Beginning Note: Since this is an informal blog with informal language, I will be using who and not whom.
You can tell a lot about a person, or a nation in general, by noting who they follow.
While the Nephites in chapter 3 might not win any awards for Most Righteous People Ever, they must have been pretty good. Lachoneus, their governor, is described as a just man (vs. 12), and the chief captain of their army, Gidgiddoni, had the spirit of prophecy, the spirit of revelation, was their chief judge, and likely a crack shot with a bow to boot.
In contrast, the letter that Giddianhi, the governor of the Gadianton robbers, sends to Lachoneus makes him sound pretty smarmy. He may have been good looking, rich, and great at dinner parties, but he was not a nice man.
"Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, behold, I write this epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of your firmness, and also the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty; yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were supported by the hand of a god, in the defence of your liberty, and your property, and your country, or that which ye do call so.
And it seemeth a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye should be so foolish and vain as to suppose that ye can stand against so many brave men who are at my command, who do now at this time stand in their arms, and do await with great anxiety for the word—Go down upon the Nephites and destroy them." (vs 2-3)
What an unpleasant kind of diplomacy Giddianhi used as he paired false praise with threats of total destruction.
Luckily, the Nephite Governor Lachoneus, "was a righteous man and could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber." (vs 12)
It says Lachoneus asked his people to pray hard for help. "... he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength against the time that the robbers should come down against them."
And then after the praying, he had them all gather together, build fortifications, place guards around the perimeters, and thoroughly repent of all their sins.
"As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers." (vs 15)
And for good measure, he prophesied great and marvelous things that, "did cause fear to come upon all the people; and they did exert themselves in their might to do according to the words of Lachoneus."
As the chapter goes on, we read that the people followed all the admonitions of Lachoneus and also listened to Gigiddoni when he told them to make many kinds of weapons and to not start the war, but only defend themselves.
In this case, (spoiler alert) the Nephites devastate the Lamanites in battle.
This chapter has me thinking about who I follow personally and who we follow as a nation. I won't go into who we, as the people of the United States, are following. It is the day of the Indiana Primary of 2016 and I am a little discouraged.
Happily, I am not at all discouraged by who I can follow personally.
Remember Nephi 3:7? Nephi's father had told him to go and get the brass plates so their family would have a copy of the records (scriptures) and Nephi said, " And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."
Notice he did not say, "I will go and do the things that my Father commanded." He had inquired of the Lord, the Lord had told him it was the right thing to do, and so he did it. His brothers, hard hearted and jealous, would only think he was blindly following their father. Thank you, President Eyring, for pointing that out to me in this excellent talk.
A few days ago in Fast and Testimony meeting, a young man stood up and talked about how a friend had made a very anti-mormon post with links to various places on a facebook account. He said he read a little, but was very confused, so he got on his knees and prayed and asked Heavenly Father for help. A huge feeling of love and warmth enveloped him and he was no longer worried about whatever it was that his friend had posted. He knew who he followed and he knew where to go to find the answers he was looking for.
Just like the Nephites prayed to be saved from a destroying army, this humble young man got down on his knees and prayed for help when his faith was attacked. He went straight to God. Not Google. Not a late night television personality. Not an anti-mormon relative or friend. Going to an anti-mormon to find out about mormonism is like going to Judas to find out about Jesus. (Maxwell)
So here is what I am pondering from this chapter:
When we are threatened by evil Gadianton Robbers (or people who want to destroy us spiritually or physically) we can:
Gather Together--Church is important. It can sometimes be hard, but it is still important. --Moroni 6:5, So is home and visiting teaching.
Pray--not wimpy praying either. Pray like you've got a Lamanite army breathing down your neck. Which you don't. You have something far worse. (Maxwell-All Hell is Moved).
Gather Together--Church is important. It can sometimes be hard, but it is still important. --Moroni 6:5, So is home and visiting teaching.
Pray--not wimpy praying either. Pray like you've got a Lamanite army breathing down your neck. Which you don't. You have something far worse. (Maxwell-All Hell is Moved).
Place Gaurds Around the Perimeter--two things come to mind for this one. I am sure there are a thousand more. The first way to guard your perimeter is to be clean. Think Armor of Righteousness, with it's breastplate of righteousness, sword of the spirit, and shield of faith, which are great, but if you aren't clean through repentance then the armor isn't going to fit and the Holy Ghost won't be able to guide and protect you. The second thing to keep in mind is to not venture over to the enemy's camp on your lunch break. There is no truce with the adversary. You can't hold on to the Iron Rod and still reach the enemy lines.
Build Fortifications--read scriptures, pray for revelation, do genealogy, do temple work, do service, fulfill callings, and just be good.
Repent--Lachoneus told them to repent of all their sins, not just some of them, or they would be destroyed.
There is an old saying that comes to mind. "If you were accused of being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" Every day I fall very short of what a follower of Jesus Christ should be, but I know there is more happiness and peace in trying to follow him, even when I fail, than in any other way of life. God loves you and me and I hope we can find a way as individuals and as a nation to follow him and love each other.
Here is one of my favorite hymns on the subject. I hope you like it, too.
Lord, I would Follow Thee
Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,
Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee--
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