The Confirmation of the Spirit

When Nephi and Lehi went to preach among the Lamanites, Mormon recorded that “that they were taken by an army of the Lamanites and cast into prison.”  Presumably they had started preaching when they got there, and when the Lamanites saw Nephites preaching they were immediately put in prison.  Once in prison, they were surrounded as if by fire but were not burned, and thus they were miraculously protected from the Lamanites.  At that point they said to the amazed Lamanites, “Fear not, for behold, it is God that has shown unto you this marvelous thing, in the which is shown unto you that ye cannot lay your hands on us to slay us.”  Those are the only words that we have that they spoke, but it was a bold invitation and testimony of their work.  Then after that the prison shook and “they were overshadowed with a cloud of darkness, and an awful solemn fear came upon them.”  At this point the truly miraculous thing happened: “And it came to pass that there came a voice as if it were above the cloud of darkness, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, and seek no more to destroy my servants whom I have sent unto you to declare good tidings” (Helaman 5:21, 26, 28, 29).  The words of the missionary were corroborated with a heavenly voice that pierced the people “to the very soul” and inspired them to repent and believe on the words of the missionaries.  As I read this today I thought how great it would be for all missionaries if they could have that kind of heavenly manifestation as a second witness to their testimonies every time they taught!

               On the one hand the story seems very unique—it just doesn’t happen that way most of the time and those who investigate the gospel message usually don’t get that dramatic kind of response.  And yet, I believe the story is symbolic of how gospel teaching does and should happen.  The missionaries first taught the people, the people struggled through some difficulties, and then the Spirit confirmed to their soul the truthfulness of the words of the missionaries.  And not only that, but in this story the heavenly voice taught exactly what the Spirit will teach every time as the “so what?” of the missionaries’ words: repent.  The goal of teaching the gospel is always to help people repent, to change, to become more like the Savior, and the role of the Spirit is to help people see indeed that they need to change.  In the ideal lesson or talk or gospel discussion, the teacher testifies of truth and invites, and then the Spirit confirms the need for us to change and repent.  Often there will also be some kind of opposition, as was the case for these people who experienced a moment of great darkness before the voice told them to repent and believe the words of Nephi and Lehi.  This will often be the case in gospel teaching, and we must be willing to not give up in fear when opposition comes but rather seek earnestly to hear the voice of the Spirit encouraging us to repent.  Though this story may give an extreme example, the principles are the same for us and highlights that teaching the gospel is not about the teacher convincing others of certain truths but rather encouraging the Spirit of the Lord to confirm truth to others and their need to repent.