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Mormon 1–6 | 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
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this is Scripture Study Insights by Scripture Central Today
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Mormon chapters one through 6. And for those of you who are
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familiar with the Book of Mormon, this particular set of
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chapters, these six chapters in that littler book called the
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Book of Mormon, they are not the the happiest part of the history
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of the Nephites and Lamanites. This is this is the sad ending
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to the geopolitical group that that Nephite nation.
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And there's, there's not a lot of, of positive and, and happy
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moments in these six chapters, which brings up this incredible
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opportunity for us for a a lifelong learning overlay before
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we dive in. And it is this, what do you do
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when everywhere you look around you, you just see trouble?
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You see despair, you see opposition, you see set back
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you, you may even see death and loss and significant negative
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negatively impacting events taking place all around you
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everywhere you look. That is the story that we see
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facing Mormon and his family at this time when the Nephite
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nation is in such serious decline heading to its its end.
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The the power of these chapters for me is to see Mormon show us
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an example, this Christ like example of noticing what's
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happening around him horizontally, but keeping his
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focus fiercely fixed heavenward on the Lord.
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It's it's as if he's showing us this pattern that the darker the
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night, the brighter his capacity to see the light becomes and the
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more closely connected to the Lord he becomes, even as
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everything around him is sinking in, in destruction and despair.
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Now you and I don't live in a time like Mormon where
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everything is headed to to destruction.
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We live in the dispensation of the fullness of times when the
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gospel of Jesus Christ is going to continue to roll forward, the
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Kingdom is going to spread and they're going to be incredible
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miracles. But that doesn't mean that
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individually and collectively we we might not experience some
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major set back and some major loss at times.
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Loss can come from a variety of sources.
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You can lose a job, you can lose your health, you can lose loved
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ones, You can lose a home, you can lose a friend, you can have
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loved ones lose faith, You can can lose love and relationships
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with people that there are a variety of things that can come
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in the form of of this set back. The the reality is, is all of
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those situations provide for us many, many opportunities to turn
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heavenward. And as Mormon shows this example
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repeatedly in these six chapters of how to more profoundly root
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our faith and our testimony and our trust in God and his eternal
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plan for our happiness and in Jesus Christ and his infinite
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atonement and in his prophets and in the Church of Jesus
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Christ as we move forward, trusting that things will work
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out in the end. And, and if things haven't
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completely worked out and, and there's still trouble and
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concern, it simply means there's more opportunity for us to keep
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exercising our faith because we haven't made it to the end yet.
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We know that in the final, final events of this dispensation, the
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Kingdom of God is going to prevail, but it doesn't mean
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that we aren't going to have to face some pretty major struggles
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and deal with loss in major proportions at times.
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And so as you, as you study these chapters, instead of
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having it be a a depressing, oppressive kind of section of
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the Book of Mormon, my invitation is to keep looking
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for the light amidst all of the darkness that keeps spreading
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here and the downward decay as the Society of the Nephites does
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this. Watch Mormon do this in his
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faith and in his trust. Watch him climb and grow and
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develop. And as an add on to that,
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another thing that you can do when you're studying your
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scriptures is try to allow the original author to have more of
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a voice to picture what they would say and how they would say
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it if they were present with you or if they were with you in a
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teaching setting. To allow your students or your
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children an opportunity to contemplate and ponder.
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Why did the the author say it this way?
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And what would he want us to learn from that?
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And how would he teach this lesson or how would they share
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this story with us? What would they want us to focus
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on? Seeking for that author's intent
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will help us often get closer to the inspiration that they
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received from the Lord on why to include these particular details
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in the scriptures because we know that they're giving us less
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than 100th part of all the things they could have said.
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And so focusing on that question, why did the author
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write this? Why would the Lord have inspired
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him or her to include this in the story is a powerful place to
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begin in in your preparation for teaching or in your own
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individual study to be able to glean more principles from the
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story then maybe would would naturally come off of the page
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without doing so. So with that foundation, let's
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jump in. We begin at the height of the
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Nephite Lamanite population in in this time period that is
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right after 4th Nephite. They are coming out of 200 years
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of the perfect society. And one of the things that was a
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a feature of that perfect society was that they not only
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prospered financially and physically, but they prospered
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in a family way. They multiplied on on the face
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of the land and and they grew in numbers incredibly.
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And so now the book begins here with Mormon, the this abridger
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of the 1000 year history leading up to this point telling us.
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Now I Mormon, make a record of the things which I have both
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seen and heard, and call it the Book of Mormon.
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And about the time that Ameron hit up the records unto the
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Lord, he came unto me, I being about 10 years of age, and I
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began to be learned somewhat after the manner of the learning
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of my people. And Ameron said unto me, I
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perceive that thou art a sober child and art quick to observe.
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So here you have this 10 year old Mormon in a society that is
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filled with all these people. He's living in the land
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northward with his family. So Ameron is in charge of this
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complete set of records, the repository of all of the Nephite
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and Lamanite history on plates and and other things in it tells
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us in verse 3 in the land Antum hidden in the hill Shim.
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And so he comes to this young 10 year old Mormon and he notices
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those two things. He's a sober child and he's
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quick to observe 2 attributes that would set him up to be the
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perfect candidate for taking care of these records and adding
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to them in his day. And notice what command Amron
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gave to this young 10 year old prophet to be.
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He says, Therefore, when you were about 20 and four years
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old, I would that you should remember the things that you
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have observed concerning this people.
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And when you're of that age, go to the land Antem unto the hill,
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which shall be called Shin. And there have I deposited unto
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the Lord all the sacred engravings concerning this
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people. So we have all the records of
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the kings and, and the, the large plates and the small
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plates and the brass plates, and the 24 Jaredite plates, and all
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of the, the letters that have been sent back and forth, and
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the the Leahona and the sword of Laban, all of the repository is
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there. And then he goes on to say, And
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behold, he shall take the plates of Nephi unto yourself, and the
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remainder shall you leave in the place where they are, and you
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shall engrave on the plates of Nephi all the things that you
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have observed concerning this people.
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It's interesting to me to note that Ameron did not tell Mormon,
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I need you to go and I, I need you to read through all of the
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history of the Nephites and Lamanites and make an
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abridgement on a single set of plates that can then be buried
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strategically for the latter days for it to be translated to
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come forth and become this incredible instrument in the
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hands of the Lord to gather the House of Israel for the final
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time. He didn't, he didn't tell him
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that. He simply said, you do what
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every prophet up to this point has done, which is record the
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events of your day on the the plates of Nephi in this
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collection. You just add to it what's
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happening here, which seems to imply we don't know for sure,
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but it seems that Mormon is going to do that.
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And then at some point in his life he recognizes this decline
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and this decay of his society. And the Lord then gives him this
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instruction to go and do this incredible work of abridgment of
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taking all of the, the history of the Nephites and the plates,
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the large plates of Nephi and abridging them so that we have
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the, the bigger Book of Mormon today.
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So he, he gives us some more details about himself in verse
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5I. Mormon being a descendant of
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Nephi and my father's name was Mormon.
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I remembered the things which Amoron commanded me, and it came
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to pass that I, being 11 years old, was carried by my father
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into the land southward, even to the land of Zarahemla.
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So this family migrates from the land northward down to the land
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southward, and he describes that land.
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The whole face of the land had become covered with buildings,
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and the people were as numerous almost as it were the sand of
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the sea. So we're probably at the height
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of Nephite, Lamanite population numbers in the history, and yet
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we're quickly heading to the depth of wickedness and
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abomination in the history of the people of Lehigh.
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It says it came to pass in this year.
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There began to be a war between the Nephites, who consisted of
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the Nephites and the Jacobites and the Josephites and the
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Zoramites. And this war was between the
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Nephites and the Lamanites and the Lemulites and the
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Ishmaelites. So he's listed off the seven
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major groups within those two classifications of Nephites and
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Lamanites. So this is the beginning of the
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end this war that he mentions in verse 8.
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And so he says verse 11, it came to pass that the Nephites had
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gathered together a great number of men, even to exceed the
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number of 30,000. And it came to pass that they
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did have in the same year a number of battles in which the
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Nephites did beat the Lamanites and did slay many of them.
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But notice the added detail that Mormon gives you here in verse
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13. But wickedness did prevail upon
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the face of the whole land in so much.
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The Lord did take away His beloved disciples, and the work
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of miracles and of healing did cease because of the iniquity of
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the people. You can be surrounded by loss.
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You can be surrounded by death, by struggle, and by set back,
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But if we keep our faith rooted in the Savior, we'll have
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moments of struggle. We'll we'll experience weakness
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here and there. But if we generally keep moving
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forward to the best of our ability, putting our faith and
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our trust in the Lord, we will continue to have access to his
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miracles and to his his power through his infinite atonement.
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These people collectively have turned away from the Lord and
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have now turned to wickedness, leading to this lack of miracles
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and lack of healing because of their iniquity.
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And he goes on to say there were no gifts from the Lord and the
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Holy Ghost did not come upon any because of their wickedness and
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unbelief. Notice the two two parts there.
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It's not just what they're doing wrong, it's what they're
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believing wrong. It's it's what they're it's both
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external and internal. In both cases, they've turned
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away from the Lord and turned toward the natural tendencies of
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the flesh and the desires, appetites and passions of this
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fallen world in which we live, which is very easy trap to fall
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into if we're not careful. And he goes on to say in verse
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15, I being 15 years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind,
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therefore I was visited of the Lord and tasted and knew of the
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goodness of Jesus. You see this pattern.
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The world around him is getting darker and more wicked and more
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unbelieving. And he didn't follow the trend.
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Mormon didn't excuse himself in doing wickedness or in
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unbelieving patterns. He chose to take this High Road
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to to draw closer to the Lord. And because of that, the Lord
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visited him and he tasted of the goodness of Jesus at the age of
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15. Something very beautiful
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connecting Mormon, this great abridger prophet with Joseph
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Smith, the great translator prophet who would bring his work
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out of the the ground and and the Lord would would guide him
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through the gift and power of God to translate these words.
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And Joseph, at the age of 14 years of age, saw God and tasted
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and knew of the goodness of Jesus there.
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There are all kinds of connections between Mormon and
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Joseph that you can see throughout the story.
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So watch what he does in response to this this outpouring
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from heaven. I did endeavor to preach unto
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this people, but my mouth was shut and I was forbidden that I
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should preach unto them. For behold, they had willfully
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rebelled against their God, and the beloved disciples were taken
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away out of the land because of their iniquity.
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So there's this time when Mormon has so much that he has to give
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with the to these people to share with them, but he's
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forbidden to do it. He can't because of their
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unbelief and their iniquity. That brings up an interesting
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question. To what degree do you and I
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limit what we receive from prophets because of our own
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unbelief or iniquity, either individually or collectively?
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The Lord is so willing to reveal the secrets of the universe
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we've been told by prophets. And yet sometimes, because of
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our use of agency, sometimes we limit what we're able to receive
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from the prophets. Who who want to give us more,
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But maybe we aren't acting appropriately with what we've
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already been given, and so they're not allowed to give
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more. It's a, it's a gentle reminder
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to us here from these pages to maybe spend more time focusing
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on what we need to change rather than what the church needs to
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change or what the prophets need to change.
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In verse 17, it says, but I did remain among them, but I was
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forbidden to preach unto them because of the hardness of their
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hearts. And because of the hardness of
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their hearts, the land was cursed for their sakes or for
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their sake. And he goes on to tell us that
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their treasures became slippery. All these things that the world
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would offer them, the money, the riches, the power, the glory,
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the the kingdoms of this world that are offered to them, they
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all become very slippery. They can't hold on to them,
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which is a perfect metaphor for everything today that the world
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has to offer to us. Even if we become the richest
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person in all the world in either money or land or prestige
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or honor or popularity, whatever it may be, we can't hold on to
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any of that forever. None of that is eternal, and yet
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that which the Lord offers us if we think celestial never need be
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taken away from us. Chapter 2 opens with him
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describing it came to pass. In that same year there began to
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be a war again between the Nephites and the Lamanites.
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Isn't that interesting? The more we turn our lives and
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our thoughts and our behaviors over to the natural tendencies,
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over to the devil, the more contentious and the more warlike
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we become, the more fighting there is.
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And it says, notwithstanding, I, being young, was large in
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stature. Therefore the people of Nephi
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appointed me that I should be their leader or the leader of
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their armies. And then he gives you the
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timestamp. Therefore it came to pass that
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in my 16th year I did go forth at the head of an army of the
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Nephites against the Lavanites. Therefore, 320 and six years had
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passed away. So we know that Mormon was born
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sometime around three 12311 AD somewhere in there.
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And so as we watch his life proceed through these six
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chapters, we can very quickly follow along with him and see
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him age and see the different experiences he has and how old
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he is at each of those phases. He's only he's in his 16th year,
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which means he's 15 years old when he's put in charge of the
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Nephite armies. He must have been very large in
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stature indeed, very similar to Nephi in this context.
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And for the first time ever you see something happen to the
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Nephites in verse 3. And I came to pass that in the
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320 and 7th year the Lamanites did come upon us with
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exceedingly great power in so much that they did frighten my
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armies. We've never seen that before.
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Now we've seen we've seen the Nephites not do well in battles,
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but we've never seen them use the phrase frighten my armies.
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They've they've never run away in fear.
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The Nephites isn't that fascinating, that as they've cut
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themselves off from miracles and from the power of God and the
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miracles that that heaven had in store for them, they're left to
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their own, their own strength and their own abilities.
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And at this point they're being overpowered and they're
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frightened. Fear is a fruit of the devil's
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influence. The Holy Ghost never comes with
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this feeling of Oh no, you should be scared to death.
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You should be afraid. The Spirit can constrain you
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from going into situations, but not using fear.
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He might. He might warn you and constrain
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you from doing things, but never with fear.
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It'll always increase your faith and your trust and your
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confidence. So now as a result of that, you
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get the Nephites who retreat towards the North countries and
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they go from place to place. And it says, notwithstanding all
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our fortifications, the Lamanites did come upon us and
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did drive us out of the city and they did also drive us forth out
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of the land of David. So now they're being driven out
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of what used to be considered fortifications and they would
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feel very confident and even cocky in their maintaining of
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those those cities and fortifications and lands.
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And now they're overpowered. They're on their own.
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And you would think, OK, well, in the pride cycle, once you're,
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you're destroyed and you're, you're in despair and sorrow,
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then you're, you're, you get humble and you repent and you,
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you turn to the Lord, right? And he forgives you.
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And then he blesses you and prospers you and, and things
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start to go well again. Notice verse 6.
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Behold, the land was filled with robbers and with Lamanites.
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And notwithstanding the great destruction which hungover my
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people, they did not repent of their evil doings.
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Therefore, there was blood and carnage spread throughout all
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the face of the land, both on the part of the Nephites and
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also on the part of the Lamanites.
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And as it was one complete revolution throughout all the
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face of the land, so instead of their destruction and sorrow
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causing them to become humble and to repent and turn to God,
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it caused them to become even more prideful, more sinful, more
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angry, more vengeful, and fight even more, thus leading to
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greater destruction. And you get down to verse 10
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here in chapter 2. And it says, and it came to pass
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that the Nephites began to repent of their iniquity and
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began to cry, even as had been prophesied by Samuel the
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prophet. For behold, no man could keep
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that which was his own. And you're thinking, OK, well
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good. So they didn't repent back in
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verse 8. And so worse destruction came,
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but now they repented. And verse 11 continues.
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Thus there began to be a mourning and a lamentation in
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all the land because of these things, and more especially
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among the people of Nephi. And it came to pass that when I
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Mormon, saw their lamentation in their mourning and their sorrow
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before the Lord, my heart to begin to rejoice within me,
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knowing the mercies and the long-suffering of the Lord.
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Therefore, supposing that he would be merciful unto them,
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that they would again become are righteous people.
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So here's this optimistic leader, this prophet looking at
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the situation, thinking, oh good, finally they're mourning
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and they're turning to the Lord in sorrow and and in humility
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and meekness, willing to change and do his will instead of their
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own. You'll notice the very first
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word of verse 13. The word is, but it implies,
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despite what I just told you, an opposite effect took place.
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But behold this my joy was vain. For their soaring was not unto
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repentance because of the goodness of God, but it was
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rather the soaring of the damned, because the Lord would
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not always suffer them to take happiness in sin.
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So this is an incredibly painful turning point.
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Mormon assumed that they were now going to turn and repent,
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but instead it wasn't the repentance of humility and
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meekness, it was rather the sorrowing of the damned.
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And from this day forward, you'll notice he says it came to
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pass that my sorrow did return unto me again.
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And I saw that the day of grace was passed with them, both
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temporally and spiritually, for I saw thousands of them hewn
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down in open rebellion against their God and heaped up his dung
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upon the face of the land. And thus 343 years had passed
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away. So you can keep tracking his
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age, 343. He'd be about 3031 years old
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right here in this story. And it came to pass that in the
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340 and 50 or then he fights to begin to flee before the
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Lamanites. And they were pursued until they
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came even to the land of Jason before it was possible to stop
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them in the retreat. And it's here that Mormon tells
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us that he went to get the deposited records that Ameron
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had left for him. And he says, behold, I had gone
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according to the word of Ameron and taken the plates and he
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finded make a record according to the words of Ameron.
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He's already recorded what Ameron had told him to do, which
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is observe what happens and recorded on the the plates where
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Ameron left off in this large collection of the the plates of
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Nephi. And he's done that.
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But then he goes on to say in verse 18, upon the plates of
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Nephi, I did make a full account of all the wickedness and
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abominations, but upon these plates.
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So now he's he's working on the plates where he's he's making
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this abridgement and he's giving us the the shorter version of
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this massive collection of plates.
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He says I did for bear to make a full account of their wickedness
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and abominations. For behold a continual scene of
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wickedness and abominations has been before mine eyes ever since
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I've been sufficient to behold the ways of man.
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If Mormon were standing here today, I think he would say, I
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know what it's like to try to be a disciple of Christ in a very,
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very degenerate and wicked society.
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And it's not impossible. You don't need to be a victim of
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the circumstances surrounding you as long as you keep your
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faith and your trust and your belief rooted in Jesus Christ.
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And and you see that as he now kind of laments a little bit
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his, his situation in that particular setting, he says, woe
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is me because of their wickedness.
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For my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their
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wickedness all my days. Nevertheless, I know that I
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shall be lifted up at the last day.
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Some of you might find yourself in a home setting or a family
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such situation or a work setting with colleagues or or in other
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circles of influence that you find yourself where you you may
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feel like it's not ideal. And if Mormon were to give you
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any, any counselor advice in those settings, whatever,
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whatever those situations may be, I think he would say don't
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focus as much on the problems of the setting and of the present
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day or of the past, but focus on the glorious light and the hope
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and the promise of the future as he did here.
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I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day.
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Somehow he's able to get through up to the final battle.
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The final battle is going to take place when Mormon is around
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73 years old. He, his father was probably a
30:01
military general or chief captain.
30:04
So he's, he's probably been raised in this military setting
30:09
and with this gross wickedness going on all around him for 73
30:15
years of his life down to the very end, watching the the, the
30:18
complete destruction of his nation.
30:21
And yet somehow he's able to hold on to that faith to the
30:25
bitter end. It's fascinating what he does
30:31
when he's when he tries to rally his troops.
30:35
Look at verse 23. Once the Lamanites come upon
30:38
them again, it says, it came to pass that I did speak unto my
30:40
people and did urge them with great energy that they would
30:44
stand boldly before the Lamanites.
30:49
So let's list the things that he he encourages them to fight for.
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He says fight for your wives, for their children, for their
30:57
houses and their homes want you could cross reference this
31:03
verse, chapter 2, verse 23 with Alma 46 verse 12.
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The the list of those incredible items on Captain Moroni's title
31:18
of liberty. On the title of liberty, he says
31:21
in memory of our God, our religion, our freedom, our
31:27
peace, our wives and our children.
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Those are the six items on Captain Moroni's title of
31:34
liberty. And and I, I could be wrong, but
31:37
I see those as ordinal. The most important thing or the
31:41
the lead element is memory of our God.
31:45
If you turn your back on God, it's just a matter of time
31:51
before you will turn your back on religion, which is the
31:57
reconnect. Religion comes from this Latin
32:03
root of leggeri. This this reconnect like a
32:06
ligament. So we lose our connection, which
32:11
then causes us to lose our freedom, which we live in a
32:16
world that's preaching the opposite doctrine, that religion
32:18
causes you to lose freedom. The the lie being do whatever
32:24
you want, not what other people are telling you to do.
32:27
And that's true freedom. When in reality, that's when you
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then will lose this next element, your peace.
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And you, you become like the Nephites and the Lamanites that
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we're reading about here in Mormon one through 6.
32:45
So notice this Captain Moroni's list in memory of our God, our
32:51
religion, our freedom, our peace, our wives and our
32:53
children. Well, the Nephites have long ago
32:58
turned their back on God. They've lost all desires for
33:01
religion. They've completely lost their
33:04
freedom. There is no peace.
33:07
They're running for their lives. All they have left is their
33:11
wives, their children, their houses, and their homes.
33:14
And they're about to lose all of those.
33:17
And ultimately the last thing is their own life in the end in
33:22
chapter 6. So as we as we read this sad
33:27
tale, I think if Mormon were here, he would say, I encourage
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them to fight for the only things left that they had
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because they've already given up on these.
33:39
But if they would have repented, if they would have turned to God
33:42
and re established those connections, God would have
33:46
overtime blessed them once again with freedom and peace, true
33:51
freedom, true agency, true liberty.
33:54
But you're going to see their liberty decrease even as they do
33:58
less and less of what God would have them to do, and more and
34:01
more of what their natural tendencies LED them to do.
34:06
So then you come down into chapter 3 and Mormon cries
34:11
repentance unto them. He says in verse 2, Repent ye,
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and come unto me, and be ye baptized, and build up again my
34:19
church, and ye shall be spared. He promised them and there was
34:24
no question that's what would happen.
34:26
But what was the response? They did harden their hearts
34:30
against the Lord their God. They, they refuse to turn
34:35
heavenward and to turn upward, and they continue to turn inward
34:39
and outward in anger and in unbelief.
34:43
And so now you get these, these final phases of the Nephites
34:51
trying to negotiate the best they can to spare and extend
34:56
their lives as much as possible. Notice it says in verse 12,
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Behold, I had LED them, these Nephites, notwithstanding their
35:04
wickedness. I had LED them many times to
35:06
battle and had loved them. So notice he says here, I had
35:11
loved them according to the love of God, which was in me with all
35:15
my heart, and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God
35:19
all the day long for them. Nevertheless, it was without
35:23
faith because of the hardness of their hearts.
35:25
Verse 14 When they had sworn by all that had been forbidden, and
35:29
by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that they would go up
35:31
unto their enemies to battle and avenge themselves of the blood
35:35
of their brethren. Behold, the voice of the Lord
35:36
came unto me, saying, The vengeance is mine, and I will
35:41
repay. And because this people repented
35:44
not after I delivered them, behold, they shall be cut off
35:47
from the face of the earth. Choices have consequences.
35:51
There is the law of the harvest. You can't keep planting weeds
35:57
and expect to grow fruit. And these people have refused to
36:02
turn their lives to the Lord. And so now they're going to reap
36:06
the harvest of what they have, of those seeds that they have
36:10
sown before. And so now Mormon shifts away
36:14
from his time period for a for a few verses here and addresses us
36:20
in the latter days directly as if to say, you don't have to
36:24
wonder what I'm thinking as the author.
36:26
You don't have to wonder what my intent is because I'm going to
36:29
tell you. So he's taking the situation
36:32
that he's surrounded by and he's saying, let me know, teach you
36:37
the lessons that I, that I want you to learn in the latter days,
36:40
which makes the Book of Mormon so unique in scripture.
36:43
It's, it's this incredible book that keeps reaching up through
36:47
the pages and grabbing us by the shirt lapels and pulling us in
36:51
saying, I'm talking to you. So notice what he says.
36:54
Therefore I write unto you, Gentiles, and also unto you,
37:00
House of Israel. So this is everybody in the
37:02
latter days, Gentiles or House of Israel, when the works shall
37:05
commence, that ye shall be about to prepare to return to the land
37:09
of your inheritance. Ye behold, I write unto all the
37:12
ends of the earth, ye unto the unto you 12 tribes of Israel,
37:15
who shall be judged according to works by the 12 whom Jesus chose
37:18
to be his disciples in the land of Jerusalem.
37:20
So the Jews judged by the the original 12 and the scattered
37:25
tribes judged by the 12 whom Jesus chose in this land.
37:30
Verse 19 And he goes on to say, And these things does the spirit
37:35
manifest unto me. Therefore I write unto you all.
37:38
And for this, 'cause I write unto you, here's his here's his
37:42
lesson that ye may know that you must all stand before the
37:47
judgement seat of Christ. Yet every soul who belongs to
37:51
the whole human family of Adam and you must stand to be judged
37:55
of your works, whether they be good or evil.
37:58
So if you're teaching a class or if you're, you're guiding your
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family and your children through a scripture study here, a fun
38:07
little exercise you could you could do with them would be to
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have them imagine this moment of judgement in front of the Savior
38:19
as the perfect judge who knows everything, everything we've
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done, all of our intents, all of he knows more about us than we
38:27
know about us. So as you have them, picture
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that moment of judgement and the kinds of of emotions that that
38:36
they could imagine experiencing there.
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You could, you could have them list all of the the maybe fears
38:47
or apprehensions or anxieties they may experience as they try
38:51
to anticipate a moment of judgement.
38:55
Then you could ask them to imagine what might the look on
39:00
the the Savior's face be at the moment of judgement?
39:05
Does he get great delight in punishing people or in in
39:10
revealing wickedness and in showing where we've messed up?
39:14
Does he, does he get some sort of of pleasure out of that, or
39:21
does it cause tears? Could it be even painful?
39:28
Which brings up a very interesting opportunity for us
39:32
to then discuss. Wait a minute.
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The Savior Jesus Christ has experienced all of our pains,
39:40
all of our all of our sins. He he was judged according to
39:44
our works and he was found guilty and punished to the full
39:48
extent of the law when he suffered his infinite atonement.
39:52
And the reality is, is you and I can accept His suffering, can
39:58
turn our hearts to Him and seek to do His will and to connect
40:05
with Him so that on that day of judgement, we don't have to
40:11
relive all of that pain again. It can be swallowed up in His in
40:19
that infinite price that He paid in His atonement, and we can
40:24
cause tears of joy to be shed. On that day of judgement rather
40:30
than more tears of sorrow for both us and Him.
40:37
I guess the point being, the Lord Jesus Christ has already
40:43
suffered and already shed tears of pain in our behalf, though we
40:52
should do everything in our power to live our life in such a
40:55
way that this can be a glorious event, not another moment with
41:02
more tears of pain and sorrow and sadness.
41:08
Which now brings us to his second intent for why he's
41:13
writing all of this. He says, verse 21, And also that
41:17
you may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which he shall
41:21
have among you, And also that the Jews, the covenant people of
41:25
the Lord, shall have other witness besides him whom they
41:28
saw and heard, that Jesus whom they slew was the very Christ
41:33
and the very God. And I would that I could
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persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to
41:40
stand before the judgement seat of Christ.
41:46
Did you notice what just happened?
41:48
Mormon has been trying to do this with his own people, and
41:52
it's not working. And So what did he do?
41:55
He turned to us through his writing, through the prophetic
42:00
corridor of time, and he's now focusing his prophetic
42:05
invitation on us. I sure hope and pray that I'll
42:10
be more receptive, that we'll all collectively be more
42:14
receptive to his invitation than his own people were in his day.
42:20
So now as you as you follow this through the the increasing decay
42:28
of his society in chapters four and five, you can look for these
42:35
these pivot points where at each point they could have turned
42:39
heavenward, but instead they kept turning further and further
42:44
downward, thus accelerating their decline.
42:49
A couple of verses I wanted to point out in chapter 5 it says
42:53
in verse 8. Now behold, I, Mormon, do not
42:55
desire to Harrow up the souls of men, and casting before them
42:59
such an awful scene of blood and carnage as was laid before mine
43:02
eyes. But I knowing that these things
43:05
must surely be made known, and that all these things which were
43:08
hid must be revealed upon the housetops.
43:10
And also that a knowledge of these things must come unto the
43:13
remnant of these people, and also unto the Gentiles, who, the
43:17
Lord hath said, should scatter this people, and this people
43:20
should be counted as not among them.
43:22
Therefore I write a small abridgment, daring not to give a
43:27
full account of the things which I have seen because of the
43:29
commandment which I have received.
43:31
And also that you might not have too great sorrow because of the
43:34
wickedness of this people. So if it feels really heavy, if
43:37
it feels dark, if it feels almost too too much, too hard to
43:43
bear, keep in mind Mormon saying I'm holding, I'm, I'm
43:48
significantly holding back. I'm only giving you a portion
43:52
just so you can see what the the human condition has the capacity
43:57
to become when you choose that route that they did so that you
44:02
can learn from their their negative example.
44:06
In fact, often a a non example can be just as powerful, if in
44:13
some cases not even more powerful than than positive
44:17
examples of what to do or what not to do, as we see in this in
44:23
these particular chapters. So then he he goes on to now
44:30
focus on the Savior. Look at what he says in verse
44:34
11. For I know that such will sorrow
44:37
for the calamity of the House of Israel.
44:40
Yeah, they will sorrow for the destructionist people.
44:42
They will sorrow that this people had not repented that
44:45
they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus.
44:49
He's saying good people in in the future are going to have a
44:52
really hard time with these chapters.
44:54
He's, he's acknowledging that because of what?
44:57
What might have been. And then he says, now these
45:00
things are written under the remnant of the House of Jacob.
45:03
And they are written after this manner because it is known of
45:06
God that wickedness will not bring them forth unto them.
45:10
And they're to be hit up under the Lord, that they may come
45:12
forth in his own due time. And he goes on to describe in
45:16
verse 14, Behold, they shall go unto the unbelieving of the
45:18
Jews. And for this intent shall they
45:20
go, that they may be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ, the
45:25
Son of the living God, that the Father may bring about through
45:28
His most beloved His great and eternal purpose in restoring the
45:32
Jews or all the House of Israel to the land of their
45:35
inheritance, which the Lord their God hath given them under
45:38
the fulfilling of His covenant. I find it significant that at
45:42
the end of his own civilization, Mormon is putting all of his
45:45
focus on the latter day gathering effort in the latter
45:49
days of bringing both Jew and Gentile into this covenant House
45:55
of Israel connection with Christ.
45:58
And he he focused on that. Look again in verse 16.
46:01
For behold, the spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to
46:03
strive with their fathers, and they are without Christ and God
46:07
in the world, and they are driven about as chaff before the
46:10
wind. Now did you catch that?
46:13
They're driven about as chaff. Chaff doesn't have freedom.
46:20
Chaff doesn't have peace. There's there's no choice.
46:23
It's it's a victim of the the wind taking it wherever the wind
46:27
will take it. Verses verse 17.
46:31
They were once a delight, some people and they had Christ for
46:34
their shepherd. Yeah, they were LED even by God
46:38
the Father. The difference between a sheep
46:41
being led by the Good Shepherd and chaff being driven by wind,
46:47
that's ultimately the choice Mormon is putting on the table
46:50
for saying you get to decide. Do you want true liberty?
46:54
Do you want true freedom? Or do you want to give all that
46:56
up and be driven about to places you you don't want to go and you
47:01
have no control anymore? And then he finishes Chapter 5
47:07
with this strong invitation to the Gentiles.
47:10
Verse 22 Then, O ye Gentiles, how can you stand before the
47:14
power of God, except you shall repent and turn from your evil
47:18
ways? He's speaking to us as if he's
47:20
looking at us in our day. Know ye not that ye are in the
47:24
hands of God? Know ye not that He hath all
47:26
power in it? His great command, the earth
47:28
shall be rolled together as a scroll.
47:31
Therefore repent ye, and humble yourselves before him, lest he
47:35
shall come out in justice against you, lest a remnant of
47:39
the seat of Jacob shall go forth among you as a lion and tear you
47:42
in pieces. And there is none to deliver.
47:46
And now that brings us to chapter 6, the final chapter,
47:50
where we lose the Nephite civilization.
47:55
Now we don't lose all the Nephites.
47:58
Keep in mind there, there have been promises given way back in
48:02
the beginning of the book to for instance, Jacob and his seed
48:05
that they would not utterly be destroyed.
48:08
You get many Nephites who at the time of this 200 year period of,
48:14
of peace and Zion back and forth, Nephi, there's so much
48:18
intermarrying between the Nephites and Lamanites.
48:20
There's no manner of heights. And then they start
48:23
distinguishing themselves and, and now we get the end of the
48:26
geopolitical group called Nephites.
48:31
But you, you would have many Nephites who back in Elma 63
48:36
have migrated northward and scattered upon the face of the
48:39
land. You had many migrations back in
48:42
Helium in Chapter 3. So there there's so much spread
48:47
and intermarrying that I think it would be very difficult to
48:51
say all the Nephites died. It's the the group called
48:56
Nephites is no more here in in chapter 6 when we lose 230,000
49:05
plus of these people. And keep in mind at this point,
49:09
Mormon's about 73 years old. He spent his whole life with
49:13
these people and now he's going to die in shortly after this
49:19
final battle. He's going to be 1 of 24
49:22
remaining soldiers, he and Moroni, as you see that unfold
49:27
in chapter 6, look at verse 16. After describing this, this
49:33
massive destruction, he says, and my soul was rent with
49:36
anguish because of the slain of my people.
49:40
You'll notice he's not getting great joy.
49:43
He he's, he's not loving seeing these wicked people destroyed.
49:49
It hurts him. It hurt him to see them making
49:53
these poor choices and it now hurts him with intense anguish
49:57
to see them destroyed. He's reflecting these Christ
50:01
like tender feelings for people for this charity is coming
50:07
through. Look at verse 17.
50:09
O ye fair ones, how could you have departed from the ways of
50:14
the Lord? O ye fair ones, how could you
50:16
have rejected that Jesus who stood with open arms to receive
50:21
you? His arms were open, and we
50:24
closed ours. He's basically saying to these
50:27
people, You, you, you turn your back on him as he turns his arms
50:32
open wide toward you. Behold, if you had not done
50:36
this, you would not have fallen. But behold, you are fallen, and
50:40
I mourn your loss. O ye fair sons and daughters, ye
50:44
fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is
50:48
it that you could have fallen? Behold, ye are gone, and my
50:52
sours cannot bring your return, and the day soon cometh.
50:55
Your mortal must put on immortality, and these bodies
50:57
which are now mouldering in corruption must soon become
51:00
incorruptible bodies. And then you must stand before
51:03
the judgement seat of Christ to be judged according to your
51:07
works. And if it so be that you are
51:09
righteous, then you are blessed with your Father's who have gone
51:11
before you. So to conclude in in seeking to
51:16
stay true to the the original authors intent and and trying to
51:21
figure out why did he tell us what he told us and why did he
51:24
include the things that he did include?
51:28
My, my best understanding is Mormon is taking his situation
51:35
and, and the terrible circumstances of, of his nation
51:40
and his people and his culture, and he's looking at us in the
51:44
latter days and looking between the two saying, can you see it?
51:51
Can you see how clearly these same things can happen both
51:56
individually and, and even collectively for you if you
52:00
follow the pattern that these people followed?
52:03
And I think he would follow it up with an invitation to trust
52:08
more than ever before and to have more faith than ever before
52:12
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in his miracles, his mercy, his grace,
52:16
his power. Even if everything around you
52:20
seems like it's it's dark and dismal and setting you back, if
52:27
you can keep your faith rooted in Christ, you will come out on
52:32
top. You will prevail and God will
52:36
deliver you because he is mighty to save as he had promised these
52:40
people. Which now sets the stage for
52:44
Mormon's final chapter, which will begin next week with Mormon
52:50
Chapter 7, when he bids us his final farewell with his last
52:55
invitations. So in closing, rather than
52:59
focusing on the negative, let's finish by focusing on the
53:03
positive. God lives.
53:06
We do live in a fallen world. We do have set back.
53:09
We do have opposition, but there's always hope if that hope
53:14
is rooted in Christ. And that is my testimony in the
53:19
sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
53:22
Know that you're loved.