Come Follow Me LDS- Mosiah 29 - Alma 4, Book of Mormon (May 25-31)
May 21, 2020
'Nehor & The War In Heaven'
- Alma ushers in of the Reign of the Judges and the doctrine of kings
- Democracy, Nehor and Priestcraft
- Nehor slays Gideon
- Amlici replays the War in Heaven
- Liberty vs. Tyranny
Raw Transcript
this episode we talk about kneehole and
the war in heaven there we go alright in
this quick come follow me episode we are
covering Mosiah chapter 29 through Alma
chapter 4 five chapters in total there's
a lot that we glean out of these
chapters are some great principles that
apply to us today and some fabulous
doctrine that we can dip into a little
bit here now in Mosiah 29 we we catch up
with King Mosiah
who wants to transfer the kingship to
one of his sons and he does a couple
things that are interesting here first
he says who do you want to be the king
in other words there's a bit of
democracy that seems to be a part of
this he doesn't just say behold your new
king he asks the people who they want to
be their king and Mosiah seems to be
always very aware of this or he wants
the people to have a say well the people
say they want Aaron his eldest son to be
well the people say that they want Aaron
one of his sons to be the king but Aaron
declines and so that moves Mosiah into a
place where maybe he wanted it to go in
the beginning right he wants there to be
more democracy among the people and so
just as Alma the elder had counseled his
people against a king and given them
really doctrine against having a king
because of what a king can do like King
Noah mosaic here begins to reason with
the people and he says this
down here in verse 10 and now let us be
wise and look forward to these things
and do that which will make for the
peace of the people in other words look
forward to having more say in the
kingdom more look forward to having more
of a democratic process having
representation locally and at the level
of Zarahemla as well so this is
something that was probably really a big
campaign that Mosiah would have had in
making these changes these secular
ruling changes to the law into how
government runs and here mormon takes
out pieces of this and gives us this
little bit letting us know that this was
an important change and this is what
Mosiah desired so he says in verse 11
therefore i will be your king the
remainder of my days nevertheless let us
appoint judges so hey I've got some time
here to help put this in place
let us appoint judges to judge this
people according to our law by the way
what law is this well of course this
would be the law of Moses they are a
theocracy in a sense that's important to
understand as we get into what happens
here with the dissenters right the law
is the law of Moses and so
interpretation of that law of Moses is
going to be key in running things not
only in religion religious sense but
also in a theocratic or a secular sense
so he says and we will newly arrange the
affairs it's what he does the remainder
of his life of this people for we will
appoint wise men we not him we will
appoint wise men to be judges that will
judge this people according to the
commandments of God so again what is the
law
what is the commandments of God is the
law of Moses so it is a theocracy
but it's a theocracy that wants to
tolerate other ideas and other religions
right and that's a very very difficult
to balance to hold on to and Mosiah here
reiterates this doctrine with what alma
the elder had said to the people of
helium he says therefore if it were
possible that you could have just men to
be your kings who would establish the
laws of God and judge this people
according to His commandments yay if you
could have men for your kings who would
do even as my father Benjamin did for
this people my sand to you if this could
always be the case that's the key if
this could always be the case then it
would be expedient that he should always
have Kings to rule over you and of
course Christ is a king right when he
comes in and the Millennium is ushered
in its Christ who is the king a perfect
just king and we get some more
principles here which are very similar
to the principles of modern democracy he
says in verse 25 therefore choose you by
the voice of the people judges that ye
may be judged according to the laws
which have been given you by your
fathers our fathers voice of the people
there is key right he is he is
instituting even more a democracy here
now it is not common this is an
important distinction - this is an
important piece of doctrine and truth in
ruling and in government that he lays
down here as well he says now it is not
common that the voice of the people
desire anything contrary to that which
is right he doesn't say it can't happen
he just says it's not common but it is
common for the lesser part of the people
to desire that which is not right
therefore this shall this shall ye
observe and make it your law to do your
business by the voice of the people so
in other words the principle is this
the majority of people the majority of
the people in a civilization a
civilization in a society are usually
going to choose the right thing it's
when the minority usually comes in that
is not choosing the right thing starts
to gain power and makes a change that
you have a problem now having said that
there's an important principle here that
it's made yes it is the voice of the
people that is most important however he
says that it's not common that the
majority of people will choose the wrong
thing but it does happen
and the more that you get a change from
the minority right against not something
that was being done wrong but against
something that is right against the Word
of God against the laws of God as is
told us here then the more power and
growth that that group gets that faction
gets and then it can become inserted
into the culture and into law and after
some time the majority of the people are
going to go along with it but it's a
fundamental principle of democracy that
the majority is going to choose what
goes on and in principle that's good
however of course who represents those
that are not in the majority that's
always an issue and it's not always
based on race or religion or anything
else it's just those that have a an
interest that is not in common with the
majority that's something that
government always has to grapple with
it's always a difficult thing and in
2070 follows this up and says and if the
time comes that the voice of the people
death choose iniquity right the majority
do then is the time that the judgments
of God will come upon you
yay then is the time he will visit you
with great destruction even as he has
hitherto visited
this land okay so in other words it's
important that the people have their
agency it's important that the people
rule by their voice but that doesn't
mean things are always going to go well
it's the right principle to follow but
it's not perfect and you can see he puts
in these these layers right it's kind of
like a race a representative government
you have local government and then you
maybe have another layer on top of that
and then you have zero hemline it's like
the lesser sanhedrin's who are judges
right we've gone over this where you'd
have typically 23 members that would act
as the judges locally and then that
would go to the great Sanhedrin in
Jerusalem if necessary right if there
was an appeal it's like a Supreme Court
and that was 71 members you needed an
odd number so you could have a majority
rule and that might be exactly what this
is is a Sanhedrin we've talked about the
numbers of the priests of Noah possibly
based on the daughters of the Lamanites
that were abducted and then he says he
desires that fee that there be more
equality and this is what he means in
this instance here in 32 he says and now
I desire that this inequality talking
about a royal caste right the royal
ruling class over the people that that
be abolished but that he desires that
this land be a land of liberty so he is
equated the term Liberty with not being
ruled over by a group of people that are
not there by the voice of the people and
he says here giving value to every
individual he says and that every man
may enjoy his rights and privileges
alike and what that does is it puts on a
responsibility right he goes over that
he says that this responsibility that he
has experienced this you know we talk
about a king and we usually think of all
the privileges that would go
along with that but there for someone
who's got a decent heart even the amount
of stress and the amount of the the
level of burden that is put on that
individual is hard to imagine and so
he's saying that needs to be spread out
that burden needs to be carried by
everybody and we are all responsible in
other words with a little bit of that
burden for how things go this is what he
is acquainting with Liberty Liberty
means taking on that responsibility so
they've got this new system that Mosiah
ends up putting in place and he puts
Alma the younger as the first chief
judge right the first Supreme Court
justice so to speak so he's at the head
of the government
he's also the high priest his father
Alma the elder gives him those keys and
we move on into a new era here of the
reign of the judges and with this
groundwork now laid by Morman about
government and power and I think that I
think that as we read the book of Mormon
you know mostly what we pull from that
is something that's very individual and
that's what's so great about the Book of
Mormon right is it speaks directly to an
individual perhaps better than any other
book in scripture it gets into the nooks
and crannies of your psychology and your
hearts and your spirituality but it also
is something that gives us advice on how
to run things how to run groups how to
run a meeting how to run a government
and all the conflicts and issues that
come along that history would teach us
but here in the Book of Mormon we get
that history with a huge helping of
prophetic insight and that's what
happens here at the beginning of the
book of Alma just at the be like at the
beginning of Jacob remember what we have
there is cherem the Antichrist and that
is an important lesson to learn in terms
of the doctrine of Christ
and how important it is and how there
are always a tax on it here we get
another Antichrist and this is nee hoor
and he's presented to us here in the
first chapter of Alma and of course this
is the man that we have named the nee
hoor principal after and there's a good
reason for that we're gonna go over that
says here in verse 2 and he came to pass
that in the first year of the reign of
Alma in the judgment seat there was a
man brought before him to be judged a
man who is large and was noted for his
much strength so it's really interesting
how democracy works it's a very very
difficult venture to to accomplish it to
succeed with very difficult most people
want to be ruled it can it's much easier
you don't take on the responsibility you
have somebody who lays down the law and
here as soon as this moves into more of
a democratic phase here in their
government all heck is going to break
loose because there's now Liberty right
there is a feeling of I get to choose
what I want
and so the bands are loosened on every
one in terms of their choice and even
their value right how their self-esteem
how they feel about themselves they are
for those that are ambitious they have
more Liberty to try and accomplish their
goals so nee hoor comes around here and
he has a very distinct doctrine that is
the exact opposite of the doctrine of
Christ and this is what takes hold
throughout really the rest of the Book
of Mormon and that's why I don't go to
share them for the nee hoor principle
and called the sharin principle even
though in Jacob wine there's probably
more information there about going
against the doctrine of Christ than
there is here that is specified by
Mormon in the story of nee hoor because
nee hoor is successful shehram isn't
me whore is much more successful at
carrying out this theology and it tears
down the Nephites it is a constant
problem for them all the way up through
the coming of Christ and beyond
says here in verse 2 and it came to pass
that in the first year of the reign of
Alma in the judgment seat there was a
man brought before him to be judged a
man who is large and was noted for his
much strength this is important to
understand why does that matter because
he becomes an icon of force
he becomes an icon of physical strength
that's what he's about he has all the
tools that allow him to become a
charlatan to become a leader to become
persuasive physical strength and
appearance are one of them says in verse
3 and he had gone about among the people
preaching to them that which he termed
to be the Word of God again this is
crucial in understanding the knee whore
principle in other words he's inserting
what he believes is the truth he's
inserting into the religion a different
take a different spin right you shall
not surely die said Lucifer in the
Garden of Eden right but she'll become
like the gods right it's twist things so
this is within the church this is not
something that is like like atheists
coming in and that's what's so important
understand about the knee or principle
the knee or principle is not about the
the a religious or those that are even
outside of the church to some degree it
is partially it's really much more
focused on the church itself and what
happens to it
as we lose the doctrine of Christ and
this has happened over and over and over
and over and over again throughout the
history of the church in mankind so he's
preaching to them what he termed to be
the Word of God bearing down again
the church right so he is a criticize er
he's an accuser against Alma and those
that would be the leaders of the church
and he's going to focus in on some of
the doctrines of the church his shtick
so to speak he is to go out and say life
doesn't need to be this difficult
you don't need to be told what not to do
so he says to the people every priest
and teacher ought to become popular okay
so he's gonna move into priestcraft here
this is important and they ought not to
labor with their hands but that they
ought to be supported by the people in
other words there should be no lake
clergy right the way it's set up right
now is that those that are at least at
the local level here maybe not alma
himself completely but those are the
that are at the local level are going to
be farmers or tradesmen or merchants
whatever it might be and nee hoor is
saying no you need to be supported by
the people this is important as a part
of the doctrine of what nior is teaching
because it changes everything he also
says this is point number two that all
mankind should be saved at the last day
right that's pretty great right that's
who doesn't want to hear that no matter
what hey you're going to be saved to the
last day no negative consequences for
you regardless of what you do it's very
flattering
and if someone came to you and really
started to push that it's it's not that
hard to try to wish for that right who
wants negative consequences in their
lives and that they need not fear nor
tremble but that they might lift up
their heads and rejoice for the Lord had
created all men and had also redeemed
all men and in the end all men should
have eternal life okay so in other words
what is he doing with the plan of
salvation right he's completely
destroying it there is no purpose for
you to be tested there is no purpose for
you
to have adversity there's no purpose for
you to grow to have something in place a
map in place for you to grow and develop
as a port as a person as a child of God
because hey you're all gonna be saved
right this starts to sound like
something very similar to what we would
have heard in the war in heaven
everybody's going to be saved
I'll save everybody I just want all the
glory is what Lucifer said we can make a
very tight comparison here between nee
hoor and what he's doing here and what
Lucifer was teaching in the war in
heaven and there's gonna be a very
similar outcome both in both instances
there is a removal of agency or the
necessity for agency right if I force
something in place I'm removing agency
that's one tactic of the adversary
the other is is to say that agency
doesn't matter yeah do what you want
take off all of the borders all of the
boundaries tolerate everything it
doesn't matter because in the end we're
all saved in both cases we have a loss
of progression in both cases we take
away responsibilities in both cases as
we heard before with what Messiah was
teaching about everybody taking on the
burdens of their society of their
government it's mejores proposing
something here that is exactly the
opposite
so Mormon introduces this Liberty as he
spoke about in Mosiah 29 and now nee
hoor is saying hey Liberty is great it's
kind of like a teenager right
independence I'm feeling more and more
independent but I don't want the
consequences that go along with that and
I don't want the burden or the
responsibility that goes along with it
that's it's a teenager's dream so he's
teaching these flattering things that
removes adversity and consequences
and it says hey pay for our priests pray
for those that are or pay for those that
are your leaders and of course that's a
cycle that begins because what does a
leader want to say I mean you want more
money
hey just flatter the people more it's a
bad cycle to get into it's kind of like
a theology that would say it's not
really the Word of God so to speak right
but it's it's what you would wish the
Word of God was can we see that
sometimes in history with a church or or
with the scriptures in the way factions
come about and there's problems and
issues can we see it today where there's
what is doctrine and there's what people
wish doctrine was and oftentimes
ideology overcomes the truth overcomes
the doctrine and that's what happens
here with nee hoor and his followers and
so they start to wear costly apparel nee
hoor and his followers and the leaders
of his movement and they begin to
establish a church after the manner of
this preaching under under these
doctrines so we're getting a real
faction right a real problem here going
against Elma in the church and this
isn't anything new
right I mean Alma who is the chief judge
is Alma the younger he was doing the
same thing not that long ago and so
we're told in verse seven as he's on his
way to teach some of his followers here
he meets a man who belong to the Church
of God even one of their teachers and he
began to contend with him sharply that
he might lead away the people of the
church but the man withstood him and
monning him with the words of God so
this is important again we're getting a
very capsulized version here but I think
if we we look at some key phrases here
we can understand a principle here that
a Mormon is teaching us about so the
teacher who happens to be Gideon the
same man who went after
Noah on the tower in the land of Nephi
meets up with nee hoor here on the way
in a path perhaps somewhere and Gideon
is not going to bow down here to these
doctrines and so he battles him in words
and probably pretty fervently Gideon
doesn't seem like the type of person who
is just going to bow out so there is a
debate there is an argument over things
and it looks like Gideon starts to win
this now what happens typically when
that's the case well what you turn to
then if you're you're preaching
something that is artificial if it is a
counterfeit version of this and it's not
late in truth and the truth begins to
emerge against you we see these examples
all the time then you're going to do one
typically one of two different things
you're going to attack the character of
the person and go after them there or
you're going to use force against them
and that's what nee hoor does and the
whore is a large man now Gideon is a
great warrior but he's old and so me
whore attacks him with a sword this must
have been you know that sounds like that
both had swords so this is a common
thing probably to walk around to protect
yourself and so new horse slays Gideon
now Gideon is an icon to the people
right he's a hero and so nee hoor is
taken before Alma the chief judge Alma
the younger and Alma says this is the
first time that priestcraft has been
introduced among the people so and this
is important because this term this part
of the religion here this priestcraft
right that's the money that is being
paid to the leaders of the church and it
changes everything and Alma says here
something specifically says and we're
priestcraft to be enforced among his
people it would prove their entire
destruction so there's something here
probably from the brass plates or
something that they know from
their past not necessarily in the
Americas although it could be back in
the land of defy perhaps originally
before Mosiah left to do Zarahemla but
in their past maybe from Jerusalem
there's a memory of this an
understanding of this and it happens to
be that in the Middle East in Canaan and
in Egypt this is a very common thing and
a totally overtaking things in those
areas right the priests were rich and it
may have had something to do with the
downfall of Jerusalem men Alma judges
them and says thou has shed the blood of
a righteous man yay a man who has done
much good among his people and were we
to spare thee his blood his blood would
come upon us for vengeance okay so he's
gonna be put to death it's capital
punishment here for murder and it's
interesting just these little points
here these little phrases that that
Mormon inserts here he says in verse 14
therefore thou art condemned to die
according to the law which has been
given us by Messiah
our last king and it has been
acknowledged by the this people so again
there's the democracy right it's
supported by the voice of the people
Mormon obviously wants us to know this
and therefore this people must abide by
the law so this isn't just Alma saying
this right this is the law that has been
supported by the voice of the people so
they take me whore they carry him up to
the hill called Manti which must not
have been very far from 0 hem Allah and
he ends up acknowledging before the
people this might have been something
that was ritual it might have been part
of what you had to do but he says there
that he was caused or rather did
acknowledge between the heavens and the
earth that what he had taught to the
people was contrary to the Word of God
and there he suffered an ignominious
death ok so I stoned to death perhaps
maybe some other way by
anciently that's a real possibility it's
very apparent here in the Nephites
civilization that you can believe
something else and be vocal about it as
long as you're not persecuted and again
the more you offer this Liberty out to
the people the more problems like this
are going to bubble up you can see this
in a lot of lands where Liberty is
removed but certain people's are
protected I mean you can go to Syria or
Iraq even or in some cases Egypt as
examples and see where Christians were
very much protected as a minority class
Lebanon used to be Lebanon as well not
anymore but if you had a tyrant a
dictator right with a heavy hand for
consequences they would usually go out
and give peace brutally but they would
offer peace to many groups and they
would not allow for the persecution they
needed to keep peace by a heavy hand but
when you offer more Liberty right then
then it's it's difficult it's the right
thing to do but it's very difficult and
that's why so many civilizations right
even if they start to move into a little
bit of a democratic type of a system
they fall back into tyranny it's very
hard to move yourself out of that and
then how success behind it it's it
really it's it's a miracle really if you
look at all the hit all of history so
this is a very rare event here that
we're seeing with this reign of the
judges and it doesn't go over smoothly
but this is not the last we hear of knee
whores teachings right the exact
opposite knee horse teachings flourish
among the church remember what we're
talking about here this is we don't want
to try and be you know spread Clorox
bleach over everything we read
here in the scriptures this is the
church on Alma and it's not probably at
least many of the leaders of the church
here but we can't say that some of the
leaders of the church don't move and
become part of this movement behind nee
hoor ISM this becomes a major major
faction a major issue 416 says here this
did not put an end to the spreading of
priests craft through the land for there
were many who loved the vain things of
the world and they went forth preaching
false doctrines and they did this for
the sake of riches and honor obviously
both of those are very tempting very
alluring but they Durst not lie right
they knew how to wiggle their way
through the law and that's the way
people you can always take liberty and
wiggle your way through it right you can
manipulate it you can do things where
you make things very difficult and you
are very persuasive with even a heavy
hand and not break the law attorneys are
great at doing this sometimes and in 17
it says and now the law could have no
power on any man for his belief this is
important and this is that dichotomy
right it's it's this this conflict this
friction that happens all the time
between force and liberty right and what
is right and what is wrong this Liberty
has now bubbled up through the people
more than ever before but with more
Liberty right you're opening up
Pandora's box to some degree and you're
you're you're letting in more chaos
because you're allowing people to take
on their own responsibility to seek
wisdom for themselves and to follow
consequences for themselves or not
follow the consequences so that is again
something that makes democracy so
difficult and it says that whoever did
not belong to the Church of God began to
persecute those that did belong to the
Church of God so many that would have
begun to persecute as we learned last
week what
have been excommunicated right there
would have been barred from the church
and there was a great dissension of this
going along with this right a lot of
people left a lot of people liked what
they heard the grass was definitely
greener on me hordes the side of the
fence in terms of consequences and
Mormon makes a clear distinction here he
says that they persecuted those that did
belong to the Church of God
clarification here and had taken upon
them the name of Christ right why is
that inserted there it's important to
see that always right it's because
they're fighting against us it always
comes down either in a philosophical
sense or in a the way it's actually
manifest in society or a psychological
sense or in a physical sense it comes
down to the doctrine of Christ against
pride and nee hoor ism is all about
pride what do you need a savior for if
you are automatically going to be
redeemed if you're automatically going
to have eternal life that doctrine has
to be suppressed either watered down or
eliminated here we get how this works
typically it's one-sided with Liberty 24
for the hearts of many were hardened
what does that usually mean for us about
the doctrine of Christ and their names
were blotted out right so you get it you
get what looks to me like a mass exodus
from the church to go over to this other
side very appealing doctrine so this is
the stage that is being set for this
mass rebellion and in the fifth year of
the reign of judges right so this is
four years after more or less after
after nee hoor we get the man Amica who
is after the order of nee hoor right
they used that term order just like you
would an order it's kind of like a
priesthood right it's both a theocracy
but it's also the administration of the
church so there's there's a church of
nee hoor so an Lakai is very
zwei civ and he draws even more and more
people behind him and this is very
concerning to Alma into the church
because they're afraid wait a minute
we've got a democracy here you know we
haven't had this for very long it's a
few years and now of a sudden if there's
a movement
I mean imagine how they're experiencing
this we've been given this freedom and
now there's a movement where the
majority of the people it's not common
but the majority of the people may end
up supporting a Makai and their belief
is that they would deprive them in verse
4 deprived them of their rights and
privileges of the church for was his
intent to destroy the Church of God it's
not hard to look underneath things
sometimes with people who are critical
of the church and at times of course
it's it's more innocent and there's
doubt and and you know people are in a
very precarious position in mentally and
spiritually as they go through perhaps a
faith crisis and there's a little bit of
Chrissa criticism thrown at things as
they're trying to resolve these issues
in their mind but there are many right
underlying some of these movements and
these ideas that definitely are out to
destroy the church and so they do what a
democracy does they take a vote right
they take a vote now imagine again let's
go back to the war in heaven there was
democracy there we had our agency right
we could choose the plan of the Lord or
the plan of Lucifer
Lucifer's plan was very appealing
everybody be will be saved in a sense
right doesn't look quite the same way as
exaltation but in a sense everybody
would be saved and no one would be lost
and all the glory is going to go to
Lucifer to the accuser this is the same
thing Amica is doing here right he has a
slight minority it seems enough that
it's threatening to the whole society
here but he wants to destroy the plan of
God so to speak
and the law of Moses of their following
and he wants to destroy the church which
of course means destroying the doctrine
of Christ and so they vote and the
majority pick to stay with Alma and the
judges and the current law and system
not to put Hamrlik eye in as a king and
that's the danger of democracy right I
mean you could have a majority that
could choose to go back to a king to a
dictator
so Amalekites not happy about this he
stirs up all the people they separate
themselves and they do consecrate
Amalekites oh now we have the Nephites
as a whole with their tribes which clues
the Mila kites and now we have another
group another faction that would have
probably had a number of different
people of the tribes and Muller kites
etc that are called Amalekites and so
the Amalekites assembled together on a
hill called amny who which is on the
east side of the river Sidon river Sidon
by the way seems to be the only major
water that is around the land of
Zarahemla and doesn't seem to be far
from the coast because we know here in a
second it's going to go right out to the
sea of course the name Sidon was one of
the major ports of what is now Lebanon
and back in the day was called Phoenicia
so it could be that that the river Sidon
heads out to something that would be
kind of like a port and an estuary and
alma here actually leads the army so he
is the chief judge of the people
secularly
he is the high priest spiritually and he
takes on the role of the leader of the
army so this is very common to what
Mosiah had in Benjamin and Benjamin's
father Messiah right they were the same
thing and so the Nephites begin to
slaughter the Amalekites they're beating
them the Amalekites run off and the
people are spared for a while from the
Church of God
but Alma sends out spies to follow up on
the Amalekites and the spies find that
the Amalekites which happens over and
over again here in the Book of Mormon
have joined the Lamanites and they're
coming to them back to Zarahemla so Alma
and his people get ready again for war
and they battle against the Amalekites
and the Lamanites combined who far
outnumber element his people and Alma
appears to be a great warrior as well he
actually ends up slaying amla Kai and
then goes after the king of the
Lamanites but the king of the Lamanites
gets away and most of this battle is
happening right here around this hill
and ahooo and and and around the river
sighted so there's probably some type of
a forward here right something where
there's it's a partial area at least
where it's shallow where you would need
to cross at times so then the people of
Alma victorious take all the bodies of
the Amalekites and the Lamanites and
they put them into the river Sidon now
this is obviously something that would
have had to been strong current a lot of
water that would have carried thousands
maybe tens of thousands of bodies out to
the sea then we get something
interesting here I'm not going to go far
into this because I've done this several
times about the mark and the skin and
the curse just to keep no here a couple
things on this because I think that
there's a principle here that we should
learn and understand here it says and
the Amalekites were distinguished from
the Nephites before they had marked
themselves with the red in their
foreheads with red in their foreheads
after the manner of the Lamanites so the
Lamanites marked themselves also then
right so they had a red mark on their
foreheads and it seems to me like this
is maybe something for battle but it
would also seem to me it's something to
use to distinguish them from any fight
and you get this sometimes anciently
right where you would have people that
would
themselves and said fact some would
would use a knife right
to mark themselves in the forehead to
distinguish themselves from their enemy
so this goes right along something that
happened naturally in other battles and
in other places and other times the
Carians did this against the Egyptians
when they went to battle with the
Egyptians from Anatolia right Turkey
modern-day Turkey and a little bit more
about this it just says that the
Lamanites they've a shore in their head
the Amalekites apparently did not they
were naked save it were skin which was
dirted about their loins obviously a way
that you would have a darkened skin
right that's part of your culture that's
part of your way of life is it being
used sometimes here just as a spiritual
darkness that seems very apparent
oftentimes in the Book of Mormon and it
says that this was a curse upon them
because of their transgression and their
rebellion against their brethren Hugh
Nibley goes over this right and to him
the curse is culture right you look at
this this is a representation of their
culture it's not as refined it's not as
civilized there aren't as many benefits
from it the economy isn't as strong and
so he uses the curse and the mark here
as a cultural distinction between the
Lamanites and the Nephites all right so
then the following year the sixth year
of the reign of judges here in chapter 4
verse 2 it says but the people were
afflicted he a greatly afflicted from
the loss of their brethren it also for
the loss of their flocks and herds and
also the loss of their fields of grain
which were trodden underfoot and
destroyed by the Lamanites so I mean
there's the consequences of war right
it's devastating it's devastating to
individuals there's death they're
suffering there's major consequences and
because of this this adversity right
there are many that are baptized so this
would be many that were not on the side
of the Amalekites apparently but still
we're not baptized again you're not
talking about everybody is the same
right you have a majority that
the Church of God but that doesn't mean
everybody is but then as this happens
and maybe there's less contention
there's more people that are part of the
same group within the Nephites
everything goes really well they've
become rich the economy booms there's no
contentions among them and what is that
breed well in the price cycle that
breeds pride and then you end up with
new contentions new class distinctions
etc so there begins to be a lot of
iniquity and a lock it a lot of
wickedness as the people start to
separate and this pride enters in verse
12 says yay he saw great inequality
among the people right again when you're
talking about equality you're not
talking about equality of choice here
you're talking about equality of outcome
and so you have class distinctions that
are starting to come up and those that
are of a higher class their sin is pride
looking down on others who are not like
them and then the sin of those that are
not in the higher class what sin would
arise from that it's envy which is just
as dark so things get really bad right
very very quickly so Alma decides that
all he can do is go out and preach
full-time so he relinquishes
his chief justice position right his
high judge chief judge position and he
gives it to a man named Nephi huh we see
a lot of these names that end with i8h
or IH aah it's very common in the Old
Testament too it's just based on
different periods of time you get some
of these endings to these names
Josiah right Jeremiah here you have 'no
fiya the ending of that is a jehovah
ending and here mormon tells us why elma
does this and verse 19 he says and they
see did that he himself might go forth
among his people or among the people of
Nephi that he might preach the Word of
God unto them so this is already being
done right but Alma feels he's
got to take this to a higher level and
notice what he's focused on here
it's on doctrine we've gone over this
right he wants to get the word out to
everybody because he can change behavior
he can positively influence people and
all of his people if they understand the
doctrine and that applies to each one of
us the more we understand the doctrine
of Christ the doctrines of the gospel
the more converted we can become and the
more changed there isn't us and the
result of that is our behavior and in
who we are who were becoming so he wants
to go out and teach the doctrine to the
people probably a lot about the doctrine
of Christ the core doctrine of the
church and this is in the ninth year of
the reign of judges so they've had a
little bit of peace as this Liberty was
brought in over these nine years but
they've had a whole mess to deal with
here as Pandora's Box is opened and
Liberty and free agency as a whole were
the people have to deal with bad choices
as we look at these examples again I
can't help but think about the war in
heaven I don't think we use that example
enough to look at things in the in the
scriptures that war in heaven that John
gives us in the book of Revelation is
the predecessor of so many stories in
the scriptures it is it has got free
agency at its core it has got power at
its core it's got an understanding of
this conflict among those within a free
society
and it teaches us so much about
ourselves
in about our own societies that we can
apply to each of us individually and we
can apply to ourselves as a people the
war in heaven never ends it just happens
over and over and over again I'll talk
to you next time
Come Follow Me Book of Mormon
LDS Mosiah Alma
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