The Lord’s law of
prospering is basically this: Those whom
the Lord leads to the land of promise will prosper if they keep His commandments. If they do not keep the commandments, they
will be cut off from His presence and swept off the land when their iniquity is
full. This
law is taught plainly in the Book of
Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, and it is taught over and over
again from the beginning of the book to the end of it. “Inasmuch
as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper in the land; but inasmuch as
ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence” (2 Nephi
1:20).
Just prior his death, Father
Lehi, a great ancient American prophet, spoke to his entire family. He prefaced his remarks with this
statement: “We have obtained a land of promise, a land
which is choice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath
covenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land unto
me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be led out of
other countries by the hand of the Lord.
“Wherefore, I, Lehi prophesy
according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall none
come into his land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.
“Wherefore, this land is consecrated
unto him whom he shall bring. And if it
so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath
given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be
brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if
iniquity shall abound cursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the
righteous it shall be blessed forever” (2
Nephi 1:5-7).
The scriptures are rich with
examples of how the Lord is willing to give his people the riches of the earth
when they do His will. He requires His
people to demonstrate their willingness to use their abundant blessing with
prudence, humility, charity, and gratitude.
When His people keep His commandments, God blesses them in many ways and
often with material prosperity; however, the law of prospering is more than
physical well-being or material things.
Fourth Nephi describes the
people of Nephi following the visit of the Savior, even Jesus Christ, to the
American continent. The people repented
of their sins; they were baptized and then received the Holy Ghost. All the people in the land, both Nephites and
Lamanites, were “converted unto the Lord” and “there were no contentions and
disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.
“And they had all things common
among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were
all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.
“And it came to pass that the
thirty and seventh year passed away also, and there still continued to be peace
in the land” (4 Nephi 1:2-4).
The Lord prospered the people “exceedingly”
all through the land. They built great
cities. They became “strong and did
multiply exceedingly” and became “delightsome.”
They were married and given in marriage; they were content with their
lives.
“And it came to pass that there
was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell
in the hearts of the people.
“And there were no envyings, nor
strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of
lasciviousness; and surely there could
not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand
of God.
“There were no robbers, nor
murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of –ites; but they were
in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God” (4 Nephi15-17;
emphasis added).
I was studying these scriptures
at the same time the Democrats and the Republicans were negotiating the
reopening of the federal government. I
could not help but compare the two situations.
I mentioned to a friend that the U.S. Constitution is made for a “moral
and religious” people (John Adams) and does not work with evil people, and he
became indignant that I would call anyone evil simply because we disagree politically.
I did not have the opportunity to explain
that I was not speaking of any person in particular but our nation as a
whole. There is evil in our nation in
the form of secret combinations, and this evil is causing great “contention,” “envyings,”
“lyings,” “strifes,” and “tumults” – even “whoredoms” and “murders.”
How can we expect to “prosper”
as a nation when we have so much evil among us?
I appreciate those politicians who continue to speak about issues and
refuse to call their opponents names, but there is far too much contention and
division. It is obvious from the above
scriptures that our nation is doing things wrong. We are doing the right thing when we take care
of the poor and needy among us, but we could extinguish poverty completely if we would turn to Jesus Christ.
Elder Dean A. Larson of the Presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy spoke
about the law of prospering to the priesthood brethren. “It is one thing to look back upon the events
of history. It is another to regard our
own time. We have the Lord’s assurance
that he will bless and prosper his people if they will keep his commandments
and remember to look to him as the source of their blessings.
“On the other hand, we must not
forget that these blessings are conditional. As King Limhi warned his people, `For behold,
the Lord hath said: I will not succor my
people in the day of their transgression; but I will hedge up their ways that
they prosper not; and their doings shall be as a stumbling block before them
(Mosiah 7:29). …
“As bearers of the priesthood to
whom the Lord has entrusted the leadership for his work, we must look carefully
at our own lives. And we must assess
honestly the level of faith and obedience of our people. Too many of the indicators are not encouraging. Only a small percentage of the Church members
worldwide are tithe payers today. For
many who live in conditions of material poverty, there may be no other way to
escape their impoverishment than to give obedience to this law. As I visit among the stakes of the Church, I
find it is not uncommon to discover that fewer than 50 percent of the
households are contributing to the fast offerings of the Church, and the trends
are not improving.
“We have reached a point where
more of our adult men are becoming prospective elders than are receiving the
Melchizedek Priesthood. About half of
the endowed members of the Church hold current temple recommends. Reports of other violations of the Lord’s law
are a source of concern.
“These indicators may seem to
carry a direful tone, but as Enos declared in the Book of Mormon, sometimes it
is necessary to resort to `exceedingly great plainness of speech’ (Enos
1:23). As the world continues to ripen
in iniquity, our lives of necessity must become increasingly different from the
world and its standard. It will be a
great challenge for us. We must be
better than we have ever been before. As
we succeed, we have the sure promise of the Lord that he will prosper us in
every way necessary for our well-being. That
is my faith and my testimony. But it is
a conditional promise. May we qualify
for its fulfillment in our lives and in our time….”
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