25 And 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.
26 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.
27 Thus we may see that the Lord is merciful unto all who will, in the sincerity of their hearts, call upon his holy name.
29 Yea, we see that whosoever will may lay hold upon the aword of God, which is bquick and powerful, which shall cdivide asunder all the cunning and the snares and the wiles of the devil, and lead the man of Christ in a strait and dnarrow course across that everlasting egulf of misery which is prepared to engulf the wicked—
30 And land their souls, yea, their immortal souls, at the aright hand of God in the kingdom of heaven, to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and with Jacob, and with all our holy fathers, to go no more out.
31 And in this year there was continual rejoicing in the land of Zarahemla, and in all the regions round about, even in all the land which was possessed by the Nephites.
32 And it came to pass that there was peace and exceedingly great joy in the remainder of the forty and ninth year; yea, and also there was continual peace and great joy in the fiftieth year of the reign of the judges.
33 And in the *fifty and first year of the reign of the judges there was peace also, save it were the pride which began to enter into the church—not into the church of God, but into the hearts of the people who aprofessed to belong to the church of God—
34 And they were lifted up in apride, even to the persecution of many of their brethren. Now this was a great evil, which did cause the more humble part of the people to suffer great persecutions, and to wade through much affliction.
35 Nevertheless they did afast and bpray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their chumility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the dpurifying and the esanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their fyielding their hearts unto God.
36 And it came to pass that the fifty and second year ended in peace also, save it were the exceedingly great pride which had gotten into the hearts of the people; and it was because of their exceedingly greatariches and their prosperity in the land; and it did grow upon them from day to day.
37 And it came to pass in the *fifty and third year of the reign of the judges, aHelaman died, and his eldest son bNephi began to reign in his stead. And it came to pass that he did fill the judgment-seat with justice and equity; yea, he did keep the commandments of God, and did walk in the ways of his father.
* verse 1 (49 B.C.); Verse 3 (46 B.C.); Verse 19 (45 B.C.); Verse 23 (43 B.C.); Verse 33 (41 B.C.); Verse 37 (39 B.C.).
THE BOOK OF HELAMAN
CHAPTER 4
Nephite dissenters and the Lamanites join forces and take the land of Zarahemla—The Nephites’ defeats come because of their wickedness—The Church dwindles and the people become weak like the Lamanites. Between 38 and 30 B.C.
1 And it came to pass in the *fifty and fourth year there were many dissensions in the church, and there was also a acontention among the people, insomuch that there was much bloodshed.
2 And the rebellious part were slain and driven out of the land, and they did go unto the king of the Lamanites.
3 And it came to pass that they did endeavor to stir up the Lamanites to awar against the Nephites; but behold, the Lamanites were bexceedingly afraid, insomuch that they would not hearken to the words of those dissenters.
4 But it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, there were adissenters who went up from the Nephites unto the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others in bstirring them up to anger against the Nephites; and they were all that year preparing for war.
5 And in the *fifty and seventh year they did come down against the Nephites to battle, and they did commence the work of death; yea, insomuch that in the fifty and eighth year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in obtaining apossession of the land of Zarahemla; yea, and also all the lands, even unto the land which was near the land Bountiful.
7 And there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a aday’s journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their north country.
8 And thus those adissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the Nephites which was in the land southward. And all this was done in the fifty and eighth and ninth years of the reign of the judges.
9 And it came to pass in the sixtieth year of the reign of the judges, Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many parts of the land; yea, they regained many cities which had fallen into the hands of the Lamanites.
10 And it came to pass in the *sixty and first year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in regaining even the half of all their possessions.
11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, awould not have happened had it not been for their bwickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.
12 And it was because of the apride of their hearts, because of their exceeding briches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the cpoor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a dmock 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—
The message in chapter 3 verses 27 - 30 is so simple yet so powerful. It is the recurring message of the Book of Mormon that we have read over and over again...if we will believe in Christ the gate of heaven is open to us. We will be led in the straight and narrow course which leads us across the gulf of misery and onto the right hand of God to go no more out. What an amazing promise. What an AMAZING promise!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment