To Access This Blog's Index, Please Scroll Down To the Fifth Paragraph From the End of This Post!
****
TODAY'S THEME
 |
Helaman's 2000 Stripling Warriors -by Arnold Friberg |
After the conversion of King Lamoni and his Queen, many of the other (Lamanite) citizens of their land were quickly converted thanks to their conversion. The Prophet Mormon, using the record he accessed from the Large Plates of Nephi, tells us of the Queen's conversion [which occurred in in about 90 B.C.]
Alma 19:
27 And there were some who said that Ammon was sent by the Great Spirit to afflict them because of their iniquities; and that it was the Great Spirit that had always attended the Nephites, who had ever delivered them out of their hands; and they said that it was this Great Spirit who had destroyed so many of their brethren, the Lamanites.
28 And thus the contention began to be exceedingly sharp among them. And while they were thus contending, the woman servant who had caused the multitude to be gathered together came, and when she saw the contention which was among the multitude she was exceedingly sorrowful, even unto tears.
29 And it came to pass that she went and took the queen by the hand, that perhaps she might raise her from the ground; and as soon as she touched her hand she arose and stood upon her feet, and cried with a loud voice, saying: O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell! O blessed God, have mercy on this people! (emphasis edded)This dramatic conversion of a Lamanite Queen was the first of many other conversions among her Lamanite people who had previously had nothing to do with their close relatives, the Nephites and with their belief in Jesus Christ who was to come! This was true both with Lamanite men and women, fathers and mothers and their children!
One of the most significant outcomes of this great conversion of Lamanite families [which occurred in about 65 B.C.]: is described by Mormon:
Alma 56: 1 AND now it came to pass in the commencement of the thirtieth year of the reign of the judges, on the second day in the first month, Moroni (A Nephite General) received an epistle from Helaman, (Another Nephite Army Officer) stating the affairs of the people in that quarter of the land.
2 And these are the words which he wrote, saying: My dearly beloved brother, Moroni, as well in the Lord as in the tribulations of our warfare; behold, my beloved brother, I have somewhat to tell you concerning our warfare in this part of the land.
3 Behold, two thousand of the sons of those men whom Ammon brought down out of the land of Nephi—now ye have known that these were descendants of Laman, who was the eldest son of our father Lehi;
4 Now I need not rehearse unto you concerning their traditions or their unbelief, for thou knowest concerning all these things—
5 Therefore it sufficeth me that I tell you that two thousand of these young men have taken their weapons of war, and would that I should be their leader; and we have come forth to defend our country.
6 And now ye also know concerning the covenant which their fathers made, that they would not take up their weapons of war against their brethren to shed blood.
7 But in the twenty and sixth year, when they saw our afflictions and our tribulations for them, they were about to break the covenant which they had made and take up their weapons of war in our defence.
8 But I would not suffer them that they should break this covenant which they had made, supposing that God would strengthen us, insomuch that we should not suffer more because of the fulfilling the oath which they had taken.
9 But behold, here is one thing in which we may have great joy. For behold, in the twenty and sixth year, I, Helaman, did march at the head of these two thousand young men to the city of Judea, to assist Antipus, whom ye had appointed a leader over the people of that part of the land.
10 And I did join my two thousand sons, (for they are worthy to be called sons) to the army of Antipus, in which strength Antipus did rejoice exceedingly; for behold, his army had been reduced by the Lamanites because their forces had slain a vast number of our men, for which cause we have to mourn. (clarification and emphasis added)These 2060 young Lamanite warriors had been prepared by their mothers (who by the example of their queen, had been converted to Jesus Christ). This is what was written about how well their mothers had prepared their sons:
Alma 56: 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. (emphasis added)The following describes how effective the teachings of their (converted to Christ) mothers were in the words of these young warriors:
Alma 57:19 But behold, my little band of two thousand and sixty fought most desperately; yea, they were firm before the Lamanites, and did administer death unto all those who opposed them.
20 And as the remainder of our army were about to give way before the Lamanites, behold, those two thousand and sixty were firm and undaunted.
21 Yea, and they did obey and observe to perform every word of command with exactness; yea, and even according to their faith it was done unto them; and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them.
22 And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.
23 And we retained our city Cumeni, and were not all destroyed by the sword; nevertheless, we had suffered great loss.
24 And it came to pass that after the Lamanites had fled, I immediately gave orders that my men who had been wounded should be taken from among the dead, and caused that their wounds should be dressed.
25 And it came to pass that there were two hundred, out of my two thousand and sixty, who had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God, and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of our whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish; yea, and neither was there one soul among them who had not received many wounds.
26 And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain.
27 Now this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually. (emphasis added)
I now quote from part of verse 21 above: "and I did remember the words which they said unto me that their mothers had taught them."On Sunday May 9th of this year Mother's Day was celebrated in this country (U.S.A.). I neglected to mention that in the post that I published about the time of that U.S. national holiday. It can be said that with today's post I helped each of you readers celebrate it. I was somewhat late, but Motherhood is so important, be it the Lamanite Mothers about whom we learned in today's post and in Post 40o, or the wonderful mothers we have or are married to or that you are!
___________
With much Love and Respect to You Wonderful Mothers Who May Be Reading this Post! Please take the time to view this Mormon Message Video.
There is just one other post-script I will add. Today, July 2, 2010 it was announced on the evening Television News that Arnold Friberg, the well-known artist who painted the painting I used at the beginning of this post, died today at age 96. The TV reporter told about how much energy and feeling Brother Friberg, an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints put into each of his paintings. I have used six of his Book of Mormon paintings in various posts. He gained much fame by his prize winning paintings used in the award winning Movie, "The Ten Commandments" created by Cecil B. De Mille.
Here is perhaps his most famous painting: Prayer at Valley Forge which Arnold Friberg painted for the celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial on July 4, 1976. For those of you viewing this post who live in other countries I should point out that the general who is praying for God's help in his battle for his country which became the U.S.A. is General George Washington who became its first president!
Thank you for your viewing this blog post! May the Lord bless you! By the way, the day after tomorrow is July 4, American Independence Day, so Happy Fourth of July to all of you Americans! Good wishes to the rest of you when you celebrate the holiday that you might have which is similar to our Independence Day. I wish I knew when those each are celebrated.
Neil Birch
____________
TO ACCESS NEIL BIRCH'S BLOG INDEX To Either Read the Full Index Item Which Refers To This Blog Post (Or to Search The Index For Any Other Blog Post You desire To Access), After You Have Read All of This Paragraph,Please Click on the Following: Mothers, Their Great Role in Our Lives - Post 40q When the Picture of Our Savior, Jesus Christ Sitting Next to the Little Boy, Comes Onto Your Screen, Please Scroll Down In The Index To Your Target Item Or Use the Alphabetical Scrolling Device (When It Has Been Installed).
__________
"Have You Really Read the Book of Mormon?" Legal /Statement. Thank you for visiting. The author retains intellectual property and creative licensing rights. Permission to use or reprint must be given in writing. © Est.2008 Neil Birch Legal /Statement.
_____________
I deeply appreciate your readership and hope you found very beneficial, that which was presented to you in this blog post.
If you have any questions about what you have read or viewed in this post or in any previous posts of mine, or if you even have a curiosity about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and or its teachings, please e-mail me. I'm Neil and my e-mail address is: jneilmelva@gmail.com. If you contact me I'll get back to you just as soon as possible.
I invite you to let your friends and relatives know about this blog if you think they would be interested. Please be advised that I also have an additional blog. It is in Spanish: Its content is translated from the English in this blog.
Neil Birch
