Day 283 Beware the Forked Tongue of Deceptive Flattery

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells his followers that they are the salt of the earth, and in the same sentence offers a warning that savorless salt is good for nothing. Join me in an attempt to be savory salt as I share each day one verse of scripture and one small thought. Perhaps this small daily emphasis can lead to greater savor in your life and ultimately you and I can be savory salt.

Hello, my friends and family, wherever you're listening from. Thank you for joining me and know that I'm cheering for your every success. Beware the forked tongue.

Welcome to day 283 on our 365-day journey through the Book of Mormon together. Today, you're going to be reading 3 Nephi chapter 2, verses 4 through 19. You will finish chapter 2 and you'll begin 3 Nephi chapter 3, verses 1 through 4.

And that's where we're going to dive specifically into today. This is a letter exchange between Lachoneus and Giddianhi. If I'm saying those both correctly, I don't know.

I hope the pronunciation is forgiven. Giddianhi is the leader of the Gadianton robbers, and they have grown so strong that they've been able now to field an actual army against the Nephites. Inside of chapter 3 here our verse for today is 3 Nephi chapter 3, verse 2.

This is the beginning of the letter: "Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, behold, I write this epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of your firmness, and also the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty;" "Yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were supported by the hand of a God, in the defense of your liberty, and your property, and your country, or that which ye do call so." Now this is only a fraction of his letter. It continues to go here. And yet this one was interesting to me because this is kind of a double warning for us.

One, the way that we talk to others. And two, the way that others talk to us. You'll notice inside of here that, well, first you'll see by the end of the letter that Giddianhi has really no intention or respect for Lachoneus.

He has no intention of actually bringing him into his brotherhood at all. His full intent is the absolute destruction of Lachoneus and everyone else that defies him. And so he's not really looking for a partner.

He's not looking for a friend here. And yet the way that he speaks to him is so sprinkled with sugar and spice and everything nice, right? He starts out, "most noble and chief governor of the land." He's flattering him.

And that is a sign, that a warning for us there—like yellow flag if not red flag. You need to give exceedingly great praise because of your firmness. You know, a lot of times we hear messages that make us feel good on the outside.

And those messages are specifically designed to draw us in and ensnare us. And that's what's happening here. And then he switches into this prideful position, and you can almost hear the snobbery in his voice as he says, "'maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty.'" So Giddianhi doesn't buy into this right and liberty, this freedom of religion or anything that Lamanites and Nephites are fighting for.

He doesn't buy into it. And so he sneaks in these qualifying phrases here: "'that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty,' 'as if ye were supported by the hand of a God.'" He's not admitting that there's a presence of a God here. And we know the Lamanites and Nephites are upheld and protected by the Lord because of their covenant keeping.

And yet he doesn't want to admit that. And so he's going to add these little tiny, tiny disclaimers here. "'As if ye were supported by the hand of a God.'" This letter here is so telling of, for me, what I see in a lot of the sugar-coated messages that we have today. And yet, if you want to look at a stark contrast to that, take President Nelson and look at the way that he talks to the world.

He talks to us as followers of Christ and he talks to the world. And what does he encourage them to do? In his most recent conference talk, he encouraged us to spend time every week for the rest of our lives looking at the Atonement of Christ and how it plays a role in our lives.

That's what he encourages us to do. He speaks to us and encourages us to find joy through Jesus Christ. There's no flattery there.

There is a call to live a higher law. There's a call to be better. And I love the contrasting nature of these.

So, my friends, beware of the forked tongue. There are plenty in today's world that will give you the sugar and spice and everything nice with full intent to simply ensnare you and pull you away from the covenants that you have made. My friends, you and I are stronger and smarter than that and the Spirit can help us discern those forked tongues.

Keep your covenants, follow the Lord, follow his prophets, stay close to them and we too can avoid the forked tongue as tomorrow inside the reading you'll see the way Lachoneus does as well. That's all for today, my friends. Remember that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

Keep it small, keep it simple and always seek to be savory salt. I'll be here tomorrow and I hope you are too.