1 AND now it came to pass that in the *sixteenth year from the coming of Christ, Lachoneus, the governor of the land, received an epistle from the leader and the governor of this band of robbers; and these were the words which were written, saying:

2  Lachoneus, most noble and chief governor of the land, [ One might get the idea that this is a friendly letter from the leader of the band of robbers. Flattery again, so he better be careful, he's just buttering you up. ] behold, I write this epistle unto you, and do give unto you exceedingly great praise because of your firmness, [ More flattering words. ] and also the firmness of your people, in maintaining that which ye suppose to be your right and liberty; [ Now he starts to take shots - suggesting that if Lachoneus and his people think that it is their right to say that they have God on their side, and because of that you are better then we are. ] yea, ye do stand well, as if ye were supported by the hand of a god, in the defence of your liberty, and your property, and your country, or that which ye do call so.

3 And it seemeth a pity unto me, most noble Lachoneus, that ye should be so foolish and vain [ The leader of the band of Gadiantion's does not belive in God, and considers it foolish to belive in anything except the power of the flesh. ] as to suppose that ye can stand against so many brave men who are at my command, who do now at this time stand in their arms, and do await with great anxiety for the word—Go down upon the Nephites and destroy them.

4 And I, knowing of their unconquerable spirit, having proved them in the field of battle, and knowing of their everlasting hatred towards you because of the many wrongs which ye have done unto them, [ What were the wrongs that were administered to the Gadiantion robbers? Why did they think that they were wronged? vs 10 and 11 give the views of who each side thinks wronged the other. ] therefore if they should come down against you they would visit you with utter destruction.

5 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, [ So if Lachoneus makes an oath with the band of Gadiantion's then he will loose his right to worship and believe how he wants because he will take an oath against that very thing. This would not just be a friendly merger to save lives - it would result in a complete change of liberty, ownership of land, everything that they held dear would be gone in a flash. This is so prophetic for today. ] and your noble spirit in the field of battle.

6 Therefore I write unto you, desiring that ye would yield up [ Note what he wants him to give up. Their cities and the taxes gained from them, the lands the ability for people to be self productive, and everything that they own. Once the robbers have taken away the ability for them to make a living they have only one choice and that is to do what they say if they want a chance at life, to refuse to do what they say is death(either quickly or slowly through starvation.) ] 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. [ Giddianhi is pretty sure of himself here, he is like we have not been beaten and you will not beat us either. Note how there is no plan either to change the way of life for the better. How are things going to work - no proposal - just we are going to take what we want; Then what? Doesn't sound like it has any chance of working long run if every time someone does something - they work to improve something to build better it is just going to be taken away. Where is the incentive in working. ]

7 Or in other words, yield yourselves up unto us, and unite with us and become acquainted with our secret works, [ Take on yourselves our oaths and secret combinations, or change your ways and become like us. ] and become our brethren that ye may be like unto us—not our slaves, but our brethren and partners of all our substance.

8 And behold, I swear unto you, if ye will do this, with an oath, ye shall not be destroyed; but if ye will not do this, I swear unto you with an oath, that on the morrow month I will command that my armies shall come down against you, and they shall not stay their hand and shall spare not, but shall slay you, and shall let fall the sword upon you even until ye shall become extinct. [ How would you feel? You are going to have to go against ruthless killers and you have no experience really in battle. What a trial of your faith - you can give up your faith in God, and the right to worship him, or you can fight for your right to worship God - which will it be? ]

9 And behold, I am Giddianhi; and I am the governor of this the secret society of Gadianton; which society and the works thereof I know to be good; [ Maybe not good in the sense of right and wrong, but rather good in the sense of the secret works have served us well. Both sides are convinced that they are in the right. Remember their source, remember what they were designed to do. To get gain for nothing as established when Cain killed Able. So Giddianhi suggests that because they have been around so long and they have served him and his robbers so well that they are good. ] and they are of ancient date [ All the way back to Cain. ] and they have been handed down unto us.

10 And I write this epistle unto you, Lachoneus, and I hope that ye will deliver up your lands and your possessions, without the shedding of blood, that this my people may recover their rights and government,[ Their rights. Interesting that they do no uphold the constitution of the land but it is their government, and their rights that have been taken away. He will say it right here that they have dissented away. Does not dissention away mean separated from, with drew from? ] who have dissented away from you because of your wickedness in retaining from them their rights of government, and except ye do this, I will avenge their wrongs. I am Giddianhi.

11 And now it came to pass when Lachoneus received this epistle he was exceedingly astonished, because of the boldness of Giddianhi [ Or this guy really thinks highly of himself. Ultimate confidence and arrogance. How nice is to to go to battle with the Lord on our side? Giddianhi has no idea of that and the power that it brings to the battlefield. ] demanding the possession of the land of the Nephites, and also of threatening the people and avenging the wrongs of those that had received no wrong, [ Or playing the victim card here. You are not the victim Giddianhi. ] save it were they had wronged themselves by dissenting away unto those wicked and abominable robbers.

12 Now behold, this Lachoneus, the governor, was a just man, and could not be frightened by the demands and the threatenings of a robber; [ Why is it important not to make decisions based on fear? Why was he not frightened by the demands of Giddianhi? How does God enter into the equation here for Lachoneus? How might fear cause someone to give in to temptation? How can personal righteousness help us remain courageous when we face temptation or affliction? ] therefore he did not hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] to the epistle of Giddianhi, the governor of the robbers, but he did cause that his people should cry unto the Lord for strength [ Strength for what? Why is it important to pray for strength before the temptations or challenges come? ] against the time that the robbers should come down against them. [ Notice what he does not pray for here. He does not pray that the robbers will not come down upon them, but rather for protection when they do. Does this suggest something for us in what and how we should pray? How and what should we be asking for today to protect us in these uncertain times? ]

13 Yea, he sent a proclamation among all the people, that they should gather together [ Why was it important for the Nephites to gather into one place to defend themselves? How can our associations with other members of the Church increase our ability to withstand the forces of evil? Where has the Lord commanded us to gather? (D&C 101:21,22; D&C 115:5,6; D&C 124:36) ] their women, and their children, their flocks and their herds, and all their substance, save it were their land, unto one place.

14 And he caused that fortifications should be built round about them, [ Fortifications to keep the families safe. sometimes we cannot do it alone as individual families , sometimes we need the strength of everyone. What are the fortifications we are encouraged to put up today? How can we fortify ourselves and guard against temptation? Meaning for our day? ] and the strength thereof should be exceedingly great. And he caused that armies, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites, or of all them who were numbered among the Nephites, should be placed as guards round about to watch them, [ Who are the guards the Lord has placed in his church to watch over us? How does the priesthood fulfill this important function? ] and to guard them from the robbers day and night.

15 Yea, he said unto them: As the Lord liveth, except ye repent of all your iniquities, and cry unto the Lord, ye will in nowise be delivered out of the hands of those Gadianton robbers. [ Good leader, in other words the choice is up to you. Now is the time. Repent and be in good standing with the Lord. This is good advice no matter what will happen as a result of the up coming battles - live or die! The prophet today has instructed us to spend more time in the temple - How well are we doing there? ]

16 And so great and marvelous were the words and prophecies of Lachoneus that they did cause fear to come upon all the people; and they did exert themselves in their might to do according to the words of Lachoneus.

17 And it came to pass that Lachoneus did appoint chief captains over all the armies of the Nephites, to command them at the time that the robbers should come down out of the wilderness against them.

18 Now the chiefest among all the chief captains and the great commander of all the armies of the Nephites was appointed, and his name was Gidgiddoni.

19 Now it was the custom among all the Nephites to appoint for their chief captains, (save it were in their times of wickedness) some one that had the spirit of revelation and also prophecy; [ If you are going into battle and you have a choice of who to lead you, how much better would it be to be lead by a man who was able to receive revealation from the Lord. ] therefore, this Gidgiddoni was a great prophet [ A seer and one who received revelation, as a result he is one that you can follow with faith that you are on the Lords path. ] among them, as also was the chief judge.

20 Now the people said unto Gidgiddoni: Pray unto the Lord, [ Ask the Lord if it will be ok if we... ] and let us go up upon the mountains and into the wilderness, that we may fall upon the robbers and destroy them in their own lands. [ Let us go on the offensive and have the element of surprise on our side. ]

21 But Gidgiddoni saith unto them: The Lord forbid; [ Does he give them this answer right away or is it after he has prayed about it? Sometimes we may not like the answer, so be prepared when the Lord says no. ] for if we should go up against them the Lord would deliver us into their hands; therefore we will prepare ourselves in the center of our lands, [ We can only take a defensive position. Why did the Nephites choose to meet their enemies in the center of their land instead of in other places? First the Lord commanded them that this is what they should do. The land to the North was cursed. If they most likely cannot fortify all of the land so they were told to gather together as a result they are going to extra fortify that portion of their land. Extra safe. What is the lesson for our times from this decision? Why is it so dangerous to fight Satan on his own ground? Think about environments or influences that should be avoided because they place us in increased danger as we confront our enemies. There is another matter to be considered here. How many places are there in the world where you have nearly complete control over the environment? I suspect that outside of our homes, there are very few such places. If we lose the battle with Lucifer to control the environment of our own homes, where will we ever be able to win it? We must win this battle in the "center of our land. ] and we will gather all our armies together, and we will not go against them, but we will wait till they shall come against us; therefore as the Lord liveth, if we do this he will deliver them into our hands. [ In otherwords; if you want to do what I command you to do I will deliver the army to you. If you choose to go on the offensive you have no promise from me. ]

22 And it came to pass in the *seventeenth year, [ A whole year has passed. Remember that Giddianhi promised to attack within a two month window from the time that he first made the demanding proclamination. ] in the latter end of the year, the proclamation of Lachoneus had gone forth throughout all the face of the land, and they had taken their horses, and their chariots, and their cattle, and all their flocks, and their herds, and their grain, and all their substance, and did march forth by thousands and by tens of thousands, until they had all gone forth to the place which had been appointed that they should gather themselves together, to defend themselves against their enemies. [ This is amazing strategy here. They know they are going to be attacked. Usually an army the size of the robbers will attack a city that is fully protected is that they will surrond the city, cut off their supply lines and then just wait until the people are starving to death and they give up. But Lachoneus out foxes them by gathering up everything that the army might use to sustain life and brings it inside for protection. The idea is that we can last longer in the city without supplies than you can outside without anything to steal as was their custom. So they would ultimately be the one's who would grow hungry, and weak from lack of food. Remember in verse 7 they have a seven year supply of food, that is a long time. Can you imagine being part of an army that is going to attack and you are getting hungry, and the people you are thinking to attack in their well fortified city are eating well, and you are trying to stay positive for 7 years. It is going to be a hard sell. These are robbers here so the idea that they are going to plant anything or work to grow anything while they wait is not going to happen as it goes against who the robbers are. They are parasite's and what do we know about parasite's - they need a host in order to survive. ]

23 And the land which was appointed was the land of Zarahemla, and the land which was between the land Zarahemla and the land Bountiful, yea, to the line which was between the land Bountiful and the land Desolation.

24 And there were a great many thousand people who were called Nephites, who did gather themselves together in this land. Now Lachoneus did cause that they should gather themselves together in the land southward, because of the great curse which was upon the land northward.

25 And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus, insomuch that they did repent of all their sins; [ How does repentance help us receive greater strength from the Lord? ] and they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle.

26 And they were exceedingly sorrowful because of their enemies. And Gidgiddoni did cause that they should make weapons of war of every kind, and they should be strong with armor, and with shields, and with bucklers, after the manner of his instruction . [ What armor have we been counseled to put on? (See D&C 27:15–18.) Why is it important to put on the "whole" armor of God, and what can happen if we don't put n the whole armor? ]