Helaman Should Be Their Leader

To my son,

                Yesterday was an incredible milestone for President Nelson: he turned 99 years old on 9/9! We are so blessed to have a prophet to guide us in these latter days, and I hope that he still has many years left. I love to listen to his messages and I hope that you and I can fully follow his counsel. One of my favorite stories in the Book of Mormon is that of the stripling warriors, a story that you know well. They were miraculously preserved by the hand of the Lord in the face of a terrible Lamanite army. I believe that the key to their success was who they chose to be their lead them: “They took their weapons of war, and they would that Helaman should be their leader” (Alma 53:19). Helaman was the prophet at the time. They didn’t choose the greatest military general or a warrior with tons of experience in battle, as useful as that might have been. Instead they chose the prophet and leader of the church, knowing that he would keep them close to the Lord and lead them in the right way. Not only did they choose him to be their leader, but they also obeyed him in the military service. Helaman recounted, “Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them” (Alma 57:21). They gave us a great example to follow—we too should seek to follow our prophet with exactness and keep the commands he gives us. Just as Helaman was able to miraculously protect them from their enemies, so too will following the counsel of the prophet in our day keep us safe from the “evils and designs which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days” (Doctrine and Covenants 89:4).

                So how can you and I follow the teachings of President Nelson? This is what he taught recently: “One of the best ways we can honor the Savior is to become a peacemaker. The Savior’s Atonement made it possible for us to overcome all evil—including contention. Make no mistake about it: contention is evil! Jesus Christ declared that those who have ‘the spirit of contention’ are not of Him but are ‘of the devil, who is the father of contention, and [the devil] stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another.’ Those who foster contention are taking a page out of Satan’s playbook, whether they realize it or not. ‘No man can serve two masters.’ We cannot support Satan with our verbal assaults and then think that we can still serve God. My dear brothers and sisters, how we treat each other really matters! How we speak to and about others at home, at church, at work, and online really matters. Today, I am asking us to interact with others in a higher, holier way. Please listen carefully. ‘If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy’ that we can say about another person—whether to his face or behind her back—that should be our standard of communication.” And so as we focus on how we treat others, striving to avoid contention and be a peacemaker like the Savior, we are following the prophet. As we respond to anger with kindness, as we forgive those who have offended us, as we let go of past grievances, we are following the prophet. I know that my life was blessed when I was your age as I tried to follow President Hinckley’s counsel. In particular, he encouraged us to get as much education as possible, and I tried my best to do that. As I look back now I can see that so many of the blessings I have today came because of the education I received, and I am grateful for the guidance that President Hinckley gave me in my youth. I know your life will equally be blessed as you seek to follow the counsel of President Nelson. 

Love,

Dad