Revelations for the Sinners

One of the themes that I see in the Book of Mormon is that God is willing to give great spiritual experiences to those who do not keep the commandments of God.  We see this particularly in the very beginning in the account of Laman and Lemuel.  In their attempt to get the plates, when they were frustrated and hurting Nephi, “an angel of the Lord came and stood before them, and he spake unto them” (1 Nephi 3:29).  Later as they traveled in the wilderness they were witness to the incredible Liahona that miraculously guided them to the place Bountiful.  On that journey when they rebelled again after the death of Nahom, “they were chastened by the voice of the Lord,” which means that they heard the Lord speaking to them (1 Nephi 16:39).  When they refused to help Nephi with the ship and sought again to kill him, Nephi confounded them with the power of the Spirit such that they no longer dared to come against him “so powerful was the Spirit of God.”  Nephi stretched forth his hand such that they did “wither before” him and “the Lord did shake them.”  So powerful was this experience that Laman and Lemuel said, “We know of a surety that the Lord is with thee, for we know that it is the power of the Lord that has shaken us” (1 Nephi 17:52-55).  Again and again Laman and Lemuel were given miraculous, powerful spiritual experiences, even though they ultimately rejected them.  Surely the Lord loved them greatly and wanted to give them every chance to come unto him.

               We see the same willingness of the Lord to offer powerful spiritual experiences to those engaged in serious sin in other stories in the Book of Mormon.  For example, Alma and the sons of Mosiah “were going about rebelling against God” when “the angel of the Lord appeared unto them” and they had a most incredible spiritual experience being called to repentance (Mosiah 27:11).  Unlike Laman and Lemuel, they did truly repent because of this experience, but that was not a requirement for the Lord to give it to them.  When those same sons of Mosiah served as missionaries, many of the Lamanites whose lives were filled with wickedness also were given marvelous spiritual experiences.  For example, Lamoni, who had killed many of his own servants, received such a powerful witness that he declared, “For as sure as thou livest, behold, I have seen my Redeemer; and he shall come forth, and be born of a woman, and he shall redeem all mankind who believe on his name” (Alma 19:13).  He had been granted to see the Lord in vision even when he was still in a state of wickedness.  His father was similarly before he received his own spiritual manifestation that caused him to be “struck as if he were dead” and like his son he was converted in a powerful way (Alma 22:18).  The Lord’s love was not withheld just because their “days [were] spent in the grossest iniquity” (Alma 26:24).  Later in the Book of Mormon the Lord similarly showed His mercy to another group of Lamanites when Nephi and Lehi preached among them.  They were not a righteous group by any means, and they even put Nephi and Lehi in prison.  And yet the Lord saw fit to provide this group of Lamanites with incredible spiritual experiences: “And it came to pass that when they cast their eyes about, and saw that the cloud of darkness was dispersed from overshadowing them, behold, they saw that they were encircled about, yea every soul, by a pillar of fire” (Helaman 5:43).  The Lord loved them and saw fit to bless them with light and truth so that they might repent.  All of these stories highlight the fact that Lord loves us all and can communicate with any of His children if He so chooses.  While He never condones sin, He still speaks to the sinner and blesses his or her life.  And so should we.