Helaman 4

 (All of my own thoughts are in red type 7/20 green6/21 9/22  Brown 11/23.)    

CHAPTER 4

Nephite dissenters and the Lamanites join forces and take the land of Zarahemla—The Nephites’ defeats come because of their wickedness—The Church dwindles, and the people become weak like the Lamanites. About 38–30 B.C.

  1 And it came to pass in the fifty and fourth year there were many dissensions in the church, and there was also a ^acontention among the people, insomuch that there was much bloodshed. It feels like we are headed for this if not there already. There is contention or at least division in the church about gender, racism, climate change, tolerance, health, politics, etc. In the world it sometimes moves to bloodshed, but not in the church...yet. How do you navigate the waters when the differences go to fundamental truth vs satan's deceptions? Elder Oaks gave a great talk called "Truth and Tolerance" that it seems like we've strayed from. Worth a listen:

  2 And the rebellious part were slain and driven out of the land, and they did go unto the king of the Lamanites. The Lord protected the righteous
  3 And it came to pass that they did endeavor to stir up the Lamanites to war against the Nephites; but behold, the Lamanites were ^bexceedingly afraid, insomuch that they would not hearken to the words of those dissenters. Sometimes we forget that "not listening" is a choice...
  4 But it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, there were ^adissenters who went up from the Nephites unto the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others in ^bstirring them up to anger against the Nephites; and they were all that year preparing for war. This is why "retention" should be a big part of our ward efforts. But not just through friendship. We need core truths continually reinforced. It's probably why the youth classes covered the core doctrines before Come Follow Me. I think we need to tie all our teaching back to fundamental truth. "True doctrine changes behavior" (Packer)
  5 And in the fifty and seventh year they did come down against the Nephites to battle, and they did commence the work of death; yea, insomuch that in the fifty and eighth year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in obtaining posession  of the land of Zarahemla; yea, and also all the lands, even unto the land which was near the land Bountiful. Again...no protection in contention....  We are facing a looming famine because of drought and pestilence and secret combinations. Are we tying it to our lack of obedience? 
  6 And the Nephites and the armies of Moronihah were driven even into the land of Bountiful;
  7 And there they did fortify against the Lamanites, from the west sea, even unto the east; it being a ^aday’s journey for a Nephite, on the line which they had fortified and stationed their armies to defend their north country.
  8 And thus those ^adissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the Nephites which was in the land southward. And all this was done in the fifty and eighth and ninth years of the reign of the judges. I'm thinking of all those that left the land by ship...they should be feeling pretty fortunate about now.
  9 And it came to pass in the sixtieth year of the reign of the judges, Moronihah did succeed with his armies in obtaining many parts of the land; yea, they regained many cities which had fallen into the hands of the Lamanites. I'm thinking of all the families who are constantly moving in and out of these cities that are lost and then regained. How does that all work?
 10 And it came to pass in the sixty and first year of the reign of the judges they succeeded in regaining even the half of all their possessions.
 11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, ^awould not have happened had it not been for their ^bwickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God. There is "professing" to belong to the church and "really" belonging! Sounds like people hang on to the "membership" a lot longer than they hang on to their conversion. I feel that a bit now. I haven't been attending church in person yet, but just via zoom, I'm not feeling like these are "my people" as much anymore. A few years ago I would have told you that I could live in any ward in my stake and feel "at home". Not so sure anymore...I am back to church in person now. Have been for about a year. I've been in primary though. Our ward is small now. Not sure how many haven't come back since Covid...It feels different. All the "traditions" seem to be gone (no Stake Fun Day; Stake Roadshows; Stake Talent Shows; Cumorah's Hill; No scouting; Few activities.) These are things that really built community. Now we just go to church and go home. They had "popsicle night" last week and we did have a ward swim party. Just doesn't feel the same. We've grown older too, so that's part of it. But the whole mask/vax thing has caused some division in our hearts, even if we treat each other the same...
 12 And it was because of the ^apride of their hearts, because of their exceeding ^briches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the ^cpoor, witholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a ^dmock of that which was sacred, what would that look like today? denying the spirit of prophecy What does that look like? and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing,  committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites—Interesting that in a time of "exceeding prosperity" there are STILL poor. Remembering that Jesus said, "the poor will be with you always" until we have Zion where there shall be NO poor among us. Where are we in this "list"? pride, exceeding riches, small fast offerings, denying the prophecies of the end times, denying past revelations, pornography, great contentions over the pandemic, deserting over to the socialist side of the law....many "checks" on this list. No wonder we are facing a famine. I hear leaders in and out of the church asking us to pray for divine intervention, but no call to repentance. The Church just announced that October General Conference will be closed to the public again. Why? One thought is that the Lord will have the prophet preach "repent, or be destroyed" and they don't want thousands of people there and protesters outside to make a scene. Another is that the Lord will have revealed to them the truth about the "shots" and they don't want to deal with those that will be angry. Another is that the Lord knows another "plague" will be released and it will not be safe again to gather. I don't know if they know why yet. They have to plan these things months in advance so maybe it's still "out of an abundance of caution". From what I hear, the church is among the most cautious of all religions. I wish we were among the most believing and the church with the most faith in God... None of these stories turned out to be true. It was just another closed conference with leaders wearing mask. sigh.
 13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their ^aboastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands. We will be left to our own strength as well. And in a society that is so dependent on others, we won't have any strength if we haven't "laid up and stored" (pay attention to his opening story about the size of the opposing team compared to his own strength) SO discouraging to see that this talk on youtube, posted 8 years ago on the church general conference channel only has 606 view and hasn't been reposted by any other youtube channels. I think it's one of the greatest preparedness talks ever given! 

 14 But behold, Moronihah did ^apreach many things unto the people because of their iniquity, and also ^bNephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their sins.  A BYU professor just gave a lecture to a "standing room only" crowd, preaching we should think about "iniquity" as really meaning "in-equity". That sin comes because people are oppressed and have justified grievances from discrimination and class and economic differences. Iniquity is about YOUR sin, not the sins of others...so sad to see BYU get sucked into the teaching of man!
 15 And it came to pass that they did repent, well, that was easy...and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper.  "And as often as my people repent will I forgive them" (Mosiah 26:30) THAT was powerful preaching! We need that!
 16 For when Moronihah saw that they did repent he did venture to ^alead them forth from place to place, and from city to city, even until they had regained the one-half of their property and the one-half of all their lands.
 17 And thus ended the sixty and first year of the reign of the judges.
 18 And it came to pass in the sixty and second year of the reign of the judges, that Moronihah could obtain no more possessions over the Lamanites.
 19 Therefore they did abandon their design to obtain the remainder of their lands, for so numerous were the Lamanites that it became impossible for the Nephites to obtain more power over them; therefore Moronihah did employ all his armies in maintaining those parts which he had taken.
 20 And it came to pass, because of the greatness of the number of the Lamanites the Nephites were in great fear, lest they should be overpowered, and trodden down, and slain, and destroyed.
 21 Yea, they began to remember the ^aprophecies of Alma, and also the ^bwords of Mosiah; and they saw that they had been a ^cstiffnecked people, and that they had set at ^dnaught the commandments of God;
 22 And that they had altered and trampled under their feet the ^alaws of Mosiah, or that which the Lord commanded him to give unto the people; and they saw that their laws had become corrupted, and that they had become a wicked people, insomuch that they were wicked even like unto the Lamanites. Yeah...we are so much like this. We look way to much like the world right now...Will this be the year we also recognize our sins and repent? Nope...it wasn't...
 23 And because of their iniquity the church had begun to ^adwindle; and they began to disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and in the spirit of revelation; and the judgments of God did stare them in the face. I am hearing that our numbers are dwindling as well. People are beginning to disbelieve in the words of the prophet. The judgments of God are truly staring us in the face as well...
 24 And they saw that they had become ^aweak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy  ^dtemples— We showed this last year that we truly are "weak like unto our brethren". Because we didn't have enough faith, we didn't even believe that the Spirit of the Lord would preserve us. 
 25 Therefore the Lord did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had fallen into a state of ^aunbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should ^bcleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish. Do we not believe anymore in a God of "miraculous and matchless power"? Do we not believe He could have protected us from Covid if we had voiced our belief in the need to maintain our rights and called out the evil designs of conspiring men in these last days? Yes, the "Lamanites" are exceedingly more numerous than we are, but if we "cleave unto the Lord our God" we will not perish. If we don't....we will. Nothing has changed!
 26 For behold, they saw that the strength of the Lamanites was as great as their strength, even man for man. And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become ^aweak, because of their transgression, in the space of ^bnot many years. We became visibly weak in just one year!