Jaredite Stories

Isaac the Warrior Part 1

Isaac the Warrior Part 2

Shim wanted my 6 year old daughter, Mieka. She was a beautiful young girl and how I loved her! She had long, dark wavy hair. Her eyes were a bright brown color. She was average sized for her age, and uncommonly stunning. There was no way I was going to let them take her! I had already lost my wife and two of my children, and promised my wife as she was dying that I would take care of our family. Shim sent his guards, including one of my own brothers, to retrieve Mieka. With all the pleading of my soul, I begged my brother and the guards to take me instead.

Shim’s men attacked me, whipped me, beat me, and left me for dead; but miraculously they left Mieka alone. One of my sons, hearing a loud commotion, ran to me only to find me unconscious, and Shim’s guards surrounding me and Mieka. He sprinted to get help from his grandfather and uncles. My heartrate was very slow and still, it appeared that I had died from the beating. The guards were determined not to let my father take my body, wanting to assure my death; however, my father convinced the guards that I already died, and against Shim’s orders, they allowed him to take me to the healer’s tent.

Of course, the guards followed us, laughing and mocking that I could possibly be healed; to them, I was already dead. My father ached to give me a blessing but could not do that with the presence of Shim’s guards, instead, he prayed for me and blessed me in his heart and mind; so did all the others who were in the room. Many gathered outside the tent, also praying in their hearts and minds for my recovery.

During my father’s prayer, the power of God came into the room so intensely that the guards were overcome with something similar to a haze. They became disoriented; they could not see or hear clearly. Once my father realized what happened to the guards, he placed his tender hands on my damaged head and gave me a blessing; a blessing of healing, full recovery, and protection for my daughter.

It took several weeks, but I miraculously healed. The healer used many different herbs and healing methods to heal me, all through the healing power of Jesus Christ. Most of the scars disappeared, but one remained on my left forearm. I believe that was left as a reminder of Jesus Christ, my ultimate healer. Shim’s guards were stunned at my recovery. Somehow, I know with help from God, they did not try to take my life again, or attempt to abduct or abuse Mieka in anyway.

Several months after my attack and about four years into our captivity, my father and I noticed that many of Shim’s guards were becoming relatively lazy. They did not seem to have the same intensity that they did when we were first taken captive. Many drank wine and stronger mixes of wine which caused extreme drunkenness. Their drunkenness, at times, caused them to be more cruel, but usually made them passive.

Occasionally, one of Shim’s guards, as he made his rounds around our settlement, would enter into my parents’ tent, on the pretense that he was inspecting them, to secretly speak to my father. He told my father that if he was caught, he would be hung, so he was extremely careful. This guard was actually one of my older brothers, Paco, known as one of the most brutal of Shim’s guards. He was involved in my beating and wanted to leave me for dead. During his time as one of Shim’s guards, he beat and whipped many others. He raped some of our wives and daughters. He was vicious. How could we even think about trusting him. I couldn’t believe that my father would even let him into his tent; how could he?

During the visits, Paco expressed to my father his extreme sorrow for the beatings, the rapes, and all the abuse and terror that he caused our people. He now knew it was wrong; he strayed so far from what my parents taught him. He did not expect us to forgive him but wanted us to listen to him. He told my father that when he allowed the guards to beat me, he honestly didn’t think they would beat and whip me until I was practically dead; and he felt powerless to stop them. He also told us that he was the reason they did not take Mieka; he had a daughter about the same age as her and looked very much like. Shim wanted Paco’s daughter, but he would not allow that to happen. Someone told Shim that I had a daughter that looked very similar to Paco’s daughter, so Shim sent Paco to abduct Mieka. Paco told my father that he just could not take her. He said that when he looked upon her, he saw his own daughter’s eyes in Mieka’s eyes; her eyes haunted him. The other guards were upset with him and took their frustration out on me, which unfortunately, Paco allowed.

Paco revealed that he was in the healer’s tent that I was brought into after the beating, although he tried to keep his head covered so he would not be noticed. My father told him that he knew he was there and that in his prayer for me, he also pled for Paco. Paco felt the haze that came after my father prayed. He felt powerless, almost paralyzed. He knew that the power of God came into the room to heal me. Paco felt the power tell him that he needed to change his life; but slowly, as Shim needed to believe that he was still loyal to him. He felt the power tell him that he needed to help my father regain the throne. He felt the power begin to heal him.

More than once when Paco was talking with my father in his tent, another one of Shim’s guards came in. Just so the other guards would believe that Paco was loyal to Shim, Paco would powerfully pushed my mother into my father, or on the ground, causing her to cry out in pain. My mother knew why he did that, but my father was angry.

During Paco’s visits, he communicated problems Shim experienced governing his people. Although Shim still had great wealth, he did not treat his people well. He was always angry and took his anger out on others. He stole from those who originally supported him. He had several wives and concubines; if they didn’t fulfill his desires, he would beat them and thought nothing of it. Many who started to question their loyalty to Shim and some who desired to rise up in rebellion against him. However, there were still many more supporters of Shim. Those who were displeased with the way he governed the people took great care to whom they chose to talk to. Any negative talk against Shim would result in immediate death and Shim had spies everywhere.

As the weeks and months progressed, more and more of Shim’s guards privately came to my father telling him more about Shim and his problems. None of them knew that others had come to my father, especially that Paco had come. We still did not trust the guards and were concerned that some may actually still be loyal to Shim, coming to us to find defectors.

Finally, the day came when my father knew that he needed to inform his council that Shim’s guards were visiting him. He cautiously talked to the members of his council, letting them know what he learned from the guards, to learn their opinions about the situation, and to ask them to pray so they would know what needed to be done. He told his council members that he trusted Paco, despite his despicable past. After much prayer and fasting we decided that it was time to remove Shim from his throne.

(To be continued…)

Isaac the Warrior Part 1

The time came when Shim decided to go to war with us; the purpose was to take over my Father’s throne. We prepared, as much as we could prepare. We fought hard, we prayed hard. Too many of our people were killed in battle. They were fierce. They fought like dragons. They killed my wife, two of my children, some of my siblings, other extended family and many close friends. They burned our homes, our churches, our businesses. We fought back, we were just trying to preserve our way of life, our freedom. Our fighting seemed in vain as more and more of our people were mercilessly slaughtered.

Too many of our people died. My father called a council which included his family, generals, a prophet, and other trusted associates. He did not want to see any more deaths; he wanted the slaughter stopped. They prayed; they pled with God. They begged for help. They questioned why God was not helping them. As they knelt in prayer, pleading with God, each member of the council felt a sweet assurance from the Holy Spirit that they would be okay, that God was with them more than they knew. All members of the council recognized what they needed to do. The slaughter must stop. We needed just to give my evil brother the throne. We knew that we would be taken captive or even killed; but deep down, we knew this was what God wanted us to do and somehow we would be blessed for this.  My father never ceased to amaze me with his unwavering faith and devotion to God.  Although he knew the consequences of this decision, he had complete faith in God that they would be protected and preserved.

However, before surrendering, we realized that we needed to stockpile weapons and hide them in an obscure location. Shim and his people would surely take our weapons from us, but we would eventually require a way to fight back, when the time was right. We employed our weapon makers to make as many weapons as they could in a short period of time, a few short weeks. They worked hard, they prayed hard as they made an unusual amount of weapons in just a short period of time; thousands of swords, bows and arrows, and other various weaponry. We found a place, hidden away in an obscure hill , where we concealed all the weapons. We worked swiftly and discretely to avoid any of Shim’s people finding us. Before we left the hiding place, we prayed that the angels would protect the weapons and prevent Shim and his people from discovering them.

After the weapons were securely hidden, my father sent a message to Shim saying that he would give Shim the throne if he would stop the bloodshed. Shim responded saying that he wanted the head of my father, otherwise he would not stop the killing. My father was about to willingly go to him, but my mother sent an urgent message to Shim, pleading with him that he would spare the life of my father. Somehow, miraculously Shim agreed not to take the life of my father but instead to bring us all into captivity, and Shim would have control over us. We would be given a place to live, to grow our crops and our herds, but we would have to give Shim one-half of all our increase. We would not be allowed to pray or to worship God in any way. Shim would not be able to promise us that his people would not abuse us in anyway, but at least we would be alive, and have food to eat. My father again called the council together; we prayed for a different solution, yet, felt peace that this would be right for now. We dreaded the possible abuses that could happen to our people, but felt a promise that if we remained faithful we would be protected. That didn’t mean that we would be protected from any type of mistreatment, but even if any of our people were abused or harmed in anyway, they would be quickly healed.

We delivered the message to Shim, agreeing to his demands. His people allowed us to retrieve our flocks, herds and seeds, then escorted us to a very barren land; a place that no one had ever lived because it appeared so desolate. We felt discouraged, yet were reminded to have faith. There were thousands of us, warriors, workers, women, and children.

Guards were placed all around the land, hundreds of guards. They were armed with whips, knives, and swords. If anyone was caught praying, they would be whipped. So, we prayed in our hearts; we poured out our hearts to God. If anyone was caught speaking about Jesus Christ, or anything considered a spiritual nature, they were whipped or beaten. To avoid punishment and to continue to talk about Jesus Christ, we learned to talk in a type of code. We were fortunate that one of the children, a young boy, was able to hide some scriptures in his case of personal belongings before we were brought into captivity. We had no idea how Shim’s guards missed that; we knew that it was a blessing from Heaven. We were very careful with those scriptures; we did not want to lose them. I, myself, carefully made a hiding place for them, so when the guards came around to check on us, the scriptures would not be found.

We learned that an angel came to the young boy, the nephew of our church leader, and told him to pack the scriptures. The angel told the boy that he and the scriptures would be protected. The boy grabbed the scriptures without telling anyone and packed them with the few personal belongings that he had. For whatever reason, we knew it was a blessing from God, that the guards did not check the boy’s belongings.

Life in captivity was tough. Guards would strike us for no reason. They raped our young women, even our older women. They were completely deprived of the spirit of the Lord. Shim would come around and beat on our father, and even our mother. It was heart wrenching as we felt powerless to help them. Nevertheless, as promised in our council, each time someone was mistreated, they were quickly healed by the power of God.

Even though the land we dwelled on was barren and desolate, it produced amazing crops. Our flocks and herds thrived. We had more than we needed, even after giving Shim more than one-half of our increase. We felt blessed. We knew the Lord watched over us.

Despite Shim’s wealth and the wealth of many of his people, and the taking of our crops and herds, they did not thrive as much as we did. Their crops did not produce like ours produced; their flocks and herds were adequate, but not great. We knew that we had been blessed by our loving God.

(To be continued…)

Petah was a young Jaredite girl, about 5-6 years old, who lived in a home where her parents were not faithful in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, although they were raised to believe in Jesus, they chose not to follow His teachings. She came from a large family, 5 older siblings and 2 younger siblings. Although her parents and most of her siblings were not faithful in the Gospel, they still tried to be respectable people They were kind to each other, they were almost always honest in their dealings with others. Petah’s father was a candle maker, one who made exquisite candles.

Petah had long, light-colored hair, her eyes were blueish-green, and she had a few freckles on her light-colored nose and chubby cheeks. She loved being outside, especially with her family’s animals; she particularly loved playing with her family’s chickens. After waking up in the morning, the first thing Petah would do was to go outside, play with the chickens, and search for chicken eggs. The chickens loved her and would quickly come to her when she came. Of course, it helped that Petah brought food for them. Petah’s grandmother gave her a cute basket so she had something to put the eggs in each morning. Petah loved her basket and used it every day.

Petah had a female cousin her same age that lived very close to her; in fact, Petah was two weeks older than her cousin. They loved to play with each other. her cousin’s family had nine children, most with about the same ages as Petah’s family.  Petah and her cousin were the closest in age and friendship.  The cousins would spend time at each other’s homes to play, work, and help each other with their chores.

Petah also loved to visit her cousin’s house because there was a different feeling there, a reverent feeling, a feeling of love and peace. Because her aunt and uncle still believed in the coming of Jesus Christ, they often told stories from the prophets about Jesus and taught their children about the plan of salvation. She loved hearing the stories and always wanted to hear more. She desired to tell her family the stories, but her parents just were not interested. Sometimes her younger siblings, and a couple of her older siblings would listen and some also enjoyed hearing the stories at her cousin’s home.  Petah’s favorite story was about Peter walking on the water. She loved to hear how Jesus pulled Peter out of the water after his faith faltered and carefully and steadfastly walked with him back to the boat.

Deep down, even at a young age, Petah knew the stories were true from the sweet whisperings of the Holy Spirit and she desired to follow Christ and to be baptized which she did when she was older.

Petah adored her father and loved to spend time with him as he made beautiful candles for others. She loved talking to her father while he worked. Sometimes her father would let her help him, even with pouring hot wax into the molds. Petah enjoyed putting the dyes into the wax and watching how the wax became a new color. She loved when her father would layer several different colors into a single candle.

Petah’s favorite color was red because red reminded her of Jesus and how Jesus would come to the earth and die for her sins. Even though her father did not believe in Jesus, he made her a beautiful red candle for her seventh birthday. The candle had gold and silver strands mixed in the wax; he even put red crystals in the candle. Petah cherished her candle. Because her father put his heart into it, it brought joy and happiness to her. The candle was only lit on special occasions; however, her father reminded her that she could use it whenever she wanted. He would always make her a new candle.

Petah lit the candle when she felt sadness or felt fearful. She stared at the flame and watch as it appeared to dance above the candle. The dancing flame brought light, faith, and hope to her heart and spirit. When others around her felt sad or afraid, Petah brought her candle to them and lit it for them, they felt light, faith, and hope too. Soon, Petah and her candle became well-known for the joy they brought to others.

Eventually, the candle burned down to a small stub. As promised, her father made her another candle, this one more beautiful than the first. He saw how Petah shared her candle with others and he was very proud of her and wanted to reward her with more candles.

Petah eventually became a candle maker like her father. Most of her candles were custom-made for her customers. People came from all over to purchase her candles. One of Petah’s greatest delights was to give each of her customers a beautiful red candle to bring them light, faith, and hope.

I am a Jaredite warrior. I fought for my father (earthly father), to help free him from captivity.

My older brother, Shim, took my father and many of my family and friends into captivity. I do not understand what happened to Shim, why he became so hateful. He was raised by loving parents who taught him about Jesus Christ. As he was in his 20s, he connected with some friends (and I use that term loosely, I would not consider them friends) who allowed pride and greed to take over their lives. They desired wealth and would do anything they could to obtain wealth, even if that meant taking advantage of others. Even though they became wealthy, their greediness caused them seek even more wealth. They lost all sense of consciousness. They did not care if someone else was hurt because of their evil doings.

These friends knew Shim and my family for years, but specifically wanted him in their group because he was the son of a king. Not only did they want additional wealth, they wanted power. They slowly enticed Shim into their group; they did it slowly because Shim, at one time, was an exceptionally righteous man. They were slow, yet very deliberate. They started out with a beautiful woman. Wow, she was stunning, but evil! They occasionally drugged his food and drink, which began to affect his mind. The drugging was so subtle, that my brother was not aware that anything happened, but we knew; we could slowly see changes. My parents warned Shim about his friends and what they were attempting to do, but he just did not see it, nor would he see it.

For a very long time after Shim connected with these friends, he continued to attend church, continued to believe in the coming of Christ, but gradually pulled away. He began arguing with our parents. He pulled away from us. He spent more and more time with his new friends, especially his beautiful girlfriend, until he decided that he didn’t want anything to do with our family. He tried enticing some of my brothers and sisters to go with him, and unfortunately, some wen. We were heartbroken. My parents were heart broken. They knew some of the people that Shim associated with and knew they were evil.

Shim was very handsome and charismatic. He began to draw away many from our people to follow him. He was very careful who he chose at first, but because of his charming personality, many more wanted to associate with him. Shim was an excellent orator and could easily convince people that his ways were right. He became wealthy and would use his money to bribe others to follow him. He drew more and more away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as he was able to convince them that there would be no Christ.

Eventually, Shim gained thousands of followers and decided that he wanted to be king. Of course, his friends helped to convince him of that; they wanted the power. Shim knew that he had enough people who would fight for him to become their king. They loved my brother, well, at least they thought they loved my brother. They were enamored with him.

It took time, in fact many years, for Shim to gather enough people, and flatter them enough and convince them that he should be the king; that he was worth fighting for, worth giving their lives for. Oh, the hatred and the lies that he spewed forth about my father, our father. He lost all light and became so dark. My parents were heartbroken at what they needed to do; which was to gather an army to defend themselves and those who followed Jesus Christ, against my brother. Thankfully, there were many who still believed in my father and the good man that he was, and came running to help him.

We gathered together a large army. We armed ourselves with the best weapons of our time, but so did Shim and his army. We fasted and prayed and put our faith and trust in God. We tried communicating with Shim to talk him out of war, to negotiate and to compromise, as much as we could compromise without offending our God. His pure heart was gone; replaced with darkness.

(This will be continued…)