Helaman 5-9
Helaman 5:2
“Those who chose evil were more numerous than they who
chose good.”
What happens if the wicked outnumber the righteous?
“If distress through the judgments of God comes upon this
people, it will be because the majority have turned away
from the Lord. Let the majority of the people turn away
from the Holy Commandments…and cease to hold the
balance of power in the Church, and we may expect the
judgments of God to come upon us; but while six-tenths or
three-fourths of this people will keep the commandments of
God, the curse and judgments of the Almighty will never
come upon them, though we will have our trials of various
kinds” (Brigham Young, JD, 10:336).
“That city, nation, government, or Kingdom which serves
not God, and gives no heed to the principles of truth and
religion, will be utterly wasted away and destroyed”
(Brigham Young, JD, 2:176, 178).
Helaman 5:5-14
“Remember” appears 15 times!
President Kimball said that the word remember might be the
most important word in the dictionary (It is used 240 times
in the Book of Mormon).
“When you look in the dictionary for the most
important word, do you know what it is?
It could be ‘remember.’ Because all of you have
made covenants… our greatest need is to remember.
That is why everyone goes to sacrament meeting
every Sabbath day, to take the sacrament and listen
to the priests pray that they ‘may always remember
him,’… ‘Remember’ is the word. ‘Remember’ is
the program” (Spencer W. Kimball, Book of
Mormon Student Study Guide, 147).
Some Latter-day Saints remember Him only when
adversity overtakes them; in prosperity they forget
him… Never forget God” (Joseph F. Smith, in
Collected Discourses, 2:280).
Helaman 5:6
“Remember your name”
George Albert Smith told the story about seeing his
grandfather George Albert Smith in a dream.
His grandfather was an Apostle and counselor to
Brigham Young and weighed over 300 pounds. His
grandfather came while George was sick and said, “I
would like to know what you have done with my
name?” His answer was, “I have never done
anything with your name of which you need be
ashamed” (George Albert Smith, Sharing the Gospel
with Others, 110).
Can we say the same?
Helaman 5:10-12
“He should not redeem them in their sins,” but to
redeem, “from their sins” (D&C 19:20, there is a
personal responsibility).
What is the rock upon which we should build?
“Now the most important principle I can
share:
Anchor you life in Jesus Christ, your
redeemer. Make your Eternal Father and His
Beloved Son the most important priority in
your life, more important than life itself, more
important than a beloved companion or
children or anyone on earth” (Richard G.
Scott, Ensign, May 1993, 94).
“If our lives are centered in Christ,
nothing can go permanently
wrong. On the other hand, if our
lives are not centered on the Savior
and His teachings, no other
success can ever be permanently
right” (Howard W. Hunter,
Teachings, 40).
“At the very moment, at the hour when
the crisis came for him to offer up his life,
the Father withdrew Himself, withdrew
His spirit, and cast a veil over (Jesus).
That is what made him sweat blood. If he
had the power of God upon Him, He
would not have sweat blood; but all was
withdrawn from him, and a veil was cast
over Him, and He then pleaded with the
Father not to forsake Him” (JD, 3:206).
“His Father looked on with great grief
and agony over His Beloved Son, until
there seems to have come a moment when
even our Savior cried out in despair:
visible flames encircled the humble
followers of Christ, literal manifestations
of fire and the Holy Ghost, but more often
this fire works quietly and unseen in the
hearts of those who have received the gift
of the Holy Ghost” (Loren C. Dunn,
Ensign, June 1995, 24).
Helaman 5:47
Who spoke the words “My Well Beloved”?
“According to the laws of mediation and
intercession which the Father himself
ordained, he has chosen to reveal himself
through the Son, through that holy personage
frequently speaks in the Father’s name by
divine investiture of authority; that is, he
speaks in the first person as though he were
the Father” (Bruce R. McConkie, DNTC,
Helaman 6 and Ether 8
provide some of the most
important insights into
secret combinations,
including how they work,
what motivates them, and
how they came to power.
Helaman 6:22
Do secret combinations exist today?
“The Book of Mormon teaches that secret
combinations engaged in crime present a serious
challenge, not just to individuals and families but to
entire civilizations. Among today’s secret
combinations are gangs, drug cartels and organized
crime families. The secret combinations of our day
function much like the Gadianton robbers of the
Book of Mormon times. They have secret signs and
code words. They participate in secret rites and
initiation ceremonies” (M. Russell Ballard, Ensign,
The significance of Secret Combinations
Such organizations are viewed by the Lord as
constituting a wickedness “above all the
wickedness of the whole earth” (Ether 8:18).
Such organizations flourish and thrive when the
“more part” of the people are wicked and seek to
benefit from the spoils of such wickedness (v. 38).
Secrecy is one of the basic operating tenants of
such organizations (v. 22, 25-26).
1.
Joined with the idea of secrecy is the idea of making
covenants (v. 22, 25-26).
2.
The objectives of secret combinations are power or gain,
or both (Helaman 6:38).
3.
These organizations use immorality, money, and violence
to achieve their ends (Helaman 6:15, 17).
4.
The only way to lastingly curtail these organizations once
they are established and begin to flourish is through
conversion of the people to righteousness (Helaman 6:37).
Helaman 7:7-8
“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” (Jacob
7:26).
If the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, it’s probably
artificial turf!
The grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but still has to
be mowed!
Helaman 8:14-15
What connection is there between the “serpent” and the
“Son of God”?
“Some… have wondered if this story
of the serpent…did not account for
the ‘serpent motif’ in the art and
architecture of some of the American
Indian cultures…One of the names
given…to the great white God who
appeared out of the eastern sky
was…Quetzalcoatl, which literally
means the bird-serpent” (Daniel H.
Ludlow, Companion, 244).
Helaman 8:19-20
These men lived somewhere between the time of
Abraham (2200 B.C.) and Isaiah (700 B.C.) Their
writings were on the brass plates.
Zenos is mentioned 12 times in the Book of Mormon.
Zenock is mentioned 5 times.
Ezias just once.
“My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?”
“In that hour I think I can see our dear Father behind the veil looking
upon these dying struggles until even he could not endure it even
longer; and, like the mother who bids farewell to her dying child has
to be taken out of the room so as not to look upon the last struggles, so
he bowed His head and hid in some part of His universe, His great
heart almost breaking for the love that He had for His son. Oh, in that
moment when He might have saved His Son, I thank Him and praise
Him that He did not fail us, for He had not only the love of His son in
mind, but He also had love for us. I rejoice that He did not interfere,
and that His love for us made it possible for Him to endure to look
upon the sufferings of His Son and give Him finally to us, our Savior
and our Redeemer. With Him, with His sacrifice, we would have
remained, and we could have never come glorified into His presence.
And so this is what it cost, in part, for our Father in heaven to give the
gift of His Son unto men” (Melvin R. Ballard, Melvin J. Ballard,
Crusaders for Righteousness, SLC, Publishers Press, 1966, 137).
Elder Talmage wrote:
“Christ’s agony in the garden in unfathomable by the finite mind, both
as to intensity and cause…He struggled and groaned under a burden
such as no other being who has lived on earth might even conceive as
possible. It was not physical pain, nor mental anguish alone, that
caused Him to suffer such torture as to produce an extrusion of blood
from every pore; but a spiritual agony of soul such as only God was
capable of experiencing. No other man, however great his powers of
physical or mental endurance, could have suffered so; for his human
organism would have succumbed, and syncope would have produced
unconsciousness and welcome oblivion. In that hour of anguish
Christ met and overcame all the horrors that Satan, ‘the prince of this
world,’ could inflict…’In some manner, actual and terribly real
though to man incomprehensible, the Savior took upon Himself the
burden of the sins of mankind from Adam to the end of the world”
(Jesus the Christ, Talmage, 613).