Helaman 10-12

Helaman 10-12

A Famine

Helaman 10:1-11

• After the scene with the murder of the chief judge, the people all go their own ways and leave Nephi standing on the road by himself

• Nephi makes his way home pondering the events of the day and hears THE VOICE OF THE LORD saying: Nephi you are blessed, you’ve been a good missionary, you haven’t been afraid, you haven’t been weary, you will be blessed and you will be mighty

• "All things will be done according to thy word" because the Lord knew Nephi would not ask anything contrary to the Lord’s will

Helaman 10:12-18

• Nephi is given POWER to smite the earth with famine/destruction if needed

• Nephi is given POWER to SEAL and to LOOSE on earth and in heaven

• Nephi is given POWER to bless or to curse in the name of God

• NEPHI DOES NOT GO HOME he TURNS AROUND and GOES BACK TO THE PEOPLE! (v12)

• Some people still didn’t believe him, even after they witnessed the whole thing with the murder of the chief judge

• They tried to toss him in prison, but couldn’t get their hands on him. Some believed him, some did not, and they started to fight each other over it with the sword.

Helaman 11:1-8

• The 71st year starts out with so much war in the land that Nephi prays for a famine just so that the people would stop killing each other and turn to the Lord for help.

• By the 75th year so many people are dying from the famine that the people begin to remember the Lord and the words of Nephi. (IT TOOK FIVE YEARS!)

• The people “plead with their chief judges...that they would say unto Nephi; ...cry unto the Lord our God that he turn away from us this famine, lest all the words which thou hast spoken be fulfilled.” THEY RECOGNIZED Nephi’s power and authority from God.

Helaman 11:9-19

• The judges go to Nephi and say “hey, Nephi, would you please ask God to end the famine?” Nephi “saw that the people had repented and did humble themselves” so he prayed and asked the Lord to end the famine. "Thou seest that they have repented, because of the famine, and the pestilence...and now wilt thou turn away thine anger…?” (v15)

• In the 76th year the Lord “did turn away his anger from the people, and caused that rain should fall upon the earth” and the famine ended, and the people REJOICED and GLORIFIED GOD and did esteem Nephi “as a great prophet.” 

• Hey, in verse 19 we finally hear something about Lehi…”Lehi was not a whit behind him as to things pertaining to righteousness.” Okay. 

Helaman 11:20-38

• Some who had gone to the Lamanites years earlier came back and stirred up problems, and before too long, (v26) “they became an exceedingly great band of robbers” who actively sought out the oaths and plans of Gadianton. 

• The people sent an army to destroy the Gadianton robbers but they were driven back

• In the 81st year they tried again and failed to destroy them “the robbers did wax strong and defy the whole armies of the Nephites and of the Lamanites” 

• The chapter ends in the 85th year and the people are prideful and strong in iniquity and not mending their ways.

Helaman 12:1-3

• THUS WE SEE: the Lord will bless and prosper those who put their trust in him

• AND WHEN HE DOES (when their fields, flocks, herds, gold, silver, art, etc prosper), that is when they usually begin to harden their hearts and FORGET HIM

• AND THEN he has to CHASTEN THEM with afflictions (which are usually natural consequences)

Helaman 12:4-8

• PRIDE:

  foolish, vain, evil, devilish, quick to do iniquity, slow to do good, quick to hearken to the words of the evil one, quick to be lifted up in pride, quick to boast, slow to remember God

• These adjectives are the OPPOSITE of...

Moroni 7:44-45

• CHARITY

• "...if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.

  
  

  And a charity suffereth long, and is bkind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

  
  

Helaman 12:7-21

• “How great is the nothingness of the children of men…” the dust of the earth obeys God!

• The hills and mountains obey the voice of God, the whole earth shakes at his voice. If He commands it to go back or go forward, it obeys. The waters obey his voice.

• If a man buries a treasure in the earth and the Lord wishes it hidden, the earth will obey and hide it, and the Lord can cut a man off from his presence if he will not obey him. 

• But if a man will repent he will NOT be cut off but will be saved and blessed forever

  
  

Multiple Choice

As Nephi heads home pondering the events around the murder of the chief judge, he hears the voice of the Lord and is given power to do many things in the name of the Lord. Which of the following things do we NOT read he is given power to do?

• Seal and loose things on earth and in heaven

• smite the earth with a famine

• build temples

• bless or curse in the name of God

Multiple Choice

True or False: The people threw Nephi into prison

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

What curse did Nephi ask the Lord to bring upon the people instead of a war?

• drought

• famine

• plague of locusts

• turned the river to blood

Multiple Choice

How long did the famine last?

• 2 years

• 3 years

• 4 years

• 5 years

Multiple Choice

In 11:19 who do we FINALLY get an update on?

• Moroni

• Lehi

• Helaman

• Ceezoram

Multiple Choice

They never learn! Some of the people actually went out and looked for the oaths and plans of...

• The Gadianton Robbers

• The Church

• The Band of Kishkumen

• The Order of Nehors

Open Ended

At the end of chapter 12 we read that the mountains and the water and the very earth obey the voice of God, and that if man would obey, he would be saved. In your own words, thinking about the pattern we have been reading about in these chapters, what do you think often keeps people from repenting, or from remembering to be grateful when they are prospering?