18:1
Usually, when one is truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ, there’s a natural desire to turn towards others. “And now, it came to pass that Alma, who had fled from the servants of king Noah, repented of his sins and iniquities, and went about privately among the people, and began to teach the words of Abinadi.” Why is there this drive to teach?
I think it comes from our identity as children of God. We are all spiritual brothers and sisters in a real way. I think a lot of our premortal life was spent influencing each other. I think the war in heaven was about convincing others to voluntarily follow God’s plan. In other words, we’re used to it. It feels right to “once converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
When we know that we are all God’s children and also know that Jesus is the way back to our Father, we have a natural desire to share.
18:7, 20
“And it came to pass after many days there were a goodly number gathered together at the place of Mormon, to hear the words of Alma. Yea, all were gathered together that believed on his word, to hear him. And he did teach them, and did preach unto them repentance, and redemption, and faith on the Lord.” That sounds like a pretty simple message. However, each one of those words can be expanded and illustrated and personalized almost infinitely.
Even those who he called as teachers, he ensured that they teach only these subjects. “Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people.” Why are these topics so all-encompassing and worthy and sufficient to teach? As you might expect, we could write pages and pages on these subjects - that’s the point. But here are a few thoughts:
Repentance. If the purpose of life was to help us progress to become like our Heavenly Father, how essential is the topic of repentance? To repent is to change, to improve. If a righteous person is unwilling to repent further, that person is damned. If a wicked person is willing to repent forever, that person will progress forever. Knowing our need for repentance and how to repent is the foundation of our progress.
Faith on the Lord. How does someone have the desire to repent without having faith that there is a reason to repent in the first place? Without hope for the future, there is no reason to repent. Having faith in Jesus, rather than in ourselves, is what gives us hope that we can improve. If our futures rely solely on us getting our act together, many will become frustrated, fearful and hopeless. Relying on Jesus Christ to save us gives us hope as he is a perfect being who is our advocate.
Redemption. Jesus Christ is the person who provides us hope. Without him, we are destined to be “angels to the devil.” Our futures are death to our bodies and hell for our souls. Because of Christ, we will all be resurrected and be saved from hell. Our faith in him allows us to envision a bright future - regardless of the mess we are in now. We are already redeemed. Christ overcame death and hell.
By thoroughly understanding these three principles and seeing how they connect to each other is the foundation of our discipleship of Jesus Christ. Alma understood that. He also saw how things can get twisted and complicated to the point that you could be deceived - even as an ordained priest of the king.
18:8-10, 13
What is the purpose of baptism? Is the primary purpose to “wash away our sins” or is it to covenant with God that we will follow Jesus and his teachings? I think it’s the latter. What does Alma say? First, what must we be willing to do when baptized:
“And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God, and to be called his people, and…”
“… are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;”
“Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn;”
“Yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort…”
“… and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life.”
If we are willing to do these things, why be baptized? “Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?” I know that we humans need covenants to continue to progress. It is human nature to stick more to a covenant rather than a casual agreement. If I sign a contract when I buy a house, I’m more likely to make the payments. Seeing baptism as a covenant is much more productive than viewing it as a symbolic gesture of our sins being washed away.
Alma even wrapped the covenant into the baptism ordinance. “And when he had said these words, the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he said: Helam, I baptize thee, having authority from the Almighty God, as a testimony that ye have entered into a covenant to serve him until you are dead as to the mortal body; and may the Spirit of the Lord be poured out upon you; and may he grant unto you eternal life, through the redemption of Christ, whom he has prepared from the foundation of the world.” It might be a good idea to revert back to these words when we baptized folks.
I think baptism talks should focus more on the covenant than the symbolism.
Alma’s initial questions about what people are willing to do after baptism outlines many of the purposes for having an organized church in the first place. The church organization gives us opportunities to help each other, comfort each other and teach each other. Without the church, I likely wouldn’t know about who needs help. I wouldn’t have as many relationships with my neighbors. I certainly wouldn’t have so many opportunities to teach and witness of Jesus Christ. The very scriptures we are reading are the result of an organized church.
18:21, 25
The purpose of being members of a church is to help us be one. “And he commanded them that there should be no contention one with another, but that they should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” We are so much stronger together than we are alone. Our individual strength is easier for Satan to overcome than our strength as a group. A group evens out our individual strengths and weaknesses. The chinks in the armor of a group are fewer and smaller. If we can be unified, we are more protected from the “buffetings of Satan.” If we are unified in our faith and love, we build the spiritual inertia we need to endure to the end.
It is essential that we are not unified through social media or email or Zoom. We must gather. “And there was one day in every week that was set apart that they should gather themselves together to teach the people, and to worship the Lord their God, and also, as often as it was in their power, to assemble themselves together.” We must gather to teach and worship together. We must assemble as much as we can - but at least once a week. In other words, we should go to church. To understand why, we must truly understand verse 21.
19:7, 11
It’s interesting to see what King Noah cared about. “And now the king cried out in the anguish of his soul, saying: Gideon, spare me, for the Lamanites are upon us, and they will destroy us; yea, they will destroy my people.” Feeling anguish is pretty intense. To say that his soul felt anguish is to add even more significance. Why did his soul feel anguish? Was it that he had executed Abinadi? Was it the sin that he had encouraged among his people? Was it the taxes that he had extorted?
Nope. It was that he was worried about himself. He was concerned that he might be injured or killed by Gideon. He cared so much about himself that he likely felt joy at the sight of seeing the Lamanites invite his land - knowing that many Nephites would die. Whatever it took so his life was spared was all that he cared about.
Of course, did he realize this in real time? In his case, I think so. For us, our selfishness might be so subtle that we don’t even recognize that we have ulterior motives. We might feel slight joy at someone losing their job because that makes a feel a little better about our continued employment. It is our nature as fallen creatures to be selfish - we’ve got to proactively fight against this tendency. At least I do.
This is further illustrated when Noah commanded his men to leave their wives and children. “Now it came to pass that the king commanded them that all the men should leave their wives and their children, and flee before the Lamanites.” Why would a king do that? In that moment, the women and children didn’t have anything to offer him in the short term. In fact, they might be the reason why he would captured and killed. The men had some value in that they could protect the king. He was prepared to sacrifice women and children so that he could have some men around him. Pathetic.
Having said that, have I ever viewed someone as a means to an end? Have I valued someone in terms of what they could do for me? Yes. So, like all stories in the Book of Mormon, there’s likely a way we can apply the lesson to ourselves in a very personal way.
20:14, 20
“Behold, my people have not broken the oath that I made unto you; therefore, why should ye break the oath which ye made unto my people?” The question that Limhi asked the king was “why.” Why is the best question to ask when you have a concern with someone:
Why don’t you put your used clothes in the laundry basket?
Why did you ignore my comments in the meeting?
Why have you stopped coming to church?
If we are asking “why” and we are sincerely interested in the reason, it is the first step to resolving a concern. Without understanding the reason behind something, we can never resolve the issue. You can’t fix a problem that you aren’t aware of.
Limhi was smart to start with asking the king why he invaded. He could have simply executed him. But, he wanted to find out what the problem was first. It was a good thing that Limhi attempted to discover the reason first. Turns out, by asking why, Limhi was able to learn that the king had a very good reason. So, instead of simply going to war, Limhi was able to talk through the misunderstanding. Many relationships could be saved if couples will follow the example of Limhi and work to discover “why” before going to war. Once Limhi knew the reason behind the king’s actions, he was able to resolve the concern by discovering what had happened to the Lamanite daughters.
Seeking to understand laid the foundation for a new mutual peace. They needed the king to plead for them. “And behold, they come with their numerous hosts; and except the king doth pacify them towards us we must perish.” Limhi slowing down and asking why saved the lives of many, many Nephites.
20:21
Gideon is also good at asking questions. He asks a series of questions to Limhi to help him realize that the priests were the likely culprits. Rather than Gideon simply telling Limhi what was true, he asked questions. If Gideon can ask the right series of logical questions, Limhi can arrive at the conclusion himself. This is always better.
Gideon’s final question was this, “or are not the words of Abinadi fulfilled, which he prophesied against us—and all this because we would not hearken unto the words of the Lord, and turn from our iniquities?” It’s impressive that Gideon recognized that the words of Abinadi were actually true and being fulfilled. We humans have the hardest time accepting blame. We rarely consider ourselves the problem. It’s cool that Gideon was quick to realize that they were actually a problem and what was happening was simply the consequences of their sin. Humans hate thinking this! We need to dig into our humility when bad things happen and consider what our role was in the problem.
21:12-14
It is easy for humans to have pride. Here, the Nephites were getting sick of being persecuted by the Lamanites. They were murmuring and complaining to the king. They gathered together and put on their armor and went out to face the Lamanites. Unfortunately, the were beaten back three separate times.
“Yea, they went again even the third time, and suffered in the like manner; and those that were not slain returned again to the city of Nephi. And they did humble themselves even to the dust, subjecting themselves to the yoke of bondage, submitting themselves to be smitten, and to be driven to and fro, and burdened, according to the desires of their enemies. And they did humble themselves even in the depths of humility; and they did cry mightily to God; yea, even all the day long did they cry unto their God that he would deliver them out of their afflictions.”
After three defeats with many casualties, they were finally humbled. Their complaints were replaced with submission. Rather than complain to their king, he cried mightily to God. We humans need outside forces to humble us. We often don’t humble ourselves spontaneously. There is usually some type of defeat or suffering or disease or financial hardship or disaster that leads to our humility. It is unfortunate that it needs to be this way - but it is this way. The Nephites nation proves this time and time again. They see success, get proud, sin, get humbled by an outside force, get humbled and then see success again.
23:9,11
Alma was a good man who was in a bad situation. “But remember the iniquity of king Noah and his priests; and I myself was caught in a snare, and did many things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord, which caused me sore repentance.” Alma says that he was “caught in a snare.” Snare is another word for a trap or pitfall. Satan has access to many, many traps that are perfectly designed for us as mortals.
Alma was a young priest. He probably received all kinds of accolades. He probably liked it and wanted more of it. He likely enjoyed the respect and admiration of the people. He may have reveled in the authority that he had at a young age. He saw his elders, who he respected, have concubines. That probably made him feel good about doing abominable things. His situation encouraged him to be proud and give into his lustful desires. That trap would catch 99% of all humans.
It’s certainly not uncommon that he was caught in a snare. What is uncommon is that he recognized his sinfulness and chose to repent. His new perspective caused “sore repentance.” The fact that he recognized his sin and had the determination to change is part of what is special about Alma.
Another good thing about Alma was that his transformation wasn’t a new source of pride. “Nevertheless, in this I do not glory, for I am unworthy to glory of myself.” He saw that his strength came from God - not himself. His increased capacity was a gift of the Spirit - not an accomplishment on his own.
We could all do better to give glory to God when we experience success.
23:12
“And now I say unto you, ye have been oppressed by king Noah, and have been in bondage to him and his priests, and have been brought into iniquity by them; therefore ye were bound with the bands of iniquity.” The people were in bondage and didn’t know it. Were they bound by chains or prisons - no. They were simply bound by their sin. They were controlled by their selfishness, pride, lust. Iniquity can hold someone down much more effectively than any sized chain. Breaking a metal chain is much, much easier than breaking a sinful habit.
23:18
Being a leader in the church is about spiritually nourishing the members. “Therefore they did watch over their people, and did nourish them with things pertaining to righteousness.” Leaders must be aware of what’s happening. Leaders must be sensitive to the instruction and direction of the Spirit about what their congregations need. I believe that a church leader’s prime responsibility is to spiritually nourish his people - whether you’re a Bishop, Stake President or Prophet.
23:21-22
Patience is part of being a good disciple of Jesus Christ. “Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith. Nevertheless—whosoever putteth his trust in him the same shall be lifted up at the last day. Yea, and thus it was with this people.” When the scriptures talk about patience, it’s mostly talking about patience with the Lord. Job is a very good example of this. Whether in good times or bad, he waited patiently on the Lord. He said, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
We must patiently endure hardship and maintain our faith all the while. We must be patient with the Lord’s timeline. We must be patient in accepting those things that we don’t understand. Patience is one of the highest attribute of heaven. I’m working on it.
24:1, 4, 6-7
“And it came to pass that Amulon did gain favor in the eyes of the king of the Lamanites; therefore, the king of the Lamanites granted unto him and his brethren that they should be appointed teachers over his people, yea, even over the people who were in the land of Shemlon, and in the land of Shilom, and in the land of Amulon.” Amulon was interested in being a teacher. Why? Simply because teachers have influence. Good or bad. And, if you are given authority to teach, you have even more influence because your words are “certified” by those in power.
I think this underscores the influence that a teacher can have on others. It emphasizes the point that our church leaders are teachers and can lead us simply through teaching.
“And they were a people friendly one with another; nevertheless they knew not God; neither did the brethren of Amulon teach them anything concerning the Lord their God, neither the law of Moses; nor did they teach them the words of Abinadi.” What did they teach them then? “But they taught them that they should keep their record, and that they might write one to another.” And “the language of Nephi began to be taught among all the people of the Lamanites.” What was the purpose of this teaching? Simply to benefit them in worldly ways. “And thus the Lamanites began to increase in riches, and began to trade one with another and wax great, and began to be a cunning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world…”
The problem with experiencing success in this world is it can warp your perspective. Worldly success often leads to worldly sins. The Lamanites were becoming “…a very cunning people, delighting in all manner of wickedness and plunder, except it were among their own brethren.” Often, people focus on the apparent cause and effect of worldly success. They reap the benefits of their efforts. This can take all focus and appreciation away from Heavenly Father. We see ourselves as the source of goodness - not God.
24:9
As the people see “their success” as a result of the teachings of Amulon, he is raised up and likely given more authority - as it appears here. Instead of Amulon and his brethren being simply teachers, they are elevated to a place of actual authority. “And now it came to pass that Amulon began to exercise authority over Alma and his brethren, and began to persecute him, and cause that his children should persecute their children.” Amulon was still under the King Laman “…yet he exercised authority over them, and put tasks upon them, and put task-masters over them.“ As we read in the D&C: “We have learned by sad experience that it is the nature and disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion.” Yep.
24:11-15
As the Nephites were persecuted, they turned heavenward and prayed for relief. Amulon certainly didn’t like this and would execute anyone who was found praying aloud. “And Alma and his people did not raise their voices to the Lord their God, but did pour out their hearts to him; and he did know the thoughts of their hearts.” Our prayers should always be a pouring out of our hearts. Working on it.
As always, the Lord heard their prayers. “And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.” The Lord comforts them and promises that they will be freed. He doesn’t say when.
Until that time that they are delivered, the Lord promises relief in the interim. “And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.” This is the pattern of God. He doesn’t always remove our trials, but he will always strengthen us to handle them. He can ease the burdens and strengthen us so we can’t even feel the weight of our afflictions on our shoulders.
Again, the burdens can be made light AND we can be strengthened. “And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.” God does this again and again throughout the scriptures. Almost always, the trial isn’t removed but the person is strengthened to bear it. This is certainly true for ourselves.
Again, part of being a good disciple is to “submit cheerfully and with patience to ALL the will of the Lord.” Whether it is the Lord’s will to deliver us today or when we die, our responsibility is to bear all burdens that we face with patience in the Lord’s will and timing. We may not understand why we are asked to endure or do something, but we must just move forward in faith that it is the will of the Lord. It may not make sense to us. It may be that we loathe doing what we are asked to do. But we are to cheerfully submit.
It may not be that we are delivered from our trials when we die. It may be that we are waiting for our deliverance until the end of our mortal lives. That’s a long time.
24:21-22
They were eventually delivered. When they were, they were grateful. “Yea, and in the valley of Alma they poured out their thanks to God because he had been merciful unto them, and eased their burdens, and had delivered them out of bondage; for they were in bondage, and none could deliver them except it were the Lord their God. And they gave thanks to God, yea, all their men and all their women and all their children that could speak lifted their voices in the praises of their God.” It is important that they humbly thanked God for the success that they had just experienced.
They didn’t revel in their own ingenuity for escaping when the guards were asleep. They didn’t pat eachother on the back and congratulate themselves. They were grateful for their heavenly help. Often, we don’t thank the right person when something good happens in our lives. I think it takes practice.
Comments