A Spiritual Wake-Up Call...

🎥 Lehi Teaches His Family 

📒 2 Nephi 1

📜 23 Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. Shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust.

🔥 righteousness

📗 Psalms 85

📜 11 Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

📚 Moses 7

📜 62 And righteousness will I send down out of heaven; and truth will I send forth out of the earth, to bear testimony of mine Only Begotten; his resurrection from the dead; yea, and also the resurrection of all men; and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare, an Holy City, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion, a New Jerusalem.

📕 1 Timothy 6

📜 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

📕 2 Timothy 2

📜 22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

📕 2 Timothy 3

📜 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

📕 2 Timothy 4

📜 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

📒 2 Nephi 21

📜 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

📒 2 Nephi 31

📜 5 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need to be baptized by water, to fulfil all righteousness, O then, how much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even by water!

📒 2 Nephi 2

📜 13 And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness there be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

📒 2 Nephi 4

📜 33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me! Wilt thou not place a stumbling block in my way—but that thou wouldst clear my way before me, and hedge not up my way, but the ways of mine enemy.

📒 2 Nephi 9

📜 14 Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.

📒 2 Nephi 30

📜 11 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

📘 Doctrine and Covenants 98

📜 30 And then if thou wilt spare him, thou shalt be rewarded for thy righteousness; and also thy children and thy children’s children unto the third and fourth generation.

📒 Doctrine and Covenants 100

📜 15 Therefore, let your hearts be comforted; for all things shall work together for good to them that walk uprightly, and to the sanctification of the church.

📜 16 For I will raise up unto myself a pure people, that will serve me in righteousness;

📚 Moses 

📜 23 And they were preachers of righteousness, and spake and prophesied, and called upon all men, everywhere, to repent; and faith was taught unto the children of men.

📜 41 And he said unto them: I came out from the land of Cainan, the land of my fathers, a land of righteousness unto this day. And my father taught me in all the ways of God.

📚 Moses 7

📜 18 And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

📚 Abraham 1

📜 2 And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep the commandments of God, I became a rightful heir, a High Priest, holding the right belonging to the fathers.

📚 Joseph Smith—History

📜 2 In this history I shall present the various events in relation to this Church, in truth and righteousness, as they have transpired, or as they at present exist, being now [1838] the eighth year since the organization of the said Church.

🔥 “Put on the armor of righteousness”

- Armor implies battle-readiness—not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual deception, despair, and complacency.

- Righteousness is not mere moral correctness; it’s covenantal alignment. It’s the protective force field of divine favor, forged through humility, obedience, and love of Christ.

- Lehi’s sons are being summoned to wear righteousness—not just profess it. It’s a call to embodiment, not abstraction.

⛓️ chains

Spiritual Bondage

📗 Isaiah 52

📜 2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.

📗 Isaiah 61

📜 1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 

📜 2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;

📕 John 8

🗝📜 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 

📜 33 ¶ They answered him, We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 

📜 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 

📜 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever. 

🗝📜 36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

📒 Mormon 8

📜 31 Yea, it shall come in a day when there shall be great pollutions upon the face of the earth; there shall be murders, and robbing, and lying, and deceivings, and whoredoms, and all manner of abominations; when there shall be many who will say, Do this, or do that, and it mattereth not, for the Lord will uphold such at the last day. But wo unto such, for they are in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity.

📘 Doctrine and Covenants 98

📜 8 I, the Lord God, make you free, therefore ye are free indeed; and the law also maketh you free.

📚 Moses 4

📜 3 Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; 

🗝📜 4 And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. 

📜 5 And now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which I, the Lord God, had made.

⛓️ “Shake off the chains with which ye are bound”

- Chains symbolize bondage—spiritual, emotional, ideological. These aren’t Roman shackles; they’re internal: pride, resentment, fear, sensual distraction.

- The verb shake off implies agency. These chains aren’t welded shut—they’re illusions that lose power once truth is embraced.

- Lehi’s plea is urgent: You are bound, but not imprisoned. Wake up, and the chains fall.

🌑 “Come forth out of obscurity”

- Obscurity is more than anonymity—it’s spiritual fog, a life lived beneath divine potential.

- To “come forth” is to step into visibility, into purpose, into prophetic charge.

- Lehi sees his sons not as rebels, but as dormant kings. This is coronation language—echoing Isaiah and ancient enthronement rites.

🌑 Be Men!

  By Elder Carlos E. Asay

 Of the Presidency of the Seventy

April 1992

"What Makes a Man a Man?"

  "What makes a man a man? This is a question used in a popular beer ad. The suggestion of that advertisement is that by drinking the beer the consumer becomes a man. How devious and how very stupid! Those who try to get you to drink alcoholic beverages and use drugs have total disregard for you, you who are the “temples of God.” Hence, they would have you defile your body and offend the Spirit of God that dwells within you (see 1 Cor. 3:16–17)."

 "What makes a man a man? Let’s turn to the Book of Mormon and Father Lehi for an answer. A short time before his death, Lehi gave this charge to his sons: “Arise from the dust, … and be men” (2 Ne. 1:21; italics added)."

  “Awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound” (2 Ne. 1:13)."

 “Be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things” (2 Ne. 1:21)."

 “Put on the armor of righteousness. … Come forth out of obscurity. … Rebel no more” (2 Ne. 1:23–24)."

< The challenge to “arise from the dust” means to overcome evil behaviors that destroy character and ruin lives. Physical appetites must be controlled.  

< “Awake from a deep sleep, … even from the sleep of hell” suggests a process of learning and becoming aware of God’s holy purposes. No sleep is deeper or more deadly than the sleep of ignorance.  

< “Shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound” indicates the need to overcome bad habits, even the seemingly little habits that grow into strong “chains of hell” (see 2 Ne. 26:22; Alma 5:7).  

< “Be determined in one mind and in one heart, united in all things” requires full commitment to righteousness and a singleness of purpose so that one’s will is made compatible with the will of God.  

< “Put on the armor of righteousness” reminds us of the need to wear the helmet of salvation, pick up the sword of truth, use the shield of faith, and accept the full protective coverings of the Lord (see Eph. 6:11–18).  

< “Come forth out of obscurity” instructs one to model goodness and serve as a light to others. True men are living light fountains which are pleasant to be near (Thomas Carlyle; see also D&C 103:9–10).

< “Rebel no more” makes it perfectly clear that ignoring or willfully breaking commandments is a wasteful effort."

🪶 “Arise from the dust”

- Dust is mortality, forgetfulness, and covenant neglect. It’s the Genesis echo: “dust thou art.”

- To arise is resurrection, renewal, and sacred ascent.

- Lehi’s call is not just to wake up—it’s to stand up as sons of God, heirs of promise, and bearers of witness.

🪶 Let Us Be Men

  By Elder D. Todd Christofferson 

Of the Presidency of the Seventy

October 2006

"We who hold the priesthood of God cannot afford to drift. We have work to do (see Moroni 9:6). We must arise from the dust of self-indulgence and be men! It is a wonderful aspiration for a boy to become a man—strong and capable; someone who can build and create things, run things; someone who makes a difference in the world. It is a wonderful aspiration for those of us who are older to make the vision of true manhood a reality in our lives and be models for those who look to us for an example."

2 Nephi 1:23 is a mythic summons. Not a reprimand, but a restoration. Lehi isn’t scolding—he’s crowning. And the focus words—righteousness, chains—are the pivot points between bondage and glory.