Alma 8

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 6/20 Green 4/21 orange 7/22  Brown 7/2023.)

Chapter 8

Alma preaches and baptizes in Melek—He is rejected in Ammonihah and leaves—An angel commands him to return and cry repentance unto the people—He is received by Amulek, and the two of them preach in Ammonihah. About 82 B.C.

  1 And now it came to pass that Alma returned from the ^aland of Gideon, after having taught the people of Gideon many things which cannot be written, due to difficulty in writing? content? having established the ^border of the church, according as he had before done in the land of Zarahemla, yea, he returned to his own house  Does Alma have a wife? How does this work for her when he is gone so much and for so long? Of course he did, because we know there is an Alma the Younger. So much of the scriptures are stories of the missionary efforts of men...what about the women? Is that not a role we need to worry as much about? Are we to focus on the raising and teaching of children in our care (probably) but what about after they are raised? Do we focus on grandchildren? The Lord had a lot of interaction with women during his life that shows he loves them as much as men...just wondering how I am supposed to internalize the example of these great missionary stories as a woman at Zarahemla to rest himself from the labors which he had performed. 
  2 And thus ended the ninth year one year mission of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
  3 And it came to pass in the commencement of the tenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi, that Alma departed from thence and took his journey over into the land of ^aMelek, on the west of the ^briver Sidon, on the west by the borders of the wilderness.
  4 And he began to teach the people in the land of Melek according to the ^aholy order of God, emphasizing his authority by which he had been called; and he began to teach the people throughout all the land of Melek.
 5 And it came to pass that the people came to him interesting that they all came to him. How did the news travel he was there? throughout all the borders of the land which was by the wilderness side. And they were baptized throughout all the land; Were they waiting for him because he had authority to baptize and no one else did? Again...were they not already members of the church?
  6 So that when he had finished his work at Melek he departed thence, no background story shared about this city and traveled three days’ journey on the north of the land of Melek; and he came to a city which was called ^aAmmonihah.
  7 Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi to call their lands, and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small villages, after the ^aname of him who first possessed them; and thus it was with the land of Ammonihah.
  8 And it came to pass that when Alma had come to the city of Ammonihah he began to preach the word of God unto them.
  9 Now Satan had gotten great ^ahold upon the hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah; therefore they would not hearken unto the words of Alma. Remember the war is with Satan. Our mission is to reclaim the hearts that he has a hold of.
 10 Nevertheless Alma ^alabored much in the spirit, ^bwrestling with God in ^cmighty prayer, that he would pour out his Spirit upon the people who were in the city; that he would also grant that he might baptize them unto repentance. I wonder what this all looked like... Alma tries to preach (street preaching? door to door?) and is rejected. Does he not 'fight back'? This says he takes his 'wrestle' to God where the real power lies. Wrestle is an interesting word. It implies some kind of opposition. Did Alma believe God's justice would not allow Him to pour out his Spirit on these wicked people? Was it about agency? Does it show God our faith and our hearts when we are willing to "wrestle" with Him? Or is Alma wrestling with himself before God, trying to come to a decision of some kind. It sounds like his mind was set on one outcome but the people were resistant. He didn't want to give up and needed God's intervention. So maybe it was about agency...If God withdraws his Spirit when we are unrighteous, then if He grants Alma’s request, He would have to agree to pour out that Spirit upon the people, even though they are not worthy vessels for it. When God does pour out His Spirit, would that mean evil spirits would have to, for that moment flee? Or does the person under the evil spirit's influence have to wrestle with the two voices? Is Alma's desire coming from the fact that God sent him an angel while he was unworthy of any spiritual witnesses, but it saved him? It's easy to see why he'd believe it could have the same effect on other hard hearts.
 11 Nevertheless, they hardened their hearts, Alma's prayer request was not granted. Is that because God will not grant his Spirit to the wicked? Was it just timing? Or was it agency at work?  saying unto him: Behold, we know that thou art Alma; and we know that thou art high priest over the church which thou hast established in many parts of the land, according to your tradition; and we are not of thy church, and we do not believe in such foolish traditions. Is this a whole city of like-minded people? Are the apostate Nephites? Or just a generation that grew up without the church organization? Someone had to leave the gospel sometime in their ancestry...
 12 And now we know that because we are not of thy church we know that thou hast no power over us; and thou hast delivered up the judgment-seat unto ^aNephihah; therefore thou art not the chief judge over us.
 13 Now when the people had said this, and withstood all his words, and ^areviled him, and spit upon him, and caused that he should be ^bcast out of their city, he departed thence and took his journey towards the city which was called Aaron. Alma had made his request to God, went to preach again to see if God would grant it; was told no and accepted it and left.
 14 And it came to pass that while he was journeying thither, being weighed down with sorrow, wading through much ^atribulation and anguish of soul, because of the wickedness of the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, what was the tribulation he was wading through? Was it lack of food, shelter? Being alone? It is amazing to see how much pure love Alma had for these people in spite of their wickedness. Again, is it because he sees himself in his own past and the mercy he received from God that changed him and he wants so much to wake them from their sleep? it came to pass while Alma was thus weighed down with sorrow, behold an ^bangel of the Lord appeared unto him, saying:
 15 Blessed art thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first message from him. Behold, I am he that ^adelivered it unto you. This is the angel that first came to him with the sons of Mosiah...which would be so fitting if his anguish was tied to his own past and saving that came as a result of this angel's visit.
 16 And behold, I am sent to ^acommand thee that thou return to the city of Ammonihah, and preach again unto the people of the city; yea, preach unto them. Yea, say unto them, except they repent the Lord God will ^bdestroy them. This utter rejection by the people was now bringing a warning that God would destroy them. Alma wanted so much to convert them. Now he has to deliver the message that they will be destroyed if they reject him and thus God, again...I'm reminded of Jonah's story and how his heart and Alma's heart towards the people was so different, yet they had they same message to deliver.
 17 For behold, they do study at this time that they may destroy the liberty of thy people, (for thus saith the Lord) which is contrary to the ^astatutes, and judgments, and commandments which he has given unto his people. The people had rejected Alma on the basis that he had no spiritual or governmental authority over them. The angel is telling Alma that they are in danger of God's destruction because they are seeking to overthrow the government as well as breaking the commandments they had once accepted. Are we being taught here that God will not allow evil to overthrow the government of this land without bringing destruction to those people first? Where is this warning in our day? There certainly are people seeking to destroy our liberty contrary to our laws and God's commandments. Is this why the Davidic servant comes? Is the pattern that we have to first receive the invitation to repent and then only after rejected, we get the warning that we must repent or be destroyed?
 18 Now it came to pass that after Alma had received his message from the angel of the Lord he returned speedily No hesitation whatsoever to the land of Ammonihah. And he entered the city by another way, yea, by the way which is on the south of the city of Ammonihah.
 19 And as ^ahe entered the city he was an hungered, and he said to a man: Will ye give to an humble servant of God something to eat? Interesting that he worded it this way. He's in a city he'd just been thrown out of. He'd found no favor as a man of God. Was this him testing people? Kind of confirms that some of the "tribulation" mentioned in verse 14 was physical.
 20 And the man said unto him: I am a Nephite, and I know that thou art a holy prophet of God, for thou art the man whom an ^aangel said in a vision: Thou shalt receive. Therefore, go with me into my house and I will impart unto thee of my ^bfood; and I know that thou wilt be a blessing unto me and my house. God immediately blesses Alma for his obedience and action and faith. He DOES intervene and gives this receptive soul a vision. His wrestle wasn't for nothing, even though it seemed in vain immediately after. God impresses Alma to enter the city by another way so that he's in the right place to meet Amulek.
 21 And it came to pass that the man received him into his house; and the man was called Amulek; and he brought forth bread and meat and set before Alma.
 22 And it came to pass that Alma ate bread and was filled; and he ^ablessed Amulek and his house, and he gave thanks unto God.
 23 And after he had eaten and was filled he said unto Amulek: I am Alma, and am the ^ahigh priest over the church of God throughout the land. This would be like Pres. Nelson showing up at your house Just because you are the High Priest/Prophet doesn't mean that God doesn't continue to test your faith and stretch you. He doesn't tell him this until after he's eaten?
 24 And behold, I have been called to preach the word of God among all this people, according to the spirit of revelation and prophecy; Do we know what this phrase means? Is this the "without purse or script" kind of preaching, not knowing beforehand, but only what the Spirit gives you in the moment? Or is it preaching only that which has been revealed and prophesied in the past? and I was in this land and they would not receive me, but they ^acast me out and I was about to set my back towards this land forever. Thinking it must be God's will that he give up because he'd been rejected after his mighty wrestle with God.
 25 But behold, I have been commanded that I should turn again and prophesy unto this people, yea, and to testify against them concerning their iniquities. Apparently not what he was preaching before.
 26 And now, Amulek, because thou hast fed me and taken me in, thou art blessed; for I was an hungered, for I had fasted many days. Does he mean he spiritually fasted? Or just went hungry... I have been studying fasting. It is said that going without food voluntarily is fasting. Going without involuntarily is starving. I think Alma was using fasting with prayer to increase his spiritual strength and connection with God. I'm not sure how this works yet. But I am thinking that voluntarily going without food, which puts us in a state where our body really feels hunger, can help us show God how much more than that we hunger for his help or his blessings or his gifts. Jesus fasted 40 days for some reason. Do we know why? Do we see the connection between fasting and faith and power?
 27 And Alma ^atarried many days with Amulek before he began to preach unto the people. So Alma was told to go back by the angel and he went speedily. BUT, he was not told to go back to start preaching immediately. This is a great example of not adding to the revelation we receive. He was continually guided by the Lord. He didn't just get an instruction and then never look for more guidance in carrying it out.
 28 And it came to pass that the people did wax more gross in their iniquities.  Was this part of the purpose of his waiting? Did Alma need to witness this before he began preaching again? Some definitions of gross: "So obvious or conspicuous as to cause or heighten offense; flagrant; Brutishly coarse, as in behavior; crude
 29 And the word came to Alma, saying: Go; and also say unto my servant ^aAmulek, go forth and prophesy unto this people, saying—Repent ye, for thus saith the Lord, except ye repent I will visit this people in mine anger; yea, and I will not turn my ^bfierce anger away.
 30 And Alma went forth, and also Amulek, among the people, to declare the words of God unto them; and they were filled with the Holy Ghost. This is their protection. 
 31 And they had ^apower given unto them, insomuch that they could not be confined in dungeons; neither was it possible that any man could slay them; nevertheless they did not exercise their ^bpower until they were bound in bands and cast into prison. Now, this was done that the Lord might show forth his power in them. Such a different experience than Alma's first visit. Is there something here about going out in two's? (missionaries do this today - "where 2 or 3 are gathered in my name...). Did this additional power have anything to do with the time Alma spent with Amulek before they began preaching? preparation? It sounds like before God destroys the wicked, He does something(s) to show His power to them. It seems not so much to convince them at this point, but to even further justify their coming destruction because they refuse to believe even when they are shown the power of God.
 32 And it came to pass that they went forth and began to preach and to prophesy unto the people, according to the spirit and power which the Lord had given them. Truly they had been give the Spirit and Power and they knew it.