Hardened Their Hearts and Blinded Their Minds

Amalickiah gained control of the whole Lamanite nation by very devious and violent means, and now he desired to conquer the Nephites.  In other words, he wanted to rule over his whole world.  So he set speakers to talk to the Lamanites to stir up their desires to go to war against the Nephites.

  3 Therefore he had accomplished his design, for he had hardened the hearts of the Lamanites and blinded their minds, and stirred them up to anger, insomuch that he had gathered together a numerous host to go to battle against the Nephites. 

We also have influences around us who would love to harden our hearts and blind our minds.  They may be doing it with full Satanic knowledge, or they may just be misguided, or looking to "get gain".  Whatever the reason, we need to put on the armor of God, so that we are not so susceptible to evil influences.  We don't have to be like sheep, wandering wherever the group goes.

If we're following our anointed leaders and listening to the Spirit, we can guard against those who would influence us for evil, whether they be political or moral.   We don't have to join the mob, or click on the link, or watch the movie, or buy the product.  We can be agents unto ourselves, and follow only the Lord and our leaders who have inspiration for us.

Title of Liberty

Moroni was a mighty general, and was very concerned at the popularity of the dangerous Amalekiah. He knew he had to do something to rally the freedom-lovers of the Nephites.

 12 And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole

After he showed this Title of Liberty to his people and explained it and motivated them to follow it, he wanted to use it as a reminder to them.

36 And it came to pass also, that he caused the of liberty to be hoisted upon every tower which was in all the land, which was possessed by the Nephites; and thus Moroni planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites.

I wanted to compare this to something in my life, to "liken" the scriptures.  What is a Title of Liberty in my time?  The first thing I thought of was the flag.  When I see our American flag I think of liberty.  The liberty to travel as we want to, to worship as we see fit, to raise our children as we would like.

Then I also thought of things that represent my beliefs, my religion.  That might be things such as The Articles of Faith, The Proclamation on the Family, The Living Christ.  These proclaim who I am and what I believe, and for me could be a Title of Liberty.

Take His Name upon Me -- Gladly

The unbelievers called the church members "Christians" and it sounds as if they intended it as an insult.  But the followers of Christ were not insulted.

 14 For thus were all the true believers of Christ, who belonged to the church of God, called by those who did not belong to the church. 
  15 And those who did belong to the church were faithful; yea, all those who were true believers in Christ took upon them, gladly, the name of Christ, or Christians as they were called, because of their belief in Christ who should come.  

These people believed in the prophesies about the coming of Christ, and they were faithful.  I love that they took the Savior's name upon them gladly.

In our day, in 2010, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ are also Christians.  Our very name says it.  But many other religions would deny us that title.  They disagree with our teachings and contend that unless we teach their false doctrines we cannot call ourselves Christians.  

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, a modern-day apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, gave a masterful explanation of our teachings about the Godhead and explained why we deserve the title of "Christian".   His address can be found at this link.

I hope I can always be like the Christians of Moroni's day, and bear the name of Christ gladly, proudly and deservedly.  I hope that people can look at me at all times,and in all things and in all places, and see that I am a true Christian.

One Very Wicked Man

Alma 46 is a story of two men.  One very righteous and one very wicked.  The righteous man is Moroni, who we meet here in more depth after being briefly introduced to him in chapter 44.  The wicked man is Amalickiah.

Mormon tells us in verse 9:  Yea, and we also see the great wickedness one very wicked man can cause to take place among the children of men.

Here are some things we learn about Amalickiah in the first few verses of this chapter:

• He would not hearken to the words of Helaman and his brethren.
• He was seeking for power, even to be king, even knowing that the laws of the Nephites had ruled against having kings.
• He used flattery, promising his followers that if they would follow him he would give them more power.
• He was exceeding wroth, insomuch that he and his followers were determined to slay the leaders.
• He and his followers were lower judges, so they had some authority and wanted more.
• He used dissension to get what he wanted.

Amalickiah and his followers dominate the story for many of the coming chapters.  They cause the death of thousands of Nephites and Lamanites.  He definitely was one very wicked man.

Isaiah 42

I am like many others who have avoided and feared Isaiah, partly out of experience, partly out of reputation.  But as I'm working my way through the Old Testament this year, I am trying to delve into Isaiah with joy.  I am so grateful to be assisted by the interpretation of Isaiah that a good friend and scripture scholar made available to family and friends.

Everyone should study and ponder Isaiah 42.  In it the Lord bears testimony of the Savior and His mission. I especially love verse 6, which says,   I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a ^acovenant of the people, for a ^blight of the ^cGentiles; 

I love that God says that He will hold the Savior's hand.   How can we doubt that He loves His Son?  What a loving image that brings to mind!

I know that He has also held MY hand many times.  In chapter 43, verse 1, He says:   Fear not: for I have ^aredeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 

That is exactly what I want of Him - my greatest wish.  To be called by name, to be His, to be redeemed of Him.  What joy He gives me!

Exceedingly Rejoiced

Alma 45  -  After the combined armies of the Zoramites and the Lamanites were defeated in a huge slaughter, the Nephites had a great celebration.  They recognized the hand of the Lord in their deliverance from their enemies, so they gave thanks to Him.  But their method of giving thanks included some elements that we often overlook:  "they did fast much and did pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy."

I have to ask myself if giving thanks for my blessings includes such rejoicing.  Does it include a lot of fasting and a lot of praying?  Do I worship God with exceedingly great joy?  There's a cross stitch phrase:   

Worship God with exceedingly great joy.

There's no "ho-hum" in that.  No mind-wandering, no worshiping from a sense of duty.  Not just great joy, but exceedingly great joy!  I love that.  I need to learn how to do that.

The Joy of Missionary Work

Alma 36  Alma is having personal interviews with each of his sons, starting with Helaman.  He begins by bearing his testimony and then telling his conversion story.  I'm sure it's not the first time Helaman heard this story, but Alma's not retelling it because he's getting senile, but because Helaman needs to hear it again.  A good conversion can bring the Spirit each time it's told.

Then Alma tells Helaman (and us) that since that time and because of that experience he has labored without ceasing to bring others to repentance in order to share that joy he felt.

It sometimes feels like we try to share the gospel out of duty.  We're told we should do it, so we try to speak up and say something.  But if we could get the vision of what Alma's saying here, we would see that what we're really doing is sharing the joy.

How easy is it to tell someone about a great movie or TV show; to share a favorite recipe, or talk about a great place to go out to eat?  And these are such trivial things!  Why is it so easy to share something unimportant, yet so hard to share something that can give such great joy?  I have in my heart something so delicious, something so joyful that it's my greatest treasure, but too bad for you, I'm keeping it all for myself, in spite of the fact that it doubles, triples, quadruples when shared.

When I think about the people who we watched accept and embrace the gospel in the mission field, my heart is filled to overflowing.  Their lives have changed so much!  For example, Asoncion was a single young adult, working, struggling along with her life.  Her parents were both dead, so she lived with an aunt and uncle and worked at dead end jobs.  She was referred by a friend and took the lessons.  She drank them in, like a dry plant.  We sat in on many of the lessons, and by the 3rd or 4th lesson, she was reading the Book of Mormon on her 2nd time through.  She was baptized and a year later served a wonderful mission in the Singapore Mission.  Now she's at BYU-Hawaii, working and going to school, attending the temple, serving in her ward.  I hope she finds a wonderful young man to marry in the temple.  Her life is so filled with joy.  What a blessing to be part of that!

Missionary work isn't about duty.  It's about joy.