Dissenters

As I was listening to the Book of Helaman the other day, I noticed how similar it was to our day in terms of the wickedness of the people and the dissenters who left The Church.  And this was over 2000 years ago.  The chapter heading says it was between 38 BC and 30 BC.  It's no wonder The Book of Mormon was written for our day.

I tried to shorten it a bit but still make it understandable.  Here is the passage from Helaman chapter 4.

Helaman 4: 1, 4, 8, 11-15

 1 And it came to pass in the fifty and fourth year there were many dissensions in the church, and there was also a contention among the people, insomuch that there was much bloodshed....

 4 But it came to pass in the fifty and sixth year of the reign of the judges, there were dissenters who went up from the Nephites unto the Lamanites; and they succeeded with those others in stirring them up to anger against the Nephites; and they were all that year preparing for war....

 8 And thus those dissenters of the Nephites, with the help of a numerous army of the Lamanites, had obtained all the possession of the Nephites which was in the land southward. And all this was done in the fifty and eighth and ninth years of the reign of the judges....

 11 Now this great loss of the Nephites, and the great slaughter which was among them, would not have happened had it not been for their wickedness and their abomination which was among them; yea, and it was among those also who professed to belong to the church of God.

 12 And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing, committing adultery, rising up in great contentions, and deserting away into the land of Nephi, among the Lamanites— 

 13 And because of this their great wickedness, and their boastings in their own strength, they were left in their own strength; therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamanites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands. 

 14 But behold, Moronihah did preach many things unto the people because of their iniquity, and also Nephi and Lehi, who were the sons of Helaman, did preach many things unto the people, yea, and did prophesy many things unto them concerning their iniquities, and what should come unto them if they did not repent of their sins. 

 15 And it came to pass that they did repent, and inasmuch as they did repent they did begin to prosper.

I love how The Book of Mormon explains things so boldly and is written so simply.  Isn't it interesting how the Nephites who dissented-- or as we now say, apostatized-- from The Church couldn't leave it alone, just like today?  The apostate Nephites started wreaking havoc with the Church by stirring up anger against the Nephites (members of the Church).  It's not enough for them to just leave the Church.  They can't leave it alone.  Even over 2000 years ago the dissenters couldn't leave it alone. Although back then they took it to the point of bloodshed.  Thankfully today it hasn't gotten to that point yet. At least not between dissenters and members of the Church.

Notice the last line in verse 11.  That's going to be my next blog post.  :-) Stay tuned.

Also notice in verse 14 how the Church didn't give up on the dissenters.  They continued to preach to them and call them to repentance.  And verse 15 tops it off with the dissenters repenting and beginning to prosper again.

Those few verses pretty much sum up the pride cycle we see so many times in The Book of Mormon.

I love The Book of Mormon!  It really was written for us in these last days to help us navigate through these trying times.  It really is amazing how so much of The Book of Mormon parallels what's going on in our world today.  If you haven't read The Book of Mormon, I highly suggest doing so.  If you do so with a sincere heart and real intent, it will change your life for good.

That's my two cents.