Ether 10
This chapter is a constant change of leadership from one king to another. Not all kings were good and not all were bad. The interesting thing to note is that when the king was a righteous king and reigned in righteousness, the people would prosper and they would live in peace. Conversely, when the king was wicked, there were wars and famine in the land.

If the Book of Mormon was written for us in this time, and we've been told by prophets of God that it was, then we really do need to take heed with what is being taught in it. This chapter in particular is full of what we can expect when we have righteous leaders and what we can expect when we do not. We are seeing it a little in the way our government is being run currently. Clyde and I have actually had the discussion of “What would we do if it came to this. . . (fill in the blank)”? At some point, we would be required by our commitment to our Savior and the covenants we have made to rise up in rebellion. What does that mean? Does it really mean to start taking the lives of others? This is when I'm really glad to be of the female gender. I couldn't do it. But I definitely would support the men in their efforts. I would do whatever it takes to maintain my freedoms. Oh how I pray that there will be enough civility left that it does not come to that. However, the Book of Mormon makes it pretty clear that we should count on wars, robbers, murderers, famines, pestilence, (that's anything from poisonous snakes to infestations of bugs and the like) and anything else that we read about.

How does this apply to me? That really is a hard question to answer without being repetitious. I must prepare myself and my family. I must prepare temporally as well as spiritually. What does that mean? I must be actively engaged in seeing that we have in store those items we need to sustain life for long periods of time. And of course, I need to be ever vigilant in staying spiritually prepared, i.e. prayer, scriptures, attending temple, enduring the trials life has to bear and doing so in a Christ-like manner.