Day 59: Helaman 13-15

Welcome to Day 59...

 

And now we get to read about Samuel the Lamanite! What an incredible guy. The Lord told him to deliver an important message to the wicked Nephites, and he just went for it! Up on a wall, amidst rocks and arrows, he declared, "Behold, I Samuel, a Lamanite, do speak the words of the Lord which he doth put into my HEART..." (Helaman 13:5)  He exclaimed that God would “utterly destroy them if they continued to reject the prophets and set their hearts on riches. "How long will ye choose darkness rather than light?" (Helaman 13:29)   

"If ye believe on [Jesus] name ye will repent of all your sins, that thereby ye may have a remission of them through his merits." (Helaman 14:13) But it's up to us - we are"free to act for [ourselves]...that we might choose life or death."  

Opening Song: "Lonely"

• Begin study session with prayer
• Scripture Study: Helaman 13-15 (listen)
• Study Guide: (here)
• Video: Discussions on the Book of Mormon

Helaman 13-16

• Video: "Samuel the Lamanite"

Video: Elder Russell M. Nelson talks about how some people procrastinate the day of their salvation until it is too late. (Helaman 13:36–39) 

" And now remember, remember, my brethren, that whosoever perisheth, perisheth unto himself; and whosoever doeth iniquity, doeth it unto himself; for behold, ye are free; ye are permitted to act for yourselves; for behold, God hath given unto you acknowledge and he hath made you free. He hath given unto you that ye might know good from evil, and he hath given unto you that ye might choose life or death; and ye can do good and be restored unto that which is good, or have that which is good restored unto you; or ye can do evil, and have that which is evil restored unto you."  Helaman 14:30-31

                        

"And it shall come to pass that whosever shall believe on the Son of God, the same shall have everlasting life." Helaman 14:8 

Carefully read Helaman 14:15–19, and then study the diagram below.

(click to view larger)

After reading Helaman 14:15–19 and studying the diagram, consider the following points:
•Being born into mortality may be termed a spiritual death because we are separated from the presence of our Heavenly Father.
•Through His death and Resurrection, Jesus Christ redeems all mankind from the Fall so we can return to God’s presence.
•Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, all mankind are brought back into the presence of God to be judged.
•At the Final Judgment, people who continue to refuse to repent will experience another spiritual death—being cut off from God’s presence forever.
•Jesus Christ redeems us from a spiritual death on conditions of repentance.

“I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priestcraft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, suborned judges and jurors, and the authority of perjured executives, backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women-- all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, who will give me dominion over all and every one of them, when their refuge of lies shall fail, and their hiding place shall be destroyed, while these smooth-polished stones with which I come in contact become marred.” --Joseph Smith

Ponder the following statement from President Ezra Taft Benson concerning how people of the world respond to modern-day prophets: “The prophet will not necessarily be popular with the world or the worldly. As a prophet reveals the truth, it divides the people. The honest in heart heed his words, but the unrighteous either ignore the prophet or fight him. When the prophet points out the sins of the world, the worldly, rather than repent of their sins, either want to close the mouth of the prophet or else act as if the prophet didn’t exist. Popularity is never a test of truth. Many a prophet has been killed or cast out. As we come closer to the Lord’s second coming, you can expect that as the people of the world become more wicked, the prophet will be less popular with them” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 133).

“When we reject the counsel which comes from God, we do not choose to be independent of outside influence. We choose another influence. We reject the protection of a perfectly loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Father in Heaven, whose whole purpose, as that of His Beloved Son, is to give us eternal life, to give us all that He has, and to bring us home again in families to the arms of His love. In rejecting His counsel, we choose the influence of another power, whose purpose is to make us miserable and whose motive is hatred. We have moral agency as a gift of God. Rather than the right to choose to be free of influence, it is the inalienable right to submit ourselves to whichever of those powers we choose” --Henry B. Eyring

• Record impressions and favorite verses in your journal.

• Close study session with prayer and have a spiritually nourished day! :)

Excellent Book:


My family loves this Liken DVD "Samuel the Lamanite":