A Prophet's Concern

This is my lesson planned for tomorrow; Samuel the Lamanite.  I taught a lesson today that had a similar bold prophet whom the Nephites rejected.  Nephi, the son of Helaman, had just called the wicked Nephites in Zarahemla to repentance.  They are heavily infiltrated with Gadianton Robbers throughout their society.  Their righteous are being persecuted, and their morals and government laws have been corrupted.  Nephi, without concern for his own position, or safety, boldly declares the truth.

Over the last week or two, I have been listening to a podcast that I subscribe to on iTunes.  It is called "Conversations: A Mormon Channel Original".  Conversations features interviews with people of interest to the LDS community—General Authorities, Auxiliary leaders, and faithful Latter-day Saints.  The interview I listened to this week was conducted by Sister Sheri Dew interviewing Elder Dallin H. Oaks and Sister Kristen Oaks.  Sister Dew commented that Elder Oaks seemed very bold, clear, and direct, yet kind in how he teaches principles of the gospel.  She asked Elder and Sister Oaks to comment on how Elder Oaks is able to speak with such clarity, boldness, and fearlessness.  

In paraphrasing Sister Oaks' response she said that as an Apostle of the Lord, he's called to speak the TRUTH, especially in these times of great darkness.  It is difficult for people to hear, and it will become more difficult to hear as time goes on.  He, and all the leaders of the Church, are worried for the welfare of souls.  He'll be a spokesman for the Lord because he carries it in his heart.  

Elder Oaks stated that he is most worried to do what is right, and not much worried about pleasing other people (audience, peers, or anyone else).  He's only worried about pleasing the Lord.  "I want to know what He wants me to do, and I don't have much concern about my own position or positioning myself for my own personal advantage."  When he has had opposition to some of the things he's taught, that has not bothered him.  "I'm just concerned about whether I've done what the Lord wants me to do, and done it as well as it can be done by me."

I played a short 5 minute exerpt from this interview for my class today so they could hear Elder Oaks' voice for themselves.  I believe they were impacted by his sincerity and candor.   As we go through the scriptures, we can list the many prophets who have been sent to teach the principles and doctrines of Jesus Christ to the world.  As some of them have called a specific group of people to repentance, many of them have been criticized, persecuted, and even killed because of their testimonies. As men who are called to speak truth, I am grateful for their documented testimonies in the scriptures and I admire their courage.  Our modern day prophets are no different.  They are just as courageous (if not more), and there is no doubt in my mind that they are sent to declare truth to us and the world for the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Since I'm teaching Samuel the Lamanite tomorrow, I had to show you this awesome idea.   Isn't this a great excuse to make Rice Krispy Treats?????  My "Samuel" is going to be a little Playmobil indian instead of this cool figurine, but it'll get the job done.

Warnings From Mormon About Secret Stuff

I saw this movie back in the 70's with my dad.  I started asking my class if they had ever seen this movie, and then stopped myself, thinking they were too young.  (If they hadn't seen "Indiana Jones" movies, then they certainly hadn't seen "The Sting".)  I was wrong; some of them had seen it. As I was deciding on how to teach about the signs people give to one another in a secret society, this movie came to mind. 

Just as a side note, here is another example of a secret society shown on the big screen.  They're everywhere, if you look for them, in dark places, where no light can be found.  (God = light, Satan = dark)  Part of the problem with the Nephites in the Book of Helaman was that they were so preoccupied with division within their nation that they were vulnerable to attack from the Lamanites and secret combinations from within.

In "The Sting", starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Robert Shaw, con artists target a wealthy man from New York.  They create an elaborate, secret sting operation to get this man to trust them enough to bet his money on a false horse race. There is a group of them working together to pull this off, who will eventually get their share of worldly wealth for participating.  Every layer of deceit and lying by these con men lures this man into a false sense of security.  They communicate in public with a rub of the nose which is only known to those within their secret group of cons.  The wealthy man's greed for money and power eats at him to participate in this transaction, which eventually ends up in his loss of his money. 

In Helaman 1, Kishmumen, the murderer of Pahoran II, entered into a covenant with other supporters to overthrow the Nephite government for power and gain.   They agree to keep all of their acts of evil unknown to the public, only communicating through signs. In verse 12 it reads: "Therefore, Kishkumen was not known among the people of Nephi, for he was in disguise at the time that he murdered Pahoran. And Kishkumen and his band, who had covenanted with him, did mingle themselves among the people, in a manner that they all could not be found; but as many as were found were condemned unto death."  The Nephites worked to exterminate these secret bands, later led by Gadianton, but their secrecy kept them virtually undetectable. 

Mormon makes it clear to us at the end of Helaman 2, that "...In the end of this book ye shall see that this Gadianton did prove the overthrow, yea, almost the entire destruction of the people of Nephi."  Clearly, his message to us is to protect ourselves from the evil that surrounds us.  Staying faithful in dark times is our mission.  The Lord offers us a protection from the evil around us through the Spirit.  Today's lesson helped us to open our eyes to the sly way that Satan creeps into/through our society.  It is always easy to point out faults in others rather than ourselves.  With that in mind, we have the Book of Mormon to reveal to us the weaknesses of the Nephites.  We're meant to notice those weaknesses so we don't repeat them.  Those weaknesses exist in us as well, and we would be well to take the warning of this prophet, Mormon. 

We've only scratched the surface in the Book of Helaman in singling out how the Nephites mirror our society.  More tomorrow.......... 

Ridding Ourselves of Satan, "City By City"

This is the most dramatic picture of Helaman I've seen.  Isn't it awesome?  My last post was spurred by a map of the Promised Land that I use in class.  I have even shrunk a copy down to fit into my scriptures so I can refer to it often as I read the Book of Mormon.  Well, today as Cody, Chelsea, April, Scott and Brad presented their chapters of Alma 54-58, I had an impression that I shared with them at the end of class.  I love when the Spirit teaches me things "on the spot".   That's one of the most amazing blessings of being a teacher. 

As we were going through the chapters, we came across Helaman's epistle to Captain Moroni.  In his epistle, he shares which Nephite cities the Lamanites have obtained by the shedding of blood.  The cities he mentions are Manti, Zeezrom, Cumeni, and Antiparah.  If you look on the map, these are centered around the south west part of the land, next to the south wilderness.   It's as if the adversary and his influences have infiltrated through the main body of Nephites, creating a poison they must rid themselves of possessing.   Helaman's mission is to re-acquire these cities one by one, without the shedding of blood, if possible. 

Helaman's army of the sons of the People of Ammon, have "entered into a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, yea, to protect the land unto the laying down of their lives; yea, even they covenanted that they never would give up their liberty, but they would fight in all cases to protect the Nephites hand themselves from bondage." (Alma 53:17)  Helaman persuaded their fathers to keep their original oath never to take up their weapons of war.   Helaman shares with Moroni in his epistle, "But I would not suffer them that they should break this covenant which they had made, supposing that God would strengthen us, insomuch that we should not suffer more because of the fulfilling the oath which they had taken." (Alma 56:8)  The covenant the People of Ammon made is what gave Helaman's army their strength.  Their success in cleansing the land of the Lamanites depended on the People of Ammon keeping their oath.  Power in covenants.

As Helaman's epistle continues, he details to Moroni how his army contributes to re-acquiring these cities one by one, city by city.   Each acquisition is done carefully, with deliberation, purposefully, with patience and thoughtful prayer.  The righteousness of the young men in this army contributes to their success.  They were "firm and undaunted", "obeyed to perform every word of command with exactness", they had "exceeding faith in a just God", and expressed gratitude for their success and safety.

This is the part I shared with my class.  If the Lamanites represented the influence of Satan and each city represented a part of you, then could we safely say that these scriptures reveal a pattern for us to follow on how to cleanse ourselves of evil?  If we are struggling with living the standards or we have something in our character that needs to be changed in order to be in line with God's will, it's possible for us to change and repent little by little, and focus on changing one thing at a time.  Each time we take back our agency to conquer Satan, we gain strength.  These young stripling warriors set the example for us of how to tap into the power of the covenants we've made, and the level of commitment to God we must have.  

Covenants + Righteousness = Power/Strength

The Lord blesses me daily for my service as a seminary teacher.   What I wasn't aware of when I accepted this calling was the amount of light and knowledge I would gain on a personal level.  When the Spirit teaches me something, I don't question it.  I just teach.   My "happy moment" is when I see their understanding of what was taught light up in their eyes.  Being a part of that is waaaaaaaaaaaay cool!

Don't Leave Your Strongholds!

My husband Joe is a map guy.  He was a cartographer for the National Guard many years ago.  I've always thought maps were boring.  We've been married for 25 years.  I've been told that when you've been together with the same person for a long time you begin to take on the other person's traits; you start to think alike, dress alike, and in some cases, look alike!  To be honest, I have been startled a few times when we've come out of our closets wearing the same colored clothes!  Well, he's rubbed off on me in many ways. In reading the Book of Mormon this year, I have been enamored with this map!  I have followed the Nephites and Lamanites meticulously through this map since Nephi's ship landed on the Promised Land.  Absolutely fascinating!!! 

This whole week, my class is presenting the war chapters in the Book of Mormon.  One student per chapter.  Today, I was very intrigued with Hailey's chapter, Alma 52.  When you watch the movement on the map, it brings the story to life.  I have a large black and white copy of a map, like the one above, against the chalk board in my class.   I have two colors of sets of magnets; one color for the Nephites and one color for the Lamanites.    I place them on the map according to where we are in the scriptures and they move around as the storyline progresses.

In Alma 52, Moroni has a plan to get the Lamanites to release control of the city of Mulek, a Nephite city that they wanted to reclaim.  The Lamanites had fortified the city well so there was no way Moroni was going to get in, thus Moroni's plan in verse 21........  "And it came to pass that Moroni, having no hopes of meeting them upon fair grounds, therefore, he resolved upon a plan that he might adecoy the Lamanites out of their strongholds."    He commands Teancum to take a small number of his men and march past Mulek so the Lamanites would see them.  The Lamanites pursue them as they travel north towards Bountiful, where Lehi's army is waiting. Meanwhile, back at Mulek, the Lamanites have left the city "exposed and vulnerable", which is when Moroni swoops in and takes possession of it.   The Lamanites left their stronghold.

Teancum continues to lure the Lamanites into the hands of a fresh Nephite army led by Lehi who were left to protect Bountiful.  Moroni is in pursuit of the Lamanites from behind. The Lamanites find themselves surrounded by the Nephite forces on both sides.  Many Nephites and Lamanites are killed in the battle, but most of the Lamanites lay down their weapons of war and concede to be prisoners of the Nephites. 

  As demonstrated in the scriptures, letting go of your stronghold even just once could result in the adversary attacking you when you're least expecting it, making yourself vulnerable to losing control and falling into temptation.  It only takes once.    I asked my class what they considered to be their strongholds.  The first thing I heard was friends.   Next they mentioned listening to uplifing music and lyrics, keeping the law of chastity and not putting yourself in an uncomfortable situation that you can't get out of.  Sticking to the Word of Wisdom, only owning and wearing modest clothing, being loyal to your family,  and keeping away from movies that chase away the Spirit.  I liked this last comment because it's not enough to stay away from only rated R movies.  There are some PG-13 movies that offend the Spirit, and we have to remember that these are the world's (not the Lord's) ratings on movies. 

The charting of the Lamanites and Nephites on the map that we did today simply illustrated how the Lamanites had their weakness exposed.  Their focus was on power, physical strength, and bringing the Nephites into bondage.   They took action without thinking, and didn't realize that their adversary had designed for them to fall into temptation all along.   The map showed that the Lamanites were surrounded by the adversary who took advantage of them at their weakest moment. Had they stayed back in Mulek within their fortifications, there would have been no way for the Nephites to overtake the city. 

This time through the Book of Mormon has been magical for me (and hopefully for my class).  Because I'm a visual learner (thus all the pretty pictures in my blog), my depth of understanding has increased tremendously through following this map.  I'll never admit to Joe that maps are extremely interesting!  I'm trying to avoid the "I told you so".  The day I do admit that to him will be the day he agrees to sit and knit with me. 

Hoisting of A Reminder

My youngest daughter, Jordan, plays soccer for the Hawks in Temecula, CA.  We drive her all over the state and pay way too much money for her to play soccer.  I keep waiting for her to get tired of soccer.............nope.  Hasn't happened yet.  There are times when I drive her to tournaments where there are dozens of teams to sift through in order to find her team.   If we're not familiar with the fields, we have to drive around and scour for a familiar face/uniform.  Just a few weekends ago as we were trying to find where we belonged, I saw the Hawks flag go up.  The team manager was at the field they would be playing at and she hoisted the flag on a pole.  She did that to draw the players to the field.  She also did that to make a statement that the Hawks were taking that side of the field as their own.  Now we could see where Jordan belonged.  When we saw the flag, I told her to go to it and she would find her friends there.  Once she saw the flag, she felt comfortable and reassured.  I knew that once she got to the flag, her coach, her friends, and other parents on the team would be there to welcome her.  The Hawks flag symbolizes a commitment she made to this team.  I'm reassured when I see it because I know there are people at that flag who have made a similar commitment as Jordan. 

What young woman doesn't want to marry a "Captain Moroni"?   This man never sleeps (hard-working & diligent), he never gives up, he stands for what he believes in, and he's confident in his faith in Christ. 
"And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery;  Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiving to his God, for the many privileges and blessings which he bestowed upon his people; a man who did labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of his people.  Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people, his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood." (Alma 48:11-13)

Captain Moroni, in seeing how easily the Nephites forget the Lord, creates a "flag" to unify them through a covenant.  He rents his coat and writes "In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children" (Alma 46:12) on it and fastens it upon the end of a pole.   All those who were true believers of Christ, Christians, entered into a covenant that they would never forsake God (keep his commandments, not fall into transgression, or be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ).  They swore this with their lives.  Captain Moroni hoists this Title of Liberty up for all to see on every tower.  It draws the Nephites to it.  Where this flag waves, there they would find people who have made the same covenant/commitment.

Symbols can spur personal righteousness.  I wear my CTR (choose the right) ring quite a bit.   President Uchtdorf taught us that CTR could also stand for "current temple recommend".  Since that talk, I wear my ring every day.  It's a reminder of a commitment, a promise, a covenant.  We need these constant reminders because it's in our nature to forget.  This is why we take the sacrament weekly.  This is why we meet for seminary every day.  The covenants we make are always remembered by the Lord.  We're the ones who need to be reminded daily so that it keeps us humble and focused.

I had to include just one more picture of Captain Moroni. (The artwork I've found on him is spectacular!)  He wins my vote for being the coolest Nephite dude in a uniform.

Reverence for LIFE

We're heading into the war chapters.  Hallelujah!  Before we do, I discovered a contrasting thought in the chapters written by Alma to his son Corianton.  So that's what we covered today.  I'm dragging my feet through Alma, I know.  I'm supposed to be in Helaman by now, but we'll be there in a week or so.  Patience.

Okay, I have a story.  Brace yourself.  A little kid asked me once, "Sister Wright, if I bought a goldfish from the pet store, then swallowed the fish alive, would there be anything wrong with that?"  YES!  There is something wrong with that!  He continued, "But why?  I bought the fish with my own money.  It belongs to me.  I can do whatever I want with it, right?"   Agghhh!!!  After I recovered from my shock, I talked to this little guy about the sanctity of LIFE, and reverence for all living things.  Even a goldfish deserves some respect!  I tucked that bizarre episode in the back of my mind and was reminded of it when I prepared my lesson for today. 

Maybe no one else noticed this contrast but me, but here it goes....  In Alma 39-42, Alma speaks to Corianton about a serious sin he has commited; that of sexual immorality.  He tells him in Alma 39:5: "Know ye not, my son, that these things are an abomination in the sight of the Lord; yea, most abominable above all sins save it be the shedding of innocent blood or denying the Holy Ghost?" Our class defined the word "abomination" in the scriptures as being anything that is greatly disliked or abhorred by the Lord. So basically,the opposite of anything that is an abomination to the Lord would be considered sacred.  The three sins mentioned by Alma are:

*Denying the Holy Ghost

*Shedding Innocent Blood

*Sexual Immorality

All three of these sins have to do with the disregard for the sacredness of LIFE.  Although Corianton was the son of the prophet and was probably taught right from wrong, he had somewhat of a "disconnect" between his actions and what he knew to be right.

Alma teaches us that denying the Holy Ghost is unpardonable (vs. 6).  This is the destroying of the spiritual LIFE of an individual. Those in this state lose the power to regenerate as they live in darkness.   No light.  The shedding of innocent blood is the taking of LIFE from an individual, which we cannot temporally make restitution for.  Sexual immorality is the tampering with the LIFE-GIVING process outside the bounds set by the Lord.  It is the misdirecting of the power of creation, which is in complete disruption with the Plan of Happiness/Salvation.

The contrast I noticed was that these chapters are the preface to the war chapters in Alma, where individuals in the scriptures will be defending their LIVES for what they believe.  We're going to see Captain Moroni defend all that is sacred to God.  He'll defend the Nephites' religion and freedom, their peace, their families, and the sanctity of LIFE.  He will fight a defensive war, as opposed to an offensive war.  He will offer the Lamanites LIFE in exchange for peace and harmony.  We're going to see the disregard for LIFE exhibited by the Lamanites led by apostate Nephites.  This is another juxtaposition orchestrated by Mormon in the placement of these chapters.

I'm soooooo looking forward to teaching about this giant of a hero in the next several seminary lessons.  Captain Moroni: Defender of all that is right and good.  I'm sure he would have defended the right to LIFE of that poor little pet store goldfish as well.

The "Shiblon" Syndrome

I showed a Pixar short film called "Partly Cloudy" to my class today.  This film appears as a bonus feature to the Disney/Pixar movie "UP". I would have embedded it in this blog but didn't want Disney to come after me. This scrawny little stork has a job to perform day after day, and he does so with diligence. He reports to a gloomy cloud who creates non-cuddly creatures for him to deliver to their parents. Other storks have the job of delivering sweet, gentle, easily-lovable creatures, but that's not this stork's mission.  As this faithful stork delivers each difficult creature, he suffers some sort of injury from the creature he carries. He reports back to his gloomy cloud a little more damaged and worn down from each trip, but still ready for another mission.  Faithful, quiet, patient, long-suffering, steady.

This stork reminded me of Shiblon, son of Alma.  Alma has 2 chapters (77 verses) directed to his son Helaman, 4 chapters (91 verses) directed to his son Corianton, and only 1 chapter (15 verses) directed to Shiblon.  Why wasn't there more Alma needed to tell Shiblon?  It appears that Shiblon got less attention than his brothers. In Alma 38, we gather more understanding of what Shiblon was like.  Faithful, quiet, patient, long-suffering, steady.   In verse 4, we discover that he suffered much during his mission to the Zoramites; he was put in bonds and stoned.   Alma expressed to Shiblon that he had found great joy in his son; he was very proud of him.   It seems as though Shiblon was simply a plain, faithful, non-flashy, low drama, teachable, average, humble, dilligent, hard-working member.  Good for him............my kinda guy.

There are many other examples in the scriptures of faithful people who receive little mention.  In our studies of the Book of Mormon, there's Sam, the brother of Nephi. And what about Omner & Himni, 2 of the sons of Mosiah whose missions we didn't hear about? There are people around us everywhere who serve the Lord diligently, without much recognition. They go through challenges like everyone else and serve just as hard as anyone, but go unnoticed or unrecognized.  Not anymore. 

We went around the room and talked about people they felt were like Shiblon, and the examples they set for us.  They made notice of members of the Church who serve diligently no matter where they are called.  Maybe this was their first chance to reflect on their examples, but it's valuable to know that the Lord needs us everywhere, anywhere we're called to serve in the Kingdom.  Every calling we serve in somehow molds, shapes, and qualifies us to become like Him. Every calling has a purpose and every person needs a calling!

 Elder Bruce R. McConkie stated: "You don't have to live a life that's truer than true.  You don't have to have an excessive zeal that becomes fanatical and becomes unbalancing.  What you have to do is stay in the mainstream of the Church and live as upright and decent people live in the Church---keeping the commandments, paying your tithing, serving in the organizations of the Church, loving the Lord, staying on the straight and narrow path.  If you're on the path when death comes....you'll never fall off from it, and for all practical purposes, your calling and election is made sure". 

Faithful, quiet, patient, long-suffering, steady.

So.............to all the Shiblons of the world, thumbs up on a "quiet" job well done.  Just know that the students in Sister Wright's class have noticed you, are watching you, and are thankful for you.