The cool thing about the Book of Mormon is that it is very applicable to our everyday lives, even if it seems hard to follow. But it can be hard to understand! I remember when I was 16 and trying to motivate myself to read from the Book of Mormon, it wasn’t a cakewalk! Something that made it easier for me was thinking about how each of the stories in there was handpicked by Mormon out of MILLIONS of stories that he could have used. There was the equivalent of an entire library of plates and records that Mormon could have used, but he picked barely a hundredth part of everything that he had at his disposal, and here it is, laying in our hands. Sweet! So when it talks about people arguing about who should have the power in the Nephite government like is written in Helaman chapters 1 and 2, there must have been a really really REALLY good reason why Mormon put it in there.
In Helaman 1:1, It says that there began to be a serious difficulty among the Nephites because they couldn’t decide who should be their leader. The important thing to note is that they couldn’t decide. This gave rise to debates and divisions between the people. It’s important in our lives to make our decision beforehand or we can get in some pretty bad situations. Just like what happened to the Nephites, who couldn’t decide what they should do. It’s a dangerous position to be in. Thats why we need to be decisive NOW, and choose to be righteous.
Another thing that makes this even more difficult is that Satan can really be tricky. In the same chapter (Hel 1:9,18-19) it describes how Satan becomes more bold and more sneaky every day. In verses 18-19, Satan is played by Coriantumr in the story. Up until this time, the enemy had never dared march right up to the capital city, right through the heart of the land, but this is where Satan gets more bold. This time he does march right through the center of the land taking the capital, BOOM BAM right in your face! I bet you can think of a few things that are like that today, with the murdering of children while they are at school, and the things that kids in high school brag about doing.
The other tactic that is new is how sneaky he becomes. In verse 9, Satan is played by Kishkumen, who sneaks unknown to the judge’s seat and murders the leader of the land, and takes off so quick that no one even knew he was there. Then he goes to his friends and they make a secret pact that they will never tell who did it. They create secret signs and mingle themselves throughout the people, pretending to be normal, law abiding citizens. But no. They most definitely are not.
Be careful! Know that Satan is a crafty bugger! He wants to break you down and make you feel cheap and miserable so bad, because thats exactly how he feels. And he makes himself feel a little better by hurting you. Don’t let him do it.
Tres
