Alma 35
35:1-9 - This is a short but interesting chapter. Alma and his missionary companions finish up their teachings and “they withdrew themselves from the multitude and came over into the land of Jerson.” The part of the Zoramite society that was well to do and “popular,” I would assume it was those who were welcomed into the synagogues, “were angry because of the word, for it did destroy their craft; therefore they would not hearken unto the words.” The IM references this “craft” as priest craft. And they were interested in how the other people in the land received that information, so they “sent and gathered together throughout all the land all the people, and consulted with them concerning the words which had been spoken.” So they basically took a poll of everyone’s opinions, but being the cowards that they are, they “did not let the people know concerning their desires; therefore they found out privily the minds of all the people… (and) 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.” Pretty brutal, again, Satan does an excellent job of indirectly signally the importance of God by reacting with such fury and outrage to those who accept Him. If God truly was as unimportant as Satan tries to make us think that he is, then the reaction to His teachings would be neglect or at most disinterest, but the hate, the violence and the atrocities signal that His work is of great importance. The people of Ammon, in the land of Jershon, of course accept the converted Zoramites, like they accepted any of those who were cast out of their lands because of their belief in the word, even their own sworn enemies who had literally killed their brethren, then repented. But the wicked Zoramites were not happy with this open arms acceptance, and “the people of the Zoramites were angry with the people of Ammon who were in Jershon, and the chief ruler of the Zoramites, being a very wicked man, sent over unto the people of Ammon desiring them that they should cast out of their land all those who came over from them into their land. And he breathed out many threatenings against them. And now the people of Ammon did not fear their words; therefore they did not cast them out, but they did receive all the poor of the Zoramites that came over unto them; and they did nourish them, and did clothe them, and did give unto them lands for their inheritance and they did administer unto them according to their wants.” Looking back at everything that the people of Ammon had faced to maintain their faith, they faced unarmed slaughter of themselves and their families, they faced enslavement by their brethren, they experienced horrid war before some of them would repent, pretty much all of the cases in which the Lamanites were converted, each stood in the face of imminent death and vowed to keep their covenants with the Lord, whether they were in the first, second, or third harvest, slaughter followed those who were converted, and they ALL stayed faithful, so a wicked man writing an angry letter probably had no effect on the actions of the people of Ammon in any way, because they lived with the eternal perspective. In a March 2014 Ensign article entitled “Maintaining an Eternal Perspective,” Elder Dale G. Renlund taught that “maintaining an eternal perspective means we remember that life is more than the here and now, that life continues after death, and that our choices have eternal consequences.” If the people of Ammon were to live in the here and now, they would be trembling, and afraid to serve the converted Zoramites, but because they fear not man, but God, they know that by serving others, they are choosing righteous eternal consequences. Marion D. Hanks give us a modern day example of looking at the eternal perspective in service to others in an October 1988 general conference address entitled “The Royal Law of Love,” teaching that the Christian spirit demonstrated by the people of Ammon “is still operative among the people of the Church. For several years in the refugee camps in Asia, young representatives of the Church have served special mission assignments preparing those choice people to live in this country. An observer who felt the special spirit with which they so selflessly worked wrote: ‘You people don’t have to talk about your religion. Your values come through like a ton of brinks.’ The people whom they served have looked upon them with almost the reverence that they might have bestowed upon the Savior himself. And when they have experienced this purifying blessing-the blessing of service- the missionaries have returned to their regular labors of their homes with these solemn testimonies: ‘This was the most decent thing I have ever done. My life will never be the same again.’” These are very powerful and majestic examples of life devoting acts of service performed for others, and that’s awesome, but I’d like to think that I can make a difference in my own life and the lives of others even without giving up my whole life to devote 100% of my time and energy in major philanthropic endeavors. I’d like to think that the smile that I give to someone in the grocery store is significant too; I’d like to think that watching someone’s child while they do something is meaningful as well. Sometimes I think that we believe that we have to make some grand gesture, make some enormous sacrifice for our efforts to count, but I don’t think that that’s the case, if it was, then that’s what we would be commanded to do, but instead we are shown opportunities for small acts of service, and that’s the way that testimonies are built and the gospel is spread many times.
35:10-16 – The Zoramites are so furious that the people of Ammon are not afraid of them or cast out the converted Zoramites like they wanted that “this did stir up the Zoramites to anger against the people of Ammon, and they began to mix with the Lamanites and to stir them up also to anger against them. And thus the Zoramites and the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of Ammon, and also against the Nephites. And this ended the seventeenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.” So just a quick recap here, all this happened in the 17th year, and the last war was waged only 2 years previously, in the 15th year of the reign of the judges, when the people of Ammon left and went to live in the land of Jershon, so we aren’t talking about a very long time since the last brutal bloody battle, “even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem.” Seriously, the largest battle ever known to them was fought only 2 years ago, and that was just after the third harvest of souls, when some of the most hardened Lamanites had turned to the Lord to find peace in their souls, leaving only the most wicked and hard hearted unbelievers, so I guess it would make sense that even in the wake of that massive destruction among their people, they would prepare to do it again so soon. One way that I look at it is, if Satan was a military commander on the field of battle and sent wave after wave of soldiers to storm a stronghold that is immaculately secured, and the statistical chance of Satan’s soldiers being able to breach it is slim to none, but he just won’t stop ordering his men forward, the soldiers would eventually look at him and say “hey screw you pal, you don’t care about us, you don’t care if we die trying to achieve a mission that is impossible,” and they would desert his army. But what is so interesting to me is that because Satan doesn’t have a body, because we can’t see him, we are suddenly too blind to see that he is in fact running his soldiers into certain death traps and he doesn’t care at all. He is so blinded by his hatred of Heavenly Father that he is incapable of seeing or caring the pain and suffering that he purposefully causes other people. He is literally too obsessed with his mission to overthrow God, which is impossible, that he doesn’t have the capacity to care about the wellbeing of anyone or anything else. So the Zoramites and the Lamanites preparing for war this soon after the massive slaughter that they had just endured reminded me of various time in military history when commanders had been so blinded by an unobtainable mission that they sacrificed countless lives. While the Lamanites are preparing for battle, “the people of Ammon departed out of the land of Jershon, and came over into the land of Melek, and gave place in the land of Jershon for the armies of the Nephites, that they might contend with the armies of the Lamanites and the armies of the Zoramites. The land of Jershon must have had some sort of strategic location that would make it a desirable Nephite stronghold, and I’m sure that the people of Ammon weren’t desperate to move away from their homes and lands that they had tended and cared for over the last 2 years, but they did for the good of the cause, again another example of them keeping an eternal perspective. Would it have mattered eternally where they lived or farmed? No, probably not, but it probably would have mattered eternally if they had been resistant to moving so that the Nephite army could gain an advantage, which would have meant lives lost, including their own, yeah, that kind of matters. But the Zoramites who had repented and converted and moved into the land of Jershon, “they have taken up arms to defend themselves, and their wives, and children, and their lands.” Here is another indicator that the covenant which the people of Ammon made to not wield weapons of war was individual and unique to them, and not an over reaching implication that the Lord prefers pacifism. Alma is also troubled by the increasing wickedness of his own people “seeing that the hearts of the people began to wax hard, and that they began to be offended because of the strictness of the word.” Again in the Ensign article entitled “Maintaining an Eternal Perspective,” we are taught that “surprisingly, losing the eternal perspective is a risk whether we face trials or prosperity. In the Old Testament, Moses warned the Israelites that once they found themselves blessed beyond measure in the promised land, they must ‘beware lest thou forget the Lord.’ In the Book of Mormon, Mormon stated the problem when he wrote, ‘Yea, and we may see at the very time when (God) doth prosper his people… then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feel the Holy One- yea, and this because of their east, and their exceedingly great prosperity.’ President Brigham Young issued a similar warning, He said: ‘The worst fear that I have about (members of this Church) is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and his people, wax far, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth.’” The scriptures only tell us that in the 16th and 17th years, there was peace, the Nephites had won the war, and buried many thousands of Lamanites and their brethren who had been killed in the war. I think that it would be appropriate to assume that they experienced a rebound of prosperity during those 2 years, and that the people began to see the Church as being ridged in their rules, they wanted to do that which was contrary to the Lord’s commandments, and were beginning to make excuses for their disobedience. When I heard this part of the article, I truly felt like the Lord was speaking directly to me. I am blessed beyond measure, yet so much of the time I am upset or irritated or angry about something, I am not keeping an eternal perspective. I truly felt like this was my call to be more Christ like, to stop worrying about the little things that don’t matter and to be happy and joyful and openly serve others. I truly felt like the end quote from President Henry B. Eyring was specifically for me, as he said “There is a simple cure for the terrible malady of forgetting God, His blessings, and His messages to us… The key to… remembering… is receiving the Holy Ghost as a companion. It is the Holy Ghost who helps us see what God has done for us. It is the Holy Ghost who can help those we serve to see what God has done for them.” I need to work harder to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, I need to more openly serve and love, I need to be more positive, be more grateful. I need to try to be happier. Alma seeing both the righteous and the wicked prepare for war “grieved” him, he “caused that his sons should be gathered together, that he might give unto them every one his charge, separately, concerning things pertaining to righteousness.” In an April 2010 general conference address entitled “Things Pertaining to Righteousness,” Elder Francisco J. Vinas taught, “Parents play an essential role in helping their children to understand the things pertaining to righteousness. In the Book of Mormon we find that Alma the younger being grieved because of the iniquity, the wards, and the contentions that existed and distressed by the hardness of heart of his people, ‘caused that his sons should be gathered together, that he might give unto them every one his charge, separately, concerning the things pertaining unto righteousness.’ It is interesting to notice that he taught and gave his children their charge separately, adapting his instructions to each son, according to that son’s needs. He bore testimony and taught them doctrine and principles, preparing them to preach those same principles to others.” We will see in coming chapters exactly how different those messages are, and they speak to many and all of us at the same time as we experience different trials in our lives. I am so grateful for the messages and lessons that the Lord has taught me and the lengths to which he is going to further teach me, and I hope truly in my heart that I am strong enough to implement his teachings into my daily life because I love him and I want to be as happy as he has planned for me, I want to be worthy of that plan and that joy.
35:10-16 – The Zoramites are so furious that the people of Ammon are not afraid of them or cast out the converted Zoramites like they wanted that “this did stir up the Zoramites to anger against the people of Ammon, and they began to mix with the Lamanites and to stir them up also to anger against them. And thus the Zoramites and the Lamanites began to make preparations for war against the people of Ammon, and also against the Nephites. And this ended the seventeenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.” So just a quick recap here, all this happened in the 17th year, and the last war was waged only 2 years previously, in the 15th year of the reign of the judges, when the people of Ammon left and went to live in the land of Jershon, so we aren’t talking about a very long time since the last brutal bloody battle, “even such an one as never had been known among all the people in the land from the time Lehi left Jerusalem.” Seriously, the largest battle ever known to them was fought only 2 years ago, and that was just after the third harvest of souls, when some of the most hardened Lamanites had turned to the Lord to find peace in their souls, leaving only the most wicked and hard hearted unbelievers, so I guess it would make sense that even in the wake of that massive destruction among their people, they would prepare to do it again so soon. One way that I look at it is, if Satan was a military commander on the field of battle and sent wave after wave of soldiers to storm a stronghold that is immaculately secured, and the statistical chance of Satan’s soldiers being able to breach it is slim to none, but he just won’t stop ordering his men forward, the soldiers would eventually look at him and say “hey screw you pal, you don’t care about us, you don’t care if we die trying to achieve a mission that is impossible,” and they would desert his army. But what is so interesting to me is that because Satan doesn’t have a body, because we can’t see him, we are suddenly too blind to see that he is in fact running his soldiers into certain death traps and he doesn’t care at all. He is so blinded by his hatred of Heavenly Father that he is incapable of seeing or caring the pain and suffering that he purposefully causes other people. He is literally too obsessed with his mission to overthrow God, which is impossible, that he doesn’t have the capacity to care about the wellbeing of anyone or anything else. So the Zoramites and the Lamanites preparing for war this soon after the massive slaughter that they had just endured reminded me of various time in military history when commanders had been so blinded by an unobtainable mission that they sacrificed countless lives. While the Lamanites are preparing for battle, “the people of Ammon departed out of the land of Jershon, and came over into the land of Melek, and gave place in the land of Jershon for the armies of the Nephites, that they might contend with the armies of the Lamanites and the armies of the Zoramites. The land of Jershon must have had some sort of strategic location that would make it a desirable Nephite stronghold, and I’m sure that the people of Ammon weren’t desperate to move away from their homes and lands that they had tended and cared for over the last 2 years, but they did for the good of the cause, again another example of them keeping an eternal perspective. Would it have mattered eternally where they lived or farmed? No, probably not, but it probably would have mattered eternally if they had been resistant to moving so that the Nephite army could gain an advantage, which would have meant lives lost, including their own, yeah, that kind of matters. But the Zoramites who had repented and converted and moved into the land of Jershon, “they have taken up arms to defend themselves, and their wives, and children, and their lands.” Here is another indicator that the covenant which the people of Ammon made to not wield weapons of war was individual and unique to them, and not an over reaching implication that the Lord prefers pacifism. Alma is also troubled by the increasing wickedness of his own people “seeing that the hearts of the people began to wax hard, and that they began to be offended because of the strictness of the word.” Again in the Ensign article entitled “Maintaining an Eternal Perspective,” we are taught that “surprisingly, losing the eternal perspective is a risk whether we face trials or prosperity. In the Old Testament, Moses warned the Israelites that once they found themselves blessed beyond measure in the promised land, they must ‘beware lest thou forget the Lord.’ In the Book of Mormon, Mormon stated the problem when he wrote, ‘Yea, and we may see at the very time when (God) doth prosper his people… then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feel the Holy One- yea, and this because of their east, and their exceedingly great prosperity.’ President Brigham Young issued a similar warning, He said: ‘The worst fear that I have about (members of this Church) is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and his people, wax far, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth.’” The scriptures only tell us that in the 16th and 17th years, there was peace, the Nephites had won the war, and buried many thousands of Lamanites and their brethren who had been killed in the war. I think that it would be appropriate to assume that they experienced a rebound of prosperity during those 2 years, and that the people began to see the Church as being ridged in their rules, they wanted to do that which was contrary to the Lord’s commandments, and were beginning to make excuses for their disobedience. When I heard this part of the article, I truly felt like the Lord was speaking directly to me. I am blessed beyond measure, yet so much of the time I am upset or irritated or angry about something, I am not keeping an eternal perspective. I truly felt like this was my call to be more Christ like, to stop worrying about the little things that don’t matter and to be happy and joyful and openly serve others. I truly felt like the end quote from President Henry B. Eyring was specifically for me, as he said “There is a simple cure for the terrible malady of forgetting God, His blessings, and His messages to us… The key to… remembering… is receiving the Holy Ghost as a companion. It is the Holy Ghost who helps us see what God has done for us. It is the Holy Ghost who can help those we serve to see what God has done for them.” I need to work harder to be worthy of the companionship of the Holy Ghost, I need to more openly serve and love, I need to be more positive, be more grateful. I need to try to be happier. Alma seeing both the righteous and the wicked prepare for war “grieved” him, he “caused that his sons should be gathered together, that he might give unto them every one his charge, separately, concerning things pertaining to righteousness.” In an April 2010 general conference address entitled “Things Pertaining to Righteousness,” Elder Francisco J. Vinas taught, “Parents play an essential role in helping their children to understand the things pertaining to righteousness. In the Book of Mormon we find that Alma the younger being grieved because of the iniquity, the wards, and the contentions that existed and distressed by the hardness of heart of his people, ‘caused that his sons should be gathered together, that he might give unto them every one his charge, separately, concerning the things pertaining unto righteousness.’ It is interesting to notice that he taught and gave his children their charge separately, adapting his instructions to each son, according to that son’s needs. He bore testimony and taught them doctrine and principles, preparing them to preach those same principles to others.” We will see in coming chapters exactly how different those messages are, and they speak to many and all of us at the same time as we experience different trials in our lives. I am so grateful for the messages and lessons that the Lord has taught me and the lengths to which he is going to further teach me, and I hope truly in my heart that I am strong enough to implement his teachings into my daily life because I love him and I want to be as happy as he has planned for me, I want to be worthy of that plan and that joy.
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