Not Many Years

In the most recent general conference, Elder Bednar highlighted how President Benson was known for his teachings on the Book of Mormon. Elder Bednar quoted these important words of the prophet from 1986: “The Book of Mormon … was written for our day. The Nephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites of ancient times. It was meant for us. Mormon wrote near the end of the Nephite civilization. Under the inspiration of God, who sees all things from the beginning, [Mormon] abridged centuries of records, choosing the stories, speeches, and events that would be most helpful to us…. Each of the major writers of the Book of Mormon testified that he wrote for future generations. … If they saw our day, and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, ‘Why did the Lord inspire Mormon … to include [this account] in his record? What lesson can I learn from [this admonition] to help me live in this day and age?’” Indeed, all while Mormon was writing the book, he was watching the moral decline of his people and surely understood they were headed for destruction. So, he was not writing for those of his day—it was for us. His son Moroni, who finished the account, confirmed that he was writing with an eye towards us: “Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing” (Mormon 8:35). And thus we should be constantly seeking to understand how the stories, principles, and teachings apply to us in our individual lives today. Elder Bednar summed it up this way: “Please remember that the Book of Mormon looks to the future and contains important principles, warnings, and lessons intended for me and you in the circumstances and challenges of our present day.”

                Elder Bednar specifically sought to apply some of the stories recounted in the book of Helaman in the Book of Mormon to us. He read about the righteousness of many Lamanites and of the apostasy of many Nephites and highlighted what Mormon said in Helaman 6:32, “The fact that ‘all these iniquities did come unto them in the space of not many years.’” This was clearly an important point for Mormon because he used that phrase two other times as well. Speaking again of the wickedness of the Nephites he wrote, “And thus had they fallen into this great transgression; yea, thus had they become weak, because of their transgression, in the space of not many years” (Helaman 4:26). And later after they had become righteous but then Gadianton robbers showed up once more, Mormon recorded, “And thus in time, yea, even in the space of not many years, they became an exceedingly great band of robbers; and they did search out all the secret plans of Gadianton; and thus they became robbers of Gadianton” (Helaman 11:26). The warning for us is clear: apostasy can happen in a short amount of time if we are not careful. Elder Bednar commented, “May I suggest that if you or I believe we are sufficiently strong and stalwart to avoid the arrogance of pride, then perhaps we already are suffering from this deadly spiritual disease. Simply stated, if you or I do not believe we could be afflicted with and by pride, then we are vulnerable and in spiritual danger. In the space of not many days, weeks, months, or years, we might forfeit our spiritual birthright for far less than a mess of pottage.” I remember many years ago when I lived in a different ward a sister bore her fervent testimony in sacrament meeting and spoke of how she could never leave the church. She was the mother in an active, loving family who served faithfully in the ward, and I visited others with her husband as a home teaching companion. Soon after I moved away from that ward, though, I learned that the whole family had left the church permanently. I don’t know what happened or what their reasons were, and this is not written to judge them. Rather, this simply suggests that if we feel a strong conviction today about the truths of the gospel, we cannot assume that it will persist without diligent and consistent efforts to cultivate our relationship with the Savior Jesus Christ. As President Eyring taught, “great faith has a short shelf life.” The Book of Mormon stands as a witness that we need vigilance and constant nourishment of our testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Instead of letting our faith wane in a space of not many years, we can strive to be each day like the Nephites described in this verse: “Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God” (Helaman 3:35).