One Step at a Time

I was thinking this morning about what Heavenly Father did to lead Lehi to the promised land. He didn't tell him in that first dream where he saw the light that he was going to leave Jerusalem and travel around the world, in a boat no less, as one of Israel's scattered branches. He didn't tell him his descendants would devolve to multi-generational wars and that eventually one branch of his descendants would be wiped out in internecine wars. Nor did He tell him that His Son would personally appear to his distant descendants.

Instead he led him along, one step at a time:

Lehi, preach to the people of Jerusalem.

Lehi, you are to flee with your family into the wilderness. (Once they are in the wilderness, the Lord tells Nephi he will be led to a land of promise.)

Lehi, send your sons back for the plates of brass owned by Laban.

Lehi, send your sons back to convince Ishmael and his family to join you.

Lehi, here's a "Liahona" to help guide you through the wilderness you have to cross.

Lehi, I'm going to help your son Nephi build a boat, then you're all getting on it and setting off into the great ocean.

Every step along the way, aside from where He tells Nephi He is going to guide them to the promised land, He just tells Lehi what to do next. Every step was a test faith. Every step required not looking back but focusing on the future. Each involved considerable risk. Every step came by revelation and only after acting on what had already been given.

Since God is an unchangeable God, why should I be surprised that aside from the promise of getting to the Celestial Kingdom God doesn't say much about the intervening steps?

Helaman 2 - The Gadiantons

In the US Air Force, every time a jet crashes, a small army of people try to determine what happened. They look at everything related to it. They examine the debris. Rebuild the jet from the debris if needed. They look at training and maintenance records. They examine anything which will help them understand what, how, and why it happened. Their goal is to prevent it from happening again.

After they finish the investigation, they write a report. In it is a second by second retelling of the flight from take-off to when the debris comes to rest. There's one line in every report that says something like this: "At this point, the accident was unavoidable." For me, it's the most chilling phrase in the entire report. You know something the aircrew may not have known at the time — they were going to crash and nothing could stop it.

Such is the moment in Helaman chapter two. It's here when the Gadiantons appear. While there were still wars to be fought, many miracles yet to occur, even the Savior's visit lay in the future. It was people's willingness to conspire together to literally get away with murder that would be their undoing.

This cultural cancer thrives on the selfishness, greed and pride of people. Not even the Savior’s visit could eradicate it — His visit just put it into remission for a few generations.

When I think of our society today and ponder this and Moroni’s plea that we be wiser than they were — well, let’s just say I’m grateful for the Savior’s promise in John: “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” Amen.

Alma 17 - Ammon, A Son of Mosiah

Ammon is a poster child for missionaries or any one who chooses to serve the Lord. He’s bold yet humble, optimistic, faithful and passionate in his desire to do God’s will. When I think of Ammon as a missionary, I think of a teenage friend of mine who served in Korea years after I did. I spent two years of my life trying to proselyte by the book, knocking doors, street meetings and the like. I was blessed with some success and I’m grateful for my experiences.

My friend, on the other hand, felt impressed to proselyte by playing table tennis. He was pretty good at it and was instrumental in baptizing a multitude of people because of it. To appreciate this you have to understand that table tennis (ping pong) is popular there. Back in the day, there were many businesses where hundreds of people would play the game for hours. By connecting with the people this way, he got in many doors I was never able to enter. Once inside, people would ask, “why are you here?” And off he went.

Such is the case with Ammon. Following impressions from the Holy Ghost, he offered to be Lamoni’s servant rather than son. He ends up with a job no one wanted, sheep herder. It was literally a dead end job, where if you failed, you died — at the king’s hand. I’m pretty certain, he had no idea what lay in store for him. Throughout their preparations to come and in his own stated desires, all they hoped to do was save a few Lamanites. The Lord had bigger ideas.

Unlike me, he followed where the promptings took him. At the end of the chapter, he not only has the respect of the other sheep herder servants, he’s got the King’s attention. What happens next, is in the next post.

I just have to add this observation: for want of a better phrase, I’ll call it “God’s promise of protection to the obedient son of a righteous father.” God promises Mosiah his sons will be protected in their mission to the Lamanites. Ammon knew of this and when he faces off against a group of Lamanites who mean to kill him, he does so fearlessly. True to His promise, God protects Ammon. If it didn’t happen again, I’d say it’s a one-time deal, but the Sons of Helaman, have similar divine protection when they go to war for the Nephites. Is this a universal promise? No. But if the need ever arose, I want to live worthy of asking for it.

Moroni 10 - Farewell

Reading this chapter brought back a lot of memories. So, more than a commentary, this entry is my personal testimony of the Book of Mormon.

On January 2, 1974, while I was a Junior in high school, I finished reading it all the way through for the first time. I remember kneeling at my bedside, with my (now well worn Book of Mormon) laying on my bed in front of me opened to Moroni 10:4-5. For several days leading up to this moment, I'd read with anticipation, wondering what kind of answer I'd get when I took "Moroni's Test."

No sooner than I'd started praying, I found out. Imagine the heat you feel in your face when you're majorly embarrassed and are blushing. Now, move that "heat" sensation to your chest and expand it so it fills your entire body. That's about what it was like for me. It went on for minutes. How many I don't know, but I lingered in the prayer because I didn't want it to end. That's about as close as I can come to the feeling, but even that doesn't do the experience justice.

Suffice it to say, it changed my life. The next day, I had a similar though less pronounced ( as in shorter duration ) experience witnessing to me about Harold B. Lee and Spencer W. Kimball. The question there was, "are they prophets?" The answer... a resounding, yes.

So, for me, the promise worked spectacularly well. Since that time 'till now, I've had a lifetime of other experiences with the Spirit that have strengthened my testimony and revitalized my memory of that evening. In many ways, it has proven again and again Joseph Smith's observation that a man can get closer to God through this book than any other.

FYI, I will start over with 1 Nephi and go through at least to Helaman to cover the entire book in this blog. After that... we'll just have to see. Thanks for coming along with me on this journey so far.

Helaman 5 - the Rock

Helaman 5 is one of those chapters in the Book of Mormon that if you could only have a few, this is one you’d want above many others. There’s so much here, I can’t cover it all in a single day, so today I just write about v12 and what leads up to it. Tomorrow, I’ll write about the rest.

Helaman 5:12 is the entire message of the Book of Mormon distilled into a single paragraph. I can’t say it any better, so here it is:

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

I’ve often wondered what the foundation is Helaman is referring to. As near as I can tell, it means your faith in Christ: living with the confidence that He knows you, loves you and leads you along this bumpy road called "life," and that you can entrust your life to Him.

My best part is the promise that if we live this way, then we will never fall, as in fall away from Him and His light into darkness and misery.

I cling to that.