Thursday, December 8, 2016

I Will Lead You- 3 Nephi 1:10

3 Nephi 1:10
I Will Lead You
or Wickedness Never Was Happiness
What
 10 Now it came to pass that when Nephi, the son of Nephi, saw this wickedness of his people, his heart was exceedingly sorrowful.

Why
Because Nephi loved his people and he wanted the best for them. Wickedness never brings happiness to anyone or to the people who love them in spite of their evil doings.

Pattern

Helaman 13:1

1 And now it came to pass in the eighty and sixth year, the Nephites did still remain in wickedness, yea, in great wickedness, while the Lamanites did observe strictly to keep the commandments of God, according to the law of Moses.


Hosea 9:15

    15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters.
    19 And wo is me because of their wickedness; for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness, all my days; nevertheless, I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day.

Alma 31:30

30 O Lord God, how long wilt thou suffer that such wickedness and infidelity shall be among this people? O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul.

Ezekiel 33:12

12 Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth.

Proverbs 14:32

32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.

JST, Genesis 19:12

12 Now this was after the wickedness of Sodom.

Matthew 22:18

18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites?

Doctrine and Covenants 109:26

26 That no combination of wickedness shall have power to rise up and prevail over thy people upon whom thy name shall be put in this house;

Alma 41:10

10 Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.

Moses's Israelites, Sodom and Gomorrah, Jerusalem, Tarshish, --these were some of the wicked cities mentioned in the Bible. In the Book of Mormon, they all became wicked before they destroyed themselves.
Christ-
From Neal Maxwell 4/88
Those in Lot’s day ate, drank, bought, sold, planted, and builded amid gross wickedness (Luke 17:28), vexing Lot with their “filthy conversation,” or, as it says in the Greek, they “oppressed [him] by [their] outrageous behavior” (2 Pet. 2:7b). In their grossness, there was also gross neglect of the poor (see Ezek. 16:49).
Conference
APRIL 1988 For I Will Lead You Along”
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Peter wrote of the smug skeptics who would say, “Where is the promise of his coming,” for do not “all things continue as they were from the beginning”? (2 Pet. 3:4).
Some prophecies, such as the return of Jewish people to Israel, were decades in their fulfillment (see Ezek. 39:27). Other prophecies can be fulfilled in a compressed period of time. Taking the restored gospel “for a witness” to all the nations of the world involves generations (Matt. 24:14), but a “desolating scourge” can cover the land quickly (see D&C 5:19). Sadly, more than one qualifying possibility already exists for such scourges (see Mark 13:10D&C 5:19). The blossoming of the desert “as the rose” involved substantial time, yet significant moral decay can happen within a single generation—whether in a nation or in a family (see Isa. 35:1Hel. 6:32Hel. 11:36Hel. 12:4).
The Middle East has been at the intersection of human history so many times! Yet in our time the words of Zechariah are especially descriptive, saying that Jerusalem is to be “a cup of trembling” for “all the people round about” and “a burdensome stone for all people” (Zech. 12:2–3).
We are told, by way of example, that some conditions preceding the second coming of the Savior will be as in the days of Noah (see Matt. 24:37–39) and “also as it was in the days of Lot” (Luke 17:28). Noah’s time was one of disobedience and wickedness. People were uncomprehending and “knew not until the flood came” (Matt. 24:39; see also Gen. 6:51 Pet. 3:20). The choking cares and pleasures of this life led to the general rejection of Noah’s prophetic message. Two especially interesting words are used in the Bible to describe Noah’s time: violence and corruption (Gen. 6:11). Violence and corruption, seldom strangers to the human scene, appear to be increasing today.
Some of the coarseness and cruelty present at the time of Noah will be replicated, for “the love of many shall wax cold” (Matt. 24:12). Also, peace will have been “taken from the earth” (D&C 1:35).
Peter wrote of how “the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah” until, as other scriptures advise, the wickedness exceeded that among all God’s creations (1 Pet. 3:20; see also Moses 7:36). A very cruel society existed, one “without affection” in which people hated “their own blood” (Moses 7:33). Given the abuses by humans of other humans, in His longsuffering, God waited as long as even He could.
Happily, even though the world worsens around us, there will be many, many fine and wonderful men and women of all races and creeds—and of no religious creeds at all—who will continue to lead decent and useful lives. Besides, as Mormon said, scriptural commentary on declining conditions is not communicated “to weigh thee down,” but, instead, to help us live so that Christ may “lift thee up” (Moro. 9:25).
Thus, what I have said is not said in alarm at all, but, rather, so that we might be noticing and preparing. Prophecies are given, in part, that we “might know and remember” that these things “had been made known … beforehand, to the intent that [we] might believe” (Hel. 16:5). Today’s inattentive people will be like an earlier, desensitized people who “began to forget those signs and wonders which they had heard, and began to be less and less astonished, … and began to disbelieve all which they had heard and seen” (3 Ne. 2:1; see also 1 Pet. 3:17). If faithful, brothers and sisters, we lose nothing, even if, happily, like the ancient Ninevites, today’s mortals were to repent.
How can we, as individual members of the Church, survive spiritually if we do not honor our covenants? How can we survive spiritually if we break outright the covenants made at the time of baptism or in the holy temples? How can we be on the Lord’s side during the “great division” if we mirror the world’s materialism and selfishness (see 2 Ne. 30:10)?
Members of the Church need not and should not be alarmists. They need not be deflected from quietly and righteously pursuing their daily lives, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7).
Meanwhile, perhaps “summer is nigh” (Matt. 24:32D&C 35:16D&C 45:37). We are here in mortality, and the only way to go is through; there isn’t any around! Yet our Deliverer assures us: “be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours and the blessings thereof are yours, and the riches of eternity are yours” (D&C 78:18).
Brothers and sisters, it is my testimony to the Church that the Lord will lead us along, just as promised. He balances giving to the Church and its people the needed, specific directions, with providing the relevant learning experiences, including having our faith and patience tried in order to be strengthened. Thus He leads us along, but He desires that during that process we take His yoke upon us in order to learn of Him by our personal experiences. We surely feel the weight of that yoke at times, but the path is clear.
Apply
Thus He leads us along, but He desires that during that process we take His yoke upon us in order to learn of Him by our personal experiences. We surely feel the weight of that yoke at times, but the path is clear. “ Neal Maxwell
Be strong, have courage, stand for the right and love our enemies and those who make mistakes against us and the gospel. Continue to pray for them and be a good example to them.

Hymn 195- How Great the Wisdom and the Love

Children
160- Choose The right Way


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