Pondering the Anti-Nephi-Lehies’ oath made me consider if that oath involved receiving their calling and election.
After receiving the gospel of Jesus Christ preached by Ammon, Aaron, and companions, the Lamanites buried their weapons of war deep in the earth as a token of their conversion.
For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.
After they joined the Nephite communities, these former Lamanites (now called Anti-Nephi-Lehiss) still lived that covenant.
And they were among the people of Nephi, and also numbered among the people who were of the church of God. And they were also distinguished for their zeal towards God, and also towards men; for they were perfectly honest and upright in all things; and they were firm in the faith of Christ, even unto the end.
And they did look upon shedding the blood of their brethren with the greatest abhorrence; and they never could be prevailed upon to take up arms against their brethren; and they never did look upon death with any degree of terror, for their hope and views of Christ and the resurrection; therefore, death was swallowed up to them by the victory of Christ over it.
Therefore, they would suffer death in the most aggravating and distressing manner which could be inflicted by their brethren, before they would take the sword or cimeter to smite them.
And thus they were a zealous and beloved people, a highly favored people of the Lord.
But behold, as they were about to take their weapons of war, they were overpowered by the persuasions of Helaman and his brethren, for they were about to break the oath which they had made.
And Helaman feared lest by so doing they should lose their souls; therefore all those who had entered into this covenant were compelled to behold their brethren wade through their afflictions, in their dangerous circumstances at this time.
These covenant people had sons who had not made the covenant. These sons joined the Nephite’s army and went to battle under Helaman’s command.
The Difficulty of Letting Sons Go to War
Some friends and I discussed how difficult it would be for these oath-making fathers to let their sons go to war for them. Several friends mentioned their husbands’ would-be struggle to let their teenagers defend their families like the stripling warriors’ fathers did. We talked about the covenant made and the power of that covenant.
Suddenly in the middle of that heartfelt discussion, a new thought came to me:
To keep covenant, the Father did that, too. He sent His Beloved Son!
A flood of new thoughts coalesced.
- They would not shed the blood of their brethren.
- If they broke their oath, they could lose their souls.
- The text never really identified exactly what the oath was—just that they made an oath and buried their weapons of war.
That sounded a lot like calling and election made sure to me.
Calling and Election
Elder Marion G. Romney devoted an entire conference talk to making one’s calling and election sure.
The theme I have in mind to discuss is “Making One’s Calling and Election Sure.” To do this one must receive a divine witness that he will inherit eternal life. The supreme objective of men who understand God, their relationship to him, and his designs for them is to gain eternal life. This is as it should be, for eternal life “. . . is the greatest of all the gifts of God” To bring men to eternal life is God’s “work and glory.” To this end he conceives, brings into being, directs, and uses all his creations.
Eternal life is the quality of life which God himself enjoys. The gospel plan, authored by the Father and put into operation by the atonement of Jesus Christ, brings eternal life within the reach of every man. The Lord gave this assurance when he said, “. . . if you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life”
The fullness of eternal life is not attainable in mortality, but the peace which is its harbinger and which comes as a result of making one’s calling and election sure is attainable in this life. The Lord has promised that “. . . he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come” D&C 59:23 (Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, October 1965, pp. 20-23)
Receiving one’s calling an election is the assurance of eternal life. However, that eternal life can be rebuffed in two ways.
The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall not be forgiven in the world nor out of the world, is in that ye commit murder wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law can in nowise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord.
Shed innocent blood.
But behold, as they were about to take their weapons of war, they were overpowered by the persuasions of Helaman and his brethren, for they were about to break the oath which they had made.
And Helaman feared lest by so doing they should lose their souls; therefore all those who had entered into this covenant were compelled to behold their brethren wade through their afflictions….
I felt like the Anti-Nephi-Lehies received that assurance of eternal life and would not risk breaking that covenant by killing anyone.
The revelation I received was
To keep covenant, the Father did that, too. He sent His Beloved Son!
I had never applied the eternal law associated with calling and elected to God the Father. If calling and election is an eternal law, do the “rules” apply to God? Can He shed innocent blood and deny the Holy Ghost?
These thoughts came to mind:
- Abraham who had entered into the New and Everlasting Covenant with promised eternal life did not kill Isaac on the altar.
- Jesus voluntarily covenanted to be the slain Lamb from the foundation of the world. He submitted to His Father’s will but not by coercion.
- Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less;
- The wicked shall slay the wicked
From The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
These are incomprehensible ideas to some, but they are simple. It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did; and I will show it from the Bible. …
Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power. And I want you to know that God, in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, is not trifling with you or me. (p 343-347)
What an oath! What an opportunity to see the keeping of that oath amidst social unrest and war. What a challenge to make the same oath with my Eternal Father!
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