- 36My son, listen carefully. I promise you that to the extent you keep God’s commandments, you’ll prosper in the land. 2I want you to follow my example and always remember our ancestors’ captivity. Because when they were slaves no one could save them except for the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob — He certainly rescued them from their misery. 3Now Helaman my son, you are young, and I urge you to listen and learn what I tell you, because I’ve seen that anyone who puts their trust in God will have His assistance during their trials, troubles, and difficulties and will be saved on the last day. 4Don’t think I understand this just from what I’ve seen, because it isn’t the result of earthly experience alone but has been confirmed by the Spirit: not from the carnal mind but from God.
- 5Now I tell you: If I hadn’t been born of God, I wouldn’t have understood these things. Remember God revealed them to me by His holy angel, and not because I had done anything to be worthy of it. 6Indeed, I went with Mosiah’s sons trying to destroy God’s congregation. But God sent His holy angel to stop us while we were making trouble. 7He spoke to us as if with a voice of thunder — the whole earth shook beneath our feet. And we all fell to the ground because we all feared the Lord. 8But the voice said to me: Get up. And I stood up on my feet and saw the angel. 9And he said to me: End your efforts to destroy the congregation, unless you want to be destroyed!
- 10Then I fell to the ground, and I couldn’t open my mouth or use my limbs for three days and nights. 11And the angel said more things to me, which were heard by my companions, but I didn’t hear them. Because when I heard the words: End your efforts to destroy the congregation, unless you want to be destroyed! I was struck with such great fear and amazement thinking I might be destroyed, that I collapsed and didn’t hear anything else. 12But I was tortured with eternal torment — my soul suffered to the greatest extent and was tortured by guilt over all my sins. 13I remembered every sin and all my iniquities, and they tormented me with the pains of hell. Indeed, I could see my rebellion against God and that I hadn’t kept His holy commandments. 14And I had effectively murdered many of His children by leading them away to destruction — to be clear, my iniquities had been so overwhelming that the very thought of coming into the presence of God tortured my soul with inexpressible horror. 15I thought to myself: I wish I could vanish and cease all existence, both spirit and body, so I could avoid being brought to stand in the presence of God to be judged for my actions. 16And now I was tortured with the pains of a damned soul for three days and nights.
- 17And as I was tortured like this, while I was pained by the memory of my many sins, I also remembered hearing my father prophesy to the people about the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the world’s sins. 18Now as my mind took ahold of this thought, I cried out within my heart: O Jesus, Son of God, have mercy on me — I bitterly regret my life and I feel doomed to everlasting death. 19Now when I prayed this, I was released from my pains; indeed, I was no longer tormented by the memory of my sins. 20But then, I felt such joy, and I saw such light! My soul was filled with joy as great as had been my pains. 21Indeed, I tell you, my son, nothing is as intense and bitter as were my pains.
- But my son, on the other hand, from my experience there’s nothing as intense and sweet as was my joy. 22And then I thought I saw — just like our forefather Lehi saw — God sitting on His throne, surrounded by numberless rings of angels engaged in singing and praising Him. And my soul longed to be there. 23Then I recovered and my limbs got their strength back, and I stood on my feet and declared to the people that I had been born of God. 24And from then on I’ve worked nonstop to bring souls to repentance, to bring them to taste the great joy I tasted, so they can also be born of God and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
- 25And now, my son, the Lord has given me satisfying joy from the results of my labors. 26Because of the word He’s freely given me, many have been born of God and have experienced what I have, and have seen with their own eyes as I have. Therefore they understand the things I’ve taught, just as I know they’re true; and the knowledge I have comes from God. 27I’ve been strengthened in the face of every one of my trials and troubles, and in all my suffering. Indeed, God has rescued me from prisons, chains, and death — yes, I put my trust in Him and know He’ll always rescue me. 28I know He’ll raise me up on the last day to live with Him in glory, and I’ll praise Him forever. He brought our ancestors out of Egypt, and He drowned the Egyptians in the Red Sea, and He led them by His power into the promised land. He has freed them from slavery and captivity from time to time. 29He also led our ancestors out of the land of Jerusalem, and He has, by His everlasting power, freed them from slavery and captivity from time to time, all the way down to the present time. And I’ve always kept in mind their enslavement; and you also ought to remember their enslavement, as I have. 30But, my son, this isn’t everything. I promise you that to the extent you keep God’s commandments, you’ll prosper in the land; and I promise you that to the extent you don’t keep God’s commandments, you’ll be cut off from His presence. Now this is based upon His word.
- 37And now, my son Helaman, I command you to take the records that have been entrusted to me. 2And I also command you to maintain a record of this people on the plates of Nephi, in the same way I have, and keep these things sacred which I’ve protected, just as I’ve kept them sacred. They’ve been maintained and kept safe for a wise purpose. 3Also protect these brass plates containing these engravings, which have the records of the holy scriptures on them and our ancestors’ genealogy, from the very beginning. 4It has been prophesied by our forefathers that they’re to be maintained and kept safe and handed down from one generation to another, to be protected and preserved by the Lord until they’re published to all people of every nation, tribe, and language, to let them know of the mysteries they contain. 5Now if they’re protected and maintained, they’ll absolutely retain their brilliance. And they will do so! So will all the plates containing sacred writings.
- 6Now you may think that I’m being foolish. But I tell you great things are accomplished by ordinary, simple things. And simple methods, in many instances, prove the wise are wrong. 7The Lord God can use anything to accomplish His great and eternal purposes. And by very simple methods the Lord proves the wise wrong and accomplishes the salvation of many souls. 8Now it has been wisdom in God for these things to be kept safe until now. Because they’ve increased our people’s memory and convinced many of the error of their ways and brought them to the knowledge of God, for the salvation of their souls. 9Indeed, I tell you: If it weren’t for the things contained in the records on these plates, Ammon and his companions wouldn’t have convinced so many thousands of the Lamanites of their ancestors’ false traditions. It was these records and their content that brought them to repentance; that is, they let them know of the Lord who is God and to rejoice in Jesus Christ their Redeemer. 10And who knows whether they might turn out to be instruments in bringing many thousands more of them — and even many thousands of our stubborn fellow Nephites also, who are now hardening their hearts in sin and iniquities — to know of their Redeemer. 11Now I don’t fully know about that future, so I’ll stop there. 12It may be enough to simply say these records are kept safe for a wise purpose, a purpose that’s known to God. Because He wisely guides all His works, and His direction is straight and He moves continually in one eternal round.
- 13Remember, remember, my son Helaman, how strict God’s commandments are! He has said: To the extent you keep God’s commandments, you’ll prosper in the land; and to the extent you don’t keep God’s commandments, you’ll be cut off from His presence. 14And now remember, my son, that God trusts you with these sacred things, which He made sacred and which He’ll watch over and keep safe for His own wise purpose, to preserve His influence with future generations.
- 15Now I tell you by the spirit of prophecy that if you go against God’s commandments, you’ll lose these sacred things by God’s power and you’ll be handed over to Satan, and he’ll abuse you. 16But if you keep God’s commandments and guard these sacred things as the Lord commands you (and you should always ask the Lord about how to accomplish your responsibilities), then no power of earth or hell can take them from you, since God has the power to vindicate all His words. 17He’s sure to fulfill any promise He may make to you, since He’s kept the promise He made to our forefathers. 18He promised them He would protect these things to preserve His influence with future generations.
- 19And now He has fulfilled one purpose: that is, to restore thousands of Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth. He’s increased His influence with them. And He’ll likewise yet exert His influence through them to future generations. Consequently, they will be preserved. 20So I command you, my son Helaman, to be diligent in following all my words and diligent in keeping God’s commandments as they’re written.
- 21Now I’ll tell you about those 24 plates: You must keep them safe, so that the mysteries and their dark, secret schemes, the conspiracies of those people who were destroyed, can be revealed to this nation. They will need to hear about all their murders, robberies, plundering, wickedness, and abominations. And you must preserve these Directors. 22When the Lord saw His people began to fall into dark acts and to commit secret murders and abominations, the Lord warned that if they didn’t repent, they would be altogether annihilated from the earth. 23The Lord said: I’ll prepare a stone for My servant Gazelem that will bring their dark acts into the light, so I can expose for the people who serve Me the errors, depravity, and abominations of the earlier believers who fell into secret wickedness and dark works. 24And now, my son, these Directors were prepared to accomplish the prophecies of God, which He committed to have happen, saying: 25I’ll expose to public view, out of darkness into light, all their secret offenses and their abominations. And unless they repent, I’ll destroy them and annihilate them from the earth. And I’ll bring to light all their secrets and abominations to every nation who will inhabit the land after this. 26And now, my son, we see they didn’t repent; therefore they’ve been removed. And so far God’s word has been fulfilled; indeed, their secret abominations have been brought out of darkness and revealed to us.
- 27And now, my son, I command you to not publish all their oaths, covenants, and agreements used in their secret abominations; indeed, you must continue protecting this people from all their signs and conspiracies, so they don’t learn them, so they can’t risk falling into darkness as well, and also be destroyed. 28Remember, there’s a curse on all this land that any people who choose darkness until they’re fully ripe in iniquity, will be destroyed by God’s power. That being the case, I don’t want this people to be destroyed. 29So you must protect this people from these secret plans of their oaths and covenants. And only reveal to them the wickedness, murders, and abominations. You must teach them to reject and regard such wickedness, abominations, and murders with disgust. You must also teach them the reason those people were destroyed was due to their wickedness, abominations, and murders. 30Indeed, they murdered all the Lord’s prophets who came among them to condemn their iniquities. And the blood of those they murdered cried out to the Lord their God for vengeance upon their murderers. As a result, God’s judgments were imposed upon those who practiced that darkness and were part of the secret conspiracies. 31And may the land be cursed forever against those who work in darkness, to their utter destruction, unless they repent before they’re fully ripe.
- 32Now, my son, remember the words that I’ve spoken to you. Don’t entrust those secret plans to this people, but teach them an everlasting hatred for sin and iniquity. 33Preach to them repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Teach them to humble themselves and to be meek and humble in heart. Teach them to resist every temptation of the accuser with their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 34Teach them never to grow tired of doing good, but to be meek and humble in heart — because then they’ll find rest for their souls. 35Remember, my son, and learn wisdom while you’re young; indeed, learn to keep God’s commandments while you’re young. 36Cry to God in prayer — in all that you do — for help, strength, and comfort; and do everything you do for the Lord. And no matter where you go, go with the Lord. Direct all your thoughts to the Lord and always place your heart’s desires on the Lord. 37Consult the Lord in everything you do, and He’ll direct you for good. When you lie down at night, lie down directing your thoughts and feelings to the Lord, asking Him to watch over you in your sleep. When you get up in the morning, let your heart be full of thanks to God. And if you always do these things, you’ll be lifted up on the last day.
- 38Now, my son, I want to discuss the thing our forefathers called a ball or Director — or rather, they called it Liahona, which translates to a compass — that the Lord provided. 39And no one can accomplish such intricate workmanship. It was provided to point the way for our ancestors to travel in the wilderness. 40And it worked for them based on their faith in God. As a result, if they had faith to believe God would make the pins point the way to go, then it happened. Therefore they saw this miracle, and many other miracles, performed by God’s power day after day. 41However, even though those miracles let them accomplish miraculous things, they happened by ordinary methods and they got lazy, took it for granted, and neglected to exercise their faith and diligence. So then the miracles stopped, and they didn’t make progress in their journey. 42Then they wandered in the wilderness, no longer traveling a direct path, and suffered hunger and thirst due to their faithlessness.
- 43Now, my son, I want you to understand these things foreshadow coming events. As our ancestors were disinclined to pay attention to this physical compass, they didn’t advance; so it is with spiritual things. 44Because it’s the same thing to pay attention to Christ’s word, which will point out to you a straight path to eternal bliss, as it was for our ancestors to pay attention to this compass, which would point out to them a straight path to the promised land. 45I ask you: Isn’t the one symbolic of the other? Because just as surely as this Director brought our ancestors, by following the way it pointed, to the promised land, so will Christ’s word, if we follow the way it points, take us beyond this valley of tears into a much better promised land.
- 46My son, let’s not get lazy because the way is simple, because our ancestors were like that. They had the way opened for them; if they would just look, they could live. And it’s the same for us: the way is still open; and if we choose to look, we can live forever. 47And now, my son, please care for these sacred things. Indeed, see that you look to God and live. Go minister to this people and declare the word, and be serious in mind and purpose. Farewell my son.
Chapter 17
Alma’s commandments to his son Helaman.