Helaman 6 - The Rise of the Secret Combinations

At the end of chapter five, a miraculous event occurs: the converted Lamanites give back to the Nephites all the lands they’d taken from them. It ushers in a period of unprecedented prosperity for both peoples. They have free run of both nations. Then an interesting role reversal occurs: the Lamanites become more righteous than the Nephites. They are the ones who send missionaries to reclaim the other.

While this happens, Nephi and Lehi leave for the northern lands as missionaries. We’re given no geographic markers for where this land is. For me, it’s a quandary since lately I’ve been in the Heartland camp when it comes to where the Lamanite and Nephite nations existed. For those who are wondering, that means I think there’s a compelling case for the Book of Mormon events transpiring here in the North American continent, particularly in the Ohio River valley and adjoining areas of the Upper Mississippi river basin. Yet this undefined "northern lands" could be that area too, which is an argument for the Nephites and Lamanites being in Mesoamerica. Anyway, it’s fun to contemplate.

While they are gone: they leave in the 63rd year and return in the 69th, things go from bad to worse for the Nephites. Like a cancer, the Gadiantons spread from the more wicked parts of the Nephites, my guess is the big cities, until all are seduced into the band. This is a huge warning to us. We must be engaged in protecting ourselves and families as the Lamanites were from the seductive voices of the adversary. The siren voices of the world are compelling if we let them steal the stage.

That it happened to the Nephites is a warning that it can happen to us too. We should be grateful Mormon shows us how to make a positive difference in this fight.

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.

Ether 9-11 - The Age of Kings

These thee chapters in Ether cover hundreds, if not more than a thousand, years of time telling the genealogy of a succession of Jaredite kings. Some were righteous, most were not. The common thread running through it all is the Lord always strives to teach and bring us, His children, back to Him. Most of the time, we’re to busy to bother.

He often has to resort to pain and suffering to get our attention. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn’t.

When a society ignores the Lord, just as certain as gravity pulls us down, it descends into darkness, materialism, anger and war. The headlines of newspapers and the internet show we are well on that path to war. Secret combinations rage. People are focused on ephemeral interests of no lasting value, totally absorbed in the goal, “I’m gonna’ get what’s mine, no matter what it costs anyone else…”

Such are our days. Yet in all that darkness, there were still prophets and enough who listened that the Gospel of Jesus Christ endured. So it is with us, though we live in times of darkness, we can still have a personal relationship with the Savior. It won’t spare us the difficulties of this day, but it gives us hope to endure it well.

Ether 8 - Secret Combinations

If the account the Savior’s visit to the children of Lehi is the apex of the Book of Mormon, Ether 8 is the nadir. In it is the account of the formation of a secret combination that destroys the Jaredites. This practice of conspiring to trade blood for money and fame destroyed the Nephites and Lamanites. It is also destroying us.

Along the way, it is a powerful example that gross wickedness is not only a man’s game. Both sexes are capable of committing horrible sin. In this instance this great evil is inspired by a daughter who’s ambition was to please her father. Talk about twisted values!

The casual nature of marriage and polygamy in the Jaredite culture comes to light in this story. From Akish’ stature and prominence, he surely was already married when he asked for the daughter of Jared. Yet the simple act of dancing… it must have been quite the dance, was enough to inspire him to want her. It says something about him too for I doubt he was thinking, "she will be a great mother for my children," as she gyrated in front of him.

I can’t help but think, Moroni felt passionately about this episode, for it was a secret combination that destroyed his people and took from him everything in this life he valued. He wants us to know just how deadly dangerous these are. He saw our day, he knew from painful, personal experience their true nature. And so, across the centuries he warns us to be more wise than they were.

Will we?

Helaman 6 - Role Reversal

Helaman chapter six is extraordinary in the Book of Mormon because this is the first time in the history of the Lehites the Lamanites as a whole are more righteous than the Nephites. It's a powerful lesson on God's impartiality in that He blesses the righteous and witholds those blessings from the wicked.

The difference between the two is demonstrated throughout the chapter in how they individually respond to the secret combination, the Gadiantons. The now righteous Lamanites, when they discover them in their midst, do everything they can to eradicate them while the Nephites embrace them.

A geography note: before the ascendance of the Gadiantons, the Lamanites and Nephites experience several years of extraordinary prosperity because they are able to travel freely between both "nations." Here the land northward is named, the Land of Mulek and the land southward is named, the Land of Lehi.