3 Nephi 3:5-6 -- On Slimy Lies, Demands, and Manipulation

"Therefore I have written this epistle, sealing it with mine own hand, feeling for your welfare, because of your firmness in that which ye believe to be right, and your noble spirit in the field of battle.
Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye would yield up unto this my people, your cities, your lands, and your possessions, rather than that they should visit you with the sword and that destruction should come upon you."
3 Nephi 3:5-6


This letter is from the Gadianton Robbers to the Nephites, basically telling them that if they don't give up they'll be killed. It's said in a really slimy way, as though any of it were justified, and as though Giddianhi (the leader of the robbers) actually cares about Lachoneus (the governor of the Nephites) and his people. It reminds me of demanding ransom (for people or livelihoods I suppose, but more about people)--the whole thing is supposedly so civilized, and the bad guys pretend that the choice is all on the good guys, that *they* have responsibility for the lives or livelihoods that will be lost if they don't do the "smart" thing and give up. "Feeling for your welfare" seriously.

Lachoneus is a hero to me because he wins against this kind of impossible situation, I am certain with a lot of help from God. He doesn't give in, and the Nephites eventually triumph because they take away the robber's ability to live off of theft and plunder and basically starve them out. He doesn't give in to evil, even when it seems like the only way to survive. He has faith that God will deliver them, and God does. :) (God is also an even greater hero, of course.)

Today, let's not listen to anyone's lies when they claim that we are responsible for the bad things that are done to us, or that we are required to meet their demands to join them, enrich them, or to do the wrong thing. Let's not give in to evil when it seems like the only way. Let's always turn to God for another option, staying true to God and to goodness no matter how the world tries to manipulate us into other choices.