🪵 Laman and Lemuel Were Church Members
🪵 Laman and Lemuel Were Church Members
Not bad boys. Not villains. Just… us.
📖 They Kept the Law. But Missed the Voice.
We’ve painted them with one brushstroke:
Rebellious. Ungrateful. Faithless.
But what if they weren’t?
What if Laman and Lemuel were actually the “good” boys of Jerusalem—faithful to their church, loyal to their temple, obedient to the reforms of a prophet-king (Josiah), and deeply grounded in what they had always been taught?
What if they were the ones who sat reverently in sacrament meeting…
…while Nephi was out climbing a mountain?
🏛️ A Church Reformation — But Not the One You Think
Let’s rewind the timeline.
Just before Lehi’s day, King Josiah led a sweeping religious reform.
He:
Centralized worship at the Jerusalem temple
Tore down high places, groves, and altars used in patriarchal worship
Suppressed older practices, including the worship of the Divine Feminine
Mandated temple orthodoxy, eliminating other sacred traditions
In our day, we might call that correlation.
🌿 Lehi Belonged to the Old Faith
And then comes Lehi.
He builds altars outside the temple (1 Nephi 2:7).
He has open visions, speaks boldly of the Messiah, and warns the people to repent.
And the “church members” want to kill him.
“The Jews did mock him because of the things which he testified of them…
wherefore they did seek to take away his life.”
(1 Nephi 1:19–20)
Sound familiar?
👬 Laman and Lemuel: The Faithful Who Couldn't See
They weren’t criminals.
They weren’t atheists.
They were traditional believers—
Raised on the new system.
Rooted in institutional obedience.
Resistant to anything that smelled like “apostasy.”
So when their father says God told me to leave the church center…
…and build an altar in the wilderness…
…and follow a vision of the Messiah who isn’t yet fully taught in our scriptures…
They say what any normal, correlated member would say:
"He is a visionary man… He hath led us forth out of the land of Jerusalem, and we have wandered in the wilderness…"
(1 Nephi 2:11)
⚖️ External Obedience ≠ Internal Light
We’ve all known people like Nephi—
Weird. Intense. Spiritual.
Seeing visions. Getting personal revelation.
Talking about the voice of the Lord.
And we’ve all known people like Laman and Lemuel—
Stable. Obedient. Structured.
Deeply offended when the rules are questioned.
Faithful to the church, but afraid of anything beyond it.
The contrast isn’t evil vs. good.
It’s institution vs. revelation.
Tradition vs. transformation.
Robe vs. Voice.
🕊️ What If… We’re Them?
Could we be the ones murmuring in our hearts?
Could we be clinging to programs and policies and correlated messages—
While missing the still small whisper of the Lord?
“They knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.”
(1 Nephi 2:12)
Let that sink in.
They believed in God.
They followed the commandments.
But they didn’t know Him.
🔥 The Prophetic Pattern
Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Every prophet who speaks uncomfortable revelation… gets rejected.
Abinadi — Burned by the High Priests
Samuel the Lamanite — Cast out for speaking of Christ
Lehi — Hunted by the Jews
Joseph Smith — Betrayed by the Saints
Jesus Christ — Crucified by the religious leaders
And yet we still say:
“If I had lived in the days of our fathers, I wouldn’t have stoned the prophets.”
(cf. Matthew 23:30)
Wouldn’t we?
🌩️ The Book of Mormon Was Written For Us
It’s a warning.
Not to “the world.”
But to those who profess to believe.
“At that day shall the remnant of our seed know that they are of the house of Israel…
and then shall they know and come to the knowledge of their forefathers,
and also to the knowledge of the gospel of their Redeemer.”
(1 Nephi 15:14)
🧠 Think About This
What if…
The reason we defend Laman and Lemuel-style obedience is because we were taught to?
Our trust in modern religious structure is exactly what keeps us from hearing God’s voice?
We’ve built a temple-centered religion that would mock Nephi, exile Lehi, and crucify Christ—again?
📜 Nemenhah Witness
“And behold, they did begin to believe more in the order of their fathers than in the word which came down unto them of the Most High…
they said in their hearts—Why must we depart from the customs of our fathers, for are they not righteous?”
— The Book of Tsihohnayah Ahkehkthihm 14:52–53
💬 Final Reflection: Soft But True
Dear friends, I’m not saying we’re wicked.
I’m saying we might be comfortable.
We might be trusting in Jerusalem more than in Jehovah.
In the temple more than in the testimony.
In correlation more than in communion.
The Book of Mormon warns us—not to destroy us—but to wake us up.
Laman and Lemuel weren’t outsiders. They were church insiders.
Just like us.
🙏 Are You Ready?
Ask the Lord:
“Am I open to revelation outside my religious comfort zone?
Am I willing to leave Jerusalem if You ask me to?”“Am I more like Nephi than I think?
Or more like Laman and Lemuel than I want to admit?”
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