in the end of this book ye shall see that this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi. Behold I do not mean the end of the book of Helaman, but I mean the end of the book of Nephi, from which I have taken all the account which I have written.”
The people who were organized for evil (for power, gaining money, and murder) were extremely powerful. I think that we can relate that to today, where we see people in the government who become multimillionaires, or look at people organized to riot and loot. Small groups of determined individuals can be a powerful force for evil. If we believe that these small groups of people who are determined towards specific goals can alter the course of an entire nation, then we must believe that small determined groups intent on liberty, goodness, and caring can have a similar impact too. As we battle for the helm of our nations and the world, we need to remember Margaret Mead ‘s statement, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Sometimes we doubt our own ability to affect change in our own lives, much less the larger world around us. But I think that people’s valiant examples of brave living are what change the world even more than an intentional attempt to change the world. Maybe true change is more organic than forced. This also reminded me of something I read once that said people watch all these movies about traveling back to the past and worry about changing the smallest thing because of the influence it might have on the future, but few people believe that they have that kind of power in the present.
Simultaneously during this time in the reading when many people sought to get money and power, the world was becoming a more beautiful place. Christ’s gospel was spreading. It says that tens of thousands were converted unto the Lord. This is interesting because President Nelson said about the Restoration of Christianity in our day, “If you think the Church has been fully restored, you're just seeing the beginning. There is much more to come. … Wait till next year. And then the next year. Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It's going to be exciting.” There was one quote I looked for, but couldn’t find. It talks about the fullness of the Restoration, and what still needs to happen for the church to be fully restored upon the earth as it was in Jesus’s day, and it said something like every doctrine, every ordinance, every gift, every miracle that existed then must be restored.
The reading is full of cycles of dissension and peace. The people fought, and then there was peace. They got prideful, and there was contention. When they repented things got better and “there was continual peace established in the land, all save it were the secret combinations which Gadianton the robber had established in the more settled parts of the land, which at that time were not known unto those who were at the head of government; therefore they were not destroyed out of the land.” It says that during this time “. . . so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure. And it came to pass that the work of the Lord did prosper unto the baptizing and uniting to the church of God, many souls, yea, even tens of thousands. Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.”
Even though this is the time of wars and extreme corruption and evil in the Book of Mormon, it’s some of the greatest times that existed for these people. There was peace. There was prosperity. People joined Christ’s church by the tens of thousands. It talks about the purification and sanctification of the people’s hearts, which occurred “because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” The defeats that Christ’s people faced only happened when they became wicked and had to rely on themselves and not God.
This may seem silly, but as I’ve watched the turmoil in the world around me, I’ve worried that I wasn’t prepared for this world. If we’re going to live in a dystopian society of violence and mayhem, I need to be fitter, stronger. I need to buy weapons, and train in combat. I didn’t do any of those things. I’ve wasted my time in pursuits that are only useful in civilized society. I’ve worried that God didn’t prepare me for a place in this brave new world that we live in. These scriptures helped me to feel a little better about that too. Though the scriptures do talk about the wars and battles, it talks about people working to provide food, and others are spinning cloth, etc. Society functioned and a lot of people led very normal lives. There were indeed many warriors among them, but many of the women and children especially just lived their lives while the armies fought to protect them. There’s something to be said for specialization, and the world probably doesn’t need everyone to be warriors. We need farmers, physical therapists, artists, teachers, writers, etc, too.
At the same time, while the people were prospering, the robbers of Gadianton were going about trying to take over the world, as usual. Interestingly enough, the Lamanites “did preach the word of God among the more wicked part of them, insomuch that this band of robbers was utterly destroyed from among the Lamanites.” Meanwhile, the Nephites, formerly the most righteous part of the people, liked what the robbers had to say. And they “did build them up and support them, beginning at the more wicked part of them, until they had overspread all the land of the Nephites, and had seduced the more part of the righteous until they had come down to believe in their works and partake of their spoils, and to join with them in their secret murders and combinations.
And thus they did obtain the sole management of the government, insomuch that they did trample under their feet and smite and rend and turn their backs upon the poor and the meek, and the humble followers of God. And thus we see that they were in an awful state, and ripening for an everlasting destruction.”
Ugh. This sounds suspiciously like what we are dealing with today. Leaders who seem more intent on furthering their own power or money than upholding our laws or liberty and freedom. The scriptures expound on these “secret combinations” saying that “they did have their signs, yea, their secret signs, and their secret words; and this that they might distinguish a brother who had entered into the covenant, that whatsoever wickedness his brother should do he should not be injured by his brother, nor by those who did belong to his band, who had taken this covenant. And thus they might murder, and plunder, and steal, and commit whoredoms and all manner of wickedness, contrary to the laws of their country and also the laws of their God. And whosoever of those who belonged to their band should reveal unto the world of their wickedness and their abominations, should be tried, not according to the laws of their country, but according to the laws of their wickedness. . .”
Later the reading says, “And seeing the people in a state of such awful wickedness, and those Gadianton robbers filling the judgment-seats—having usurped the power and authority of the land; laying aside the commandments of God, and not in the least aright before him; doing no justice unto the children of men;
Condemning the righteous because of their righteousness; letting the guilty and the wicked go unpunished because of their money; and moreover to be held in office at the head of government, to rule and do according to their wills, that they might get gain and glory of the world, and, moreover, that they might the more easily commit adultery, and steal, and kill, and do according to their own wills”
This leads me to Ether 8, which says, “And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not. Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain—and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be.
Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among you; or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also upon those who built it up. For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up seeketh to overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it bringeth to pass the destruction of all people. . .” We would be wise to take our cues from the Lamanites, who originally went among the wicked gadiantons and tried to preach the word among them. When that didn’t work, they literally chased them out of their lands. It was the righteousness of the people that kept this corruption out of their government and leaders. It was the Nephites who were seduced by promises of power and wealth who permitted it and participated in it who allowed it to take root in their government and leaders who let it spread and poison their whole society.
While it may seem grim that there was so much corruption and wickedness in power, there were really good things too, which I’ll end with. Helaman reminds us that, “. . .remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.”
The righteous people went and “did preach with great power, insomuch that they did confound many of those dissenters.” It repeatedly talks about them preaching with “great power and authority” for “they had power and authority given unto them that they might speak, and they also had what they should speak given unto them—” We’re told various places in the scriptures that it will be given unto us (even in the very moment) what we should say. We’re told that if we’re prepared we shall not fear. I think that these things are telling us that if we live righteous and well, God will allow us to help him when we’re in a position to do so, and that he’ll even tell us what to say and what to do. This is powerful and, to me, comforting. “Therefore they did speak unto the great astonishment of the Lamanites, to the convincing them. . .” This reminds me of the scriptures about the armour of righteousness and the sword of truth. Most often it is the word of God that changes people, and truth, more than anything else that persuades people to change.
There’s a part of the story that takes place in a jail that kind of reinforces this lesson to me. Yes, Nephi and Lehi were super amazing, but I like reading about Aminidab just as much. Of Aminidab they wrote, “Now there was one among them who was a Nephite by birth, who had once belonged to the church of God but had dissented from them.” He’s in the jail where these scary and miraculous things were happening, and because of the way he was taught growing up, he recognized what was going on. He told the people what was happening and what they needed to do. Despite his past, despite choosing the wrong side for a while, the Lord was able to use him where he was, as he was. I really liked this. The Lord can use you, where you are, who you are right now, if you are willing, and even if you’ve made wrong choices and are in precarious situations.
During this part of the story, we’re given insight into what the Holy Ghost is like. They describe hearing a voice, and “when they heard this voice, and beheld that it was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul. . .” And we hear later that “there came a voice unto them, yea, a pleasant voice, as if it were a whisper. . . “ Again, a quiet, soft, pleasant voice that pierces you to your soul. You have to be listening to be able to hear whispers. We, too, have to be quiet, intentional, and listen to try to hear direction from the Holy Ghost.
I’ll end on an inspiring, happy note. It says that “the people of the church did have great joy because of the conversion of the Lamanites, yea, because of the church of God, which had been established among them. And they did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another, and did have great joy.” The people were happy. Many people humbled themselves and chose to follow God and Christ. And “there was peace in all the land, insomuch that the Nephites did go into whatsoever part of the land they would, whether among the Nephites or the Lamanites. And it came to pass that the Lamanites did also go whithersoever they would, whether it were among the Lamanites or among the Nephites; and thus they did have free intercourse one with another, to buy and to sell, and to get gain, according to their desire. And it came to pass that they became exceedingly rich, both the Lamanites and the Nephites; and they did have an exceeding plenty of gold, and of silver, and of all manner of precious metals, both in the land south and in the land north.”
There was lots of joy, and lots of peace, and lots of prosperity. There was so much peace that people who were previously mortal enemies, who may have killed each other without remorse, were able to trade with one another, and travel without fear among one another’s lands. There was joy and peace and they prospered a lot. This to me is the essence of faith or fear. The apocalyptic last days' scriptures can be terrifying, but many people fail to remember that the scriptures tell us that things will also get more beautiful and better as God gains ground on the earth and among the hearts of the people. I think it’s really exciting to imagine traveling in lands of people previously deemed enemies, places we never would have been able to go. I imagine us being able to travel to the middle east, and vacation in Iraq or Afghanistan or China. While these things might seem like daydreams, miraculous things are already happening with the Temples announced to be built in the United Arab Emirates in the heart of the middle east, and with one in the heart of China. I’ve included a link to video that made me happy. If this is the future of the world, I’m excited for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnJnNru9I78
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