Helaman 15-16
Reading Assignment: Helaman 15-16
Learning Activities:
1) Introduction
As Samuel the Lamanite addressed the Nephites from on top of the wall at Zarahemla, he prophesied that unless they repented, God would “utterly destroy them” (Helaman 15:17). He declared that the Lamanites had become more righteous than the Nephites and that the Lord would prolong the days of the Lamanites. Some Nephites believed Samuel’s teachings and were baptized by Nephi. Others, who did not believe Samuel, attempted to kill him. He was protected by the power of God, and he returned to his own land.
According to Helaman 15:4–8, what was the spiritual condition of the Lamanites? (The word circumspectly in Helaman 15:5 means “cautiously” or “watchfully.”)
Learning Activities:
1) Introduction
As Samuel the Lamanite addressed the Nephites from on top of the wall at Zarahemla, he prophesied that unless they repented, God would “utterly destroy them” (Helaman 15:17). He declared that the Lamanites had become more righteous than the Nephites and that the Lord would prolong the days of the Lamanites. Some Nephites believed Samuel’s teachings and were baptized by Nephi. Others, who did not believe Samuel, attempted to kill him. He was protected by the power of God, and he returned to his own land.
2) Look for:
According to Helaman 15:3, 17, what was the spiritual condition of the Nephites?According to Helaman 15:4–8, what was the spiritual condition of the Lamanites? (The word circumspectly in Helaman 15:5 means “cautiously” or “watchfully.”)
3) Carefully read Helaman 15:7–8, and fill in the blanks in the following statement: Knowledge of the truth and a belief in the holy scriptures leads to___________________
and __________________, which bring ________________ ; therefore, as many as come to this are ________________________________.
4) According to these chapters, why is it so important to stay true to the knowledge we have been given?
5) In Helaman 16, how did this people respond to the prophet? How do you usually respond?
Ponder the following statement from President Ezra Taft Benson concerning how people of the world respond to modern-day prophets: “The prophet will not necessarily be popular with the world or the worldly. As a prophet reveals the truth, it divides the people. The honest in heart heed his words, but the unrighteous either ignore the prophet or fight him. When the prophet points out the sins of the world, the worldly, rather than repent of their sins, either want to close the mouth of the prophet or else act as if the prophet didn’t exist. Popularity is never a test of truth. Many a prophet has been killed or cast out. As we come closer to the Lord’s second coming, you can expect that as the people of the world become more wicked, the prophet will be less popular with them” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 133).
6) Read the following statement from President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency, and mark any of his words that confirm what you have learned from Helaman 16: “When we reject the counsel which comes from God, we do not choose to be independent of outside influence. We choose another influence. We reject the protection of a perfectly loving, all-powerful, all-knowing Father in Heaven, whose whole purpose, as that of His Beloved Son, is to give us eternal life, to give us all that He has, and to bring us home again in families to the arms of His love. In rejecting His counsel, we choose the influence of another power, whose purpose is to make us miserable and whose motive is hatred. We have moral agency as a gift of God. Rather than the right to choose to be free of influence, it is the inalienable right to submit ourselves to whichever of those powers we choose” (“Finding Safety in Counsel,” Ensign, May 1997, 25).