Mosiah 26

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

Chapter 26

Many members of the Church are led into sin by unbelievers—Alma is promised eternal life—Those who repent and are baptized gain forgiveness—Church members in sin who repent and confess to Alma and to the Lord will be forgiven; otherwise, they will not be numbered among the people of the Church. About 120–100 B.C.

  1 Now it came to pass that there were many of the rising generation that could not understand the ^awords of king Benjamin, King Benjamin spoke about 124 BC. This chapter says its between 120 and 100 BC. So It began only about 4 years after the speech. Children that would be too young to understand would probably be younger than 12. So in this 20 year span, those children would be 16-26. being little children at the time he spake unto his people; and they did ^bnot believe the tradition of their fathers. At first I thought maybe the parents didn't teach them the gospel. But this sentence makes it sound like they were taught but just didn't believe. What would turn a whole generation? I know when my children were growing up there were age groups that would come up that were more difficult than others. Never knew why that was, but it seems to have always been that way... There is a whole generation now that have turned from the "traditions of their fathers" believing that everyone has their "own truth" and that we shouldn't judge what others want to do/say/believe. How did they get that way? Intense efforts from the adversary through social media.
  2 They did not believe what had been said concerning the resurrection of the dead, neither did they believe concerning the coming of Christ. Why would they be enticed to believe this? I guess if these is not after life or day of judgment or atonement for sin, then it's "anything goes"...
  3 And now because of their ^aunbelief they could not ^bunderstand the word of God; and their hearts were hardened . Belief/faith precedes understanding...This seems like such a key principle for our day. What things do we have unbelief about? Is it causing us to not understand the word of God and our hearts to harden? What evidence is there this could be happening? Healings come to mind... There is so much belief that the science of medicine has come as a blessing and revelation from God. This belief blocks the belief in healings and as a result we don't have many. Get a blessing AND go to the doctor. Which will you have more trust and faith in? The tangible doctor and his prescription or the unseen and unexplainable miracle of God and healing? Our doctor prophet sadly epitomized this when we prayed for a miraculous end to the pandemic and instead of healing received man's vaccine, which has been totally designed by Satan to harm. But, the prophet was "trained up in the way he should go" in the science of medicine and "when he was old he didn't depart from it". I know he says in his biography that God revealed to him many things about the heart. I don't doubt that. But how much better to receive the fullness of the priesthood so that you can heal by the power of God any time you need to. 
  4 And they would not be baptized; neither would they join the ^achurch. And they were a separate people as to their faith, and remained so ever after, even in their ^bcarnal and sinful state; for they would not call upon the Lord their God. How sad for the parents of these youth. They had all been "born again" and had such an amazing experience at the time of King Benjamin's speech. How their hearts must have broken for their rebellious children. Total rejection of the truth. "and remained so ever after"...no repentance and returning? Tragic!
  5 And now in the reign of Mosiah they were not half so numerous as the people of God; but because of the ^adissensions among the brethren they became more numerous. Watch out for contention and dissension (are these words different? not really)
  6 For it came to pass that they did ^adeceive many with their ^bflattering words, who were in the church, and did cause them to commit many sins; therefore it became expedient that those who committed sin, that were in the church, should be ^cadmonished by the church. Interesting wording in light of the principle of agency that these people "caused" others to commit many sins. Did they "cause" it because without their flattering words people would not have been enticed and tempted to sin?
  7 And it came to pass that they were brought before the priests, and delivered up unto the ^apriests by the teachers; and the priests brought them before Alma, who was the ^bhigh priest.
  8 Now king Mosiah had given Alma the ^aauthority over the ^bchurch.
  9 And it came to pass that Alma did not know concerning them; but there were many ^awitnesses against them; yea, the people stood and testified of their iniquity in abundance.
 10 Now there had not any such thing happened before in the church; therefore Alma was troubled in his spirit, and he caused that they should be brought before the king.
 11 And he said unto the king: Behold, here are many whom we have brought before thee, who are accused of their brethren; yea, and they have been taken in divers iniquities. Sounds like the woman taken in adultry... And they do not repent of their iniquities; therefore we have brought them before thee, that thou mayest judge them according to their crimes.
 12 But king Mosiah said unto Alma: Behold, I judge them not; therefore I ^adeliver them into thy hands to be judged. Spiritual matter, not political.
 13 And now the spirit of Alma was again troubled; and he went and inquired of the Lord what he should do concerning this matter, for he feared that he should do wrong in the sight of God. This is a wonderful prayer. Help me not do the wrong thing in thy sight. Alma was not quick to pass judgment. I wonder what kinds of worries he had about this matter? Was he worried about the parents? the kids? the precedence for future sinners? 
 14 And it came to pass that after he had poured out his whole soul to God, the ^avoice of the Lord came to him, saying: Do you know how to really pour out your whole soul to God? 
 15 Blessed art thou, Alma, and blessed are they who were baptized in the ^awaters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding ^bfaith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi. Interesting the Lord takes him back to the beginning of his faith experience...
 16 And blessed are they because of their exceeding faith in the words alone which thou hast spoken unto them.
 17 And blessed art thou because thou hast established a ^achurch among this people; and they shall be established, and they shall be my people.  Is this a promise of the Baptism by fire and remission of sins?
 18 Yea, blessed is this people who are willing to bear my ^aname; for in my ^bname shall they be called; and they are mine.
 19 And because thou hast inquired of me concerning the transgressor, thou art blessed. Blessed because he wanted to make a righteous judgement and wasn’t quick to condemn or want them to just be punished or excommunicated. 
 20 Thou art my servant; and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have ^aeternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep. This sounds like "calling and election" language. It also sounds like he was officially called to be the prophet. The mission of a prophet is to gather and witness. 
 21 And he that will hear my voice shall be my ^asheep; and him shall ye receive into the church, and him will I also receive.
 22 For behold, ^athis is my ^bchurch; whosoever is ^cbaptized shall be baptized unto repentance. And whomsoever ye receive shall ^dbelieve in my name; and him will I freely ^eforgive. Notice it is "baptized UNTO repentance"...
 23 For it is I that taketh upon me the ^asins of the world; for it is I that hath ^bcreated them; and it is How is Jesus our "creator"? I thought Father in Heaven is our creator? Does it have something to do with the creation of Adam? I that granteth unto him that believeth unto the end a place at my right hand.
 24 For behold, in my name are they called; and if they ^aknow me they shall come forth, and shall have a place eternally at my right hand.
 25 And it shall come to pass that when the ^asecond trump shall sound then shall they that never ^bknew me come forth and shall stand before me.
 26 And then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, that I am their Redeemer; but they would not be redeemed.
 27 And then I will confess unto them that I never ^aknew them; and they shall ^bdepart into ^ceverlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Lots of repetition concerning knowing the Lord and Him knowing us. I think that comes from the second baptism by fire.
 28 Therefore I say unto you, that he that will not ^ahear my voice, the same shall ye not receive into my church, for him I will not receive at the last day. This is either simple or hard. Simple to "hear" His voice. Hard to "do" what His voice says. Is He talking about the "Church of the Firstborn"? That title sounds like it is His church just as much as the title "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints".
 29 Therefore I say unto you, Go; and whosoever transgresseth against me, him shall ye ^ajudge ^baccording to the sins which he has committed; Wait...he's supposed to judge? That is quite the idea for our day...although he is a religious "judge" like a Bishop and if he ^cconfess his sins before thee and me, and ^drepenteth in the sincerity of his heart, him shall ye ^eforgive, and I will forgive him also.
 30 Yea, and ^aas often as my people ^brepent will I forgive them their trespasses against me. One of my favorite scriptures. I always said (but never did it) I would put a sign over my door that instead of saying "return with honor" would say this scripture. This supports the idea that a righteous person is just someone who is always repenting.
 31 And ye shall also ^aforgive one another your trespasses; for verily I say unto you, he that forgiveth not his ^bneighbor’s trespasses when he says that he repents, the same hath brought himself under condemnation. Is there a condition to repentance? Does the person have to say they repent first?
 32 Now I say unto you, Go; and whosoever will ^anot repent of his sins the same shall not be numbered among my people; and this shall be observed from this time forward. We can love and forgive those who trespass against us, but we can also cut ourselves off from them.
 33 And it came to pass when Alma had heard these words he ^awrote them down that he might have them, Great record keeping example Reminds me of the D&C and that he might judge the people of that church according to the commandments of God.
 34 And it came to pass that Alma went and judged those that had been taken in iniquity, according to the ^aword of the Lord.
 35 And whosoever repented of their sins and did ^aconfess them, them he did number among the people of the church; Clearly this is talking about the organizational church, not the Church of the Firstborn.
 36 And those that would not confess their sins and repent of their iniquity, the same were not numbered among the people of the church, and their names were ^ablotted out. If we did it this way today, there would be a lot more names removed from the records of the church
 37 And it came to pass that Alma did regulate all the affairs of the church; and they began again to have peace and to prosper exceedingly in the affairs of the church, walking circumspectly before God, receiving many, and baptizing many. Notice they had peace and prosperity even though there were those among them who didn’t believe and/or had been excommunicated. and were still persecuting them...
38 And now all these things did Alma and his ^afellow laborers do who were over the church,
^bwalking in all diligence,
teaching the word of God in all things, ALL things...
suffering all manner of afflictions, What were these? persecutions still? temporal?
being persecuted by all those who did not belong to the church of God.
Obedience doesn't mean there's not persecution. Maybe the “peace” referred to above was just within the church. 
39 And they did admonish their brethren; and they were also ^aadmonished, every one by the word of God, according to his sins, or to the sins which he had committed, being commanded of God to ^bpray without ceasing, and to give ^cthanks in all things. Not so easy to do in our day. Such a strong culture of "not judging" and defensiveness when judged. How do you pray without ceasing? How do you give thanks in ALL things?