The Lamanites

We do not live in fear of the Lamanites.
We have not suffered from vicious Lamanite depravity.
The worst we, personally, have suffered from the Lamanites is some wicked good Indian Fry Bread.

The Nephites in the Book of Mormon had ‘good’ reasons to be angry with the Lamanites. Of course, I deliberately use quote marks around good in this instance. But my point is, we see things differently from the perspective of being 2 millennia later. All they knew was that their friends and family members were taken for human sacrifices.

But we also know the Lamanites, when converted, were FAR, FAR more faithful than the Nephites. The only reason the faithful survived at all, was because of the converted Lamanites. There is a good argument to be made that the Lamanites are the heroes of the Book of Mormon.

Now, let’s discuss current events. I will do this will all the grace I am capable of… so imagine rabid bulls in a china shop.

Right now, the Jews are hurting. They have been raped, slaughtered, and their bodies paraded around. And they are mad about it. I am just as angry. Death is too good for our enemies, etc.

But, if a malicious punk tries to lure you down a back alley, we might do well to look around us. No matter how much that punk deserves it.

I am also aware of the prophecy that there will be no peace in the Holy Land until the Prince of Peace comes. But I am not trying to rush anything. I have enough to handle as it is.

No, as much as Hamas deserves it, it is a trap to invade. Is the trap for us or for them or both? I don’t know.

The Book of Mormon, as it always does, gives us insight.

20 Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands.

21 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands.   3 Ne. 3:20-21

And this was about the Gadianton Robbers, an even less sympathetic group than the Lamanites.

As brutal and undeserving as this Hamas attack is, this feels like war propaganda, it feels like manipulation. It feels like a trap. It feels like more done for shock value than actual injury.

“There will be two great political parties in this country. One will be called the Republican, and the other the Democrat party. These two parties will go to war and out of these two parties will spring another party which will be the Independent American Party. The United States will spend her strength and means warring in foreign lands until other nations will say, “Let’s divide up the lands of the United States”, then the people of the U. S. will unite and swear by the blood of their fore-fathers, that the land shall not be divided. Then the country will go to war, and they will fight until one half of the U. S. army will give up, and the rest will continue to struggle. They will keep on until they are very ragged and discouraged, and almost ready to give up–when the boys from the mountains will rush forth in time to save the American Army from defeat and ruin. And they will say, ‘Brethren, we are glad you have come; give us men, henceforth, who can talk with God’. Then you will have friends, but you will save the country when it’s liberty hangs by a hair, as it were.” (Source: Autobiography of Mosiah Hancock, typescript, BYU-S. Compiled by Amy E. Baird, Victoria H. Jackson, and Laura L. Wassell (daughters of Mosiah Hancock).

The Hawks in government are getting worked up about war. I advise the Jews against it, and I strongly urge us NOT to go there. The Jews can handle their own problems.

Now, why did I mention the Lamanites? Because after they were converted, they were the ones preaching to the wicked Nephites. And in this metaphor, that would be us.

Because right now, what we hear sounds like:

23 Now do ye remember, my brethren, that we said unto our brethren in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephi, to preach unto our brethren, the Lamanites, and they laughed us to scorn?

24 For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? Now my brethren, ye remember that this was their language.

25 And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us.  Alma 26:23-25

No, if we attack, we will not be successful. Let us save any hostages, and then leave.
The purpose of the Lamanites, the Philistines, and the Palestinians, is to remind us to depend on God. The lesson here is trust in God.
If we merely try to crush our enemies and see them driven before us, we will fail.

I could say much more on the Lamanites, but I hope this will suffice.