Stay on the Mountain

  Wow, there is so much on my mind tonight, after back to back meetings with Elder Kevin Pearson from the Seventy (stake conference and a temple devotional) my mind and heart are on fire. But even with all the amazing things he shared today (that our 159 temples are just 1/10 of the temples we will need to do the work of the Lord and my personal favorite "if we don't change, nothing changes") I would still like to share something I learned from the Book of Mormon this week and see where I go from there.

    I think most of us are familiar with the war chapters of the Book of Mormon and probably once we got into reading we would feel that the stories of Zerahemna and Lehonti are familiar. (Zerahemna was a gentlemen fighting against Moroni that refused to end the conflict because he knew he and his people couldn't keep a covenant to never come against the Nephites again, well he refused until there was a scalping and then the whole army decided they could end the conflict. Lehonti is a Lamanite general who refused to come off his mountain to talk to Amalickiah until Amalickiah said to meet him half way. Lehonti met his death by coming down just a little off that mountain peak and was poisoned by degrees). Now when I think of these men the synopsis of those chapters (see Alma 44-48 for a more detailed specific account) are very similar to what I just gave, but I gained a new insight this week that I hope might get us all thinking. I'm not saying this is for sure gospel truth and that you must agree with me, but I do think it is a new insight that has changed my thinking about covenants and what it is to keep those covenants.

   As I was reading this week the Spirit touched my mind and encouraged me to look at the dates on the chapter headings. As I did I noticed that there is just two years (74 BC to 72) between Zerahemna attacking the Nephites - and making a covenant to not come against the Nephites in battle again - and Amalickiah going to the Lamanite king asking him to lead the Lamanites into battle. Once Amalickiah shows up Lehonti takes a portion of the Lamanite army and they flee into the wilderness. Usually when I'm reading this portion I just skip to Lehonti coming off his mountain and getting poisoned, I never asked myself why Lehonti fled, this time I did and I began to wonder why did Lehonti flee into the wilderness and not choose to fight. Then the Spirit whispered, "what if Lehonti was part of Zerahemna's army that had covenanted not to go against the Nephites in battle ever again? What if Lehonti and the part of the army that went with him were okay with border skirmishes with other Lamanite groups or even border skirmishes with Nephites as long as they weren't the aggressors (that's why they were in the army), but they weren't okay with being the aggressors, they took the covenant and oath they had made so seriously that they mutinied against their king and fled so that they wouldn't be forced to go against the Nephites. Can you imagine having so much conviction and honor in your covenants that you would flee your people, your customs, everything you had ever known and flee into the wilderness? That my friends is what we have been called to do, that is what our covenants invite us to do as the world gets more wicked, do we have the faith to flee for our covenants?

  But you'll say, "Alison Lehonti died and his portion of the army ended up having to fight anyway." That is true and that is so very sad and that has the potential to happen to each of us. We are a peculiar people and the Lord has called us to His mountain, even His holy house the temple, are we standing firm on that mountain or are we like Lehonti considering coming off our mountain just a little bit because we already did so good in keeping our covenant that we fled the Lamanites? I don't know what exactly Lehonti was thinking, but I wonder if he thought "just a few feet down the mountain won't hurt me, I've already left all I've known and Amalickiah's offer isn't that bad." My dear brothers and sisters that is how Satan speaks to us today, if we are standing firm in our faith and covenants he isn't going to wage a direct assault against them, but he is going to entice us away from the temple and the safety of our covenants and then once we are off the mountain just a hair he can poison us by degrees.

   Have you really listened to the music industry these days? There is a lot going on in those lyrics we won't notice if we don't listen carefully. In each of our minds there is a thing called a Reticular Activating System and these system is a filter in our minds that determines what comes out of our mouths and what comes into our minds. This filter can be very quick to help us determine truth, to decide what to keep and what to toss. Well this filter can be de-activated or its power lessened by music. Are we listening to music that helps us more fully believe and accept that we are children of God with a purpose and place in His kingdom and plan or is the music we hear tearing away our self esteem and consider ideas that we would never consider in everyday conversation?

   We have repentance available to us, when we see things in our lives that have triggered us to lessen our resolve to hold to our covenants and stay on our mountain we can repent and never be introduced to the degrees of poison that Satan would give to us. If we have already sauntered off that mountain we can cry out to our Savior and have His help to regain that mountain.

   In our stake conference today we were encouraged to find one thing in our lives that is drawing us away from the Savior and get rid of it. To remove our pet sins so that we can more fully feel the direction of the Spirit in our lives. As Elder Pearson said, if we don't change nothing will change. I know I am not where I could be and I want to be better, I want something to change so that I can change for the better. Our Father has given us covenants to protect us, to save us from the pain and anguish of poison, may we hold to covenants, make the changes we need to make and stay on that mountain.