Alma Delivers His Message
Book of Mormon Notes - Saturday, August 12, 2023, Alma 5
Thus we see that Alma the Younger was a man of God, like Moroni, who did not seek for power, but to pull it down. Captain Moroni’s method for pulling down power included direct physical confrontation in warfare. Alma the Younger’s method for pulling down pride began by preaching the word of God.
Later, during another missionary effort, Alma reminds us why the word of God is so effective in pulling down pride, craftiness, and contention:
And now, as the apreaching of the bword had a great tendency to clead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.
Because the Book of Mormon is the word of God, it is one of the most effective tools for accomplishing the same thing. In fact, this is one of the primary purposes of the Book of Mormon:
Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall awrite; and the fruit of the loins of bJudah shall cwrite; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the dconfounding of efalse doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing fpeace among the fruit of thy loins, and gbringing them to the hknowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord. (2 Nephi 3:12)
President Benson put it this way:
The Book of Mormon exposes the enemies of Christ. It confounds false doctrines and lays down contention. (See 2 Ne. 3:12.) It fortifies the humble followers of Christ against the evil designs, strategies, and doctrines of the devil in our day. The type of apostates in the Book of Mormon are similar to the type we have today. God, with his infinite foreknowledge, so molded the Book of Mormon that we might see the error and know how to combat false educational, political, religious, and philosophical concepts of our time.
What is the word of God that Alma delivered to his people in order to pull down their pride? It is Alma chapter 5, the great precursor to President Ezra Taft Benson’s classic general conference talk in 1989.
Like President Benson’s classic talk, Alma chapter 5 is a chapter that every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ought to study deeply and review frequently. Rather than parse Alma’s great testimony and counsel at this time, I would like to recommend to myself and my audience direct engagement with it.
Hopefully my description of Alma’s preparation to deliver this message can help us to study it as if Alma himself came to visit us. Certainly Mormon knew that we modern members of the Church of Jesus Christ, especially those of us who have long been blessed with riches, peace, and prosperity, could benefit to learn from our ancient counterparts in Zarahemla. Mormon knew that many of us would be lifted up in pride like these ancient inhabitants of Zarahemla, and that Alma’s message would speak directly to us. When Mormon composed this portion of his abridgment of Alma’s record, Alma and his people had long since gone the way of all the earth, and Mormon and his son Moroni could no longer preach the word of God to their own degenerate people. Thus Mormon included Alma’s great teachings for our benefit today.
And if the word of God that Alma delivered to his people helped pull down pride then, it can certainly do the same for us today.