Chapter 24
The Lamanites come against the people of God—The Anti-Nephi-Lehies rejoice in Christ and are visited by angels—They choose to suffer death rather than to defend themselves—More Lamanites are converted. About 90–77 B.C.
1 And it came to pass that the Amalekites and the Amulonites and the Lamanites who were in the land of aAmulon, and also in the land of bHelam, and who were in the land of cJerusalem, and in fine, in all the land round about, who had not been converted and had not taken upon them the name of dAnti-Nephi-Lehi, were stirred up by the Amalekites and by the Amulonites to anger against their brethren. The rapid and massive conversion of their former “brethren” really stirred them up. Is that coming again? Is that what will ramp up persecution against the saints? The Conversion of others on a large scale? How would that work with the prophesied apostasy? Could they happen at the same time? 1 Nephi 14 says: "1 And it shall come to pass, that if the shall hearken unto the Lamb of God in that day that he shall manifest himself unto them in word, and also in , in very deed, unto the away of their 7 For the time cometh, saith the Lamb of God, that I will work a great and a among the children of men; a which shall be everlasting, either on the one hand or on the other—either to the convincing of them unto and , or unto the deliverance of them to the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds unto their being brought down into captivity, and also into destruction, both temporally and spiritually, according to the of the devil, of which I have spoken." Could this scriptures be fulfilled soon? Will Christ somehow prove He is God to such an extent that people are either convinced He is God or openly rebel against that proof? I still maintain that that is the kind of rebellion that would be necessary for the kind of judgment that is coming...
2 And
their hatred became exceedingly sore against them, even insomuch that
they began to rebel against their king, insomuch that they would not
that he should be their king; therefore, they took up arms against the
people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi. Remember the King had been converted... Some say Pres. Trump is going to be reinstated because the Supreme Court has found that last election stolen. That would cause a lot of people to also rebel against him because they "would not that he should be their 'king'" and to take up arms.
3 Now the king conferred the kingdom upon his son, and he called his name Anti-Nephi-Lehi.
4 And the king died in that selfsame year that the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of God. History will repeat itself. If over half the members of the church leave that's millions of people to 'stir' up others to hatred!
5 Now
when Ammon and his brethren and all those who had come up with him saw
the preparations of the Lamanites to destroy their brethren, they came
forth to the land of Midian, and there Ammon met all his brethren; and
from thence they came to the land of Ishmael that they might hold a acouncil with Lamoni and also with his brother Anti-Nephi-Lehi, what they should do to defend themselves against the Lamanites.
6 Now
there was not one soul among all the people who had been converted unto
the Lord that would take up arms against their brethren; nay, they
would not even make any preparations for war; yea, and also their king
commanded them that they should not. Here is real hard evidence that they had truly truly been converted and truly repented. They had no desire whatsoever to go back to their old ways of hatred and warring and bloodshed. This was not a peer-pressure kind of conversion. They truly had been “born of God” and had “no more disposition to do evil”. Can I say the same? I cannot.
7 Now,
these are the words which he said unto the people concerning the
matter: I thank my God, my beloved people, that our great God has in
goodness sent these our brethren, the Nephites, unto us to preach unto us, and to convince us of the atraditions of our wicked fathers. Considering their long held beliefs, they truly had to be “convinced” of the error of their ways. Only the Spirit can really do that...
8 And behold, I thank my great God that he has given us a portion of his Spirit to soften our hearts, as I said...that we have aopened a correspondence with these brethren, the Nephites.
9 And behold, I also thank my God, that by opening this correspondence we have been convinced of our asins, Everything is better if you can talk about it... and of the many murders which we have committed.
10 And
I also thank my God, yea, my great God, that he hath granted unto us
that we might repent of these things, and also that he hath aforgiven us of those our many sins and murders which we have committed, So I guess murder is a forgivable sin... and taken away the bguilt from our hearts, through the merits of his Son.
11 And
now behold, my brethren, since it has been all that we could do (as we
were the most lost of all mankind) to repent This is the cross reference to the scripture that says, we are saved by grace "after all that we can do". All we can do is repent! of all our sins and the
many murders which we have committed, and to get God to atake them away from our hearts, for it was all we could do to repent sufficiently before God that he would take away our stain— What did their repentance look like? Did they have to “do” repentance? Was it just a letting go of sin? Any reparations made? Notice true repentance is not just stopping the action, but truly having the sin taken from your heart that you don't even desire to do it.
12 Now,
my best beloved brethren, Interesting adjective; kind of like saying "best" friend? since God hath taken away our stains, and our
swords have become bright, then let us stain our swords no more with
the blood of our brethren.
13 Behold,
I say unto you, Nay, let us retain our swords that they be not stained
with the blood of our brethren; for perhaps, if we should stain our
swords aagain they can no more be bwashed bright through the blood of the Son of our great God, which shall be shed for the atonement of our sins. I think he’s making a distinction between their former murders, born of incorrect teachings and what would be “knowing” murders in light of their new knowledge, which would not be forgivable. Is it really "murder" to kill in self defense? I think God has justified that many times in the scriptures. But they didn't care. They didn't want to take anyone's life anymore for any reason!
14 And
the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us
that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto
us beforehand, because he loveth our asouls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the bplan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations. Was he calling Ammon and Aaron and their brothers “angels” that visited them? Or did they have real angelic visitations?
15 Oh,
how merciful is our God! Appeal to this God of Mercy in your prayers...And now behold, since it has been as much as
we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are
made bright, let us ahide
them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God I think God likes/appreciates outward symbols or efforts or actions to show Him how serious we are about our commitments and requests. at
the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him
to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our
brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us bclean thereby.
16 And
now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold, we will
hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in the earth,
that they may be kept bright, as a testimony that we have never used
them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold, we shall ago to our God and shall be saved. See...if you are “clean” before God and have sufficiently repented and your heart is right, you are not afraid to die and stand before God.
17 And
now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these
sayings, and all the people were assembled together, they took their
swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s
blood, and they did abury them up deep in the earth. They buried them even as they saw the enemy coming! Extra amazing faith!
18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they anever would use weapons again for the shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching To substantiate by supplying evidence; prove and bcovenanting with God, that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would cgive
up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would
give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would
labor abundantly with their hands. We don't quote these last two covenants very often. Beside the promise to never take up the sword, they promised to not steal, but to give freely; to not be idle, but to work. two of their former driving lifestyle beliefs and customs
19 And thus we see that, when these Lamanites were brought to abelieve and to know the truth, they were bfirm,
and would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we
see that they buried their weapons of peace, or they buried the weapons
of war, for peace. Evidence JS did not make this up. You can't erase writing on Gold plates. JS translated it as it was written. This is also a measure of true conversion. You are FIRM. You are willing to suffer death rather than commit sin. You are willing to show God through you actions and sacrifice that you are truly committed and converted (even though He knows that without your efforts or sacrifice; so it’s more for us and others that we do it)
20 And
it came to pass that their brethren, the Lamanites, made preparations
for war, and came up to the land of Nephi for the purpose of destroying
the king, and to place aanother in his stead, and also of destroying the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi out of the land.
21 Now when the people saw that they were coming against them they went out to meet them, I am thinking they went out to meet them so they wouldn’t even start attacking, or at least inside the city preserving as much property as possible and possible the old and young inside the city and aprostrated
themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of
the Lord; and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began
to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword. Notice they weren’t appealing to the Lamanites for mercy. They laid down and commended themselves to God. I thinking literally “calling on the name of the Lord” is important to note. The Lamanites thought nothing of this curious display at first...
22 And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a athousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God. They did not hide. No fear. They just went out and laid down on the ground and prayed even in the act of being killed. That is a LOT of merciless killing before being moved...unless there were a thousand Lamanites and they each only killed one person...
23 Now
when the Lamanites saw that their brethren would not flee from the
sword, neither would they turn aside to the right hand or to the left,
but that they would lie down and aperish, and bpraised God even in the very act of perishing under the sword— Would you think to praise God at that moment? Would your “natural man” be crying out for mercy, or that you wouldn’t suffer long or feel pain? But...they had truly “cast off the natural man” so there was no thought for self anymore. Only eternal gratitude to God for all His loving kindness and mercy and grace.
24 Now when the Lamanites saw this they did aforbear from slaying them; and there were many whose hearts had bswollen in them for those of their brethren who had fallen under the sword, for they repented of the things which they had done. These martyrs gave up their lives but saved many others from damnation.
25 And
it came to pass that they threw down their weapons of war, and they
would not take them again, for they were stung for the murders which
they had committed; and they came down even as their brethren, relying
upon the mercies of those whose arms were lifted to slay them. Wow! In this very moment, they repented and were willing to give up their lives as those they had just murdered, hoping for mercy. It doesn’t say if or how many of them were actually killed...
26 And
it came to pass that the people of God were joined that day by more
than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were
righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they
were asaved. So at least 1005 were converted, meaning there were at least a 1,000 in the armies. Maybe they really only did kill one man each...
27 And
there was not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a
thousand brought to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the
Lord worketh in many aways to the salvation of his people. Interesting. We just never know what the Lord will do. Sometimes he slays the wicked. This time he preserved them so they could be converted. But he preserved and converted the wicked through the sacrifice of the righteous this time. In a way, he also preserved the righteous who were slain, by taking them at their most pure and righteous state. If they had remained on the earth for years and years more, who knows if they would have turned again? Why did the Lord show these hardened people such mercy? Was it the promises made to their fathers that they would one day be restored to the truth?
28 Now
the greatest number of those of the Lamanites who slew so many of their
brethren were Amalekites and Amulonites, the greatest number of whom
were after the aorder of the bNehors. Of course...
29 Now, among those who joined the people of the Lord, there were anone who were Amalekites or Amulonites, or who were of the order of Nehor, but they were actual descendants of Laman and Lemuel. Seems like part of this conversion is due to the blessing Lehi gave to the descendants of Laman and Lemuel. The sacrifice of the Lamanites who laid down their lives ended up being a merciful act for their own kindred. It wasn’t a merciful act for the hardened rebellious Nephites.
30 And thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once aenlightened by the bSpirit of God, and have had great cknowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have dfallen away into sin and transgression, they become more ehardened, and thus their state becomes fworse than though they had never known these things. Mark it well. You will see this soon. Don't be among the apostates who become thus hardened!
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