DON'T COME DOWN FROM YOUR MOUNTAIN
Background: After Moroni's victory over Zarahemnah, a new group of dissenters rose up among the Nephites. This group, "lifted up on their hearts because of their exceedingly great riches," (Alma 45:24) was led by Amalickiah, "a large and a strong man" who "was desirous to be a king; and these people... were also desirous that he should be their king." (Alma 46:3,4). They governmental system among the Nephites had for many years been a system of elected judges, and based on individual freedom and liberty. Amalickiah wanted to be king because he wanted control over people. Not just the Nephites, but anyone he could get control over.
An artist's rendition of Amalickiah
Moroni sees the threat of Amalickiah and his movement, and takes measures against Amalickiah's followers, but Amalickiah and his most loyal followers realize that their future among the Nephites will not end well, and "fearing that he should not gain the point, he took those of his people who would and departed into the land of Nephi," where the Lamanites were. Moroni tries to stop them, but Amalickiah and "a small number of his men" escaped.
Now living among the Lamanites, Amalickiah immediately goes to work "and did stir up the Lamanites to anger against the people of Nephi, insomuch that the king of the Lamanites sent a proclamation throughout all his land, among all his people, that they should gather themselves together again to go to battle against the Nephites." Unfortunately for the Lamanite king, a good number of his soldiers remembered what happened to Zarahemnah, and "feared to go to battle against the Nephites lest they should lose their lives." "And it came to pass that they would not, or the more part of them would not, obey the commandments of the king."
So, the king gets mad, and gives Amalickiah command over the Lamanites who would be obedient, which is exactly what Amalickiah wants - power over people. "Now behold, this was the desire of Amalickiah; for he being a very subtle man to do evil therefore he laid the plan in his heart to dethrone the king of the Lamanites." By thinking that he had power over Amalickiah, the king began giving away his power to his enemy. Amalickiah's next goal was to gain control over the Lamanites who would not obey the king.
Those Lamanites had bugged out and took up a defensive position at the top of a mountain called Antipus, thinking that the obedient Lamanites were coming to fight them. But Amalickiah wanted "to gain favor with the armies of the Lamanites, that he might place himself at their head and dethrone the king and take possession of the kingdom." Amalickiah sets up camp at the base of the mountain, and sends "a secret embassy" up to the leader of the Lamanites at the top, named Lehonti, and asks Lehonti to come down to the camp to speak with Amalickiah. "And it came to pass that when Lehonti received the message he durst not go down to the foot of the mountain." Lehonti knew that it was suicide to go down, and his group was "fixed in their minds with a determined resolution" not to go to war with the Nephites. Amalickiah sends his people up a second and third time, each time getting the "fixed with a determined resolution" answer of "no."
An artist's rendition of Lehonti
The fourth time Amalickiah himself goes up, almost to the camp, and asks Lehonti to come down, and to even bring his guards with him. The determined resolution proved less fixed when Lehonti only had to go down a little, feeling secure with his guards. Amalickiah proposes that Lehonti's army surrounds his own army at night, and in the morning, they would surrender to Lehonti.
We often find ourselves in our spiritual defensive positions at the top of the Gospel mountain. It is up here that we ourselves are "fixed in our minds with a determined resolution" not to come down from our mountain. How many times do we look at the major sins and say things like, "I'll never do that"? "I'll never start drinking or smoking." "I'm never going to have an affair." "I wouldn't ever get into drugs or pornography." Sounds pretty easy that way, and just like Lehonti, we know better than to go down to the spiritual Amalickiah waiting to destroy us. We know, just like Lehonti knew, that Amalickiah was there to destroy us. But then Amalickiah comes UP to US, and says, "Come down, just a little." "Don't worry, you can bring your guards, you'll be safe." "I don't want to hurt you, I actually want to be your servant. I want to give YOU the power." We read as Lehonti actually goes down, thinking, "Doofus! You knew who he was, and you went anyway?"
But when Satan comes up to us and says, "Come down, just a little," do we listen? When he says, "Young women, I'm not asking you to break the law of chastity. I'm just saying that if you dress less modestly, boys will find you more attractive." "Young men, I'm not asking you to break the law of chastity. I'm just saying that it's perfectly innocent to buy that Maxim, or the SI swimsuit edition." "Yeah, sure it's a rated R movie, but it's just because of a few swear words. Otherwise it would totally be PG-13" "Yeah, this movie's pushing some boundaries, but hey, it's still PG-13, right? So it's still just fine." "You know, the prophet asked you not to have more than one piercing in your ear, and no body piercings, but he's really kind of old, and he doesn't really get what's in style today. A fashionable little diamond nose stud is plenty conservative." "I'm not asking you to stop going to church, I'm just saying that stake conference isn't really sacrament meeting, so if you go golfing instead, you're not actually missing anything."
He even asks us to bring our guards and feel secure. "You're a mature adult, you're strong enough to handle this." "As the designated driver, you can even get free sodas at the bar." "Yeah, the dress is strapless, but you look so good in it." "Everyone swears a little. Sometimes you just need to vent." "Your shirts cover up the belly button piercing, so no one will even know it's there." "The girls in the pictures still have some clothing on, so it's not really pornography." The great lie here is that Satan wants us to think that we're still in charge, and that we're still safe. Is Satan a different being because he was willing to come up to us? No. We still know who he is and what he wants.
The condition was that Amalickiah would become second in command to Lehonti. Lehonti agrees, surrounds Amalickiah's army, they surrender and Amalickiah becomes second in command. "Now this was the very thing which Amalikciah desired." "Now it was the custom among the Lamanites, if their chief leader was killed, to appoint the second leader to be their chief leader."
"And it came to pass that Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died."
This is what happens to us. When we agree to "come down, just a little" we get ourselves ensnared in the trap. We feel secure and empowered. We feel safe. We feel like we were in command. Just like Lehonti felt like he was in command all the way up till the point that he died. Isn't it interesting that Amalickiah didn't order his servant to just kill Lehonti? He ordered him to be poisoned, by degrees. Lehonti slowly died, never knowing what had happened to him. In the same way Satan will poison us, by degrees, once we come down from our own mountain. We will continue to think we're in charge, that we're safe, and that we're doing what's right, all the way up until we find ourselves taking that drink, watching that movie, or in a situation where we can no longer resist that affair. Very rarely does anyone go from the top of the mountain to the enemy camp below in one step. Instead, we get lured out, little by little.
So, the lesson of this section: Seize and retain the high ground! Don't come down from your mountain!
To be continued...
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