Helaman 4 and 5

Read these chapters.

Helaman 4 is a perfect explanation of why a person ditches the church. There can be a lot of reasons, but two that stand out are:

1. Making a mock of that which is sacred - which can range from just being grumpy about little things like garments or church in general all the way to belittling the endowment or adopting a very casual or cavalier attitude about it.

2. Disbelieve in the spirit of prophecy and revelation - which also can range from just doubting your local leaders to considering the prophet an old fool.

I've seen both ends of these spectrums. There are other things listed there, and all of them have a very clear modern application. And the end result for all of them is the loss of possession. In our modern case, it is a loss of testimony. For them, they were literally losing their lands. We can consider our spiritual real estate holding to be summed up in our testimony and our temple recommend status.

Is it weak and expired? Or it is vibrant and current?

If we tend to the first, it won't be long until we are left to our own strength, and find out in the worst way that the Lord is not preserving us by His power.

Chapter 5 is the recipe for fixing it.

First, in verses 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, and 14, we are reminded to REMEMBER. Remember where we have come from, on whose shoulders we are standing, and remember how it felt to feel the Holy Ghost.

And in particular (v12) remember that our foundation is Christ. Not even President Nelson. Not sister so-and-so, or CJane, or whoever. We have to re-center our selves in Christ. This may require (v11) Repenting.

And then we see that there are things causing a cloud of blackness to block out our access to the Spirit (v29). What do we do? As the mild voice reminds us, we repent, we repent, and we stop trying to destroy His servants. We stop putting barriers between us and the prophet.

And we (v41) repent and our faith in Christ increases. We pray (v42) with rigorous intent to our Heavenly Father, with the same energy as the women with the issue of blood, or a drowning person reaching for air (P. Nelson).

Then, finally (v45), the Holy Ghost will come down and fill our hearts. Peace comes unto us, because of our faith in the Well Beloved. Angels minister to us (sacrament, local leaders). We receive anew the spiritual lands of our possession.