Chapter 4

I was reading the "tweener" chapters of Enos through the Words of Mormon the other day. Those are the ones I've too often overlooked and passed through rather quickly. They feel like a transition period and I believe I maybe zone out too much. Well, this time while going through it, a couple of things jumped out at me. I was intrigued with Enos, Jarom and others in those chapters referring to the stiffnecked Nephites. Stiffnecked is one of those old, silly words we encounter in scriptures that just doesn't resonate with me too much. While I certainly have had many powerful experiences reading the scriptures, the archaic language does make it hard for me sometimes to really connect with the meaning. That's why I love the NLT for the bible. Makes it more impactful for me as I'm not some ancient language or Hebrew scholar who can consume it easily. Back to the point...

So Enos tells us the Nephites were a stiffnecked people, hard to understand. Well, I think I do get that description. After researching the meaning of stiffnecked, which is basically stubborn and difficult to lead, I can relate it a lot to my own world view today. People are becoming harder and harder for me to understand today. I'm not some old dude either who is just cranky and wants to talk about the good old days. Enos and others mention their people don't understand plainness, something Nephi earlier highlights and proclaims a good thing. I do think people today lack plainness. Have you heard a politician, the media, leading "authorities" in the secular and religious world, or other experts give a speech or talk? It's total rhetoric and circular illogic (not sure the right term for that...what I mean is dumbassery). They can speak for an hour and say nothing. The Kool-Aid drinkers on every side of a topic regurgitate the same thing when you try to have discussions with them. They think they're so smart because they use big words their college professors used, but lack any substance or meaning in the message.

Were the Nephites any different? I look at the pride, stubbornness, and arrogance of the Nephites and see a lot of similarities in Americans today. I think I can feel the frustration more in Enos and Jarom's voices as I struggle with the same thing in my life. There is no plainness anymore. Basic truths have been twisted and mangled into pretzel logic. I admit, Americans have become very hard for me to understand. The priorities in people's lives and the focus of their time are so different than mine that's it's hard to bridge that gap. I try to seek first to understand, but now it scares me what I find when I understand. This is also true when dealing with those in my church. Basic truths that were brought into this dispensation by Joseph, such as our relationship with God, His nature, or faith have slowly eroded and morphed into a weird form of worship. We spend our Sundays at church now telling each other cute stories, affirming our fealty to leaders, repeating the same three experiences you had on your mission during EQ, and saying how everything is fine. We're all fine. You're fine. I'm fine. They're fine. All is well.

We are a wicked people living in a wicked time. Of that, I have no doubt. It was prophesied to be this way. It just sucks living through it. I understand why prophets must speak in plainness, prophesy of war or some time of destruction, and be harsh in the message. Anybody who brings me a wishy-washy, rhetoric filled talk or message is useless. It's not inspired and does nobody any good. Prophets threaten and warn. That's their job and what they're called to do. It's why they've been hated and scorned since the beginning of time. The Lord was pretty clear that if you follow him, you'll be hated. It's really a quick indicator to determine if someone is a true prophet. The Spirit needs to confirm, of course, but you get the point. You can immediately throw them out if they aren't crying repentance all the time. It amazed me during the pandemic how we didn't hear a word from the LDS church leaders calling us to repentance immediately and forcefully. Want to end something bad? Well, I've read the Book of Mormon a time or two and it seems to me that the first thing that needs to happen is the people need to repent and turn their hearts back to God. Simple formula. Shouldn't every priesthood key holder been crying repentance to their flocks from day one? I heard it from exactly none of them. All I heard was stay away from each other, wear a mask, and get a shot. The same thing my siblings, friends, doctors, veterinarians, Amazon drivers, politicians, astrologists, electricians, and TV talking heads were saying. Not very prophetic. I digress...

If I were to believe what I hear each week in Sunday School and sacrament meetings, we're all going to the Celestial kingdom because WE'RE...THAT...GOOD. We should all speak more in plainness. We're here to lift one another up and carry each other's burdens. You can't carry a burden that we pretend doesn't exist or lift someone who thinks they're already up high on Jacob's ladder. If somebody is suffering, what is the real cause of the suffering? Do they need an empty, hollow message or the truth? Do they need us to roll up our sleeves together and fix what's wrong? Where are the priesthood blessings? In every dispensation, there has been a battle with demons in people who need to be cast out. Has Satan stopped doing that? His peeps just decided not to possess and consume Adam and Eve's posterity anymore? We truly are deaf of the ears and blind of the mind.

Getting back to those Book of Mormon chapters, I found it very interesting that despite how wicked the prophets said the people were, they mention "they were strict in keeping the Law of Moses". Curious. So they're stubborn, stiffnecked, arrogant, proud, yet they were strict in keeping the Law of Moses. Not only that, but it also mentions they kept the Sabbath day holy. There must be an important lesson in there. Were they so fixated on the letter of the law, they forgot the why behind it? The deaf of the ears and blind of the mind comment makes more sense in that context. If your focus is on an established set of rules and checklist, you'll never look outside of that. You'll be too busy watching for changes to your checklist rather than looking at the needs of those around you and following the word of God to further His work. I think the stirring up to repentance is really important to shake us off the Law of Moses-type of checklists we live by. We get so caught up in the rules (or handbook, in the case of LDS folks), we miss the meaning behind the law. Prophetic calls to repentance should shake our foundation and reset us back to following the Spirit. If we seek it out, God will show you your weaknesses. Of that, I can testify. And be ready when you ask because my experience is that he answers that question quicker than others.

I'm grateful for Enos and Jarom. I really enjoyed my journey through their days this time around. They must have been humble men too as they didn't try to add a lot. They said "it's all there, just do what Nephi and Lehi said". If they really wanted, they could have made more plates, but they loved plainness and felt the formula was simple enough for their posterity to follow. I'm glad I'm not the only one who wrestles with understanding people of their time. It hurts to see the wickedness around me and in myself. The more I learn, the more wickedness I see too. It's a real struggle to find my place in this world. I have inner turmoil because I want to escape it and just move away from everybody, but I know that's not what the Lord wants. He needs servants in His vineyard. He invites all to join His work and I want to help, even I'm unprofitable. While I'm pretty useless, I do what I can to help Him as I learn line upon line. I invite all to join His work, but it's gotta start with wanting to know Him and repenting. Even though I may react negatively when I'm called to repentance sometimes by others, I do appreciate every person who calls me out because in the end, I am a wicked man and need the truth and harshness to keep me on the straight and narrow.