Alma 2

(March 16, 2015)

                I think we, as members of the Church, are a bit naïve when it comes the motivations of others (particularly our political leaders – on both sides of the aisle).  The prophet Mormon, in his commentary, explicitly states that the purpose of Amilici was to destroy the Church, and all of the political machinations were secondary to that.

                The first issue is, really, there is only one question in mortality (what think ye of Christ) and everything else is an illusion to distract us from this central fact.  So when actions are taken in opposition to the work of the Lord, at best they are taken under the influence of Satan and at worst are taken by actual enemies of the work of the Lord.

                We members of the Church need to remember that there are, in fact, people who want to destroy the Church both from without and from within.  Where we run into problems, though, is when we forget that we, often, are those trying to destroy the Church.  We err when we ignore these threats, but we err worse when we fail to recognize each of our need to repent of our own moral failings and instead focus in on the failings of others.

                If we purify our hearts, the Lord will be able to speak to us and tell us when and where to defend the faith.  We must get (and stay) clean to hear the message, but then we must not allow an ideology that denies the reality of enemies to the Church to compel us to ignore such revelation if and when it comes.

                The other thought that I had was on the position of Alma’s army during the conflict.  Mormon clearly understood just what a perilous position they were in (and were forced to be in because of the threat to their children and families).  They were tactically outmaneuvered and numerically outnumbered.  Their technological advances were not mentioned here (and presumably did not exist yet, as they were mentioned later).  The only thing that they had to rely on was the Lord and the just nature of their cause.

                This isn’t always enough (there have been righteous armies that have lost), but it was enough because the Lord chose to make it enough that day.  There was no practical reason for their victory, with the challenges stacked against them (obvious even to me, with the little I understand about military tactics).  When things become hopeless, we may continue to rely on the Lord if we are about His work.  If He chooses to bring us success, He can do it regardless of how dire our circumstances.  Otherwise, we can fight the good fight and enter into His rest.