7:16
If someone is your enemy, how likely are you to listen to this person? It’s very unlikely that I can be influenced or persuaded by the very man who is committed to my destruction. Interestingly and sadly, we do this very thing when we listen to the whisperings of Satan and his followers. Nephi asked the same question: “Yea, how could you have given way to the enticing of him who is seeking to hurl away your souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo?”
It’s a valid question! I think it’s because he isn’t actually a creepy looking man sitting in a chair attempting to tempt us. Because we can’t see him and often consider his whispers our thoughts, we forget what’s happening. It would be worthwhile for us to remember who he is and how he communicates so that we can immediately recognize his effort and reject it.
7:17
When we sin, we often imagine that we are farther and farther from God - as if there is an actual distance. We may feel that we are currently outside of his reach and it will take a period of time before we can get back to his outstretched arms.
It’s not that way. We are never out of his reach - no matter how long we have traveled down the wrong path. All we must do is turn around. “O repent ye, repent ye! Why will ye die? Turn ye, turn ye unto the Lord your God.” It’s just about changing direction. As soon as we turn around and reach for God, he is right there to support and strengthen and welcome us.
7:24; 8:24-25
“For behold, they are more righteous than you, for they have not sinned against that great knowledge which ye have received; therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them; yea, he will lengthen out their days and increase their seed, even when thou shalt be utterly destroyed except thou shalt repent.” Why is sinning against greater light a greater sin? Let’s look at it this way, if I am aware of the rules and break the rules, I am making a more conscious choice to disregard truth when I know it. This conscious choice is not mere ignorance but rebellion. Rebellion, when taken to the extreme, the unpardonable sin. This is the sin that Satan himself committed in his rebellion against Heavenly Father and his plan. He had perfect knowledge and turned his back on it.
So, if someone makes bad choices ignorant of the commandments, he isn’t in open rebellion. He isn’t shaping his character into one that will rebel. Ignorance is better than rebellion.
He continues in the next chapter. “And now, seeing ye know these things and cannot deny them except ye shall lie, therefore in this ye have sinned, for ye have rejected all these things, notwithstanding so many evidences which ye have received; yea, even ye have received all things, both things in heaven, and all things which are in the earth, as a witness that they are true. But behold, ye have rejected the truth, and rebelled against your holy God; and even at this time, instead of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt, and where nothing can come which is unclean, ye are heaping up for yourselves wrath against the day of judgment.” The consequences of rebellion, if continued in this life and the next, without any desire for repentance will lead to the greatest wrath that God can offer.
Why would anyone do this? Ultimately the answer is pride. We think we are too smart or too wise or to educated or too sophisticated or too wealthy or too powerful or too independent to believe that the source of goodness is not us. We think we can figure out a novel approach to life and disregard the wisdom of every generation that preceded us. How much pride does one have to have to set themselves up as being greater than God? I think the answer is less pride than you think. It can be regular, everyday pride that separates us from the will of God.
7:26
There are many burdens that are placed on us in this mortal life. We can all think of ones that we’ve had to suffer. We’ve lost loved ones, faced sickness and injury, we’ve lost jobs, we’ve been poor, etc. One burden that doesn’t usually make the list is “riches.”
The accompanying burden associated with riches is pride. “Yea, wo shall come unto you because of that pride which ye have suffered to enter your hearts, which has lifted you up beyond that which is good because of your exceedingly great riches!” Riches can make us proud, which can stunt or damn our spiritual progression. Add to this list beauty, athleticism, intelligence, etc. All of these can give us worldly benefits which can encourage pride.
7:29
“Behold now, I do not say that these things shall be, of myself, because it is not of myself that I know these things; but behold, I know that these things are true because the Lord God has made them known unto me, therefore I testify that they shall be.” I heard a debate between a believer and a non-believer and the non-believer’s major point is that she should ultimately trust her thoughts and beliefs and “gut.” She felt like she was able to parse out truth using her logic.
Obviously, she is partly right. God has given us logical brains to determine what is truth and what isn’t. However, we must allow for the idea that our logic is flawed. If it was up to each of us to use logic to decide what is truth, there would be about 8 billion different religions. It can’t be completely up to us to determine, and even create, truth. That’s not how God works!
We have to look for a higher source. Generally, prophets look up to God for revelation and we look up to prophets. Of course, we all can receive revelation directly to confirm what we are hearing is true. It was obvious to me that this woman was literally worshipping her own brain. Whatever her brain decided must surely be true. We cannot worship our brains. We must worship God and look to him for truth. As Amos said, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”
8:7
It is going to be up to us to speak up when others are teaching untruths. There are many who are raising their voices in support of same-sex marriage and “reproductive rights” and “gender health.” Truly, wrong is being made to sound right. There must be another cry among our people for righteousness.
With Nephi, there were those who were attempting to get people to reject Nephi and be angry with him. “And it came to pass that thus they did stir up the people to anger against Nephi, and raised contentions among them.” Yet, there was another group who spoke up in Nephi’s defense with courage. “For there were some who did cry out: Let this man alone, for he is a good man, and those things which he saith will surely come to pass except we repent.”
The “moral majority” is also the “silent majority.” That is going to need to change!
8:15
The key to salvation is, again, spelled out in this verse. “And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal.” If we have faith in Jesus Christ and have contrition and sorrow for our past mistakes, that is the recipe for eternal growth. The gospel can be boiled down to this very principle. Faith in Christ and the desire to repent, applied for a long time, will result in perfection.
9:16
With the “wise” people of the world, they can always come up with a rational argument to almost any claim from a prophet. Again, they worship their brain and don’t consider the idea that there is a God who is in control that thinks at a completely higher level than themselves. The wicked judges appear to be doing this themselves. “And now it came to pass that the judges did expound the matter unto the people, and did cry out against Nephi, saying: Behold, we know that this Nephi must have agreed with some one to slay the judge, and then he might declare it unto us, that he might convert us unto his faith, that he might raise himself to be a great man, chosen of God, and a prophet.”
This argument is plausible and makes all the sense in the world if you are attempting to discredit Nephi. It is a logical assumption. Which is more likely - that Nephi is a prophet or that he conspired with someone to make himself look good? Of course it appears more likely that Nephi was in a conspiracy rather than he received a revelation.
The wicked influencers can latch onto logical conclusions to dissuade slightly gullible people from believing in a God that they cannot see. It’s very effective because we all like to think that our brains can figure things out. Logic can feel good. We just have to recognize how limited our thinking can be! We must believe in a being that is vastly superior to you and I is in control.
10:4
“Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments.” If this could be said for all of us that know the gospel.
Marci and I are very much looking forward to serving another mission and then another. I know many people that have senior missions planned. It’s a good thing. But I can’t help but think how I could be more like Nephi today. I am pretty wrapped up in my own life. You could say that, lately, I have sought my own life. I can’t say that I have attempted to declare his word with unwearyingness. It’s hard when you’re working.
However, I can definitely seek the Lord’s will and keep his commandments. I can do that with every action and every minute of the day.
10:5
“And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works.” It isn’t Nephi’s effort that made Nephi mighty in word and in deed. It wasn’t his skill. It wasn’t his practice. It was GOD that made Nephi mighty - it wasn’t a result of his striving. We all need to understand that our strength and power comes from God and his gifts - not of ourselves.
11:4, 7
Humans like to blame. Humans like to get angry at others rather than ourselves. We are very good at being critical of our neighbors and fellow drivers on the freeway. I think Nephi understood that war would likely just increase the Nephites anger and hatred for the Lamanites. They would blame their oppressors rather than look inward. “O Lord, do not suffer that this people shall be destroyed by the sword; but O Lord, rather let there be a famine in the land, to stir them up in remembrance of the Lord their God, and perhaps they will repent and turn unto thee.”
It’s easier to shake our fist at another person rather than look up and curse the weather. That seems futile. Lack of rain cannot be blamed on our enemy. It does encourage self-reflection rather than initiating blame.
In Nephi’s case, it worked. “And it came to pass that the people saw that they were about to perish by famine, and they began to remember the Lord their God; and they began to remember the words of Nephi.” Yay.
I kinda think that Satan has been working on a way for the weather to actually turn us against each other. With “climate change,” suddenly, people blame the weather on their political enemies. Unfortunately, in today’s climate, even the weather will drive people apart. Nice move Satan.
11:22
“And also they had peace in the seventy and eighth year, save it were a few contentions concerning the points of doctrine which had been laid down by the prophets.” Points of doctrine, more and more, is becoming a point of contention. False doctrine abounds in this world among different churches and even within our own church.
The devil doesn’t seem to go straight to the temptation of sin and war to bring down a nation or a church. He, instead, uses false or competing doctrine. I predict that this is going to be a bigger and bigger problem for the Christian world and in our own church. The devil, from the very beginning, was teaching all manner of false doctrine. He mingled the philosophies of men with scripture to make his lies more convincing.
11:34-37; 12:1
One lesson that we should learn from the Book of Mormon is that people can become sinful very quickly. “Now this great evil, which came unto the people because of their iniquity, did stir them up again in remembrance of the Lord their God. And thus ended the eighty and first year of the reign of the judges. And in the eighty and second year they began again to forget the Lord their God. And in the eighty and third year they began to wax strong in iniquity. And in the eighty and fourth year they did not mend their ways. And it came to pass in the eighty and fifth year they did wax stronger and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they were ripening again for destruction.”
If we remember, it was in the 77th and 78th year that they did experience peace because of their righteousness. So, over the course of five years, the righteousness of the Nephites shifted dramatically. The same can happen to our nation or ourselves. “And thus we can behold how false, and also the unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men; yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.”
12:2-6
“Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One—yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity. And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.” There are blessings tied to righteousness. Unfortunately, when we experience the blessings of righteousness, that is when we forget God. This time of abundance is precisely the time that we turn away from the principles that brought the blessings! It is our nature to be drawn to what we see. If we see rewards come from our hard work, it’s easy to make the connection. For whatever reason, it’s much harder to connect the dots between righteousness and blessings. It’s easy to see men give us money and we credit the work. It’s easy to see customers call us as a result of our effective marketing. It’s easy to think our fine possessions come from the store. It’s much harder to clearly see that God is behind all of our fortune. He is the one that inspires us and softens the hearts of our clients and draws them to us. Because we literally cannot see God pulling the levers of our lives, we forget him.But, when we are experiencing trials and tribulations, it’s very easy for us to appeal to God. We suddenly see the connection between blessings and God.
“O how foolish, and how vain, and how evil, and devilish, and how quick to do iniquity, and how slow to do good, are the children of men; yea, how quick to hearken unto the words of the evil one, and to set their hearts upon the vain things of the world! Yea, how quick to be lifted up in pride; yea, how quick to boast, and do all manner of that which is iniquity; and how slow are they to remember the Lord their God, and to give ear unto his counsels, yea, how slow to walk in wisdom’s paths! Behold, they do not desire that the Lord their God, who hath created them, should rule and reign over them; notwithstanding his great goodness and his mercy towards them, they do set at naught his counsels, and they will not that he should be their guide.”
Men and women are quick to:
Do iniquity.
Hearken unto the words of the evil one.
Set their hearts upon the vain things of the world.
Lifted up in pride.
Boast.
Do all manner of that which is iniquity.
Men and women are slow to:
Remember the Lord their God.
Give ear unto his counsels.
Walk in wisdoms paths.
We are strange creatures in this fallen world. It’s like anything in this test or mortal life. The bad can be fallen into. The good must be strived for. It’s what is strengthening us to be like our Heavenly Father. Mortal life is designed to be this way.
12:7-8
“O how great is the nothingness of the children of men; yea, even they are less than the dust of the earth. For behold, the dust of the earth moveth hither and thither, to the dividing asunder, at the command of our great and everlasting God.” We are less than the dust of the earth because we disobey God. The dust and animals and elements do exactly what is commanded without variation. The things and creatures in this universe are all completely obedient to God’s will. The only beings who are disobedient, ironically, are God’s children.
All creation has some level of agency. However, there are created things that are meant to act and those who are meant to be acted upon. We are in the former group. We, alone, have complete agency to act. We can and will always be able to choose good or evil. Better or best. It is our place in the universe. It is the only way we can continue to progress to become like God. No child of God can be forced to inherit all that the Father has. The result of this plan can be infinitely good or infinitely bad. It’s important to remember that, while the world is stacked against us, our partnership with Christ allows us to overcome the overwhelming odds. Thank God for Jesus Christ!
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