I first wrote about Helaman
1 to 5 in 2016. This post is available at: https://gospeldoctrine2016.blogspot.com/2016/10/book-of-mormon-33-sure-foundation.html
This post covers Helaman
1 to 6. President Ezra Taft Benson mentioned repeatedly that the lessons that
prepared the Nephites and Lamanites for the coming of Jesus Christ are for our
benefit. There are so many parallels that impact on our preparations as we face
the Lord’s Second Coming (April
1987 General Conference).
Helaman
1 outlines the political upheavals in Nephite government. The three sons of
Pahoran vied for the position of Chief Judge. The contention and fighting
allowed the Lamanite army, under the leadership of Coriantumr, to obtain the
city of Zarahemla. The following Knowhy video (Book of Mormon Central)
discusses the issue of why the void in leadership was so dangerous for the
Nephites.
Brother John Bytheway in his weekly Gospel Doctrine podcast
(OurTurtleHouse.com), pointed out something that impressed me and testified
strongly of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Pahoran had three sons: Pahoran,
Paanchi, and Pacumeni. Hugh Nibley in his book Since Cumorah (1988) discussed
the name Paanchi (p. 170). In the 7th century B.C Paanchi was a popular Egyptian name. This was only discovered in the late
19th century. Imagine the young Joseph Smith being able to create a
name so unusual and unique that was later uncovered to be a genuine, popular
name at this point in history, by sheer accident. The Book of Mormon is sacred.
 |
| Joseph Smith translating (Del Parsons) |
Kishkumen started the Gadianton Robbers. His murder of the
Chief Judge Pahoran (the second) was concealed by oaths made within the secret
society of the Gadianton Robbers. The scripture that surprised me in in Helaman
1:11 reads, “they all entered into a covenant, yea, swearing by their
everlasting Maker, that they would tell no man that Kishkumen had murdered
Pahoran”. What surprised me was that men as evil as the Gadianton Robbers would
swear anything in the name of God. I followed the footnote to this scripture
that led to Moses
5:29, where Satan made Cain swear by the name of God. “Satan said unto
Cain: Swear unto me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt die; and
swear thy brethren by their heads, and by the living God, that they tell it not”.
This seems to be a technique used by Satan to make something evil seem more
acceptable. When I thought about the world today, it is understandable. All
around us, the evils of Satan are made to appear good and desirable.
In Helaman
2:13 we read, “And behold, 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”. Gadianton took over leadership of this secret society from Kishkumen.
In Don’t miss this in the Book of Mormon (Freeman & Butler, 2019) it
states, “Because of this one man [Gadianton] and the evil he put in motion,
almost all of the people of Nephi would be destroyed. It is inspiring what good
a single person can do, and it is also scary what one evil person can do. The
people we choose to align with, the choices we make, and the direction we are
facing, although those choices seem small at first, end with much larger
consequences”. This really made me think about the influence that various
people have made in my own life. I have been fortunate to have had some very
good people influence my decisions. I look at the current political leadership
in the U.S.A. and I can see clearly the effect of one evil man on an entire
country.
The effect of the political contention, the secret society,
and the pride of the Nephites, was that they became weak and could not defeat
the Lamanites. This Knowhy video examines the question, ‘How did the Nephites
become weak in such a short time?’
There is a comprehensive list detailing the wickedness of the
Nephites in Helaman
4:11-13. “Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter
which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness
and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also
who professed to belong to the church of God…it was because of the pride of
their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their
oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding
their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the
cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy
and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery,
rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi,
among the Lamanites… because of…their boastings in their own strength, they
were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were
afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost
possession of almost all their lands”. When I look around at the world today, I
see the wickedness described here. I do not see it among members of the church,
but I am sure there are things that I do not see. In the midst of the Covid-19
pandemic, I wonder if the world is just too wicked and there are other
pandemics, plagues, earthquakes, and natural disasters that will yet be sent to
afflict, try, and test us.
Helaman
4:15 states, “And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as
they did repent they did begin to prosper”. This is a seemingly simple solution
that we can apply in our own lives. Repentance should be part of the way we
live from day to day. In Don’t miss this in the Book of Mormon (Freeman
& Butler, 2019) the word repentance is linked to anxiety, with the account
of Adam and Eve hiding behind a tree to prevent the Lord from viewing their
nakedness. It goes on to say, “The word repentance implies a turning back, and
turning back invites Him back into our lives. Then we begin to prosper. We
prosper because He is there. We will never find the strength, love, and grace
behind the tree that we will in His presence. Turn again to Him”.
One of my very favourite scriptures is Helaman
5:12 which contains the words of counsel from Helaman to his sons Nephi and
Lehi, “And now, my sons, 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”.
Christ is the only sure foundation. Building on a false
foundation (money, prestige, popularity, appearance, accomplishments) will lead
to unhappiness and weakness in facing Satan’s temptations. Peace comes from being
close to the Spirit and following the Lord’s guidance. The following video is
inspirational in remembering the importance of Christ as our rock and our
Redeemer. It provides us with a clearer understanding of the scriptural use of ‘rock’.
This Knowhy video answers the question: ‘Why did Helaman compare Christ to a rock?’
After Nephi and Lehi converted thousands of Lamanites in the
city of Zarahemla they went on to preach to the Lamanites in the Land of Nephi.
They were thrown into prison. For days they went without food. When the
Lamanites came to kill them, they could not go near these wonderful
missionaries. It appeared that they were standing amidst flames. The Lamanites were
encompassed by a cloud of darkness. They heard a quiet yet powerful voice
command them to repent. The earth shook and the cloud continued to overwhelm
them. Nephi and Lehi were looking up and appeared to be speaking to someone.
Aminadab, a Nephite dissenter living with the Lamanites, testified that, “They
do converse with the angels of God” (Helaman
5:39). The Lamanites asked, “What shall we do, that this cloud of darkness
may be removed from overshadowing us?” (Helaman
5:40). Aminadab told them that they should repent. When they did, they
found they were surrounded by a pillar of fire and angels came down to minister
to them. Sometimes we experience a ‘cloud of darkness’, so what can we do to
get rid of this cloud? I love church music. One hymn that answers this question
is Where can I turn for peace? The following video is this hymn sung by
Kathleen Jacob. The background illustrates some of the things that can
contribute to our own clouds of darkness.
I have mentioned chiasmus in several previous posts. Helaman 6 provides a further example of chiasmus. In Helaman
6:7-13 we have a very precise chiasmus. This is illustrated below. There is
also a Knowhy (Book of Mormon Central) video that answers the question: ‘Why was
chiasmus used in Nephite record keeping?’
I thought a lot about the significance of these scriptures
to my own life. The Nephites succumbed to evil while the Lamanites became more
righteous than the Nephites. The Nephites descent into wickedness can be
illustrated by the Pride Cycle seen below.
In the April 2009 General Conference, Elder Russell M. Ballard
said, “…the Book of Mormon records that ancient civilizations followed exactly
the same pattern: righteousness followed by prosperity, followed by material
comforts, followed by greed, followed by pride, followed by wickedness and a
collapse of morality until the people brought calamities upon themselves
sufficient to stir them up to humility, repentance, and change…One of the great
lessons of this historical pattern is that our choices, both individually and
collectively, do result in spiritual consequences for ourselves and for our
posterity”. We are faced with a time of calamities. The world is full of
evil and selfishness, so the calamities are not unanticipated. As members we
need to be humble and rely on the Lord to guide and support us. We need to
avoid pride and all the snares and temptations of Satan. I personally need to
rely on the Lord to guide me through this difficult time where daily I see my
old mum in constant pain. He knows best and I only pray that He will look on my
mum with compassion and mercy. I will try to maintain the connection I have
with the Spirit and do my best to be steadfast.
I love these two songs, for the words and the harmonies. The
first is a song by Vocal Point (BYU) called, In Christ alone. The second
is a song called Waymaker (by Leeland), recorded during the Covid-19
lockdown, sung by David Archuleta and the Housecat Band.
“Way maker, miracle worker,
promise keeper
Light in the darkness
My God, that is who You are…
You mended every heart
You are here.”
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