What the Angel Said...

What the angel said to Alma the Younger when he appeared to him is insightful into how God operates. This is the significant text in its entirety: 

“Mosiah 27:14 And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith. 

15 And now behold, can ye dispute the power of God? For behold, doth not my voice shake the earth? And can ye not also behold me before you? And I am sent from God.

16 Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them. And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast off.”

What struck me most as I studied this, this morning, is while his father wanted Alma to change, to be different, the angel doesn’t force him. He just explains what's at stake. He shows him God’s power. Then he encourages him to remember what God has done for his fathers. He closes with a warning that his fate is tied to his choice.

It’s a lesson in God’s recognition of our agency. It's also a clear warning that while we have our agency, we are also inextricably bound to the consequences of how we use it.

A corollary to this theme is a quote by Elder Renlund where he says, and I’m summarizing, God’s love for us is perfect, not unconditional. In this context, unconditional implies he doesn’t care what we do. In reality God cares a lot about our actions and choices. The “perfect” part of it is He never quits. He is always focused on helping us become our best, happiest selves.

The cool part of the story is many years later, the same angel appears to Alma to give him an assignment and encouragement. In my opinion, the angel enjoyed that second visit much more than the first.

A Tale of Two Peoples

In a recent talk in Sacrament meeting, I touched on the concept of how important it is to repent quickly. I used the story of the people of Zeniff as an object lesson to teach the following concepts: Heavenly Father takes us where we are. Repentance is better sooner than later, and our choices directly affect what He does to help us. In other words, while He allows us our agency, He will also exercise His in choosing what to “do” for us.

A quick recap: The people of Zeniff returned to live in the land of Nephi among the Lamanites. They wanted to live in the lands they fled from a generation earlier. In time, Noah becomes the king and leads them from one degree of wickedness to another.

Finally the Lord sends the prophet Abinadi to warn them. He gives the first warning: repent or you will be brought into bondage. They ignored his warning. Two years later he comes again. The warning now is; they will be brought into bondage and destroyed if they don’t repent. (Note that the course correction is more severe.) Here is where the tale of these two people splits.

Converted by Abinadi, Alma preaches to and converts a small group of the people of Noah. They are discovered and flee for their lives into the wilderness. They establish a community and live for years in obscurity and peace. The rest, people later called the people of Limhi, travel a much different path. They are conquered by the Lamanites and after several failed attempts to fight their way to freedom endure years of virtual slavery.

Over a period of time, they too are converted to Christ, (Mosiah 21:33) and want to be baptized but have no one with authority to do it. They send out a team of people to find Zarahemlah. They fail in this but they do find the plates of Ether. Finally, two generations after Zeniff left, Ammon and his group find them and help them escape. A Lamanite army is sent after them to capture them and bring them back. It fails to do so, but in the process finds Alma and his group. The Lamanites enslave them for a short period of time, fulfilling Abinadi’s prophecy.

The good news of this episode is both groups become religious stalwarts among the Nephites. God delivered and guided both of them to where they were, but they both took different paths because of choices they made along the way. The sobering point of the story is how different those paths were and how much more difficult one was than the other.

The same holds true for us. Heavenly Father will work with us to get us back to His presence, but our choices affect the path we need to take to return to Him. I’d rather do it the easy way.

Mormon - Agency the Great Gift

One of the great truths taught with sobering, life changing power in the end of Mormon is God allows us our agency. He’s given us the freedom to choose what we want to do, right up to destroying ourselves.

It is hard for me to grasp that, in fact I’m certain it’s probably the most difficult thing in the world to do… to let those you love make choices you would not make. Especially when you have the power to do something about it. I’m certain if He allowed Himself, He could steer us clear of every mistake, every hurt, and every misfortune. But He doesn’t. That alone is why He is God and no one else.
I really like what Elder Hales said in Conference last week along this line: “you can’t pray away another’s agency.” How true that is. The only real and lasting growth comes from within… because you want it. Anything forced through external means will eventually fail and prove fruitless. Satan never figured this out. God understands it perfectly.

A note: As you may be aware, my entries are growing less frequent. Going forward, I will occasionally add entries to this blog, but for me personally, it has served its main purpose: to help frame the messages contained within this book as they relate to my personal life. This process has carried me through a period of many changes within my life and my family. For now, I think I’m through the toughest part, so the great need I felt has passed too.

If you remember anything of what I’ve written here for the past year and a half it’s this: God lives. He hears our prayers and as we turn to Him, He will not leave us abandoned. I believe that with all my heart. I am a living testament to the truthfulness of that statement.

Alma 31 - The Zoramites

It’s rather ironic Korihor met his end at the hands of the Zoramites. He died literally under the feet of people who believed exactly as he taught. I can’t help but think he would’ve fared much better at the hands of the people who best lived the religion he eschewed, the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s.

The Zoramites are caricatures of the person who is pious and religious just for show. They are also a warning to us who are striving to be true Christians. They were all about appearance and vanity: pious on Sunday, and anything but the rest of the week. They thought they were “God’s elect” saved and set aside to be redeemed while the rest of the world is destroyed. They loudly claimed from their towers to know things, which in reality were far from the truth.

My great fear is that I am an unwitting Zoramite more often than I care to admit. And that for me is the best lesson to learn from them. They thought they had a corner on the truth, which they didn’t. And they thought they were God’s special people, which they weren’t. If anyone was what the Zoramites thought they were, it would have been the Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s.

Beyond that, the mission to reclaim the Zoramites contains a pithy observation by Alma: the preaching of the word had more effect on the behavior of people than any other thing, even the sword. You want to change someone’s behavior, teach them the Gospel. Once internalized, it will cause changes no amount of force could ever do. It’s why all of us here in mortality chose the Father’s plan of agency over Satan’s plan of force. Change and growth has to come from within, it can’t be forced.

Mosiah 3 - Speaking, again, of Christ

Such a goldmine! I read Mosiah 3 this morning. From a spiritual point of view it’s like trying to drink from a fire hydrant because of the great density of doctrine it contains.

In here is a scriptural definition of the torment the wicked will endure. There are comments about what the Savior will/did go through for us. There is more about our relationship with Him. Again and again, the message is said, that only through Christ can we enjoy all the Father has for us. Only through Him can we find lasting and true joy in this life and in the life to come.

There are stern warnings to those who know better who turn away from Christ and seek their own path through life. Open rebellion is a weighty phrase. Yet that’s what Benjamin uses to describe the actions of those, who having been taught the truth turn away from it to seek their own way through life. The consequences are dire.

This is one of those passages where I hear Elder Maxwell’s voice saying Jesus is not only the God of Love, but also the God of the straight and narrow path.

Jacob 4 - You get what you ask for

Jacob’s insights into revelation and God's relationship with Man is  thought provoking. It shows more than anything else God respects man’s will. He knows what is best for us, but He respects our right to choose and do less beneficial things.

The testimony of His great wisdom is in verse 10: “Wherefore, brethren, seek not to counsel the Lord, but to take counsel from his hand. For behold, ye yourselves know that he counseleth in wisdom, and in justice, and in great mercy, over all his works.”

When you contrast this, with what the Jews did, it should give us pause. We ought to consider what it is we are asking of God when we pray to Him. See verse 14: “But behold, the Jews were a stiffnecked people; and they despised the words of plainness ... and sought for things that they could not understand. Wherefore ... God hath taken away his plainness from them, and delivered unto them many things which they cannot understand, because they desired it. And because they desired it God hath done it, that they may stumble.”

In verse 13, Jacob testifies God speaks the truth of things as they are and will be. He doesn’t lie. It takes humility to accept this truth and to follow His counsel. As I think about this, I realize, I need to be more humble and follow the counsel to in D&C 50:30, where the Lord promises it shall be given to us what we shall ask. I used to think that meant if we asked for something God would give it to us, which is true. But a former mission president made this observation that has forever stuck with me. It also means God will give you, or tell you, what you should ask for.

Isn’t that interesting?

2 Nephi 2 - Opposition and Agency

For many, the highlight of 2 Nephi Chapter 2 is Lehi’s discourse on opposition. It is an important concept to understand, but for me, the heart of the chapter is verse 27 which talks about agency.

Lehi teaches because of the two polar forces in the universe, with God and Jesus on one side and Satan on the other, man is left in a position to chose for himself who he’ll choose to be like. God set it up that way.

I’ve often wondered why there is opposition and what need there is for Satan and his temptations. It’s not until I realized we learn more about who we are from our failures than we do from our successes, that it all made sense to me. This life is a test of our character. But it’s not God who needs to know, it’s us. Since we learn more from our failures, God in His wisdom placed us in an environment where that would happen a lot.

That’s how a loving God can subject His beloved children to misery, pain, and failure. He knows we will learn more about ourselves this way. He knows we are more malleable in the heat of affliction than we are when things are going well. And as imperfect beings, we need the refining.

In other words, it’s an act of faith and love on His part in our behalf. Some might say tough love, and perhaps it is. He did stand close by the Savior in the darkest hours of Gethsemane and Golgotha, doing what He knew was best for all of His children, including His perfect Son. Having seen my children go through pain and difficulties, I’m certain Heavenly Father felt vicariously the pain His Son endured. As well as He feels ours. He was close to Him and He is close to us. In all the trials I’ve been in, I’ve found Him quick to answer prayers and all His answers while not what I’ve wanted, have always been, on reflection, what I needed.

I think of Laman when he complained about building a boat and Nephi’s answer that if God had wanted, He could have caused them to walk to the Promised Land. If He’d granted Laman’s request, that’s what they would have done. Can you imagine walking from Bountiful to America? A boat was the best way to get there. God knew that. Laman didn’t. Because of God’s love for him He insisted on building a boat.

The moral of the story is it’s in our best interest to build the boat when we think we’d rather walk.

1 Nephi 17-18 - Into the Winds of Adversity

If you haven't figured it out yet, by the end of these two chapters you should know with great clarity that while God helps us to our respective Promised Lands, the journey there is never easy nor without travail and adversity. He has to help us because the trip is overwhelmingly daunting otherwise. And that's by divine design.

In chapter seventeen, Nephi is trying to build a boat. His labor pool consists of his brothers and Ishmael's sons. Laman and Lemuel think the idea is ridiculous and fight him. Only divine intervention saves Nephi's life and gets them to help.

Then, in the boat, they forget all the miracles and mutiny, wresting control of the boat from Nephi and Lehi. It's not until they face certain death in the face of a terrible storm, do they relent. Only when they come face to face with the reality that there is much in their lives over which they have no control that they finally get it.

So it is with us. God grants us agency, the ability to choose what we do and think. But we are not in control of our lives and environment. Death, illness, accidents, the actions of others near and far can destroy our world in an instant. The only thing we really control is how we choose to respond.

We see from these two stories, the correct choice is to be grateful to God and acknowledge He is in control and do our best within that context.