ON HIGHER GROUND

Among the war chapters in the Book of Mormon is a highly educational story of a man called Amalickiah, a dissenter from the Church of God, who sought to be king and thereby caused a division among the Nephites, leading away many of them to destroy the foundation of liberty (Alma 46:10). By his cunning and deviousness, Amalickiah fled the land of Zarahemla with his many converts and gained the favour of the king of the Lamanites planning to dethrone him and make himself king (Alma 47:4).  Having convinced the king to go to battle against the Nephites, he again caused a division amongst the people. Those who would not consent to fight fled to the place called Onidah with a leader called Lehonti gathering themselves upon the top of the mountain Antipas. Here comes into play one of the most interesting stories in the Book of Mormon.

Amalickiah, being a 'subtle man to do evil' (Alma 47:4) devised the most clever plan to obtain the kingdom through Lehonti, who originally opposed him in every way. Causing his army to pitch their tents in the valley near the mount Antipas, Amalickiah proceeded to coax Lehonti to come down the mountain to speak with him. The record states that Lehonti at first would not dare to do so but Amalickiah was patient and persistent. After sending the third message to Lehonti, Amalickiah decided to get closer and ascended half way up the mountain enticing Lehonti to come to down to him with his guards to speak with him. On the fourth message Lehonti relented and came half way down the mountain. There Amalickiah lay open his plan before him as to how he could assist him in obtaining command of the whole army if he would place him, Amalickiah, as second in charge. Lehonti could not resist this temptation of power and came all the way down the mountain, took possession of the whole army through Amalickiah's assistance and became the leader he desired to be. There was only one problem. He had a dangerous man as his 'second in charge' who according to Lamanite custom stood to become chief leader if the chief was killed (Alma 47:17); a man who had plotted this very thing right from the beginning. The plan worked beautifully for Amalickiah instructed one of his servants to administer poison 'by degrees' to Lehonti and Lehonti died (Alma 47:18) leaving Amalickiah in charge of the entire army of the Lamanites. With such power under his belt, the whole kingdom fell into his hands as he proceeded with his evil plan and caused the death of the king by the hands of his servants. Thus by secret works, manipulating others to do his dirty work, did Amalickiah obtain the whole kingdom of the Lamanites.

The story of Lehonti, who took his army to the top of the mountain for physical safety has many parallels with us today. As the covenant people of God we have been invited to perserve our spiritual safety on top of another mountain, the mountain of the Lord's house, the temple (2 Nephi 12:2). Anciently mountains were always synonymous with temples or any form of higher worship. High places were also where prophets of old received instructions by the Lord, as in Moses' case when he received the Ten Commandments upon Mount Sinai (Exodus 19,20). Today, LDS temples are always built on the highest vantage point in the designated community suggesting that once we have entered into sacred covenants with God, we stand on higher ground. It also suggests that higher knowledge regarding man's salvation and ultimate exaltation is received in the temples of God. Those who adhere to their temple covenants and make their abode with God within its sacred walls, receive spiritual protection and power against the enemy of all righteousness. This, however, does not mean that this enemy sleeps or has no interest in those who have made temple covenants and enjoy the safety of such. On the contrary, the adversary takes no sabbaticals and has more interest in those who are endowed with temple covenants than those who are not and he will use all his skills to bring them down the mountain.

Viewing Amalickiah as a prototype of the adversary we can learn that our enemy is three things - he is subtle, he is persistent and he is cunning. He watches patiently and plots with dedication to bring about our demise. He knows which buttons to push and he will do so repeatedly until cracks in our resolve begin to appear. Using subtle means he will make his enticements appear appealing and even of good value. Like Amalickiah, he will meet us half way up the mountain and make his propositions difficult to resist appealing to our egos and "what's in it for me" attitude. Once we succumb, he will 'poison' us 'by degrees' until he succeeds in bringing about our spiritual death. Compromising ourselves in such a way where our obedience to the commandments suffers can only lead us down the slippery slope to the valley of shadow and death where we are eventually cut off from the presence of the Lord (Alma 50:20). This is what our enemy hopes for, works for and lives for.

When Amalickiah left the Nephites, he fled before the armies of Captain Moroni. There would have to be no two people in the scriptures more unlike than Amalickiah and Captain Moroni. Whereas one sought to destroy, the other sought to preserve; whereas one sought self-interest, the other sought the welfare of his people; whereas one rejected God, the other accepted Him with all his heart. Amalickiah, 'a subtle man to do evil' (Alma 47:4), had one goal only: to subject others to the yoke of bondage. When that desire slipped from his grasp, he cursed God (Alma 49:27). Moroni's one goal was to perserve the welfare and safety of his people (Alma 48:12). This he did by not relying on his sword alone but on God's goodness by preparing his people to be faithful to Him (Alma 48:7). Moroni, a captain of the Nephite armies was a 'strong and mighty man', 'a man whose heart swelled with thanksgiving to his God', 'a man who was firm in the faith of Christ' (Alma 48:11-3). And here is the clincher, Mormon's appraisal of this man reads like a plaque in the hall of fame: "Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men" (Alma 48:17).

Like Amalickiah, the adversary has only one goal: to put us in bondage. To achieve this he marches with his armies, like a thief in the night, seeking to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). He seeks to destroy us in the flesh and he seeks to destroy us in spirit. He is a collector of ruined lives, corrupted faith and lost spiritual destinies. Immediately preceding Christ's appearance to the ancient Americas, before He said anything else, the Saviour's voice was heard in the darkness as an explanation and a warning: "Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen" (3 Nephi 9:2). Like Nephites of old, we are at war. The battle is raging and many are falling by the way. People's hearts are failing and the love of many is waxing cold (D&C 45:26,27). There is only one place of refuge, one place of safety, one place of power that will help us stand to the end. Stand firm. Don't come down the mountain.

UPON MY HONOUR

"....I seek not for honor of the world but for the glory of my God....." (Alma 60:36)


Soon after my divorce I moved with my children into a new ward. My new Bishop invited me into his office one Sunday for an interview to get to know me and welcome me. In the course of our interview I expressed to him that even though I had been faithful from the time of my baptism at 18 years of age, I had come to the conclusion that I had ruined my life. At that time my reality did not resemble the picture that my patriarchal blessing painted. I worried that I had done it all wrong and that it was beyond repair. My Bishop asked me to fast the following Sunday and meet with him again for a priesthood blessing. As I sat in his office with his hands upon my head, I was told something I did not expect to hear. In my Bishop's words I was told: "Your life was planned for you in your pre-existence and because of your great faith in Christ you had accepted that plan". As I mulled over what I had heard in the coming weeks, months and years I came to understand that I had not read between the lines of my patriarchal blessing but had only seen the idyllic outline of end results that would culminate in my life if I was faithful. To get to those idyllic pinnacles, however, I would need to tread some thorny paths. How I travelled those paths was totally up to me but one thing was for sure, I had a tremendous tool to survive the thorns that would afflict me on my way, which was my abiding faith in Christ that I had brought with me. Some months following that priesthood blessing, I had a confirmation of that faith as I sat in Stake Conference singing my favourite hymn, The Redeemer of Israel. A vision opened up in my mind that enabled me for a few seconds to see myself as I was in pre-existence, preaching the plan of salvation to the less converted. Over the years I have had occasion to reflect on these two incidents to strengthen me as I tackled the challenges of my life. Recently I was speaking with a friend of mine whose life also had not turned out the way he had imagined it would and he said to me that his only concern now is to remain as valiant in his second estate as he was in his first and that nothing else matters to him. That, I said to him, is really the only thing that truly matters, to remain true to God we once voted for and engaged in battle for.

Perhaps the saddest words uttered by the Saviour in relation to ancient Israel is his reply to Samuel who felt dejected when the Israelites rejected Him as their judge and requested that a king be appointed over them. Samuel warned them of three principal evils of a kingly form of government: excessive taxation (1 Sam 8:15,17), conscription of the labour force (1 Sam 8:11,13,16) and seizure of private lands (1 Sam 8:14,15). The lure of the world seemed to outweigh the warning though as Israelites persisted in their desire to have a king. The Saviour who had fought for them and stood with open arms at every turn conceded their rejection to Samuel: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them" (1 Sam 8:7). I cannot begin to imagine with what heaviness of heart the Saviour would have uttered those words. They who stood to become 'a kingdom of priests and a holy nation' (Exodus 19:6) desired that they 'may be like all the nations', that their king might fight their battles for them (1 Sam 8:19,20). Imagine wanting an imperfect human being at the helm of your armies instead of God who has all might and power. A God who had manifested that power to them over and over, whose reputation was so great even among the heathen nations who trembled at the thought of the God of Israel (1 Sam 4:5-8). And so Israel sought to honour the world rather than to honour the one true and living God. And so it is with us. We, modern day Israel, at times choose to honour the world over honouring God. In President Kimball's words:

"Samuel called the people together and explained to them that the people of the Lord should be different, with higher standards. 'We want to be like other people' they demanded. We do not want to be different... Not so different are we today! We want the glamour and frothiness of the world, not always realizing the penalties of our folly.....Others....indulge in their social drinking - 'we must have a king like unto other nations'. Styles are created by the vulgar and the money-mad and run from one extreme to the other to date our present wardrobes and create business for merchants. We cannot be different. We would rather die than be 'not up to date'. If the dress is knee length, we must go a little above the knee. If shorts are short we must have the shortest...If bathing suits are skimpy, we must have the skimpiest. We must have a king like unto other nations. The Lord has said that he will have a peculiar people but we do not wish to be peculiar... If intimate fondling is the pattern of the crowd, we will fondle. We must have a king like unto other nations.... When oh when, will the Latter-day Saints stand firm on their own feet, establish their own standards, follow proper patterns and live their own glorious lives in accordance with Gospel inspired patterns...Certainly good times and happy lives and clean fun are not dependent upon the glamorous, the pompous, the extremes" (Elder Spencer W. Kimball, "Like All the Nations", Church News, 15 October 1960, 14).

When we honour the world instead of God, we are not only endangering our own spiritual welfare but that of others too. As sons and daughters of Him who has spiritually begotten us through the covenant of baptism, we have a sacred responsibility to the inhabitants of the world, a responsibility we fail in when we join the world instead of remaining separate. This responsibility lies within the Abrahamic covenant. Consider the following:

"This challenge can remain a stumbling block for Abraham's seed today. The temptation to be 'like all the nations' is ever present. The standards and images of the world are not to become the ideals of Abraham's seed. The Old Testament in particular offers a warning to the Lord's covenant people of today as it chronicles the people of the past. In it we see the results of failing to bless all the families of the world because one desires to be like the world. Eventually Abraham's seed were lost, scattered, and taken captive by the world they so anxiously tried to imitate. (S. Michael Wilcox, "The Abrahamic Covenant", Ensign, Jan. 1998, 47)

We are of the seed of Abraham. We are noble men and women of the covenant. We are choice in the sight of God for we have been bought with a great price. We have a responsibility to heed the admonition of Alma who said '....come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things...' (Alma 5:57) that we may remain God's people, that our names will not be mingled with the names of the wicked (Alma 5:57), that we may be an ensign to the nations and bring them to God who gave them life. If we strive to honour God instead of honouring the world, we will remain true to the testimony of Jesus that we brought with us. The scriptures teach us that honour includes faith and trust in the Lord through humility and obedience to His commandments but it goes further than that. It is important that we recognise the systems of the world that we easily follow and that have the potential to lead us away from putting our trust in God. It means to remain honourable without compromise. It means not to trust in any other external force to aid us in our trials, our challenges and our attempts to rise above the world. And rise we must to honour the God of Israel. We are here to conquer the enemy of all righteousness (Moroni 9:6). We fought this enemy who sought to take away the honour and glory from the Father. We are still fighting this enemy today. We cannot fail. We must not fail. In President Hinckley's words:

"The war goes on. It is waged across the world over the issues of agency and compulsion. It is waged by an army of missionaries over the issues of truth and error. It is waged in our own lives, day in and day out, in our homes, in our work, in our school associations; it is waged over questions of love and respect, of loyalty and fidelity, of obedience and integrity. We are all involved in it - child, youth, or adult, each of us. We are winning, and the future never looked brighter" (President Gordon B. Hinckley, 'An Unending Conflict, A Victory Assured', Ensign, June 2007, p 4).

".....for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Sam 2:30)