Welcome to Day 70...
Mormon pleaded with the wicked Nephites to repent!
"Repent ye and come unto me...and ye shall be spared." When these words fell on deaf ears, it was over! "I, Mormon, did utterly refuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people because of their wickedness and abominations."
The people boasted in their own strength and swore to avenge their fallen brethren, despite the Lord's forbidding. Without Mormon and God on their side, it was a losing battle. As the Nephites persisted in wickedness, God poured out His judgments upon them, and the Lamanites began to sweep them from the earth.
This was so difficult for Mormon to witness! "I had led them many times to battle and had loved them...with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them..." He felt awful abandoning them and lead them in battle once again, knowing they could not win "because of the hardness of their hearts." Sure enough, "from this time forth did the Nephites gain no power over the Lamanites"...and they began to be swept off the face of the earth "even as a dew before the sun." (Mormon 4:18)
Mormon then turned to us in the latter days and pleaded,"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power? Therefore repent ye and humble yourselves before him lest he shall come out in justice against you...lest a remnant of the seed of Jacob shall go forth among you as a lion and tear you in pieces and there is none to deliver." (Mormon 5:24)
Mormon fought to the bitter end and did his best to help his people, until there was only twenty four remaining. Mormon lamented the destruction of his people. "O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord? How could ye have rejected that Jesus that stood with open arms to receive you? If ye had not done this ye would not have fallen, but ye are fallen and I mourn your loss..my sorrows cannot bring your return." (Mormon 6:17)
Mormon retired to his cave to compile the book that we now hold in our hands -"The Book of Mormon." The Lord prepared and preserved this precious treasure for the latter days to prepare us for the second coming of the Savior!
I am so thankful to Mormon and all the prophets that sacrificed so much for us to have the Book of Mormon. How I look forward to meeting them someday and thanking them personally.
In the mean time, despite the trials of earth life, we need to do as Mormon and "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men...if [we] shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: [We] shall have eternal life". (2 Nephi 31:20)
Mormon pleaded with the wicked Nephites to repent!
"Repent ye and come unto me...and ye shall be spared." When these words fell on deaf ears, it was over! "I, Mormon, did utterly refuse from this time forth to be a commander and a leader of this people because of their wickedness and abominations."
The people boasted in their own strength and swore to avenge their fallen brethren, despite the Lord's forbidding. Without Mormon and God on their side, it was a losing battle. As the Nephites persisted in wickedness, God poured out His judgments upon them, and the Lamanites began to sweep them from the earth.
This was so difficult for Mormon to witness! "I had led them many times to battle and had loved them...with all my heart; and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them..." He felt awful abandoning them and lead them in battle once again, knowing they could not win "because of the hardness of their hearts." Sure enough, "from this time forth did the Nephites gain no power over the Lamanites"...and they began to be swept off the face of the earth "even as a dew before the sun." (Mormon 4:18)
Mormon then turned to us in the latter days and pleaded,"Know ye not that ye are in the hands of God? Know ye not that he hath all power? Therefore repent ye and humble yourselves before him lest he shall come out in justice against you...lest a remnant of the seed of Jacob shall go forth among you as a lion and tear you in pieces and there is none to deliver." (Mormon 5:24)
Mormon fought to the bitter end and did his best to help his people, until there was only twenty four remaining. Mormon lamented the destruction of his people. "O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord? How could ye have rejected that Jesus that stood with open arms to receive you? If ye had not done this ye would not have fallen, but ye are fallen and I mourn your loss..my sorrows cannot bring your return." (Mormon 6:17)
Mormon retired to his cave to compile the book that we now hold in our hands -"The Book of Mormon." The Lord prepared and preserved this precious treasure for the latter days to prepare us for the second coming of the Savior!
I am so thankful to Mormon and all the prophets that sacrificed so much for us to have the Book of Mormon. How I look forward to meeting them someday and thanking them personally.
In the mean time, despite the trials of earth life, we need to do as Mormon and "press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men...if [we] shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: [We] shall have eternal life". (2 Nephi 31:20)
- Opening Song: "Press Forward Saints"
- Begin study session with prayer.
- Scripture Study: Mormon 3-6 (listen)
- Study Guide: (here)
- Video: "Mormon and His Teachings"
"And also that ye may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which ye shall have among you; and also that the Jews, the covenant people of the Lord, shall have other witness besides him whom they saw and heard, that Jesus, whom they slew, was the very Christ and the very God. And I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the earth to repent and prepare to stand before the judgment-seat of Christ." Mormon 3:21-22
- Video: "In the Hands of God"
"O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could yea have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you! But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return." Mormon 6:17, 20
“Life's journey is not traveled on a freeway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by forks and turnings. Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed: the courage to say, 'No,' the courage to say, 'Yes.” Decisions do determine destiny. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be.” – Thomas S. Monson, “The Call for Courage,” Ensign, May 2004, 54.
- Video: "O Ye Fair Ones"
“Life's journey is not traveled on a freeway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls, and snares. Rather, it is a pathway marked by forks and turnings. Decisions are constantly before us. To make them wisely, courage is needed: the courage to say, 'No,' the courage to say, 'Yes.” Decisions do determine destiny. The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. It has ever been so, and so shall it ever be.” – Thomas S. Monson, “The Call for Courage,” Ensign, May 2004, 54.- Record impressions and favorite verses in your journal.
- Close study session with prayer and have a Spirit filled day!!
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