Covenant Keepers
2000 stripling warriors went to battle against the Lamanites; by
some estimates some of these boys could have been as young as twelve, and not
older than twenty.
The Lamanites were a wicked and a ferocious people. Heleman says
of the Lamanites, “their forces had slain a vast number of our men, for which
cause we have to mourn.” He said of the army of Antipas, who were Nephites, who
had fought valiantly against these Lamanites, “thus they had suffered great
afflictions of every kind. And now they were determined to conquer in this
place or die.”
Can you imagine going up to battle against such a wicked foe?
Especially some of you young men in the audience? Mothers can you imagine sending your sons to
battle these Lamanites?
The leader of the Lamanite army, Ammoron, told the Lamanite
warriors to hold their ground and defend the cities they had overtaken. When
they saw Heleman’s two thousand stripling warriors coming to help Antipus, and
then the seeing provision’s arriving, and then two thousand more warriors from
Zarahemla, they were compelled by the orders of Ammoron to not come against the
Nephites to battle,” but to stand their ground
But “…the Lamanites, seeing their forces increase and provisions
arrive, became fearful.” They wanted to put an end to it.
Antipus, decided to use these two thousand stripling warriors as
bait. They were going to go forth as if to receive more supplies. When the
Lamanite’s army followed them, Antipus’s Nephite army would come up on the rear
and over taking them.
These sons of Heleman passed by, and the Lamanite army took the
bait.
The sons of Heleman fleed before them. We read in Alma 56:37 of the
Lamanites, “it was their intent to slay us before Antipus should overtake them,
and this that they might not be surrounded by our people.”
These young men ran for their lives. It became dark so the
Lamanite army didn’t over take them. But before the dawn of the morning, the
Lamanites began pursing them again. Heleman said about this pursuit, “He would
not turn to right nor to the left, lest they should overtake them. They did flee
all day into the wilderness until it was dark.” Can you imagine running for
your life all day, getting very little sleep and running all day again? Helaman
then says, “The morning came and the Lamanites were upon them.” They did not
pursue them far before they halted. These boys had litterly been running for
their lives for three day and two nights. Can you imagine the pure exhaustion
you would feel? You know they didn’t get much sleep at night, knowing, as the
scriptures say, “the most powerful Lamanite army” was waiting to destroy them.
Now listen as I read some of the most
beautiful words of faith ever written. Reading directly from Alma 56: 43-46
43 And now, whether they, the Lamanites,
were overtaken by Antipus we knew not, but I said unto my men: Behold, we know
not but they have halted for the purpose that we should come against them, that
they might catch us in their snare;
(They didn’t know whether or not the Lamanites were just trying to
entrap them.) Helaman goes on.
44 Therefore what say ye, my sons, will
ye go against them to battle?
45 And now I say unto you, my beloved
brother Moroni, that never had I seen so
great courage, nay, not amongst
all the Nephites.
46 For as I had ever called them my sons
(for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father,
behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let
us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone;
therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.
47 Now they never had fought, yet they
did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea,
they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt,
God would deliver them.
48 And they rehearsed unto me the words
of their mothers, saying: We do not
doubt our mothers knew it.
What happened to these son’s of Heleman after this
great battle with this ferocious army?
Heleman
writes..
56 But
behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth;
yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to
have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they
fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did
the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.
Mothers are powerful. When I read those words, “we do not doubt
our mothers knew it!,” the first question that comes to my mind is how? Where
did this courage come from? How did their mother’s know it? How did they
testify so boldly that their words sank deep into their children’s hearts? I
want to be that kind of mother. I want to raise son’s that will not doubt
because I know. For are we not in a battle today, maybe not of swords and
spears but of good and evil.
Listen to the words of Elder Bruce R. McConkie
nearly 43 years ago:
“As members of the Church, we are engaged in a
mighty conflict. We are at war. We have enlisted in the cause of Christ to
fight against Lucifer. …
“The great war that rages on every side and which
unfortunately is resulting in many casualties, some fatal, is no new thing. …
“Now there neither are nor can be any neutrals in
this war.”5
Today the war continues with increased intensity.
The battle touches us all, and our children are on the front lines facing the
opposing forces. Thus, the need intensifies for us to strengthen our spiritual
strategies.
We are to liken all scriptures unto are selves, so how did these
mothers’s prepare their children for the battle ahead? How can we be prepared,
so our children can face their battles as heroically as these two thousand
young men?
What manner of women were
they? Well we do know some things about them? They were converts to the gospel
of Jesus Christ and prior to their conversion, we read in Alma 23:3, they felt
no brotherly kindness; they murdered, plundered, stole, and committed adultery
and all manner of wickedness. The
Nephites said of them in Alma 26:24, their days had been spent in the grossest
iniquity; their ways were the ways of the transgressor. But, when Ammon and his
brethren, missionaries, brought knowledge and truth to their lives, they were
converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and never fell away. In Alma 23:7 we
read “for they became a righteous people; and they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they
did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.
The people lamented through the words of their king…”Alma 24:15 Oh,
how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could
do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them
away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day,
or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that
we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted
his word unto us and has made us clean thereby.”
17…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.
18 And this they did, it being in their view a testimony to
God, and also to men, that they never would use weapons again for the
shedding of man’s blood; and this they did, vouching
and covenanting with God…
They made covenants. They lived up to their covenants. Shortly after making this covenant the Lamanites came upon them. For we all know, once a covenant is made Satan sweeps in to test our resolve. What did these people, who called themselves the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s do? They had just covenanted before God that they would not lift up their sword. They didn’t know what would happen if they refused to fight. The Lamanites would slaughter them certainly but perhaps even their wives and children. It was the intent of the Lamanites to “destroy the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi.” These wives and mothers knew, as they sent their husbands out toward the Lamanites, with a resolve to keep these covenants, what the outcome could be. Not just for their husbands, but quite possibly for themselves and their children. I want you to feel these people’s faith in and love of God as I read these words.
21 Now
when the people saw that, the 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.
The Lamanites slew 1,005 of these Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s
before the Lamanites “hearts had swollen in them and they repented and threw
down their weapons of war.”
Now that is faith!
Because of their faithfulness in keeping their
covenants, the Lord made this promise to them in Alma 27:12 …blessed are this
people in this generation for I will
preserve them.
These men and women of faith made and kept covenants
with God. There children were preserved because of them. Elder Jeffery R..
Holland taught, “When we talk about covenant keeping, we are talking about the
heart and soul of our purpose in mortality”. That is how these mothers knew it.
They lived it? Years later when they needed too, they could draw upon the power
of those covenants. They could be bold in telling their sons that because of
their father’s sacrifice in keeping their covenants that they would be
preserved and protected.
We are all carrying weapons of rebellion that we
must lay down in order to preserve and protect the rising generation. We must
walk up to every covenant we make. Most in this room have made their baptismal
covenants. What is the covenant? To keep his, the Father’s, commandments.
Always remember him, Jesus Christ. And take his name upon us. What is the
blessing? We will always have his spirit to be with us. To continually be
empowered and lead by a member of the God head. Could there be a greater reward
for so little a cost? To have peace in this life! To be taught by a member of
the Godhead. For it was the Savior himself that said, “the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you.” So keep the commandments, remember him always and do all in your power to
become more like him. If you fail, rely on the atonement of Jesus Christ, and
try again. The laying down of your weapons of rebellion and keeping your
covenants will bring greater blessings than you can now imagine. I testify to
you that making and keeping covenants is a sacred privilege that brings great
blessings. We are never more like our Savior than when we do so, for he was the
perfect covenant keeper. I love this gospel more than life. I love my Savior. I
love the Holy Ghost. I love my mother who has always been the perfect example
of a covenant keeping woman. I love the scriptures, especially the Book of
Mormon. I know it is the word of God. I feel closer to him and more like his
son when I read the words of that sacred book. In the name of his beloved son,
Jesus Christ, amen.
