Willingness to Die (anti-nephi-lehies)

K. Douglas Bassett

refer in this text to Mosiah 17

“In 1979, … I was serving as president in the Mexico City North Mission… . A (community) meeting was called … at which Church members were given the following options : denounce the Church, leave the village, or be killed (not an idle threat). The members, particularly the women, said they knew the Church to be true and would not denounce it. They also indicated they had worked just as hard as the rest of the community to secure their homesteads, and they would not leave. Boldly stepping forward, they told their taunters if they were going to kill them, to get on with it. The moment grew tense as machetes were raised, then finally lowered while the Latter-day Saints stood up for that which the Spirit had testified to them to be true. These Saints eventually learned, as most of us do, that it is harder to live the gospel day by day than to die for it in an instant, but their early commitment came because the Spirit had touched their hearts and changed their lives.” (John B. Dickson, Ensign, Feb. 1995, p. 7)

Latter-Day Commentary on the Book of Mormon

References