Alma 8:1-13

8:1-13 – Alma leaves Gideon after having a very successful mission. The people were righteous to begin with so because they didn’t have to spend so much time crying repentance, Alma was able to teach “the people of Gideon many things which cannot be written, having established the order of the church.” When we strive with all our hearts to keep the commandments of God, then we are more open and able to receive further instruction because we don’t have to spend so much time being admonished to keep the commandments in the first place. It’s interesting, because I was talking with a friend about this concept last night, and it might seem like it doesn’t connect, but a lot of friends of mine have been posting all over FB all the movies that they’ve been watching and they are mostly rated R, and the prophets have advised us to not watch R rated movies, so I don’t. But when I see my friends doing that, it makes me sad, and it occurred to me that when we can’t even keep the simple commandments like that, then surely we won’t be able to progress as much as we could if we didn’t have little hang ups like that. And I guess that makes me sound condescending, because I surely have enough of my own flaws, but I just thought that the extra teachings that the people of Gideon got because of their righteousness was a good example of what giving 100% to keeping the commandments can mean in terms of moving forward. So after teaching in Gideon, Alma “returned to his own house at Zarahemla to rest himself from the labors which he had performed.” I wonder why Mormon added that part, instead of just saying something like “then later he went to the land of Melek,” he made a point of stating that he went home to rest. I can speculate all day long, but the only thing that I can think of here is his teaching from yesterday to be temperate in all things, because even serving in the church can have a point to where you need a break. This is him practically applying the teachings that he put out yesterday. Then in the next year, the 10th year, Alma goes to Melek and has massive success there, the people “came to him throughout all the borders of the land which was by the wilderness side. And they were baptized throughout all the land.” I know we’re talking about Melek specifically right now, but it would seem like there was a whole large area and m any people covered under that. And interesting that the people were coming to him to be baptized, were as before in Zarahemla, and as we will see in Ammonihah, they were not interested in him at all. The people were very eager to have the gospel and hope and joy of Jesus Christ in their lives. “So that when he had finished his work at Melek, he departed thence, and traveled three days journey… to a city which was called Ammonihah.” However, unlike the people in other places “Satan had gotten great hold upon the hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah; therefore they would not hearken unto the words of Alma.” I know that we’ve talked about this before but it’s just so interesting to me, and here is an example of this principle, that Satan has his own agenda, and he will do anything to get it done. And the weird part about that is that his agenda is to destroy God, and it doesn’t matter what he has to do to make that happen. All the lies he tells, all the promises he makes, nothing matters, he has no intention of keeping any of his promises, loving anyone, he will turn and run and abandon any who follow him the first time that it benefits him. I can kind of understand rejecting God because you don’t want to follow His rules, yeah I get that you just want to do whatever you want to do all the time, and I get that some people have not grasped the concept of free agency but we’re not free from the consequences, but to trust a being who is so inherently selfish that he has proved time and time again to only be interested in his own agenda. The horror and bloodshed that he has imagined up is just obscene, and I can’t believe that people really think that is he wins any kind of power that he will give them something. But Alma didn’t just give up, he “labored much in the spirit, wrestling with God in mighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance.” I think it’s worth noting here that it can superficially be thought that Alma might want to baptize people for his own personal gain, especially with the way that that last sentence was worded, but with what we know of Alma thus far, I think we can safely assume that his desire to baptize people was for their own welfare, he desires them to repent and be happy like he did and he has. It’s also interesting that this is the second time that we’ve heard the phrase “wrestling with God in mighty prayer,” even if it wasn’t phrased exactly the same way. Enos told us of his wrestle before God in prayer, and now we hear that Alma wrestled with God in mighty prayer. What does wrestling with God in prayer mean? The IM says “the phrase ‘mighty prayer’ indicates powerful, faith-filled communication with God. Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin… suggested ways we can evaluate and seek to improve the strength of our prayers: ‘May I ask you today to consider the effectiveness of your prayers? How close do you feel to your Heavenly Father? Do you feel that your prayers are answered? Do you feel that the time you spend in prayer enriches and uplifts your soul? Is there room for improvement?” Now this was a scathing indictment of myself. Prayer is not my strong suit, I actually don’t really understand it that much, but I try and I could improve in many ways. In fact, confession here, I don’t look forward to praying, especially at night because it’s just one more thing to do before I can go to sleep. So I need to work on that, and maybe this is my directive. Elder Wirthlin continues “There are many reasons our prayers lack power. Sometimes they become routine. Our prayers become hollow when we say similar words in similar ways over and over so often that the words become more of a recitation than a communication. This is what the Savior described as ‘vain repetitions.’ Such prayers, He said, will not be heard…” This last part made me sad, I hope that he still hears me and knows that I am trying. Unfortunately I do use a lot of the same words and phrases, but I guess my question is this, if I’m supposed to pray for the missionaries, and the leaders of the church and for opportunities to share the gospel, and all sorts of other things, how do I pray for those things repeatedly, without it becoming repetitious? I feel like there are so many things that I’m supposed to pray for that there’s all this pressure, and I don’t want to forget anything, but then where is the personalization? I have analysis paralysis, where I over think things to the point that I just either don’t do them, or in the case of prayer, do them but not in a meaningful way. Elder Wirthlin finishes with “prayers that do not demand much of your thought will hardly merit much attention from our Heavenly Father. When you find yourself getting into a routine with your prayers, step back and think. Meditated for a while on the things for which you really are grateful.” That’s what I’m going to do, really try to focus on what I’m grateful for and try to talk to Him about that. One thing of note here, in the differences of speaking styles, there is a phrase in Elder Wirthlin’s teachings that I want to bring up, and that is “prayers that do not demand much of your thought will hardly merit much attention from our Heavenly Father.” This makes it seem like when we are praying that there is a certain level of spirituality, or confession, or gratitude that we have to meet before Heavenly Father will hear us, this phrase makes me envision Heavenly Father standing with a timer or something, and being like “oh not good enough, sorry try again later.” Maybe I’m reading too much into that but I know if that makes me feel that way than it makes someone else feel that way too. But knowing what I know about God now, this phrase could be taken as Heavenly Father listening intently, then at the end when we haven’t made any effort hardly at all, Him being disappointed. So maybe one way to put it is that He listens with full attention, but answers relative to our own given efforts. The people of Ammonihah are incredibly aggressive, because like I said, it’s one thing to say “no thanks, I don’t want to hear what you have to say,” but the citizen’s here said “we know that you are Alma and that you are the leader of the church, but you also have no power over us because you gave up the judgment seat. We don’t believe in what you say.” And then the crazy part they “withstood all his words, and reviled him, and spit upon him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city.” He’s probably a decent age by now, a known combat hero, an honorable chief judge, and at a minimum a kindly man, this is the point where Satan’s rage can be seen so clearly. Some of those men might have fought alongside Alma during the wars, been party to his judgment, they clearly knew him personally, and if we take the religious part away for a minute, let’s think of all the beneficial things that the people could have had by simply welcoming and associating with Alma. They could grow their trade businesses, they could make contacts for future employment opportunities, they could have asked him to teach them combat skills. By allowing Alma to be in their city and associate with its citizens there would have been many benefits to the people personally, but does Satan care about the people in anyway? No, not at all. Does Satan value their relative, though brief, happiness? Nope. He would have his followers throw away any and all gain and opportunity that could be gleaned from any situation and act out in complete destruction. That’s who Satan really is.