Helaman 7

Chapter 7 is short, but it shows exactly how the Nephites were progressing towards destruction. Here we read of the seeds of destruction beginning to grow stronger.

In verse 5, we read that the GR have infiltrated the government completely and how they condemn the righteous because they are righteous. Meanwhile, the guilty are set free because of their money. In today's terms, the guilty are set free because they can afford the most devious lawyers.

As I am thinking of this, I am reminded of the Lord's statement that says that when the majority of the people are wicked, then they are ripe for destruction (see Alma 10:19; Helaman 5:2). Just this summer, the Supreme Court ruled that sodomy was legal (Lawrence v. Texas). Here in the great state of Texas, we had a law that made sodomy illegal. When two men were caught, they were arrested and fined. They in turn sued the State of Texas since they felt they did not have equal rights as heterosexual couples. The suit went all the way to the Supreme Court. The SC should have sent it back to Texas to let the people of Texas decide, but the SC wanted to make a political statement. They decided to make sodomy legal. Now, as part of their decision, they stated that the general sentiment of public opinion of what you do in the privacy of your own home is private and that the government cannot dictate what you do therein. The fact that the SC rules according to general sentiment of the public is another debate. But the point that I'm making here is that to some degree, what the SC judges as the general sentiment of the public is generally an accurate assessment. If you can gage what the SC rules on morality as the morality of the citizens, then we are heading for a ripening of destruction. Now, since this decision came out, the Congress and the President are working on a measure to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman We are in a point in history where we have to define marriage in terms of sex whereas the sex of the two people getting married has always been implied.

At the same time we are faced with these moral issues, I think and feel that many people are becoming firmer in keeping the commandments rather than slipping into the moral decline that the rest of the world seems to be heading to. I think an accurate way to describe these stalwart people is found in Helaman 7:7. They are "easy to be entreated, firm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity … quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord."

Just as God's work and glory is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of man, Satan's goal is to "hurl away [our] souls down to everlasting misery and endless wo" (verse 16).

Lastly, the word 'repent' is repeated 9 times in the last 12 verses.