2.262 Nephi Had Said These Words... and They Were Angry

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, a bold reminder that our lives are meant to carry his flavor, his truth, and his love to the world. Join me each day to explore one verse of scripture and one thought, striving to stay full of savor and truly live as savory salt. Hello, my friends.

It's great to have you with me. Today, let's be anxiously engaged in a good cause and bring to pass much righteousness. Seventy percent.

We have moved into 70% of reading the Book of Mormon. Congratulations on your path there. I am so grateful for my choice to include the Book of Mormon as a regular part of my life in daily study and in my life as a Christian.

I hope that you are experiencing many of the same things that I am in terms of my testimony growing, the Spirit in more abundance in my life, changing my life decisions and the direction I go. We are reading this week Doctrine and Covenants, sections 102 to 105, as well as Helaman chapters 8 through 12. And I said it before, I continue to say it: the Book of Helaman just seems to accelerate.

And when I think of today and the word "hasten," as we've been told by our prophet and apostles, the Lord is hastening His work, I think of what happens inside of the Book of Helaman. So, let's take a look today and the next couple of days, through the rest of this week, inside of the Book of Helaman, chapters 8 through 12. Our verse for today is going to come right on the front end of our reading in Helaman, chapter 8, Verse 1.

Verse 1. And just to get the context here, in case you're just, you know, kind of catching up from Helaman. In Helaman 7, Nephi was praying on the tower, and the people came, and they're like, 'What are you doing?' And he started to preach repentance to the people and he tried to tell them that they needed to turn to the Lord.

And then there was kind of some chaos and frustration. And then we turn to Chapter 8. So, that's kind of what's happening here when we get to this Verse 1 here.

It says, 'And now it came to pass that when Nephi had said these words'—the ones in Chapter 7—'behold, there were men who were judges, who also belonged to the secret band of Gadianton. And they were angry, and they cried out against him, saying unto the people, "Why do you not seize upon this man and bring him forth, that he may be condemned according to the crime which he has done?"' Now, this is a really interesting, especially in terms of kind of the time of this recording and the events that are happening in the world today. There's a big question mark when it comes to the speech that Nephi is giving here: Is he allowed to give it?

Is he committing crimes as he does so? And we read in Verse 3, he spoke nothing contrary to the commandments of God. And yet here these people are interpreting it and saying that he has committed crimes against the people.

You know, it's interesting. It got me thinking about the role that the Church plays in trying to preserve the freedom of speech, especially inside of America as a foundation here, but really the concept of the freedom of speech. And it really plays two roles for sure.

You see, the freedom of speech allows people to say the vilest of things and share the vilest and darkest of thoughts. But the freedom of speech also allows the testimony of Jesus Christ to be shared openly with all those who would listen. Isn't it interesting that Nephi chose to use his freedom of speech to testify, to invite those to come unto Jesus Christ, and was still rejected?

My friends, it's important for us to share, through our freedoms of speech, our testimonies in Jesus Christ. Invite others to come unto Him to experience that. And there may very well be times in our experiences when others are angry because of the words that we share.

Do so with love. Do so with the Spirit in your life. And do it in a way that Nephi does that invites others to come unto Jesus Christ.

I am grateful that at least where I live in my country, we experience the freedom of speech. It does mean that we hear and see vile things being taught publicly, but it also opens the door and is vital to the spreading of the gospel of Jesus Christ to allow us to share those things which are light, which invite the Spirit, and which allows us to bear testimony of a living Jesus Christ. Something worth thinking about as we dive into these chapters in Helaman for sure.

That's all for today, my friends. Lift up your hearts and rejoice. Cleave unto the covenants you have made, and together we will be savory salt. We'll see you next time.