Alma 43

In order to deceptively gain power, Mormon writes of Zerahemnah that -

"...this he did that he might preserve their hatred towards the Nephites, that he might bring them into subjection to the accomplishment of his designs.
8 For behold, his designs were to stir up the Lamanites to anger against the Nephites; this he did that he might usurp great power over them, and also that he might gain power over the Nephites by bringing them into bondage."  (Alma 43:7–8)

At the same time -

"...now the design of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies; and also that they might preserve their rights and their privileges, yea, and also their liberty, that they might worship God according to their desires.
10 For they knew that if they should fall into the hands of the Lamanites, that whosoever should worship God in spirit and in truth, the true and the living God, the Lamanites would destroy."  (Alma 43:9–10)

I can't help but see these same tactics in our day.

Alma 42

This morning, I honor Corianton.  Because of his thought patterns, we received some of the the most profound doctrine from Alma.  As Alma teaches the laws of justice and mercy, that God Himself must obey or cease to be God, he explains -

"...the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also."  (Alma 42:15)

Thus, how these laws will be administered, will be dependent upon the agency of each individual for -

"...justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved."  (Alma 42:24)

"Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.
28 If he has desired to do evil, and has not repented in his days, behold, evil shall be done unto him, according to the restoration of God."  (Alma 42:27–28)

Alma 41

As Alma teaches Corianton the doctrine of restoration, he teaches -

"...it is requisite with the justice of God that men should be judged according to their works; and if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.
4 And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil. Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—
5 The one raised to happiness according to his desires of happiness, or good according to his desires of good; and the other to evil according to his desires of evil..."  (Alma 41:3–5)

Basically, it is the law of the harvest...you reap what you sow.

Alma 40

In teaching Corianton concerning the resurrection, Alma says that  -

"...all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame."  (Alma 40:23)

David J. Ridges commented -

"Some want to know what “the perfect” age is. Opinions vary, but if you stop to think about it, since we are all mortal, we have never had a truly “proper and perfect frame.” The point is that “perfect age” does-n't really fit. It is a moot question. We will all be very pleasantly surprised when we are resurrected and discover what the words “perfect” and “proper” mean with respect to us. Once, in a private setting with a member of the First Presidency and a few others, it was said that there would be many exclamations of pleasant surprise on resurrection morning."  (Ridges, David J.. The Book of Mormon Made Easier, Part 2)

Alma 39

Upon teaching his son, Corianton, concerning the Savior, His atonement and gospel, he makes an interesting prophecy -

"...this was the ministry unto which ye were called, to declare these glad tidings unto this people, to prepare their minds; or rather that salvation might come unto them, that they may prepare the minds of their children to hear the word at the time of his coming."  (Alma 39:16)

This could easily mean, their children not yet born.  The Savior would come about a hundred years later.

Alma 38

Even though Shiblon had proved himself as a faithful missionary, Alma counseled him to continually say -

"...O Lord, forgive my unworthiness, and remember my brethren in mercy—yea, acknowledge your unworthiness before God at all times."  (Alma 38:14)

...keeping in mind -

"...that there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved, only in and through Christ. Behold, he is the life and the light of the world. Behold, he is the word of truth and righteousness."  (Alma 38:9)

Alma 37

Nephi records of the Liahona -

"...a round ball of curious workmanship; and it was of fine brass. And within the ball were two spindles; and the one pointed the way whither we should go into the wilderness."  (1 Nephi 16:10)

At times, I have wondered what the other spindle did.

Alma tells Helaman that the  -

"...Liahona, which is, being interpreted, a compass; and the Lord prepared it.
39 And behold, there cannot any man work after the manner of so curious a workmanship. And behold, it was prepared to show unto our fathers the course which they should travel in the wilderness.
40 And it did work for them according to their faith in God; therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles wrought by the power of God, day by day."  (Alma 37:38–40)

The thought came to me as I read this morning was the other spindle did the same thing as a confirmation or witness to the first spindle.  This  would give assurance that the Liahona was working according to their faith.

Alma 36

I feet much like Alma when he comments -

"...not of any worthiness of myself..."  (Alma 36:5)

And -

"...I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions..."  (Alma 36:27)

Alma 35

After Alma and his companions preached the gospel amongst the Zoramites, the rulers -

"...sent and gathered together throughout all the land all the people, and consulted with them concerning the words which had been spoken.
5 Now their rulers and their priests and their teachers did not let the people know concerning their desires; therefore they found out privily the minds of all the people.
6 And it came to pass that after they had found out the minds of all the people, those who were in favor of the words which had been spoken by Alma and his brethren were cast out of the land; and they were many; and they came over also into the land of Jershon."  (Alma 35:4–6)

Does this not reflect much of politics today?

Alma 34

I just wanted to point out that Amulek instructed us to -

"...cry unto him against the power of your enemies."  (Alma 34:22)

I noticed he did not say to pray against your enemies, but against their powe.

I also note that when Amulek warns -

"...behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors."  (Alma 34:32)

And -

"...I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed."  (Alma 34:33)

He is speaking to those whom -

"...have had so many witnesses..."  (Alma 34:33)

Alma 33

Alma analogizes the power of Jesus Christ as a type (a brazen serpent) which Moses -

"...raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.
20 But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them."  (Alma 33:19–20)

And then Alma asks -

"O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?
22 If so, wo shall come upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their works."  (Alma 33:21–22)

What profound analogy to those who may be less active.

Alma 32

Alma teaches what I consider to be the first step in developing faith -

"...therefore if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true."  (Alma 32:21)

In my mind, you have to hope for or think positive of the word or righteousness you are persuing.  You will never develop enough faith sufficient to repent if you or pessimistic or trying to prove as a falsehood.  It requires -

"...a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ..."  (Moroni 10:4)

Alma 31

Alma takes a different missionary approach as he prays -

"...O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may bear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul.
31 O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul in Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these afflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people.
32 O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me—yea, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also Amulek and Zeezrom, and also my two sons—yea, even all these wilt thou comfort, O Lord. Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ."  (Alma 31:30–32)

He didn't pray that the others hearts would be changed, but that his own heart would be changed.

Alma 30

Korihor testifies that he does not believe there is a God because there is no evidence, but later testifies -

"...the devil hath deceived me; for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, and said unto me: Go and reclaim this people, for they have all gone astray after an unknown God. And he said unto me: There is no God; yea, and he taught me that which I should say..."  (Alma 30:53)

In my mind, this doesn't hold water.

Alma 28

Mormon teaches a great profound truth -

"...thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men."  (Alma 28:13)

We all have been given God-given equal rights, but we seem to loose the rights of happiness as we choose sin and transgression.

Alma 27

Mormon tells us -

"...that the Amalekites, because of their loss, were exceedingly angry. And when they saw that they could not seek revenge from the Nephites, they began to stir up the people in anger against their brethren, the people of Anti-Nephi-Lehi; therefore they began again to destroy them."  (Alma 27:2)

Where the converted Lamanites began to experience and show brotherly love, there were many that chose not God and His ways were angry and began to destroy.  Seems again to be much like today.

Alma 26

As Ammon glories in the opportunity to be and instrument in the hands of God, we sense a bit of prejudice in his day among the Nephites as he explains -

"...do ye remember, my brethren, that we said unto our brethren in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephi, to preach unto our brethren, the Lamanites, and they laughed us to scorn?
24 For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers, as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in the shedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossest iniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor from the beginning? Now my brethren, ye remember that this was their language.
25 And moreover they did say: Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us."  (Alma 26:23–25)

He reminds is companions that the Lamanites are also their brethren.

Alma 24

Mormon teaches two points -

"...the great God has had mercy on us, and made these things known unto us that we might not perish; yea, and he has made these things known unto us beforehand, because he loveth our souls as well as he loveth our children; therefore, in his mercy he doth visit us by his angels, that the plan of salvation might be made known unto us as well as unto future generations.
15 Oh, how merciful is our God! And now behold, since it has been as much as we could do to get our stains taken away from us, and our swords are made bright, let us hide them away that they may be kept bright, as a testimony to our God at the last day, or at the day that we shall be brought to stand before him to be judged, that we have not stained our swords in the blood of our brethren since he imparted his word unto us and has made us clean thereby."  (Alma 24:14–15)

And -

"...thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had never known these things."  (Alma 24:30)

We need to love our fellowman.

Alma 23

Mormon explains that as the Lamanites hearkened to the word of God and were converted that they became -

"...convinced that they were all brethren, and that they ought not to murder, nor to plunder, nor to steal, nor to commit adultery, nor to commit any manner of wickedness."  (Alma 23:3)

If society wants to solve their problems, it is conversion to the Lord.

Alma 21

We see the logic of the Amalekites are much the same as today saying to Aaron -

"...What is that thou hast testified? Hast thou seen an angel? Why do not angels appear unto us? Behold are not this people as good as thy people?
6 Thou also sayest, except we repent we shall perish. How knowest thou the thought and intent of our hearts? How knowest thou that we have cause to repent? How knowest thou that we are not a righteous people? Behold, we have built sanctuaries, and we do assemble ourselves together to worship God..."  (Alma 21:5–6)

And with that -

"...they were angry with him, and began to mock him; and they would not hear the words which he spake."  (Alma 21:10)

Do we not see this today in our missionary work?