Helaman 12

From this story of the Nephites you can see how fickle the hearts of men can be. You can see how God blesses and provides prosperity for those who trust in him. You can also see how men who become prosperous when God gives them bountiful harvests, large flocks of livestock, and all kinds of riches, quickly forget God when things are easy. When God spares their lives and protects them from their enemies they are thankful for a moment, and then violate his good will while basking in their easy lives of wealth and safety. When they forget him, God reminds them of their tenuous hold on life by bringing them terrible wars, famines, and disease.

Men are foolish, vain, quick to sin, and slow to do good. They are quick to listen to the devil and become fixated on material things. They are quick to show their pride and be boastful, while they are slow to remember their God, to listen to his advice, and walk in the path of wisdom. They are often unwilling to let God, their creator, rule over them or guide them.

Men are less than the dust which obeys God’s commands. The mountains and hills obey God’s words. They tremble, shake, and are broken by the power of God’s voice. If he says to the earth, “Move,” it moves. If he says to the earth, “Stop, I want the day to be of longer duration,” that is what happens. For it is the earth’s movement, not the sun’s that determines the day’s length, all according to God’s word. If he ordered the oceans to dry up, it would be done. If he ordered a mountain to rise up and fall upon a city, it would happen, and the city would be buried. If a man hides his treasure and God orders that it be cursed because of the man’s sinfulness, it will be cursed and remain hidden from everyone forever. If he says to a man, “Because of your sinfulness you are cursed forever,” the man is forever cursed and cut off from God. Sorry is the man to whom this happens, for he can never be saved. And this is exactly what God will say to those who do not repent.

Blessed are those who listen to the voice of God and do repent. These are the men that will be saved. May God grant all men the opportunity to repent their sins, become reformed to goodness, and be restored to grace according to the acts in their lives. I hope that all men will be saved. But I have read that on the day of judgment many will be cast out from the presence of God. Those who are rejected by God will find themselves in a state of eternal misery. This will be the fulfillment of God’s words when he said, “Those who have done good will have life everlasting, and those who done evil will have everlasting damnation.” So it will be.