Latest / Scripture Central / Alma 43–52 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource

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Alma 43–52 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource · Scripture Central

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Hello there, my name is Tyler Griffin and this is Scripture
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Study Insights by Scripture Central today, Alma 43 through
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52. Now many of you when you hear
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those particular chapters mentioned, you think to
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yourself, Oh no, the the war chapters begin.
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The reality is that this book was written for our day by a man
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Mormon, who happened to be assigned as the chief captain of
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the the armies of the layman of the Nephites when he was only 15
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years old. And his whole life from that
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point on was spent defending to 1° or another the people in a
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military sense. So instead of being frustrated
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by the war and the contentions and the violent descriptions
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going on here, perhaps we could step back from the page a foot
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or two and ponder the reality that Second Nephi chapter 31
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verse 3 teaches a powerful truth that is now coming to into play.
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This is Nephi speaking for the Lord.
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God giveth light unto the understanding, for he speaketh
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unto men according to their language and unto their
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understanding. So it shouldn't shock us that
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there's so much warfare and so much description of this these
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difficult settings in the Book of Mormon.
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That's one of the ways that the Lord is communicating with the
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the chief editor of this record named Mormon is through his own
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life experience. And because of that, we can now
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liken all scriptures unto us as Nephi invited back in first
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Nephi 19 verse 23, so that the scriptures can be for our
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prophet and our learning if we allow the Holy Ghost to fulfill
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his role as the ultimate teacher.
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And if we go into these chapters with an open heart, a soft
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heart, and a mind that is focused heavenward to say, teach
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me principles that would help me in my own life today.
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Because the reality is, is most of you didn't wake up this
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morning worrying that the Lamanites encamped against you
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were going to overthrow your city.
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But we are in battles, we are in a war, whether we like it or
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not, there is a war going on. So if you look at the chapter
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heading of Revelation, chapter 12 in the Bible, John the
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beloved John the Revelator says and, and here is the summary of
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what he's teaching in chapter 12 of the that great revelation.
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It says John sees the imminent apostasy of the church.
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He also sees the war in heaven in the beginning when Satan was
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cast out, he sees the continuation of that war on
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earth. So whether we like it or not,
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there is a war going on, we are involved in that war and we have
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to learn principles of how to appropriately fight in that war.
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It's a very real war against the devil and those that follow him.
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It's a war for the eternal welfare of not only our own
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soul, but for those all around us.
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So if you now look at Chapter 43 through 52 through the lens of I
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am, I am going to have this handbook of how to liken the
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Scriptures to my life, to my story.
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Then I'm going to see principles of how to survive and thrive in
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this very real war that we're battling.
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Those Lamanites and those weapons, they have a totally
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different look and feel today than they did in the Book of
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Mormon, but they're very real. And in the process, we're going
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to find that there are three layers of things that we can
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learn among others there. If this analogy doesn't work for
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you, toss it out and find one that does.
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And make your serious study of these chapters more meaningful
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using whatever other method or overlay or lifelong learning
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principle you want to employ. This is just one.
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One consideration is to look for what I can learn about Jesus
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Christ, about myself in this war and about the adversary, the
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opposition. Because what's happening is
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there is a war going on for my soul.
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There's a war going on for the soul of all of you and all of
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your loved ones. And it's, it's this battle
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between Christ and the devil. And we're we're deciding how
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we're going to respond to both of those efforts.
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So using that overlay, we're going to dive in and look at
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Chapter 43, initially through those symbolic lenses.
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So as it begins, it sets up this contrast, the beginning of the
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war down in Antionum in the land of the Zoramites.
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They've invited the Lehmani army in which is, we find out, twice
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the size of the Nephite army under Captain Moroni.
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So we have in this analogy, through this lens, we have
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Captain Moroni who is going to form this lens through which we
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can see attributes of Jesus Christ.
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And Zarahemna, on the other hand, is going to provide this
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lens through which we can see attributes and techniques and
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tactics of the devil and what he's doing against us today.
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So for starters, let's apply this this lens and go to verse
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seven and eight, which when you read this, going back to the
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Revelation chapter 12 heading should cast our minds back to
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the pre mortal council and the initiation of that war in
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heaven. That war that was started not by
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God, not by the Lord Jesus Christ, but by the devil, by
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Lucifer. So Zarahemna has appointed some
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captains that really hate the Nephites to be in charge of that
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Lamanite army. Now this he did that he might
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preserve their hatred towards the Nephites that he might bring
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them into subjection to the accomplishment of his designs.
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You'll notice there that it's not the accomplishment of their
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designs. It's not to help them reach
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their goals or to fulfill their divine potential.
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It's none of that. He's using them to keep them in
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subjection to his designs, to carry out His will and His
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desires, which are going to benefit him with some promises
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that He will share in the spoils with them.
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Look at verse 8 for behold, His designs were to stir up the
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Lamanites to anger against the Nephites.
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This he did that he might usurp great power over them.
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He's not trying to increase their agency.
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He's not trying to give them freedom and more liberty.
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He's even trying to bind his own people who are doing his will to
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fulfill his designs. And then it goes on to say also
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that he might gain power over the Nephites by bringing them
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into bondage. Everything in the devil's plan,
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everything in his motivation and in his tactics is to bind and
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bring into bondage. It's to destroy the agency of
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man. We learned in the appropriate
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place. This is everything that he's
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doing is to take away the agency of man.
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Now thank heaven for this incredible prophet Mormon who is
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able to interpose and interweave the glorious message of the
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gospel of Jesus Christ and these types and shadows of Christ that
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we can see not only what the devil is trying to do, but we
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can see the glorious response and these type Christ like
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symbols that that point us heavenward.
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So look at verse nine in contrast to the devil over in
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verse seven and eight. Captain Moroni however, says now
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the design of the Nephites was to support their lands and their
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houses and their wives and their children that they might
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preserve them from the hands of their enemies.
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Look at those two action words, those verbs.
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The design of the Nephites was to support so that they can
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preserve. So here's the intent.
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It's to support and preserve not just themselves, not just their
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own lives, but to support and preserve their loved ones, their
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people. It's all about agency, liberty,
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freedom. Then it goes on to say that
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Moroni in verse 17 is only 25 years old when he took command
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of the of the armies. He becomes the chief captain
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over the armies of the Nephites, which is this beautiful
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connecting point between Mormon in the the 4th century AD with
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Captain Moroni here nearly 400 years before him and Moroni.
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Captain Moroni is clearly Mormon's hero, even to the point
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where he spends so much time talking about him.
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But he also names his own son. Moroni seems to be naming him
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after his his hero, Captain Moroni, who was put in charge of
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the army when he was 25, whereas Mormon was put in charge of the
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any fights when he was 15. So let's look now at this other
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contrast. How does Mormon feel about his
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soldiers, his people? How does he, what are what are
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his underlying feelings regarding them?
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And how do we know? Look at how he prepared them.
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Look up verse 18 and 19. It says it came to pass that he
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met the Lamanites in the borders of Gershon and his people were
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armed with. Now notice, if you're marking
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your scriptures, you could just simply mark these and recognize
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that there is symbolism here because you and I probably
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aren't going to leave our homes today armed the way these people
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were armed. But in a spiritual sense, if we
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liken this scripture to us, we absolutely can spend time
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helping our children, our youth, our loved ones, leave any
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interaction with us armed in a symbolically spiritual way, as
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described here. They're armed with swords, with
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symmeters, and all manner of weapons of war.
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We're not leaving them only with defensive armor, we're arming
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them with the ability to go out and appropriately fight in the
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spiritual warfare that that we're all involved in to 1° or
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another. Verse 19, when the armies of the
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Lamanites saw that the people of Nephi or that Moroni had
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prepared his people with Now watch the defense of armor,
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breastplates, arm Shields, Yeah, and also Shields to defend their
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heads. And also they were dressed with
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thick clothing. So they've got all of this
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defensive armor as well as the offensive weaponry.
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What do the Lamanites have? How does how does Zarahemna feel
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about his people? And how do we know?
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Look at the preparation they got and the and the way they were
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treated by Zarahemna and the leaders of his army.
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It says now the army of Zarahemna was not prepared with
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any such thing. They had only their swords and
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their scimeters and their bows and their arrows, their stones
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and their slings and they were naked, save it were a skin which
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was girded about their loins. Yeah, all were naked, save it
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were the Zoramites and the Amalekites.
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If you look at that list carefully, there is only
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offensive weaponry that is listed there.
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There's no thick clothing, there's no shield, there's no
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breastplates or head plates. There's nothing to protect these
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people. They are only armed in a way to
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go out as minions, to destroy and to scatter death, but
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nothing to protect themselves. It tells you something about the
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way God feels about his servants in contrast to the way the devil
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feels about those who he gets to follow him.
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So to make sense of this next part of the story, we we turn to
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the map for a minute. So if we zoom in on the map, you
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see that the action is all going to be centered on these attacks
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coming to the land of Zarahemlah from the land of Nephi from the
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Lamanites in the South. There are four entry points
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coming in. So if we if if we use this
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color, let me let me do this. So if we show, here's the first
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entry point that is mentioned, It's Antionem.
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Let me make this a little bit bigger, a little thicker.
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There's the first one. The second entry point is into
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the land of Manti, the third is into the land of Antipara, and
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the 4th that is mentioned in the Book of Mormon is into Amaniah.
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There are other possible entry points, but those are the four
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that we see in the story throughout the Book of Mormon.
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This one happens to be taking place down here in the land of
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Antionam, which is in the land eastward near the narrow strip
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of wilderness that goes from the sea West to the sea E.
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That's where the Zoramites live, and that's where this story
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unfolds. You have the Nephites here in
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Gershon facing the Lamanites in the land of Antionam.
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And the Lamanites outnumber the Nephites more than two to one.
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They're they're more than double in size.
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And yet, because of the preparation of these Nephite
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soldiers, the Lamanites are scared and don't dare fight.
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So they retreat into the wilderness and let's clear the
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screen here. They come into the wilderness
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and work their way West to then come into entry point #2 which
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is near the land of Manti, near the head of the river Sidon.
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Captain Moroni is we'll, we'll change the color here.
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Captain Moroni sends word to the prophet to find out where to go
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and he tells the army where to meet the Lamanites.
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So they come in advance. Must have had an easier route
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getting here. They get there first and hide
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around the hill Ripla. And thus unfolds this this
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battle there in the land of Manti, where the Nephites are
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able to to prevail in a in a beautiful way.
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So check out verse if you if you want to see some incredible
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defensive kinds of verbs things causes worth fighting for
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fighting appropriately, then you can look in verse 26, verse 30,
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verse 4547484950. They're all of these verbs in
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those various parts of chapter 43.
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So whether you like these chapters or not, the reality is,
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is up in heaven, in the war in heaven.
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This is our story. This is what we fought in the
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war in heaven along with Michael the Archangel and all the other
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angels and with the Lord Jesus Christ.
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This is what we were fighting for is to defend freedoms and
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liberty and agency. And so now they in this battle
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in chapter 44, they are overpowering the the Lamanites
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because of their their armor and thick clothing.
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And Maroni stops the battle. And they they have this little
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interaction where he asks Zerahemnah if he's willing to
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enter into a covenant not to come and fight against any
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fights anymore. And I'll let you go home.
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And he won't do it. And so he, Moroni returns the
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sword. He tries Zerahemnah tries to
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kill Moroni, and one of Moroni's servants breaks his sword, cuts
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off the scalp of Zerahemnah and holds it up as a sign.
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And thus the Lamanites start fighting again.
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And they keep fighting, keep fighting until it gets to the
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point where Zerahemna in verse 19 of chapter 44 says, yeah,
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this is this is not going to end well for me.
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Which tells you he's probably put himself somewhat surrounded
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by his people to defend until he realizes they're they're all
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going to die and I'm going to die.
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So he then says, OK, stop. And they take the oath, and the
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Lamanites now go home to Nephi. But Captain Maroni know
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something. He knows that just because you
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want a battle doesn't mean that the devil's going to give up,
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doesn't mean that the Lamanites are going to stop trying to
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overtake the Nephites and take away their freedom and bring
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them into bondage and slave them.
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And so he also knows that next time the Lamanites come to
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fight, it will no longer be a surprise or a shock to them to
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see the Nephites dressed in thick clothing and extensive
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armor to protect them on a physical, personal level.
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So they're probably going to come equally prepared.
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So Captain Moroni is going to do the next level up, which is to
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not rest and relax, not take a vacation, but rather go to each
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of his cities and cast up dirt and protect the the people more,
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more collectively rather than just individual armor, because
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he knows the Lamanites are going to come again.
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And if we're going to liken these scriptures unto ourselves
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that it can be for our profit and our learning, we can say one
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way I could approach this is to stop and analyze what are some
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of the personal armor and weaponry items that I could have
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more fully developed for myself. Begin with yourself in in this
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spiritual warfare. And once you have that in place,
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then you start turning outward and trying to protect loved ones
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around you and others around you who maybe aren't capable of
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putting on a shield and picking up a sword and defending
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themselves. So you defend them in a
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different way. It's this idea of always staying
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ahead of the temptations before they come.
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And the best time to build those fortifications are not when you
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see the Lamanite army coming into your lands.
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The best time to build up spiritual fortifications is long
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before the battle begins. I love the way our prophets,
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seers, and revelators do that very thing with the church
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prophetically. They see things coming and they
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make preparations long before there's a a seeming need.
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The principle being that in my personal life or in my family
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life or in my church calling, if it's if everything seems to be
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going well, that's not a time to just relax in my discipleship.
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It's not a time to let down my defense.
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That's actually the best time to build up the defense that the
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worst time to build a barn is in the middle of a tornado.
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Best time is when it's beautiful weather and there is no tornado,
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there is no battle, there is no earthquake.
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So that's what he's going to end up doing in the subsequent
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chapters. Here.
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In the meantime, chapter 45 is this little insert chapter
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between the Zarahemna conflict and the conflict that is yet to
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come. Here Alma passes on the records
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and the prophetic mantle to his son Heelman in chapter 45.
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And Healman and his brethren began to establish the church
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and preach among all the land of the Nephites.
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The problem is there's major opposition to that preaching.
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And this time the opposition doesn't come in the form of
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Lamanites or soldiers. It comes in the form of Nephites
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and probably some Mulekites living in Zarahemla, living in
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the very land you're trying to defend from Lamanites.
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So what we see as we open up Chapter 46 is a group of people
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who are exceedingly wroth with Healman and his brethren and all
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those who are trying to build up the church, and they were
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determined to slay them. This sounds a lot like the devil
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in the Premortal Council. You you don't get your way by
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diplomacy or by a sharing of ideas.
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Then you start to enforce your ideas or your will using the the
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power of of war. And so it says verse three, the
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leader of those who were wroth against their brethren was a
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large and a strongman and his name was Amalekaya.
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So now Amalekaya is going to take on that devilish side of of
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symbolic attributes. We see him being desirous to be
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a king. That's everything the devil
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wanted in the pre mortal council.
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And those people who were wroth were also desirous that he
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should be their king. And they were the greater part
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of them, the lower judges of the land and they were seeking for
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power. They want power, they don't want
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to give freedom and liberty to people.
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And so there's this, this struggle that is brewing, this
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this internal civil war that is getting set up.
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And Captain Maroni sees it happening.
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And in verse 12, it tells us that he took his coat and he
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rent the coat and he took a piece thereof and wrote upon it
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in memory of our God, our religion and freedom and our
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peace, our wives and our children.
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And he fastened it upon the end of a poll.
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Many people read this verse and think, wow, the title of
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liberty. That's a great list of of random
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good things. But I see much more than just a
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random list of good things there.
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I see an an ordered list. I see a prioritized list.
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These are things worth fighting for.
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These are things worth defending.
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These are things worth building up to the to the greatest degree
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possible with our loved ones in memory of our God.
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Put God first in your life. And if you do that, we will have
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religion. The word religion comes from the
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RE and then legare this this connecting point, same route as
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ligament. So it's this reconnection with
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God. So in memory of our God and
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reconnecting with God and with each other, that the essence of
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religion, true religion and freedom.
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God and religion bring the consequence of freedom.
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And if I have God that helps me, that helps give me religion,
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which then gives me freedom, what comes next?
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And our peace, with that freedom comes peace.
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I, I don't have to be filled with anxiety about my, my
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existence or my survival. There's peace that comes there.
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And it's peace in God, peace in Christ.
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And then he says, our wives and our children, you can have
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family outside of God and religion and freedom and peace,
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but it's not the kind of family situation that will last
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forever. It's not the kind of family
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situation where those relationships become more
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eternally significant. So it's this beautiful list on
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this banner, the rent part of his cloak that he raises up to
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encourage everybody to come and join in the fight to defend
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those things. That's what you're fighting for.
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You're not fighting to suppress the Lamanites or to bring them
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into bondage. You're fighting to defend your
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freedoms, your rights, your liberties.
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And in this case, it's against some of your neighbors.
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It's the Amalekaya and those lower judges that are following
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him that we're now fighting against, using these things on
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the banner. And you get this band of
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Christians, as they're called, who flocked to this banner.
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They're calling them Christians, and we're more than 70 years
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away from the Savior, even being born halfway across the world.
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It's beautiful, the spirit of prophecy and revelation that
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they're already focused on Christ who shall come, who is
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the solution to their problems in that day.
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And they cut this covenant or they rip their clothes in verse
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21 as a sign or a token. That's the way they make
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covenants back in the Old Testament times.
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They rip their clothes and they do it very symbolically saying
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that the Lord if they should transgress the commandments of
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God or fall into transgression and be ashamed to take upon them
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the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they
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had rent their garments. Brothers and sisters, we in in
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our world today, the the concept of covenant and covenants and
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entering into these these powerful agreements, it's seen
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as a little less significant perhaps than it was in the Old
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Testament times. They were serious about this.
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They ripped their shirts, their clothes as a sign or a token.
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We want God to do this to us if we break this covenant.
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I love that our prophets are now emphasizing more than I think
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ever before in in the latter days, this concept of covenants.
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In fact, if you go back and look at the April 2024 General
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Conference and review all of those talks and do a word search
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for the word covenant, some of you may be surprised at how
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often and how broadly and deeply the word covenant and the
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concept of these covenants is discussed in that conference.
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Dozens and dozens and dozens of times.
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The Lord is bringing these covenants and their importance
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to the foreground now more than ever before because the battle
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is deepening the the the enemy is more combined than ever
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before and the safety is only going to be found in our
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covenants, spiritually speaking and in some cases physically
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speaking. So you turn the page over to
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verse 22 and it says now this was the covenant which they
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made. And they cast their garments at
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the feet of Moroni saying, we covenant with our God that we
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shall be destroyed even as our brethren in the land northward
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if we shall fall into transgression.
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That's powerful to go into a covenant relationship with God,
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this covenant connection with the Lord, to say I'm all in.
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I would rather die before I will break this covenant.
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And just because a person makes the covenant doesn't mean that
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life from that point forward is going to be easy.
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These very soldiers, they're going to wake up many times out
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there in the battlefields. They're going to be sore.
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They're going to be wounded. They're they're not going to be
32:06
able to to be with their family. The food's probably going to be
32:10
subpar. They're probably going to be
32:13
parched for water at times. Their feet are going to be
32:16
blistered from long marches. It's going to be miserable.
32:21
But at the outset, as they're initiating this covenant
32:24
connection with the Lord, they're saying we're all in.
32:28
And to finish off verse 22, they say yay, he meaning the Lord may
32:33
cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast
32:37
our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot.
32:41
If we shall fall into transgression.
32:44
That is durable discipleship. That is lasting conversion to
32:51
the Lord. That's what we want for all of
32:54
us. Not this kind that is walking on
32:58
egg shells kinds of conversion where if somebody says something
33:02
or doesn't say something, or somebody offends us, then we
33:07
abandoned those covenants we've made with God.
33:10
It's important to note here that every covenant you make on the
33:16
covenant path is between you and God.
33:20
And there's only one covenant in that, in that line of covenants
33:25
that is made with another mortal and that is across an altar of
33:31
the temple as a husband and wife are sealed for time and for all
33:35
of eternity. That's the only other time that
33:38
immortal is involved. In other words, when you go to
33:40
church, if you're being offended by people, that's a very real
33:44
thing. That's a real part of our our
33:47
battles and and the war of life in general.
33:51
But don't base your covenant on what people do or don't do.
33:56
Don't base your commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ on
34:01
people, even if that person is a spouse who has been not true or
34:07
faithful to those covenants that were made in the temple.
34:09
Stay true and faithful to God who is the perfect keeper of
34:14
covenant at all costs. As these people are showing this
34:19
pattern here, so now they they fight against Amalekaya and his
34:26
soldiers and they're, they're winning.
34:28
They're clearly going to win this battle.
34:30
And Amalekaya knows. So it's as if he is cast out the
34:35
symbol of, of the devil leaving a symbolic representation of
34:40
heaven in in this lens of likening.
34:45
And Amalekaya now flees from the land of Zarahemla down to the
34:52
land of Nephi or up to it's down South, but it's up in elevation
34:57
in the Book of Mormon. So chapter 47 is an incredibly
35:02
painful chapter that shows you step after step after step of
35:09
Amalekaya employing devilish techniques, tactics, and
35:14
teachings and ideals in order to rise to power.
35:18
He lies. He's going to cheat, he's going
35:22
to murder, he's going to deceive, and he ends up as the
35:28
king of the Lamanites, marrying the queen of this newly killed
35:35
king of the Lamanites. And you would think to yourself,
35:39
well, there you go. He, he wanted the throne, which
35:44
is all the devil wanted in the pre mortal council.
35:46
Now he got his throne. He's the king of the Lamanites.
35:49
And it's it's a Kingdom that is twice as big as the Kingdom of
35:52
the Nephites. There's a problem.
35:54
When is enough enough? When a person has has turned
36:00
their heart and their mind over to the devil.
36:03
When, when have they arrived? When do they have enough?
36:07
And the answer is never, because the devil's doctrine is a
36:10
doctrine of discontent with what you have.
36:15
It's always coveting. It's always looking in pride at
36:18
what others have, in wanting more, more, more than whatever
36:22
it is that I have. And so we see that happening in
36:25
Chapter 48. Amalekaya in this new power,
36:31
sends the Lamanite army to fight against the Nephites, to bring
36:35
them under his bondage, so that his domain, his dominion, if you
36:41
will, can increase, and he can bring those Nephites into
36:45
subjection to his will. And so he sends them off.
36:51
And we get this beautiful description of Captain Moroni in
36:55
the middle of this part of the story, in chapter 48, verse 17.
36:58
It says, coming from the stylus of Mormon.
37:02
Yeah, verily, verily, I say unto you, if all men had been and
37:07
were and ever would be like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers
37:12
of hell would have been shaken forever.
37:14
Yeah, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the
37:17
children of men. If only everybody could be as
37:19
firm and steadfast and movable in the faith as Mormon, as
37:23
Captain Moroni, then the devil would never have power.
37:27
Well, in this case, not everybody is like Captain
37:31
Moroni. And so Amalekaya sends this this
37:36
invading army, and we turn over to Chapter 49 and they come this
37:42
way. The last time the Lamanites went
37:45
to Antionam, it didn't end well. They fled and came over to
37:48
Manti, and that didn't end well. So Amalekaya sends them through
37:55
the back door, because you remember the last time that a
37:59
Lamanite army went all the way up to Emaniaha, they were able
38:02
to destroy the entire city in one day.
38:05
It was one of the most successful battles for Lamanites
38:07
in the entire history, if not the most successful in
38:11
throughout time up to that point.
38:13
So he sends them there, but he sends them there with thick
38:17
clothing and with armor and with offensive weaponry, not because
38:23
he loves his people, but because he wants to subject the Nephites
38:27
to bondage and he knows he has to protect his soldiers in order
38:30
to do that. So you come over to to chapter
38:37
49 and in verse six it describes how they came.
38:42
And when they come out of the wilderness and see the city of
38:46
Amaniah and notice that there is a beautiful new feature around
38:53
that city of A deep trench and the dirt cast up into a mound on
39:01
the other side of the trench. So if you were looking at it
39:04
from a side view, it would be level ground, deep trench.
39:10
And the dirt is now cast up there with the city inside here.
39:15
That's a pretty defensible position for all of these people
39:19
inside of those cities. And so they go back into the
39:23
wilderness. Mormon gives you an indication
39:27
of motivation again at the bottom of verse 10, he says king
39:31
of Malachi didn't come with the soldiers because if he had, he
39:34
would have told him go and attack anyway.
39:36
I don't care because you're expendable.
39:38
And it tells you at the bottom of verse 10 for behold, he did
39:41
not care for the blood of his people.
39:44
There's something ironic about that because they're not really
39:49
his people. They're the Lamanites people
39:55
that he has stolen the ruling from their king, but he's now
40:01
claiming them as his people. Very similar to what the devil's
40:06
trying to do with us and our loved ones today.
40:10
And so they make this oath. We're going to go and attack the
40:14
city of Noah. And they swear they're going to
40:17
attack it regardless of what it looks like.
40:19
And in verse 23 it says thus the Nephites had all power over
40:22
their enemies because when they come to the city of Noah, it
40:25
turns out that that city is more fortified than Amaniah was.
40:31
Captain Maroni anticipated this. And so the battle count ends up
40:37
being more than 1000 of the Lamanites were slain, while on
40:40
the other hand there was not a single soul of the Nephites
40:42
which was slain. Worst battle in the history of
40:47
the Nephites and Lamanites right there as far as Lamanites are
40:49
concerned. 1000 plus to 0. So now these Lamanites come home
40:56
with their heads drooping and they're sad they've left behind
41:03
over 1000 of their fellow soldiers.
41:07
And when they get home, you would expect Amalekaya to show a
41:10
little bit of human kindness and compassion for these people who
41:13
he sent off to be killed. But instead what you get is a
41:17
devilish response. Verse 26.
41:19
It came to pass that he was exceedingly angry with his
41:23
people. Why?
41:26
Because he had not obtained his desire over the Nephites.
41:30
He had not subjected them to the yoke of bondage.
41:33
Yeah, he was exceedingly wrath. And he did curse God.
41:36
And also Moroni swearing with an oath that he would drink his
41:40
blood. And this because Moroni had kept
41:43
the commandments of God in preparing for the safety of his
41:45
people. You don't need to fear the
41:48
devil. You just need to have faith in
41:51
the Lord and in what he will do, not in what the devil threatens
41:56
to do, which is what's going on here with with Amalekaya.
42:01
Now you're thinking, OK, well, there's another battle that
42:05
we've overcome so we can clear the, the the markings here and
42:11
we're good to go. You know, you're never good to
42:14
go. You're never good to relax in
42:17
this battle because Captain Run, I knows they're going to come
42:20
again. So in chapter 50, he now goes
42:23
back to those, those ridges of of earth that were cast up.
42:28
And in verse two, he caused works of Timbers to be built,
42:32
and on top of the works of Timbers, A-frame of pickets, and
42:35
on top of those towers to be erected to overlook the pickets.
42:39
And then over in verse 11, he fortified the line between the
42:42
Nephites and Lamanites. So he strengthens the border.
42:45
He's doing everything he possibly can.
42:48
Now, the problem is, Captain Moroni could have defended the
42:52
Nephites against the Lamanites for forever, it seems.
42:58
But the real enemy, it turns out, wasn't South of the border.
43:04
The real enemy was living next door to some of these people.
43:08
The real enemy was within. And in chapter 51, we see this
43:15
real enemy being the Kingman. Now, before we get to those
43:20
Kingman, we have to cover one verse in chapter 50 that is so
43:24
beautiful. So this is in the middle of
43:26
describing all this terrible warfare and all these people
43:29
dying and Mormon throws in this verse.
43:32
But behold, there never was a happier time among the people of
43:37
Nephi since the days of Nephi than in the days of Moroni.
43:42
Yet even at this time, in the 20 and first year of the reign of
43:45
the Judges, brothers and sisters, you might have
43:49
incredible battles on your hand. You might have relationship
43:52
struggles in your family, in your marriage, with your
43:55
children, with siblings, with parents, with with other
43:59
relatives. You might have struggles at
44:01
work. You might have conflicts all
44:03
around you. And what we're learning from
44:06
this chapter and from Mormon's perspective here, is that you
44:10
don't base your happiness on the ease of life and the peace of
44:16
your surroundings. You base your happiness on the
44:20
degree to which you're covenantally connected with
44:23
Christ and you're making appropriate preparations to be
44:28
able to defend appropriately freedom, liberty, agency and to
44:35
help people around you to be able to stand in the face of
44:39
intense opposition, whatever form that opposition may take.
44:44
This verse 23 reminds me of one of my favorite all time quotes
44:49
comes from President Russell M Nielsen when he said the joy we
44:53
feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and
44:58
everything to do with the focus of our lives.
45:02
So here are these Nephites in the midst of the most terrible
45:06
war they faced since coming over to the new world, and yet there
45:11
never was a happier time because they're not focused on the
45:15
enemy. They're focused on their
45:17
covenant connection with Christ. They're focused on God and
45:20
they're preparing not only themselves, but they're
45:23
defending people around them. And that focus of their lives is
45:27
bringing them true joy. Now you come to the Kingman in
45:32
chapter 51 and it says that they, they wanted king, a king
45:39
instead of a chief judge. So there was a vote taken.
45:43
They lost the vote. And what are you going to do if
45:45
you lose the vote and you turn your heart and your mind to the
45:50
devil's temptations? Well, you start a war, a warm
45:56
dispute turns into a war. So what happens is Amalekaya
46:01
from without and the king, men from within are now fighting
46:06
against these liberties and freedoms, this agency of the
46:11
people. And so while this this battle
46:15
starts to to wage in a civil war setting, it opens the door now
46:21
for King Amalekaya to bring his soldiers up an entire army.
46:28
And he comes with them this time.
46:30
And notice what happens as we go up the seacoast in chapter 51,
46:38
verse 26. Thus he went on.
46:41
So he comes in and takes first the city of Moroni, and then he
46:46
went on to Nifaiha and the city of Lehigh and the city of
46:51
Morianton and the city of Amnor and the city of GID and the city
46:55
of Muluk, all of which were on the east borders by the
46:59
seashore. So we've lost our entire sea
47:02
front. And he's working his way toward
47:07
Bountiful because now if he can hem in the Nephites, he has way
47:14
more control over them. Captain Maroni knows that this
47:18
is happening. In the middle of his civil war,
47:22
he sends Tiankum to head off the army of Amalekaya before they
47:29
get to Bountiful. So Tiankum does that, and they
47:31
have this fierce battle here. And that night, Tiankum's men go
47:38
to sleep in the borders of Land Bountiful and Amalekaya's men go
47:43
and camp on the seashore and they're exhausted because of the
47:49
heat and the labors of the day. It tells us in verse 33.
47:53
And you would think to yourself, wow, it, it must be in the
47:56
middle of the summer. In reality, it's that night that
48:01
happens to be their Nephite calendar, New Year's Eve.
48:06
Because the next day when they wake up, they're going to find
48:09
their king Amalekaya dead in his tent.
48:13
Now what happened that night is Tian come with a servant, steals
48:17
out of his camp, goes in secretly to the camp of
48:23
Amalekaya, finds him and puts a javelin in his heart and kills
48:28
him. Remember his oath, Remember his
48:31
curse that he would drink Moroni's blood And Mormon, who's
48:36
writing the story, told you that he had made that that curse in
48:40
vain, that that it wasn't going to be able to happen.
48:45
T Ankim is the one who prevents that from happening as the
48:48
instrument in the hands of the Lord.
48:50
It's a reminder that you don't need to worry or fear about what
48:56
the devil can do. You just need to have faith in
48:59
what the Lord is going to do and make sure we're on his side as
49:06
we move forward. So chapter 52 Happy New Years.
49:11
The the Lamanite army wakes up in the 26th year on the 1st
49:14
morning of the first month and they find their king dead in his
49:17
tent. Terrible way to begin the year.
49:20
And now we've lost all of these cities to the Lamanites.
49:26
And Amaron, his brother takes over the charge of the soldiers
49:34
and the Lamanites in this part of the land.
49:37
Isn't it interesting to note that that which used to be an
49:40
absolute strength for the Nephites has now become a
49:44
weakness. It's become a a terrible enemy
49:48
to them. And we find out in chapter 53
49:53
that they've also lost the four cities on the South.
49:57
So you've lost your entire sea front on the east and you've
50:01
lost all of your major cities on the South.
50:05
It would be a an easy temptation to give into, to throw up one's
50:10
hands and say, I give up. There's just too much.
50:15
I can't do this anymore. And some of you watching
50:19
probably are looking at your life situation feeling very much
50:24
like the Nephites in this setting, thinking, wow, I've
50:28
lost all of that part and all of that part of my life.
50:32
I don't know if I can go on. What would happen if we looked
50:38
at the entire Book of Mormon set of wars here through this lens?
50:45
What if we consider that the land of Zarahemlah is nothing
50:50
more, nothing less than a, a, a symbolic representation of me
50:56
and you And God is working with us to help us keep those efforts
51:05
of the devil from getting root in our soul, those temptations,
51:11
those weakness elements of the flesh that we are able to resist
51:18
those temptations and keep them out of our life.
51:20
If we look at chapters 43 through 51 through that lens,
51:26
you basically have a symbolic handbook of how to prevent sin
51:34
from taking root in our life, how to keep addictions and these
51:39
these struggles at Bay. But then as we saw in chapter
51:45
51, you've lost all of that eastern and southern set of
51:50
cities. So at that point, we now shift
51:54
gears to where the Book of Mormon becomes an incredibly
51:58
helpful handbook on how to repent, how to get evil that has
52:07
taken root in us, how to get it out of our soul.
52:12
So next week as we go through these lessons, we'll see ways to
52:18
approach life in general in this war in which we're engaged in a
52:24
manner that would help us turn to the Lord in order to uproot
52:30
evil that has taken place and that it has set in.
52:35
So in closing, it's my testimony that our God could take away all
52:44
conflict, could take away all opposition, could prevent all
52:49
temptation from ever reaching your mind or your heart, that
52:55
our God could prevent all doubts, all fears, all
53:00
anxieties, all diseases of any kind from occurring.
53:07
But for a purpose known to Him, a wise purpose known to Him, He
53:13
doesn't usually take away all those things.
53:16
He allows those Nephites and He allows us to have to go through
53:22
these incredibly difficult circumstances of life as an
53:28
opportunity and a means to exercise more faith in Him.
53:31
To learn more about Him. To learn more about ourselves
53:36
and our loved ones and those around us, and to learn more
53:39
about the opposition that is seeking to destroy us so that we
53:42
can distinguish between the two and more fully embrace and turn
53:47
to the Lord God who gave us life and who promises to deliver us
53:52
from all evil in the end. I know He lives.
53:57
I know He is mighty and powerful to save.
54:01
The question is, to what degree can I turn my life to Him in
54:05
order to spend my energy and not just making, but keeping
54:12
everlasting covenants with Him that can bind me to Him?
54:18
And that is my prayer for me, my family, and for all of us.
54:22
In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
54:27
Know that you're loved.