Building on Firm Foundations

1
Building on Firm Foundations

• Helaman 1-5

2
"As the navel is set in the centre of the human
body,so is the land of Israel the navel of the
world... situated in the centre of the world,
and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of
Israel, and the sanctuary in the centre of
Jerusalem, and the holy place in the centre of
the sanctuary, and the ark in the centre of the
holy place, and the foundation stone before the
holy place, because from it the world was
founded." Midrash.
3
History of Mount Moriah

• Place where Abraham was to sacrifice Issac
• Site where Jacob wrestled with the angel
• Location of the Temple of Solomon
• Currently houses the Dome of The Rock

4
The Foundation

• 1 Kings 5
• 17 And the king commanded, and they brought great
  stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay
  the foundation of the house.
• 18 And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders
  did hew them, and the stonesquarers so they
  prepared timber and stones to build the house.

5
Isaiahs Concern

• Isaiah 2814 ye scornful men, that rule this
  people which is in Jerusalem.
• 15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant
  with death (Egypt), and with hell are we at
  agreement
• when the overflowing scourge (Assyrians) shall
  pass through, it shall not come unto us for we
  have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
  have we hid ourselves

6
Where do we first hear about secret alliances?

• Moses 529 And Satan said unto Cain Swear unto
  me by thy throat, and if thou tell it thou shalt
  die and swear thy brethren by their heads, and
  by the living God, and this day I will deliver
  thy brother Abel into thine hands.
• 31 And Cain said Truly I am Mahan, the master of
  this great secret, that I may murder and get
  gain. Wherefore Cain was called Master Mahan, and
  he gloried in his wickedness.

7
Isaiahs Concern

• 14 ye scornful men, that rule this people
  which is in Jerusalem.
• 15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant
  with death (Egypt), and with hell are we at
  agreement when the overflowing scourge
  (Assyrians) shall pass through, it shall not come
  unto us for we have made lies our refuge, and
  under falsehood have we hid ourselves
• 16 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I
  lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried
  stone, a precious corner stone, a sure
  foundation he that believeth shall not make
  haste.
• 18 And your covenant with death shall be
  disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall
  not stand when the overflowing scourge shall
  pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.

8
Helaman, Chapter One

• 2 For behold, Pahoran had diedtherefore there
  began to be a serious contention concerning who
  should have the judgment-seat among the sons of
  Pahoran.
• 3 Now these are their names
  
  Pahoran, Paanchi, and Pacumeni.
• 5 it came to pass that Pahoran was
  
  
  appointed by the voice of the people
• 7 But behold, Paanchi, and that part of the
  people that were desirous that he should be their
  governor, was exceedingly wroth therefore, he
  was about to flatter away those people to rise up
  in rebellion against their brethren.
• 8 behold, he was taken, and was tried according
  to the voice of the people, and condemned unto
  death
• 9 Now when those people who were desirous that he
  should be their governor saw that he was
  condemned unto death they sent forth one
  Kishkumen, and (he) murdered Pahoran as he sat
  upon the judgment-seat.
• 10 And he was pursued by the servants of Pahoran
  but behold, so speedy was the flight of Kishkumen
  that no man could overtake him.
• 11 And he went unto those that sent him, and they
  all entered into a covenant, yea, swearing by
  their everlasting Maker, that they would tell no
  man....

9
Lamanites then capture the City of Zarahemla

• 518because of so much contention and so
  much difficulty in the government, (1)that they
  had not kept sufficient guards in the land of
  Zarahemla for (2) they had supposed that the
  Lamanites durst not come into the heart of their
  lands to attack that great city Zarahemla.

10
Helamans council to his sons

• 12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it
  is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ,
  the Son of God, that ye must build your
  foundation

11

• that when the devil shall send forth his mighty
  winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea,
  when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat
  upon you,
• it shall have no power over you to drag you down
  to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of
  the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure
  foundation, a foundation whereon if men build
  they cannot fall.

12
Question

• Like Solomon, we build on The Rock (Christ)
• But, what does our foundation consist of and
  what binds us to Him?

13
Covenants we make
Our Foundation
The Rock of Christ
14
Elder Matthew Cowley

• We must remember that we have taken upon us the
  most solemn obligations that were ever assumed by
  men and women upon the face of the earth. This is
  the great and last dispensation, a dispensation
  in which is comprehended all the keys, blessings
  and powers and every measure of divine authority
  which has been enjoyed by any and all previous
  dispensations of the Gospel, from father Adam
  down to the present period of time. Upon our
  shoulders rest the responsibilities of all these
  dispensations combined together, as it were.
• We have made sacred covenants, in sacred places,
  and those covenants mean something. When the Lord
  revealed them through His servant, the Prophet
  Joseph, as applying to this dispensation, it was
  designed that they should be attended Let us
  reflect upon them. Let every man and woman ask
  himself or herself the question, Where have I
  been derelict? In what duty have I been
  neglectful? Can I improve?

15
President Karl G. Maeser

• "I have been asked what I mean by word of honor.
  I will tell you. Place me behind prison
  wallswalls of stone ever so high, ever so thick,
  reaching ever so far into the groundthere is a
  possibility that in some way or another I may be
  able to escape
• but stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line
  around me and have me give my word of honor never
  to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No,
  never! I'd die first!"

16
A Book of Mormon puzzle

• Hel 58
• lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven, yea,
  which is eternal, and which fadeth not away

• I Peter 14
• To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled,
  and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
  you,

17
Solon, Athens, 600 BC

• Behold the inhabitants of the city (of Athens)
  are minded to bring about
  the destruction thereof through their love
  of gain. They who lead them are of
  treacherous minds, but verily
  great sorrow and lamentation are about to fall
  upon them in their pride. Behold, they know not
  how to contain their lust.
• . . . They heed not the holy foundations of
  righteousness, which in silence lets things take
  their course until the latter-end, when surely
  comes the time of retribution. Behold a dire
  destruction cometh upon all the city and there is
  none who shall escape. The people have been quick
  to do iniquity and bring themselves into bondage.
  . . . As if it had fallen to a foreign enemy our
  cherished city is wasted away and consumed by
  those secret combinations which are the delight
  of evil men. .