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.

Alma 5-8 - The Road to Ammonihah

Filled with testimony of the Savior, these chapters also show a lot of history goes unwritten in the Book of Mormon. Alma spent a year preaching to the people of Zarahemla and Gideon. All we have to show for it are Alma chapters 5-7. Most of those are taken up in two sermons. While I’m not a prolific writer, a year of my journal takes up a lot more room than that, and I barely touch on what happens in my life.

That said, this is not a criticism of the Book of Mormon, just an observation. The truth is, most of my life is rather mundane and hardly worth mentioning. I suspect there’s a lot Alma did that was also mundane. But as he had his moments, such as when he spoke to the people of Zarahemla or to Gideon, we have ours. We have these powerful sermons because Alma recorded them. Do we record our experiences? While few if any of us will have the prominence of Alma, what we write will one day be read by our ancestors. What stories are we leaving for them to read?

I like the angelic visit Alma has in this passage too. After being rejected by the residents of the City of Ammonihah, he travels to another city determined to never return. The Lord had other plans. He sent an angel to turn Alma back. The standout aspect of this visitation is when the angel admits he’s the same one who appeared to warn him to stop trying to destroy the church. I’m certain this was a much more enjoyable mission for the angel.

In a great show of faith, Alma turns about and returns where he is met by Amulek who had an angel appear to him too. Thus the stage is set for their mission to Ammonihah. Speaking from experience, a rich life, full of marvelous experiences await us when we lead with faith. When we trust Heavenly Father in the placement of our feet, we will live a higher quality of life possible no other way. There’s no promise it will be easy, in fact it will often be difficult and soul stretching. Yet if you want to experience true inner peace, it’s the only game in town.

Jacob 5-7 - Wrapping up Jacob

Reading through my notes on Jacob 5, I was reminded of a couple of observations. One is that verse 40 is Nephi’s day. This is when Lehi’s party was brought to the New World. Verse 61 is the start of our day, when the Gospel is restored and taught the last time.

The pruning and replacing of the evil fruit occurs in our day.

Chapter six, verse one is where Jacob gives his commentary and prophecy about what he’s just written. I think it’s instructive to note that speaking as prophet, his prophecy consisted of saying simply, “Everything I told you is the truth.”

So it can be for us today. A prophet is still speaking by the power of the Holy Ghost and prophesying when he says no more than, “this is all true.”

For those dealing with critics of the Church and its teachings, Jacob gives us the story of Sherem. Sherem’s arguments are persuasive. They seem to make sense. It’s clear that what he says is effective because many people, Jacob says followed after him.

He gives the antidotes to the Sherems of our day in verse five. He speaks of the many revelations he’d been given, even seeing angels and hearing the Lord’s voice. While this may sound extraordinary, keep in mind, Laman and Lemuel both had seen angels and God’s power in personal ways. It didn’t help because they were tone-deaf to the Spirit.

Jacob wasn’t. And that’s the key. If you’ve had experiences with the Spirit and you keep them fresh through regular study of the scriptures, you will be inoculated to the Sherems of our day. This may seem an audacious thing to say, but it is what I’ve experienced. With all that I’ve experienced of the Spirit and all that I continue to feel, the Sherem arguments that get thrown at me just bounce off. As long as I read the scriptures, go to the temple and attend church on Sundays, in other words as long as I make the Savior the rock on which I stand, none of this will destroy me. I love Helaman 5:12 for that reason.

3 Nephi 19 - Prayer

Prayer is the theme of this chapter. It starts with people coming to listen to the Savior from the surrounding country. Can’t you just imagine those who saw Him the first day would be traveling all night long trying to reach as many people as possible? Then all these people would be joining them the following morning. The crowd would be enormous. It was so large in fact, they broke into twelve different groups. By so doing, their adventure in prayer begins.

The twelve disciples Jesus called the day before, start with prayer and exhort the people to pray. They preach, then pray again. Then they are baptized and the heavens open, angels appear then Jesus Himself comes to minister to them.

What does He do? He commands them all to pray and then prays Himself. Though a miracle occurs, the disciples continue to pray and Jesus goes to pray some more. Another miracle occurs and the Savior goes again to pray and… provided I’ve counted correctly… He offers yet another prayer, but this one is so moving, so powerful, so sacred that those who hear it are not able to record it. All the while, the disciples continue to pray.
Finally, at the end of the chapter, the disciples finish, setting the stage for the next phase of the second day…

It’s insightful that through all of the disciples’ prayers, the record states they did not use a lot of words, but they were filled with intense, sincere desire. While we read and marvel as we contemplate this experience from our vantage in time, it’s well to remember that simple, sincere prayer is as effective now as then. Try it and see…