Nephi and Lehi preached the gospel throughout all the land, but surprise, only the Lamanites listened! "They did fellowship one with another, and did rejoice one with another and did have GREAT JOY." (Helaman 6:3)
The Nephites on the other hand, had become "Hardened...impenitent and grossly wicked." (Helaman 6:2) They actually supported the Gadianton robbers, resulting in a total loss of the Spirit. HOW did they get to this awful state? WHY would anyone enthusiastically follow Satan?
Nephi asked these same questions! He LOUDLY lamented on a tower in his garden which drew a crowd. "HOW could you have given way to the enticings of him who is seeking to hurl away your souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo? O repent ye, repent ye! WHY will ye die?"
Then he answers his own question. "It is BECAUSE your have hardened your hearts and not hearkened to the voice of the good shepherd...ye have set your hearts upon the riches and the vain things of this world..."
He then prophesied that if they continued to live in wickedness, they would perish. To prove he was a prophet, he declared,"the chief judge is murdered and he lieth in his blood...and he hath been murdered by his brother." (Helaman 8:27) Tomorrow we'll read the aftermath of that declaration!
A main message from today's reading is that as we obey the Lord, He pours out His Spirit upon us which brings peace and happiness. But if not, His Spirit withdraws and we are left to the buffetings of Satan, which ultimately results in misery and death.
The ultimate reward for following the Lord: "As many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might LIVE, even unto that life which is ETERNAL." (Helaman 8:15)
- Opening Song "Joy to the World"
- Begin Study Session With Prayer
- Scripture Study:Helaman 6-8 (listen)
- Study Guide: (here)
- Video: "Discussions on the Book of Mormon" Helaman 7-12
- Video: "The Murder of the Chief Judge"
- Video: Elder Russell M. Nelson (Helaman 7:17–20)
"And as many as should look upon that serpent should live, even so as many as should look upon the Son of God with faith, having a contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal." Helaman 8:15
“We knew before we were born that we were coming to the earth for bodies and experience and that we would have joys and sorrows, ease and pain, comforts and hardships, health and sickness, successes and disappointments, and we knew also that after a period of life we would die. We accept both the favorable and unfavorable. We eagerly accepted the chance to come earthward even though it might be for only a day or a year. Perhaps we were not so much concerned whether we should die of disease, or accident, or of senility. We were willing to take life as it came and as we might organize and control it, and this without murmur, complaint, or unreasonable demands.”– Spencer W. Kimball. Faith Preceded the Miracle, 106.
- Record thoughts and favorite verses in your journal.
- Close Study Session With Prayer
EXTRA STUDY: Love John Hilton III! Check out his dad's work on wordprinting then his own article on the use of ONE word in the Book of Mormon, "resurrection". Fascinating stuff!!
"My grandfather did several WORDPRINT STUDIES on the Book of Mormon. http://davies-linguistics.byu.edu/ling485/for_class/30.3Hilton.pdf The basic idea is that the Book of Mormon was authored by different prophets and so we would expect their writing styles to be different from each other. I’ve tried to pick up a thread of his research by looking at how different Book of Mormon authors use certain key words.
Read John Hilton III's article here:
http://www.johnhiltoniii.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/Hilton-and-Johnson-final-Journal-21-2-2012-1-page-spread.pdf
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