Fortify Your Line Between Good and Evil

Towards the end of Alma 50, Moroni has helped the people reach a wonderful phase in their progress:

• Moroni with his armies increased daily because of the protection they had.  
• The Lamanites had no power over them because the Nephites had cut off Lamanite strength and power.  
• The Nephites could begin the foundation of a city called Moroni and a foundation for another city called Nephihah.  And even more cities in the north called Lehi.  
• "They did prosper exceedingly, and they became exceedingly rich, and they did multiply and wax strong in the land."  
• "There never was a happier time among the people of Nephi."  Their years were filled with peace.   

What on earth did Moroni do to help his people reach this great state of being?

• His overall goal was always to preserve his people's liberty, strength, families, and ability to freely worship.  
• Even after a victory over the Lamanites, "Moroni did not stop making preparations for war, or to defend his people against the Lamanites."  
• Moroni prepared strongholds to prepare themselves for when their enemies would come:
• He placed timbers on ridges of earth around the cities.
• He build strong and high pickets on those timbers
• He caused towers to be built to overlook the pickets.  
• He made places of security on those towers to protect themselves from the stones and arrows of the Lamanties.
• They were prepared with stones to hit anyone who got close to the walls of every city. 
• He took his army to drive all the Lamanites back into their own land. 
• He caused his army to possess the land in the east wilderness and then erect fortifications to secure their armies and people against their enemies. 
• Through that, he cut off all the strongholds of the Lamanties in the east wilderness. 
• The land of Nephi did run in "a straight course from the east sea to the west." 

Why did he work so hard to put fortifications on fortifications to prepare the strongholds?

To FORTIFY "the line between the Nephites and the Lamanties."  To fortify the line between good and bad.  

So what can we learn from this?

• Our main goal should be to fight for God's cause: eternal life for all men.  We should fight to preserve our families, our liberty, and our right to worship God.  
• Even after a personal victory or a moment where we have reached a greater degree of success, freedom, or happiness than we ever have before, we cannot stop making preparations for war and to defend ourselves against "the Lamanites," or the temptations, sins, and opposition that we are going to experience in the future.
• We must prepare strongholds within ourselves and our families.
• We must build up mounds, place strong and high pickets on the timbers on those mounds around our strengths and weaknesses.  A mound is not enough, nor is a timber.  We need strong and high pickets of protection.  
• We must constantly self evaluate through the towers of observation that we build inside of ourselves to overlook our pickets of protection.    
• We must arm ourselves with stones to cast down any temptation, sin, or opposition that comes close to our walls of protection.  We must not let them get close.  As soon as we see something, we kick it out.  
• We must take our armies, the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to drive out all of the Lamanites (sins, temptations, opposition) within us to push them to their proper place: outside of the walls of our cities.  Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be cleansed from all of the Lamanites we have let into our walls in the past and fortify our weak spots.  
• We can gain the ground we have previously lost to the Lamanites by kicking them out through the power of the Atonement, replacing them with our own armies, and fortifying our newly gained cities so that the Lamanites cannot get back in.  
• We must cut off all the strongholds of the Lamanites in ourselves, so they can't affect us or weaken us anymore.  
• We must live in "a straight course."  The only straight course there is is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  
• The ultimate goal is to fortify the line between us and the Lamanites.  We cannot let the temptations get into our cities.  We cannot let the Lamanites attack or weaken us.  We must fortify the line that lies between us and sin.  

If we do all of this:

• Our armies will multiply and strengthen each and every day which means our sins, weaknesses, temptations, and oppositions will have less power over us.  
• It is possible to completely cut off the power and strength of temptation, just as the Nephites cut off the power of the Lamanites.  
• With the protections we have built, we can lay the foundation for great cities, whether that means a personal success, a strong family, a greater conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ, or other foundations.  
• If we are living the gospel of Jesus Christ, we will prosper.  We will be happy just like the Nephites were, and we will enjoy continual peace.  Even if Lamanites come right up to our city walls, even if they beat us down, try to tempt us or weaken us, we know that we have prepared ourselves, armed ourselves with the principles and ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we will not fall.  

To emphasize this even further, Helaman who is now keeping this record, tells us that what happened to the Nephites means that:

• God is merciful, just, and keeps His promises: "thus we see how merciful and just are all the dealings of the Lord, to the fulfilling of all his words unto the children of men."  
• God had kept the promise He had given to Lehi way back when which said that his children would be blessed for keeping the commandments.  But if they didn't keep the commandments, they would be cut off from the presence of the Lord.  
• Those promises had been verified to the people of Nephi.  Their quarrelings and contentions and other sins had brought upon themselves their wars and destructions.
• But "those who were faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord were delivered at all times, whilst thousands of their wicked brethren have been consigned to bondage, or to perish by the sword, or to dwindle in unbelief, and mingle with the Lamanites."

I know that if we keep the commandments of God, we will prosper in the land.  We must be like Moroni and never stop preparing and strengthening ourselves against our weaknesses, temptations, oppositions, and sins through living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We have the power of the Atonement and we can use it to drive out any Lamanites that have gotten through our walls of protection.  And it will enable us to strengthen our weak walls to prevent them from coming back in the future.  It is a process, but if we continue with diligence just like Moroni, we will be a prosperous, happy, and peaceful people to enjoy the liberty that God grants to those who comply with His promises.  

Love,

Rachel