PREPARATION
Bring the following
items to class:
·
a tennis
ball
·
a jar that
the tennis ball can barely fit into (such as a pickle jar)
·
chopsticks
·
tongs
·
a ladle
that will fit into the jar
·
a pitcher
with enough water in it to fill the jar (keep this out of sight until time to
use it)
·
a pie
plate or cake pan
·
two cleaning
sponges that you have cut into heart shapes, soaked, and then dried out so they
are rough and hard
·
a towel
for clean-up
THE CONVERSION OF THE ANTI-NEPHI-LEHIES
Today we get to discuss one of the most fascinating groups
of people found anywhere in the scriptures:
The Anti-Nephi-Lehies, an amazing
example of the ability of God’s children to change from wrong to right,
permanently.
First, let’s get a feel for what they were like before the
missionaries came, when they still called themselves Lamanites.
“…For they had undertaken to
preach the word of God to a wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a
people who delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering
them; and their hearts were set upon riches, or upon gold and silver,
and precious stones; yet they sought to obtain these things by murdering and
plundering, that they might not labor for them with their own hands.
“Thus they were a very
indolent people, many of whom did worship idols, and the curse of
God had fallen upon them because of the traditions of their fathers…” (Alma
17:14-15)
But now pay attention
to the “notwithstanding” part of the verse:
“…notwithstanding the promises
of the Lord were extended unto them on the conditions of repentance.”
There was still a
chance for them, as there is for all sinners.
Six missionaries came to their land and brought the Spirit
into their lives and a large number of these Lamanites were converted. (It is apparent that there were six
missionaries altogether, because in verse 1 of chapter 23, the four sons of
Mosiah are named, and it also says “either of their brethren,” leading us to
believe that there were two others.
These other two are mentioned by name in 21:11—Muloki and Ammah.) So many Lamanites were converted that they
are not numbered or named except by city or area—entire cities converted! These are listed in 23:8-14:
- The Land of Ishmael
- The Land of Middoni
- The City of Nephi
- The Land of Shilom
- The Land of Shemlon
- The City of Lemuel
- The City of Shimnilom
·
And one lone Amalekite.
The truly remarkable part of the story is found in verse
6. Now we all know that men are prone to
exaggerate. And a man editing a large
amount of records would definitely be prone to generalize. Mormon, in his abridging, realized that we
might think he was simply generalizing or exaggerating, so he added an oath to
his writing, the strongest oath he could make.
This same oath was used by Nephi when he was leaving Jerusalem, carrying
the brass plates, disguised as Laban, with the servant Zoram following. When Zoram realized Nephi was not Laban but a
thief of some kind, and he tried to flee back into the city, what was the
phrase that convinced Zoram to stay?
Nephi swore to him that “as the Lord liveth” (1 Nephi 4:32-33) he would
not harm Zoram, but Zoram would be a free man if he came with them. That oath, “as the Lord liveth,” was so strong
and so binding that Zoram knew even a robber would honor it, and he trusted
Nephi and went with him. Mormon used
this same oath twice in 23:6:
“And as sure as the Lord
liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the
knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren,
according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God
working miracles in them—“
As if that were not enough, then he inserted his attention
phrase, “yea, I say unto you,” followed by a
repeat of the oath.
“…as the Lord liveth, as
many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto
the Lord, never did fall away.”
They never did fall away! Although the Book of Mormon is full of
stories of people who were righteous for a while, then slipped for a while—in fact,
that seems to be one of the major themes of the book—here is a story of a
people who changed and not one of them ever slipped back.
Today we are going to study how they did this. Their example can be incredibly useful in our
own lives.
OBJECT LESSON, PART ONE: THE DIFFICULTY OF REMOVING BAD
CHARACTERISTICS
(Call up a
volunteer. Explain that the pickle jar
represents his life, his soul. Set it on
the table to show it is planted firmly in this earth-life experience. Into this soul enters some sins, or
addictions, or bad habits, represented by the tennis ball. Drop the ball into the jar. How do we get this bad thing out? We cannot start our earth-life over, like
picking up the jar and dumping out the ball.
We must go from where we are. Offer
the chopsticks to use as a tool for removing the tennis ball from the jar. Tell the volunteer he may also use his
fingers, but he may not move the jar.
Let him try for a while. Then
call up another volunteer and let him use tongs to remove the ball. Probably neither of these will succeed, but
if they do it is okay. Call up a third
volunteer to try with the ladle. He may
succeed and think he’s messed up the object lesson, but you then explain that
his particular habit was smoking, and he successfully removed it from his life,
but every time he is in a large crowd, someone is smoking, and he has to
breathe those cigarettes again. And some
of his friends or his spouse still smoked, and that smell was just more than he
could take combined with the stresses of life.
Eventually, he cracked and he started smoking again. Drop the ball back into the jar.)
So many of the world’s bad habits are so difficult to
extract, and even more difficult to keep out for good: smoking, drinking, pornography, profanity,
sexual sins, even overeating or anorexia.
Probably everyone in class has tried to change something about their
life through diet, exercise, willpower, etc.
and then slipped back into the same problem. Permanent change is extremely difficult when
we try to do it on our own.
But it is not impossible.
An Apostle of the Lord has testified of the very real possibility:
“Please understand the way back
is not as hard as it seems to you now.
Satan wants you to think that it is impossible. That is not true. The Savior gave His life so that you can
completely overcome the challenges you face.
(See 2 Ne. 2:6-8.)…
“Lucifer will do all in his
power to keep you captive. You are
familiar with his strategy. He whispers:
…’You can’t change; you have tried before and failed.’ ‘It’s too late; you’ve
gone too far.’ Don’t let him discourage
you…
“Your exercise of faith permits
you to call upon the strength of the Lord when you need it. Obedience to His commandments allows that
help to be given. The power of God will
come into your life because of your faithful obedience to His commandments…
“Don’t confront your problem
armed with only your own experience, understanding, and strength. Count on the infinite power of the Lord by
deciding now to be obedient to His teachings.
(See 2 Ne. 31:19-21)…”
Now notice that Elder Scott, an apostle of the Lord, issues
a promise as strong as Mormon’s phrase, “as the Lord liveth:”
“I promise you, in the name
of the Lord, that He will help you.
He will be there in every time of need.
He gave His life so that you can change your life. I promise you that you’ll feel His love,
strength, and support. Trust Him
completely. He is not going to make any
mistakes. He knows what He is doing…Be
obedient to His teachings, and He will bless you. I promise you He will bless you.” (Richard G. Scott, quoted in A. Dean
Byrd and Mark D. Chamberlain, Willpower
is Not Enough: Why We Don’t Succeed at Change, p. 14. , originally from
April 1990 General Conference)
OBJECT LESSON, PART TWO: REPLACING BAD WITH GOOD
Now, can anyone tell me how to keep this tennis ball out of the jar?
(Bring out a pitcher
of water. Setting the jar in a pie tin
to catch spills, pour water into the jar until it is full. The tennis ball will
float to the top where it is easily picked up and removed.)
It is much easier to replace the bad in our lives with a cause that is good, than it is
to simply remove the bad from our
lives. This is how Christ’s Atonement,
the “living water,” changed the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. When they were converted, they took upon
themselves the name of Christ. It filled
their beings, leaving no room for their previous lifestyle. There was not a void for the habits to slip
back into.
(Set the tennis ball
gently on top of the jar to show that it cannot fall back into the jar as long
as the jar is filled with water.)
BACK TO THE STORY…
Now, the original convert was King Lamoni, a lesser king
over a small area. He was impressed by
Ammon’s arm-whacking adventures, remember?
Then his father, whose name we do not know but who was sort of the
emperor or king over all the kings was converted. This high king conferred the kingdom upon
another son of his, whose conversion story we do not know. (But wouldn’t we like to!) The father renamed this king/son
Anti-Nephi-Lehi. Looking up the history
of the word “anti,” it is apparent that it meant something like “reflection of,”
or “in honor of.” (I got this from Hugh
Nibley, but I don’t have the exact source—sorry.) So the point of this new name was to show
that the king would try to follow in the footsteps of the great forefathers,
Nephi and Lehi—a rather dramatic change for a descendant of Laman and Lemuel. And his subjects who were believers were
called by that name as a society, following him in this change of self-concept.
Anyway, this is the king we are talking about now: King Anti-Nephi-Lehi, Lamoni’s brother. He was the example and the leader for his
people in changing. Let’s look into
details of how he and his people kept themselves filling with this living
water, never to let their sins reenter their lives.
HOW THEY MADE THE CHANGE PERMANENT
The Anti-Nephi-Lehies began with the important first step of
having a great desire to change. Without
this, no change can happen. But we will
here focus on what they did with that desire that was so effective. We can clearly see five things the
Anti-Nephi-Lehies did that made the change permanent:
1. Acknowledgement
of God—Gratitude. First, as
evidenced by the words of the king, they were filled with gratitude. In other words, they did not take any credit
themselves for their mighty change. They
were humble. (Have four class members each read aloud one verse of 24:7-10 and
summarize what the people were grateful for.)
a.
Verse 7:
The missionaries who taught them the Right Way.
b.
Verse 8:
The Holy Ghost which softened their hearts.
c.
Verse 9:
Awareness of their errors.
d.
Verse 10:
Forgiveness received through the Atonement of Christ.
Humility is essential to change. Once we give up the idea that we can change
on our own, and turn to the Lord for aid, we are on our way. Gratitude is key to retaining that humility
and continuously having that help.
2. Removal of Temptation. Next, let’s look at verse 16. “And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to
destroy us, behold, we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will
bury them deep in the earth, that they may be kept bright, as a testimony
that we have never used them, at the last day; and if our brethren destroy us, behold,
we shall go to our God and shall be saved.” They had to know that the title “Anti-Nephi-Lehi”
would cause a very volatile situation among the Lamanites, who had a history of
blaming all their troubles on Nephi and Lehi.
They had to realize that a battle would be imminent. And they knew that it was not only their own
habit to fight, but it was the natural instinct of any man to defend
himself. So, in their wise humility,
they did not trust themselves. They put
the tools of their former habit where they would be very difficult to retrieve;
where there would be a delay in which they could talk themselves out of
breaking their covenant. If we don’t use
this technique, it will be difficult for us to stay away from our sins as well: It’s hard to break from pornography when it
is only a click away and you have no Internet blocker on your computer. It’s hard to keep from ingesting alcohol when
you are at a drinking party. We need to
make sure the temptation is far enough removed that we have time to let the
spirit command the body.
3 Support
System. Another wise move is recorded
in verse 17. “And
now it came to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and
all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and all the
weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did bury them
up deep in the earth.” They did
it together! That way they could all
support each other and keep each other from caving in when it got tough. The same principle is used by Alcoholics
Anonymous and almost every other addiction-breaking organization. It was first used here, in the Book of
Mormon, by the Anti-Nephi-Lehies.
4. Replacing
Wrong Ways with Right Ways. Lastly,
in verse 18, what is maybe the most important point is found. This is where the jar and the tennis ball
really represent what the Anti-Nephi-Lehies did. Pay close attention to the words “rather
than.” “…And this they did, vouching and
covenanting with God, that rather than shed blood of their brethren they would
give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would
give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor
abundantly with their hands.” (Write
the chart below on the chalkboard.) Keep
in mind our previous lesson on Priesthood vs. Priestcraft: The Lord’s way is always based on service and
love; the devil’s way is always based on selfishness and pride.
They
would die RATHER THAN fight.
They
would give RATHER THAN take.
They
would work RATHER THAN be lazy.
SELFLESSNESS RATHER THAN SELFISHNESS
They did not try to just remove their evil ways; they replaced
them with better ways, very specifically replacing every selfish (devilish)
behavior with a loving (Christ-like) behavior planned in advance. We can do exactly the same thing if we
analyze our problem situations, identify the selfish behaviors or attitudes
that accompany it, and find the diametrically opposed charitable behaviors or
attitudes that we can substitute. If we
notice when the Holy Ghost is present with us, and when it is absent, and what
we are doing and thinking at that time, that can give us a great clue as to which
side of the chart we are on.
OBJECT LESSON TWO:
HAVING THEIR HEARTS SOFTENED
So commonly in the Book of Mormon, conversion is referred to
as having “hearts softened” by the Spirit.
This changes the character and the motivations of the person.
(Show the dried sponge
hearts.)
These hearts are both hard. They have nothing to give us. In their present state, they cannot so much
as moisten an envelope. They cannot cool
a feverish brow. They cannot clean a
child’s sticky fingers. All they can do
is take—they can soak things into themselves.
(Point to the selfish
side of the chalkboard chart. Pass one of
the hearts around the class.)
But once a person has his heart “softened” by the living
waters of Christ and is filled with the Spirit, his whole purpose is to give
and to love others.
(Dip the second sponge
heart in the water of the pickle jar until it is saturated. Pass it around the room after the other.)
This heart will give a little of the water
to everyone it touches.
(Point to the
selflessness side of the chalkboard chart.)
It can wash a little face.
It can clean a scraped knee. It
can even quench thirst.
HOW THEY ACTED UPON THEIR PLAN
So, the Anti-Nephi-Lehies, with their newly softened hearts,
set up this plan of action based upon the Lord’s way of love and service. It’s amazing to observe how they acted upon
this plan.
“Now when the people saw that they (the other
Lamanites) were coming against them they went out to meet them, and prostrated
themselves before them to the earth, and began to call on the name of the Lord;
and thus they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them,
and began to slay them with the sword.” (Alma
24:21)
They acted, rather
than reacting. When the hostile Lamanites came upon them
to kill them, they did not run from them.
They didn’t even wait in the houses to be found cowering in a
corner. They walked right out to meet
them and laid themselves on the ground, ready to be killed. Rather than shed blood, they would die. What a great act of love this was towards
their brethren, the unconverted Lamanites.
And when “the rubber hit the road,” they called upon the
Lord for strength.
5.
Praying
when tempted. It’s hard to imagine
that we could commit a sin again if we were continuously praying at the moment
of temptation.
What good did it do? you may ask. After all, they ended up dying. But although 1,005 of them were killed (verse
22), the hearts of many of the opposing warriors were also softened at their
humility and commitment to the gospel, and they laid down next to their dead
brethren and refused to kill anymore.
Their repentance was also sincere and permanent. And more of them were converted than the
number of Anti-Nephi-Lehies who had been killed (verse 26).
I don’t know if it felt like this to those it was happening
to, but in the eternal scheme of things, this horrible massacre had a happy
result: No one was killed who was
unprepared to meet God, and many were converted to the Lord as a direct result
of the deaths of the righteous.
THE MORALS OF THE STORY
In this chapter, we find three important messages of eternal
worth, pointed out to us by Mormon. How
do we recognize these? They are each
heralded by the important phrase “Thus we see.”
The first one is in verse 19: THUS WE SEE that it is possible for sinners
to change and remain firm in their change.
“And thus we see that, when these
Lamanites were brought to believe and to know the truth, they were firm, and
would suffer even unto death rather than commit sin; and thus we see that they
buried their weapons of peace (I think this is a typo by Mormon which he then
corrected), or they buried the weapons of war, for peace.”
The second is in verse 27:
THUS WE SEE that things that are tragedies to our minds may be allowed
by the Lord because they will work for the salvation of others.
“And there was
not a wicked man slain among them; but there were more than a thousand brought
to the knowledge of the truth; thus we see that the Lord worketh in many
ways to the salvation of his people.”
The third is in verse 30, where we discover that none of
those who laid down next to their dead enemies were Amalekites or Amulonites
(Nephite/Christian dissenters): THUS WE
CAN PLAINLY DISCERN that when people have the gospel and leave it
behind, they tend to be more hardened than before.
“And thus we can
plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit
of God and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and
then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened,
and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these
things.” (This is why the Lord
taught in parables so that not everyone could easily understand, why we are
required to have a temple recommend rather than just walk in, and why the harsh
warning is given in the temple movie by the devil. The Lord desires to protect the insincere or
uncommitted.)
THE REST OF THE STORY
The Lord did not leave the Anti-Nephi-Lehies there to be
continually killed by their brethren, though.
He commanded Ammon to take them back to live among the Nephites. The Nephites took them in joyfully and
provided land and housing for them. And
Ammon and his companions, and Alma the Younger and his companion Amulek all had
a wonderful mission reunion at Alma’s place and bore testimony to each
other. Mormon saw fit to include Alma’s
testimony in Alma’s own words, in chapter 29:
“O that I were an angel!”
Why would Alma wish to be an angel? Because his own conversion was wrought so
powerfully by the visit of an angel, bringing him afterwards incredible
joy. Why did he say that he “sinned” in
this wish to be an angel? (Alma
29:3.) First, because he does not lack
anything that an angel has, except a glorified and commanding presence. As we have read many times in these passages,
he and the other missionaries had the Spirit of Prophecy (the Word contained in
the scriptures and testimonies of the prophets), the Spirit of Revelation
(personal knowledge from God and of God), and the Priesthood (the power of God
on earth). (Alma 17:3). And second, because it is not the Lord’s purpose
to teach the whole world at once through one personage, as Alma desired, but to
teach each nation as it is prepared to receive the word by the people of their
own nation that all may rejoice together.
(Alma 29:7-8.) And anyway, the
converts viewed their missionaries as angels sent from God to save them (27:4).
We also, in our efforts at home and abroad, both by
ourselves and through the works and words of our children and students, can do
the work of angels. If we do so, we can,
as Alma says (29:17), “sit down in the kingdom of God” with “those who are the
fruits of our labors.” We can, through
the Atonement, effect change in our lives and theirs that will be permanent, “that
they may go no more out, but that they may praise him forever.”
