I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him
who conquers his enemies, for the hardest victory is over self.
Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384-322 B.C.)
Among the stories from the Book of Mormon favored by LDS youth, the examples set by Helaman’s 2000 stripling warriors is among the most exciting and inspiring. What is it about these young men that has resonated for generations? If they were alive today could they still be as worthy as they were when they were led into battle by Helaman? Has the time for stripling warriors come and gone, or do we need them now more than ever?
Let’s start by taking a look at the parents of the original stripling warriors. In Alma we learn their parents were people of Ammon who had covenanted to never again take up weapons for the shedding of blood. Interesting, but let’s dig a little deeper.
The parents of the stripling warriors were special because they were apostate Lamanites who had become converted. How did they become converted? The same way many people of the world do today – missionaries.
The apostate Lamanites were converted through the missions carried out among the Lamanites by the sons of Mosiah. After they were converted, they made their sacred convenant in contrition for their prior actions in battles against the Nephites. The convenant was a promise – a pledge to seal their conversion. But, like many promises, the cost and difficulty of keeping it could not be foreseen.
In Alma 56: 47-48, we learn the stripling warriors were “taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.” They repeated to Helaman “the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.”
The knowledge imparted by the mothers of the stripling warriors had been gained at a terrible price. Their sons did not doubt their mothers’ words, because they knew that having vowed to bury their weapons in the cause of peace, their ancestors chose death rather than the commission of sin through the breaking of their covenant.
When the covenanted Lamanites were attacked by their enemies, Alma 24:21 reveals, “they went out to meet them, and prostrated themselves before them to the earth, and began to call upon the name of the Lord; and thus, they were in this attitude when the Lamanites began to fall upon them, and began to slay them with the sword. And thus without meeting any resistance, they did slay a thousand and five of them; and we know that they are blessed, for they have gone to dwell with their God.”
This bloody massacre, however, did far more damage to the enemies of the people of Ammon. In Alma 24:26, we find the action of literally laying down their lives for the Lord cause them to be “joined that day by more than the number who had been slain; and those who had been slain were righteous people, therefore we have no reason to doubt but what they were saved.”
The stripling warriors’ mothers lived through the awful violence brought upon the apostate Lamanites and incurred deep personal losses – husband, brothers, sisters, homes, lands, and property, all for God. They knew being righteous did not save you from being slaughtered – but they also believed righteousness was worth the price.
Motivational speaker Jim Rohn is credited with saying, “We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” How heavy must have been the pain of the people of Ammon for having the discipline to keep their covenant. Yet, they bore this burden knowing the pain of their regret for breaking their vow would have been uncountably multiplied.
Knowing and experiencing all this, the people of Ammon still came close to breaking their covenant and taking up arms. Seeing the terrible tribulations suffered by their Nephite brethren in their wars with the Lamanites, it was almost impossible for the people of Ammon to simply stand by and watch. Helaman himself called upon them to keep their vows. He knew how important keeping their covenants with the Lord would prove. He had faith the Nephites would be delivered without the breaking of the covenant – and they were.
Some 2000 young men rose up from among the people of Ammon – the stripling warriors. Described as exceedingly young, we can imagine many of them were in their teens. The twist they were about to put on history was clearly visionary. While prior generations had taken upon themselves the covenant not to take up arms, their generation had not been party to it and therefore they were not bound by it. Declaring themselves as Nephites, no longer simply converted Lamanites, they readied themselves to follow Helaman into war – a war in which their destruction was almost a forgone conclusion.
Helaman must have been relieved to have additional reinforcements. He must also have been desperate. Can you imagine the faith he must have had to accept 2000 untested, unbloodied young men into his army?
But Alma 53:20-21 tells us something more about these young striplings: “They were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all – they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted. Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him.”
Wow! And how they would need each and every one of these virtues as they engaged an enemy vastly stronger in number and vastly more experienced. The Lamanites must have believed the Nephites were throwing puppies into a pool of piranha.
The blind American author Helen Keller once said, “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired and success achieved.” How much character must these young men have developed in a very short period of time.
Sustained by their upbringing and their faith, Alma 56:56 tells us the stripling warriors “fought as if with the strength of God; … and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.” They not only defeated the Lamanites; they fought so fiercely they scared them into surrendering.
And miracles were heaped upon miracles. The covenant kept whole by the older generations of converted Lamanites led directly to the protection of the lives of the stripling warriors in battle. While many were sorely injured, not one of those valiant, courageous, strong, active, young men of truth and soberness left his life on the battlefield. The puppies had fed on the piranhas and lived to tell the tale.
As amazing as this piece of history is, let’s do what we did earlier with their parents and dig a little deeper into the stripling warriors. We know there were 2000 of them. What we don’t know is how many of their generation from which the 2000 were drawn.
I’d ask our youth to look around them at seminary or during the next EFY activity. How many of you would qualify to be a stripling warrior today? All of you? Fifty percent? Ten percent? Less? Are the minions of the adversary today weaker than the armies of the Lamanites? Where will we find today’s striplings? Who among you can lay claim to being valiant, courageous, strong, active, truthful, and serious (sober)?
Perilous Times
Today’s battle is raging around us. Russell M. Ballared warns, “These are perilous times. We battle literally for the souls of men. The enemy is unforgiving and relentless. He is taking eternal prisoners at an alarming rate. And he shows no sign of letting up.”
In 2 Timothy 3:2-5, the apostle Paul prophesied about the latter-days we live in claiming “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy … without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despises of those that are good … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof …”
All of the above sounds suspiciously like a review of prime-time televisions shows such as The O.C., Desperate Housewives, or the backstabbing going on in such reality shows as Survivor, America‘s Next Top Model, or The Apprentice. In their well publicized private lives, too many of our television, sports, and music stars believe it’s all about the bling – glitz and glamour, and other riches that will tarnish in the blinking of an eye.
What weapons did the stripling warriors have? Swords, spears, shields, knives, and clubs would have made up the heart of their armory. However, these are not the most important weapons they needed to defeat their enemy. It was their unsullied spiritual armory: righteousness and faith, an utter surrendering of their lives to serve the Lord, that brought them victory – weapons their enemies did not possess.
Modern wars between men are fought with high-tech tanks, guns, fighter jets, and missiles. But in today’s battle with Lucifer, the true weapons have not changed since the day the stripling warriors followed Helaman into the heart of war.
The challenges to the virtue of today’s stripling warriors are far greater than those of their namesakes. Not one of the original stripling warriors had the opportunity to be led astray by billboards displaying the virtual nakedness of Victoria’s Secret models, the blasphemies of shock jocks such as Howard Stern, or the proliferation of pornography a click away on the Internet.
The adversary has upped his game. He has become more experienced, more insidious, more depraved in his evil intent. If we listen hard enough, we can hear Helaman’s rallying cry for today’s stripling warriors to step forward. It is time for all of us to raise the level of our commitment to righteousness in response.
I have another question. How many original stripling warriors were young women? What do you mean, none? Are you sure? Every other year or so, doesn’t Disney produce a movie where a girl impersonates a boy in order to get to do what the guys do? The most recent incarnation of this is the current release She’s the Man, starring Amanda Bynes.
Is it possible, some young woman took it upon herself to disguise herself and join the sons of Helaman? Probably not. It stands to reason that going to battle in a loincloth would have given the game away. The point I want to make, however, is not whether there were distaff members of the original stripling warriors. The point in today’s spiritual battle is all of our youth are needed to fill the ranks of modern stripling warriors. It will take both the sons and daughters of Helaman to defeat the adversary in these final days.
Burden on the Youth
We are asking a lot of our youth. How many of us as adults can lay claim to the virtues the Church is demanding of our youth? Do we keep the covenants we have made with the Lord, or have we allowed ourselves to slip down the same murky alleys that beckon our children? Like the parents of the original stripling warriors, our job is to support, provide, and show our commitment by example.
In his talk on the greatest missionary generation, Russell M. Ballard further offers the following keys to our youth to keep themselves clean and pure and valiant:
- Developing a meaningful prayer relationship with your Heavenly Father.
- Keeping the Sabbath day holy.
- Working and putting part of your earnings in a savings account.
- Paying a full and honest tithing.
- Limiting the amount of time spent playing computer games. How many kills you can make in a minute with a computer game will have zero effect on your capacity to be a good missionary.
- Giving the Lord more of your time by studying the scriptures and gaining an understanding of the marvelous message of the Restoration that we have for the world.
- Serving others and sharing your testimony with them.
These appear to be simple edicts to follow. In their simplicity, however, we can often lose focus and fall away from their practice. In their daily lives, the original stripling warriors partook of activities such as toiling in the fields, hunting, building, forging tools, etc. These consistent actions help to prepare them physically for the challenges the Lord needed them to face. Their respect for their parents’ counsel and their desire to please the Lord were the traits that kept them alive.
Today young men and young women need to take a hard look at their current daily activities. Are the things you are doing honing the skills you will need to take into battle against Lucifer – to face the challenges the Lord needs you to meet? Are you filled with the desire to serve the Lord? Are you following the counsel of righteous parents?
I stress the use of the word righteous in regards to parents, for unfortunately today there are some parents (even among the most righteous appearing LDS families) whose actions are not consistent with the Lord’s loving counsel. If a youth is being abused physically or sexually, may the Lord give them the strength to speak out and get help for the protection of all involved. As youth leaders and adult members of the Church we must stand ready to respond appropriately, no matter the consequences or how hard the allegations may be to believe.
To return to our thoughts on today’s stripling warriors, British writer and acerbic wit Oscar Wilde claimed, “I can resist anything, but temptation.” Obviously, he was not exactly stripling warrior material.
Ethics specialist Michael Josephson once explained to his four-year-old daughter that she should “never, never touch” a fragile vase belonging to her mother. His daughter responded by telling her father, “Then never, never put it somewhere I can touch it.”
Relying on others to keep temptation out of our path will lead us straight to destruction. The adversary glories in throwing any and every temptation in our path to obstruct our progress. We must be proactive in avoiding temptation and strengthening our resistance.
In particular, our young women can have a vast effect on the righteousness of LDS young men. What you wear and the manner in which you conduct yourself can either keep a young man focused on a mission or lead him astray.
You need to make it clear you are determined to be married in the temple to a valiant young man who has served a mission. Don’t let making-out or heavy petting to lead to your downfall and the downfall of a young man you care about.
Young men, it is incumbent upon you to recognize your weaknesses. I’m sure you are well aware of what they are. If you have trouble resisting temptation, then don’t allow yourself to be placed in situations where your weaknesses can be exploited. If you are tempted by pornography, then don’t use the Internet unless you are surrounded by family. If you think your physical passion may get away from you, then date in groups and don’t allow yourself to be caught alone in a compromising position where your resolve will falter.
Pray always and know the Lord loves you. If repentance is needed then seek it out before the sin festers and corrupts all around it.
There is an old saying: If you walk like a duck, talk like a duck, and act like a duck, you’re a duck! It doesn’t matter what you think you are; your actions define who you are. The way you dress, the language you use, what you eat, drink, smoke, your choices involving tattoos and body piercing, all of these things will define your status as a modern stripling warrior.
If you walk like a stripling warrior, if you talk like a stripling warrior, if you act like a stripling warrior, you will be a STRIPLING WARRIOR – and the Lord needs you now more than ever.
