Helaman 9 and 10

Helaman 9
Nephi is put in prison and charged with the murder of the chief judge Seezoram. Because of his prophetic powers, he is able to tell them that Seantum, the chief judge's brother is the murderer and explains to them how they can prove it. Nephi has them accuse Seantum in such a way that there is no doubt that Nephi is innocent and Seantum is guilty. Because of this, some believe he is a prophet and some think he is a god of some kind. The majority of the people are still hard in their hearts.

Helaman 10
Things get worse among the Nephites. There are divisions among the people and they are so strongly divided that they began to fight amongst themselves and kill each other. Whenever Nephi preaches, his life is in jeopardy and at times, the Lord helps him to escape. Because of his dedication and courage, the Lord blesses him saying, "Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever."

This is no different to me then the courage our church leaders display today when they must take a stand that the majority of people outside the church, and some inside, will criticize. This past conference, Elder Packer warned the people against the evil of giving into the temptations of homosexuality and he is being assailed with criticism and hate speech. And yet it is one of the forces in the world today that undermines the family unit. How many times has history shown that when the family unit fails in society, the society fails soon after? The Greek and Roman civilizations were the most powerful in the world for hundreds of years, and when moral decay set in, and homosexuality became prevelant, they died from within and were conquered from without. In a world where so many voices are shouting, I'm grateful I can turn to inspired leaders who have the courage to stand in the face of popular opinion and declare what is true.