3
Nephi 2:13
Cling
to the Rod
What
13 And
it came to pass that before this thirteenth year had passed away the
Nephites were threatened with utter destruction because of this war,
which had become exceedingly sore.
Why
The
Gadianton Robbers were ferocious and were winning the war and the
Nephites and Lamanites were seriously threatened with destruction.
War stinks!
Pattern
Jeremiah 4:20
20 Destruction upon destruction is
cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled,
and my curtains in a moment.
21
And they have caused the destruction of
this people of whom I am now speaking, and also the destruction of
the people of Nephi.
1 Nephi 14:3
3
And that great pit, which hath been digged for them by that great and
abominable church, which was founded by the devil and his children,
that he might lead away the souls of men down to hell—yea, that
great pit which hath been digged for the destruction of
men shall be filled by those who digged it, unto their
utter destruction,
saith the Lamb of God; not the destruction of
the soul, save it be the casting of it into that hell which hath no
end.
1 Nephi 7:13
13
And if it so be that we are faithful to him, we shall obtain the
land of promise; and ye shall know at some future period that the
word of the Lord shall be fulfilled concerning the destruction of
Jerusalem; for all things which the Lord hath spoken concerning
the destruction of
Jerusalem must be fulfilled.
10
Yea, I will visit them in my fierce anger, and there shall be those
of the fourth generation who shall live, of your enemies, to behold
your utter destruction;
and this shall surely come except ye repent, saith the Lord; and
those of the fourth generation shall visit your destruction.
23
And there was nothing save it was exceeding harshness, preaching and
prophesying of wars, and contentions, and destructions,
and continually reminding them of death, and the duration of
eternity, and the judgments and the power of God, and all these
things—stirring them up continually to keep them in the fear of the
Lord. I say there was nothing short of these things, and exceedingly
great plainness of speech, would keep them from going down speedily
to destruction. And
after this manner do I write concerning them.
18
Pride goeth before destruction,
and an haughty spirit before a fall.
Christ
Jesus
mission was to save souls from spiritual destruction.
Joseph Smith—Matthew 1:4
4
And Jesus left them, and went upon the Mount of Olives. And as he sat
upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately,
saying: Tell us when shall these things be which thou hast said
concerning the destruction of
the temple, and the Jews; and what is the sign of thy coming, and of
the end of the world, or the destruction of
the wicked, which is the end of the world?
Conference
My
grandmother Ellen Hanks Rymer was a young mother in 1912 when she
received her patriarchal blessing. When I read her blessing, these
lines jumped off the page and stayed in my mind: “Thou wast chosen
from before the foundation of the earth, and a chosen spirit to come
forth in this day. … Thy testimony shall be magnified and thou
shalt be able to testify. … The destroyer has sought to destroy
thee, but if thou wilt cleave unto thy God, he [the destroyer] shall
not have power to harm thee. Thou through thy faithfulness shalt have
great power and the destroyer shall flee from before thee because of
thy righteousness. … When the hour of fear and trials come upon
thee if thou wilt retire to thy secret closet in prayer thy heart
shall be comforted and the obstacles removed.”2
My
grandmother was promised that if she would keep her covenants and
stay close to God, Satan could have no power over her. She would find
comfort and help in her trials. These promises were fulfilled in her
life.
Today
I want to talk about (1) the importance of cleaving unto covenants
and (2) the joy and protection that come from keeping our covenants.
The Importance of Cleaving unto Covenants
The
Bible Dictionary tells us that a covenant is a contract made between
God and man. “God in his good pleasure fixes the terms, which man
accepts. … The gospel is so arranged that principles and ordinances
are received by covenant placing the recipient under strong
obligation and responsibility to honor the commitment.”3 In
the phrase “cleave unto covenants,” the word cleave means
“to adhere firmly and closely” to something.4
In
the scriptures we learn of men and women who have made covenants with
God. God has given instructions on what to do to honor those
covenants, and then as those covenants have been kept, the promised
blessings have followed.
Joy and Protection Come from Keeping Our Covenants
In
the Book of Mormon we read King Benjamin’s sermon. He taught the
people about Jesus Christ, that He would come to the earth and suffer
all manner of afflictions. He taught the people that Christ would
atone for the sins of all mankind and that His name was the only name
by which man could obtain salvation.11
Our
beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, told us in our last
general conference: “As you and I go to the holy houses of God, as
we remember the covenants we make within, we will be more able to
bear every trial and to overcome each temptation. In this sacred
sanctuary we will find peace; we will be renewed and fortified.”22
Once
again: “Lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the
covenants which thou hast made.”23 Keeping
covenants is true joy and happiness. This is comfort and peace. This
is protection from the evils of the world. Keeping our covenants will
help us in times of trial.
OCTOBER
1977 | The
Tragic Cycle
Marion
G. Romney
That
the inhabitants of the earth are today floundering in confusion is no
secret. That chaos threatens society is common knowledge. If the
prevailing course of men and nations is not changed, it will
culminate in a cataclysmic disaster. God has so predicted, and
history bears witness.
For
six thousand years civilizations have risen, flourished, declined,
and passed away pursuant to the same cycle of events.
Civilizations
rise as their people comply with the laws upon which prosperity,
success, and happiness depend. These laws God revealed in the
beginning and, through His prophets, He has repeated them in every
dispensation since.
Civilizations
have flourished as long as these laws are obeyed. Civilizations
decline to the extent such laws are disobeyed. Civilizations pass
away when these laws are completely disregarded.
Beginning
in the days of Adam, and in every gospel dispensation since, the Lord
has warned the inhabitants of the earth that their continued
violation of the laws of righteousness, which He has revealed, would
bring on their destruction.
All
history, sacred and profane, testifies to the accuracy of this
prediction....Now my beloved brothers and sisters, I realize that
these predictions are not pleasing, but nevertheless they speak the
truth. They are the words of the true and living God, who said:...
“I
tell you these things, even as I also told the people of the
destruction of Jerusalem; and my word shall be verified at this time
as it hath hitherto been verified.” (D&C
5:20.)
You
know and I know that the inhabitants of the earth are steeped in sin
and iniquity and that they are sinking deeper into the mire every
day.
But—and
this is the glorious message—the Lord not only gave the warnings;
He also revealed anew the means by which the ominous calamities may
be averted.
He
has revealed anew the same simple truths He taught Adam and Eve in
the beginning. Collectively, these teachings constitute the
principles, doctrines, and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
which begins with a knowledge of and faith in God our Eternal Father
in heaven and Jesus Christ His Only Begotten Son in the flesh, our
Savior and Redeemer. They include the truth that the inhabitants of
the earth, God’s offspring, are in mortality for the purpose of
being proved to see if they will keep the commandments of God.
These
commandments are not arbitrary edicts of a vindictive tyrant. They
but set forth the laws and ordinances which produce—as a matter of
cause and effect—peace, success, and happiness. Rejection of and
disobedience to them has in the past always brought, and will
continue to bring, failure and disaster as a natural consequence.
The
closing of the tragic cycle by the coming of the foreboding
calamities can be averted if the inhabitants of the earth will
repent, believe, and have faith in God as our Heavenly Father, in His
Son Jesus Christ as our Redeemer, and will conform to their
teachings. A good beginning would be to obey the commandments God
gave to the children of Israel through Moses, the ones President
Kimball has already quoted from this pulpit this day. The Lord said
then and it is still true:
If
the inhabitants of the earth will obey these commandments and, in
addition, strive with full purpose of heart to comply with the words
of Jesus to “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy mind” and “love thy neighbour as
thyself” (Matt.
22:37, 39)
the predicted calamities can be prevented. But only in this manner
can the closing of the tragic cycle in our day be averted.
That
it will be so I do not say. I do know, and I say, that as there was a
Zion in the days of Enoch in which those who complied with God’s
laws were saved, so there shall be a Zion in this last dispensation
in which all those who live God’s revealed laws will be saved.
To
all of these things which the Lord has spoken, I bear my solemn
witness in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
OCTOBER
2009 | Safety
for the Soul
Jeffrey
R. Holland Of
the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Prophecies
regarding the last days often refer to large-scale calamities such as
earthquakes or famines or floods. These in turn may be linked to
widespread economic or political upheavals of one kind or another.
But
there is one kind of latter-day destruction that has always sounded
to me more personal than public, more individual than collective—a
warning, perhaps more applicable inside the Church than outside it.
The Savior warned that in the last days even those of the covenant,
the very elect, could be deceived by the enemy of truth.1 If
we think of this as a form of spiritual destruction, it may cast
light on another latter-day prophecy. Think of the heart as the
figurative center of our faith, the poetic location of our loyalties
and our values; then consider Jesus’s declaration that in the last
days “men’s hearts [shall fail] them.”2
The
encouraging thing, of course, is that our Father in Heaven knows all
of these latter-day dangers, these troubles of the heart and soul,
and has given counsel and protections regarding them.
In
light of that, it has always been significant to me that the Book of
Mormon, one of the Lord’s powerful keystones3 in
this counteroffensive against latter-day ills, begins with a great
parable of life, an extended allegory of hope versus fear, of light
versus darkness, of salvation versus destruction—an allegory of
which Sister Ann M. Dibb spoke so movingly this morning.
In
Lehi’s dream an already difficult journey gets more difficult when
a mist of darkness arises, obscuring any view of the safe but narrow
path his family and others are to follow. It is imperative to note
that this mist of darkness descends on all the
travelers—the faithful and the determined ones (the elect, we might
even say) as well as the weaker and ungrounded ones. The principal
point of the story is that the successful travelers resist all
distractions, including the lure of forbidden paths and jeering
taunts from the vain and proud who have taken those paths. The record
says that the protected “did press their way forward, continually
[and, I might add, tenaciously] holding fast” to a rod of iron that
runs unfailingly along the course of the true path.4 However
dark the night or the
day, the rod marks the way of that solitary, redeeming trail.
“I
beheld,” Nephi says later, “that the rod of iron … was the word
of God, [leading] … to the tree of life; … a representation of
the love of God.” Viewing this manifestation of God’s love, Nephi
goes on to say:
“Hearken
unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in
these words believe in Christ. And
if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for
they are the words of Christ, …
and they teach all men that they should do good.
“And
if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show
unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at
the last day.”14
Brothers
and sisters, God always provides safety for the soul, and with the
Book of Mormon, He has again done that in our time. Remember this
declaration by Jesus Himself: “Whoso treasureth up my word, shall
not be deceived”15—and
in the last days neither your heart nor your faith will fail you. Of
this I earnestly testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Apply
As
we read about the nearing complete physical destruction of the
Nephites and the Lamanites, we might realize that an even worse
destruction would be spiritual destruction. We are always at war
with Satan. There are always people who follow him and try to cause
our spiritual downfall. We have much to loose if we loose our
testimonies and our faith in God an all that is good. We can loose
our happiness on earth and also our eternal happiness and the great
privilege of living with God, our loving father and our children as
families in the eternal realms. Our spiritual armor is in our daily
actions of learning of Him and being a strong advocate to bless the
lives of others through our families and our Church and communities.
With personal righteousness, we can grow until our faith becomes a
spiritual knowledge that God lives and has a plan for our salvation
and the the devil has a plan for our destruction. It is our choice
which it will be. “I can follow God's plan for me. Holding fast
to the iron rod.”
Hymns
Children
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