pgs. 388 and 389...instead of laying up for yourselves treasures in heaven...ye are heaping up for yourselves wrath against the day of judgment.

19 And now I would that ye should know, that even since the days of Abraham there have been many prophets that have testified these things; yea, behold, the prophet ^aZenos did testify boldly; for the which he was slain.

  20 And behold, also ^aZenock, and also ^bEzias, and also ^cIsaiah, and ^dJeremiah, (Jeremiah being that same prophet who testified of the destruction of ^eJerusalem) and now we know that Jerusalem was destroyed according to the words of Jeremiah. O then why not the Son of God come, according to his prophecy?

  21 And now will you dispute that ^aJerusalem was destroyed? Will ye say that the ^bsons of Zedekiah were not slain, all except it were ^cMulek? Yea, and do ye not behold that the seed of Zedekiah are with us, and they were driven out of the land of Jerusalem? But behold, this is not all—

  22 Our father Lehi was driven out of Jerusalem because he ^atestified of these things. Nephi also testified of these things, and also almost all of our fathers, even down to this time; yea, they have testified of the ^bcoming of Christ, and have looked forward, and have rejoiced in his day which is to come.

  23 And behold, he is God, and he is ^awith them, and he did manifest himself unto them, that they were redeemed by him; and they gave unto him glory, because of that which is to come.

  24 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 ^aevidences which ye have received; yea, even ye have received ^ball things, both things in heaven, and all things which are in the earth, as a witness that they are true.

  25 But behold, ye have rejected the truth, and ^arebelled against your holy God; and even at this time, instead of laying up for yourselves ^btreasures 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 ^cjudgment.

  26 Yea, even at this time ye are ripening, because of your murders and your ^afornication and wickedness, for everlasting destruction; yea, and except ye repent it will come unto you soon.

  27 Yea, behold it is now even at your doors; yea, go ye in unto the judgment-seat, and search; and behold, your judge is murdered, and he ^alieth in his blood; and he hath been murdered ^bby his brother, who seeketh to sit in the judgment-seat.

  28 And behold, they both belong to your secret band, whose ^aauthor is Gadianton and the evil one who seeketh to destroy the souls of men.

THE BOOK OF HELAMAN

CHAPTER 9

Messengers find the chief judge dead at the judgment seat—They are imprisoned and later released—By inspiration Nephi identifies Seantum as the murderer—Nephi is accepted by some as a prophet. Between 23 and 20 B.C.

  1 Behold, now it came to pass that when Nephi had spoken these words, certain men who were among them ran to the judgment-seat; yea, even there were ^afive who went, and they said among themselves, as they went:

  2 Behold, now we will know of a surety whether this man be a prophet and God hath commanded him to prophesy such marvelous things unto us. Behold, we do not ^abelieve that he hath; yea, we do not believe that he is a prophet; nevertheless, if this thing which he has said concerning the chief judge be true, that he be dead, then will we believe that the other words which he has spoken are true.

  3 And it came to pass that they ran in their might, and came in unto the judgment-seat; and behold, the chief judge had fallen to the earth, and did ^alie in his blood.

  4 And now behold, when they saw this they were astonished exceedingly, insomuch that they fell to the earth; for they had not believed the words which Nephi had spoken concerning the chief judge.

  5 But now, when they saw they believed, and fear came upon them lest all the judgments which Nephi had spoken ^ashould come upon the people; therefore they did quake, and had fallen to the earth.

  6 Now, immediately when the judge had been murdered—he being stabbed by his brother by a garb of secrecy, and he fled, and the servants ran and told the people, raising the cry of murder among them;

  7 And behold the people did gather themselves together unto the place of the judgment-seat—and behold, to their astonishment they saw those ^afive men who had fallen to the earth.

  8 And now behold, the people knew nothing concerning the multitude who had gathered together at the ^agarden of Nephi; therefore they said among themselves: These men are they who have murdered the judge, and God has smitten them that they could not flee from us.

  9 And it came to pass that they laid hold on them, and bound them and cast them into prison. And there was a proclamation sent abroad that the judge was slain, and that the murderers had been taken and were cast into prison.

  10 And it came to pass that on the morrow the people did assemble themselves together to ^amourn and to ^bfast, at the burial of the great chief judge who had been slain.

  11 And thus also those judges who were at the garden of Nephi, and heard his words, were also gathered together at the burial.

  12 And it came to pass that they inquired among the people, saying: Where are the five who were sent to inquire concerning the chief judge whether he was dead? And they answered and said: Concerning this five whom ye say ye have sent, we know not; but there are five who are the murderers, whom we have cast into prison.

  13 And it came to pass that the judges desired that they should be brought; and they were brought, and behold they were the five who were sent; and behold the judges inquired of them to know concerning the matter, and they told them all that they had done, saying:

  14 We ran and came to the place of the judgment-seat, and when we saw all things even as Nephi had testified, we were astonished insomuch that we fell to the earth; and when we were recovered from our astonishment, behold they cast us into ^aprison.

One of the main blessings that comes from reading the Book of Mormon is an eternal perspective.  Whether we realize it or not, the way we live our lives is always a product of what we truly want most.  Those who do not have an eternal perspective may only desire worldly gifts such as fame, fortune, or pleasure and strive for those things.  Those with an eternal perspective hopefully desire eternal gifts such as covenants, families, and spiritual growth and focus on obtaining them. 

 

Years ago I had a visiting teacher who joined the church late in life and a short time later found out that she was dying of cancer.  One day, not long before she died, she told me about the years of her life when she was married to a successful, handsome doctor and raising her children.  She thought she had it all.  She lived across the street from an LDS family and thought they were nice but strange.  Eventually she lost her husband to infidelity and divorce and the money ran out.  Now she looked back on that family and said, "I can see that they were not strange but different, because they wanted completely opposite things from life than I did.  They wanted things that really matter.  Members of the church are so lucky because they are walking around with a completely different perspective on life than the rest of us."  

I've thought about that conversation so many times since. Reading this passage today brought it to mind again because Nephi is trying to teach the people to live for eternal treasure, not earthly treasure.  If we can follow Nephi's teachings we will be so blessed. It seems like a relatively simple lesson in theory but in reality it is so often forgotten.