You may get to the so-called war chapters in the Book of Mormon and wonder why Mormon bothered to include so many of them. Yet, he was a prophet who’d seen our day and if ever there were chapters as fresh and relevant as today’s news headlines, here they are. They are filled with the best heroes, like Moroni, who hoist the title of liberty, the darkest villains, like Amalickiah who prosper by deceit and betrayal, and underscoring it all is an existential question: what is the price of freedom?
You can also find it on any of these platforms by searching for Meridian Magazine-Come Follow Me.
Maurine and Scot Proctor have taught Book of Mormon for many years in Institute and have spent extensive time in the Arabian peninsula, following Lehi’s trail. They are the creators of a foundation that has sponsored a multi-year archaeological study of the best candidate for Nephi’s Bountiful in Oman. They have written a book on the Book of Mormon, as well as immersed themselves in the culture, history, and geography. of the scripture.
Maurine
You may get to the so-called war chapters in the Book of Mormon and wonder why Mormon bothered to include so many of them. Yet, he was a prophet who’d seen our day and if ever there were chapters as fresh and relevant as today’s news headlines, here they are. They are filled with the best heroes, like Moroni, who hoist the title of liberty, the darkest villains, like Amalickiah who prosper by deceit and betrayal, and underscoring it all is an existential question: what is the price of freedom?
Scot
Hello our friends, we are Scot and Maurine Proctor and welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast, where today we look at Alma chapters 43-52 with a lesson called “Stand Fast in the Faith of Christ”. If you haven’t had a chance yet to purchase my ebook “Eleven Things You Probably Didn’t Know about the Book of Mormon,” you should do it. You know the story. One time Maurine was writing a series of films on the Book of Mormon and had some cultural questions about the time period. She thought the best person to ask was Hugh Nibley, but when she tried to get an appointment, he said he was too busy, but she could follow him around campus and ask her questions. She went with a long list of questions, but to every one he just gave the same answer, “It’s in there. It’s in there.” No matter what she asked or how complex the question he said, “It’s in there.” To those of you who know the old spaghetti sauce ad for Prego, the theme was “It’s in there.” That’s what we’ve truly discovered about the Book of Mormon. Things and ideas are layered in this book that you would never suppose. So buy my ebook Eleven Things You Probably Didn’t Know about the Book of Mormon and you’ll find out some of them.
Go to latterdaysaintmag.com/eleventhings to buy the book. That’s latterdaysaintmag.com/eleventhings with the word eleven spelled out. It’s only $6.99.
Maurine
When we prepare these podcasts, we study and think deeply about these passages, and so Moroni and the Title of Liberty has been living in my mind for some time. I can feel him raising the standard for me, right in my heart. It is because the issues raised here are the ones that have concerned our ancient souls since the pre-mortal world. It is about the fight we were called to fight before we came to this earth.
We have a painting of Moroni and the Title of Liberty by Walter Rane right in the entrance of our home, so we see him every time we go in and out. And I feel it is a call to stand as he stood against all those forces who would bring us into bondage.
Scot
Do you remember, Maurine, before we started Meridian Magazine that we had a page up online announcing that it was coming? It said, “Breaking News: The war in heaven has changed locations. It continues on earth.” We wanted to help people be armed against Satan’s continual onslaught and rise as the warriors they always were in the fight against evil and bondage. The war in heaven was the first skirmish in a much longer war we are still fighting.
President Gordon B. Hinckley said something similar: “War, of course, is not new. The weapons change. The ability to kill and destroy is constantly refined. But there has been conflict throughout the ages over essentially the same issues.”
Maurine
He said, “The book of Revelation speaks briefly of what must have been a terrible conflict for the minds and loyalties of God’s children. The account is worth repeating:
“’And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
“’And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
“’And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him’” (Rev. 12:7–9). (Gordon B. Hinckley, “War and Peace” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2003/04/war-and-peace?lang=eng )
Scot
So note, where were Satan and his angels cast? “Into the earth.” The battles in the Book of Mormon are a replay of that first battle before the reaches of our memory, and the battle that continues for our soul today. It is about freedom, about moral agency. Here it is as straightforward as we can say it. Satan’s plan is to destroy the agency of man.
We read in Moses 4, “Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also that I should give unto him mine own power…I caused that he should be cast down” (Moses 4:3).
Maurine
Clearly then, agency is critical to our growth. That power of making our own decisions and being responsible for our choices and learning from them—including our mistakes– is what thrusts us forward. We shrink in an atmosphere of coercion and bondage. We lose ourselves. We cannot grow. Even the atonement is a gift that supports us in our agency, because as we make mistakes, the Lord has already paid for them.
Satan was seeking to negate the atonement as well as agency in his rebellion.
As these chapters begin, we enter what seem to be an endless series of battles and wars between the Lamanites and Nephites, but we also see a disappointment. Alma had taken his A-team of missionaries to convert the Zoramites, not only for the sake of their souls but because they lived in Antionum which was on the border with the Lamanites.
Scot
You have to say, in this way, the mission was a disappointment, because the Zoramites weren’t converted and have now joined with the Lamanites. What happened went contrary to Alma’s hope and inspired, hard work. This reminds us that not every noble or inspired mission works out just the way we hoped it would. When we run up against disappointment and think it probably is our own fault or even that God is neglecting us, remember Alma did everything he could to reclaim the Zoramites but was only able to reclaim some of them.
What we see in Alma 43, that continues in the wars that Helaman describes beginning in Alma 45, is the vast difference in motivation between the two sides.
Maurine
The Zoramite leader, Zerahemnah, who was appointed leader over the Lamanites, is described:
“For behold, his designs were to stir up the Lamanites to anger against the Nephites; this he did that he might usurp great power over them, and also that he might gain power over the Nephites by bringing them into bondage.” He wants to rob them of their freedom, put them in chains. It’s the same old battle from the pre-mortal world.
Later, Amalickiah does the same thing. He stirs up people to anger, and how does he do that? He moved them to feel a sense of injustice against the Nephites, to think they deserved more, to make them lust for more power by playing upon the very powerlessness that seems to be part of the mortal experience. You can almost imagine him speaking, “You have been offended. You have been mistreated. You have been betrayed. This is the reason for your pain. You can have everything you want if you are given more power. Let’s take the power from those who have oppressed you.”
Scot
Stirring to anger always looks remarkably the same in every generation. We also learn that Amalickiah’s technique was this: “There were many in the church who believed in the flattering words of Amalickiah, therefore they dissented even from the church, and thus were the affairs of the people of Nephi exceedingly precarious and dangerous, notwithstanding their great victory which they had had over the Lamanites, and their great rejoicings, which they had because of their deliverance of the Lord” (Alma 46:7).
What does flattering mean in this context? It does not mean to praise or compliment someone. Amalickiah wasn’t going around giving compliments or telling people how well they were dressed. No, he was giving ideas that played upon the vanity or susceptibilities of the crowd.
Maurine
It may have been something like this: “Your religion is foolish. It is too hard. It asks too much of you.” His listeners may have responded, “I’m too smart to be foolish. It is hard to follow that law of Moses. It is asking too much of me. All the really popular, cool people follow Amalickiah.”
Today Amalickiah would flatter us this way, playing to our susceptibilities, “You are not truly compassionate or socially just if you cling to your religion.”
Scot
Make no mistake, in these wars we are describing, there was a great difference in motive. While Zerahemnah and then Amalickiah had designs to stir up and flatter the people,
“the design of the Nephites was to support their lands, and their houses, and their wives, and their children, that they might preserve them from the hands of their enemies; and also that they might preserve their rights and their privileges, yea, and also their liberty, that they might worship God according to their desires.
“For they knew that if they should fall into the hands of the Lamanites, that whoever should worship God in spirit and in truth, the true and the living God, the Lamanites would destroy” (Alma 43: 9,10).
Maurine
This point is made again and again in these chapters. Moroni knew that the Lamanites intention was “to destroy their brethren” and as he said, “this is the very cause for which ye have come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our religion” (Alma 44:2).
The Nephites want freedom. The Lamanites want their bondage. The Nephites want to not shed blood. The Lamanites want to shed their blood. The Nephites want to live their religion. The Lamanites want to destroy it.
The Lamanites are inspired by the Adversary, that same one who from the beginning sought to overthrow not only freedom, but the sovereignty of God.
Scot
So, we are in this same war, and thus we turn to Moroni as an example. First of all, he seeks to protect the Nephites who are going to battle so they will be less vulnerable. He prepared them with breastplates, with arm-shields and shields to defend their heads and dressed them with thick clothing. In contrast, the Lamanites came to war naked and vulnerable.
This idea of being naked and therefore vulnerable vs. being clothed and protected is a theme in the scriptures.
Remember that being clothed is a symbol for the atonement and we see it in scriptures like these:
“33 O Lord, wilt thou encircle me around in the robe of thy righteousness! O Lord, wilt thou make a way for mine escape before mine enemies! Wilt thou make my path straight before me!” (2 Nephi 4:22)
Maurine
This powerful image of the atonement is one of being clothed, so therefore everything that is fragile about you is protected. You are protected by the atonement and the covenant with the Lord it represents.
We see that same idea in this scripture where Lehi is talking: “But behold, the Lord hath redeemed my soul from hell; I have beheld his glory, and I am encircled about eternally in the arms of his love” (2 Nephi 1:15).
Scot
Then there is this wonderful verse about being naked or clothed at the judgment bar.
“Wherefore we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness, and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness. 2 Nephi 9:13
Maurine
What we have then in these battles are two armies clashing, one supported by the Lord as symbolized be being clothed in the atonement and the covenant, and one being naked, motivated by hatred.
To go to war, whether it be a hot war with weapons as these were, or the subtle war in which we find ourselves with Satan and those who advocate his causes, we must always go in the protection of the Lord and obedient to His commandments. If we are true to that covenant, scripture demonstrates again and again, that the Lord will support us. The day we dwindle from that commitment and the day that Jesus Christ is no longer the God of this nation, that support is withdrawn. I don’t think we can even imagine what that would mean.
Scot
It is ironic that those who are Christians and are taught specifically to be peacemakers should ever have to go to war. We are a people of peace. We worship the Prince of Peace.
We are told that the Nephites “were sorry to take up arms against the Lamanites, because they did not delight in the shedding of blood; yea, and this was not all—they were sorry to be the means of sending so many of their brethren out of this world into an eternal world, unprepared c to meet their God.
“Nevertheless, they could not suffer to lay down their lives, that their wives and their children should be massacred by the barbarous cruelty of those who were once their brethren,, yea, and had dissented from their church, and had gone to destroy them by joining the Lamanites” (Alma 48:23-25).
Maurine
Now Amalickiah was a Nephite, and ironically, it was the Nephites who turned from the Church who were always the most bitter enemies of the faithful, much more so than were the Lamanites.
Moroni found the Nephites in a very precarious and dangerous time when Amalickiah began to stir up trouble with an eye to destroying the church and the foundation of liberty among the Nephites.
As the chief commander of the Nephite armies, he had to respond.
Scot
Freedom must be defended and won again and again from those who would put free people in chains. Freedom in this world is not a permanent condition without those who will stand for it. Now it was Moroni’s job to rally a people to stand for that freedom. What’s more, it was the duty he owed to God.
“And it came to pass that he rent his coat; and he took a piece thereof, and wrote upon it—In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children—and he fastened it upon the end of a pole.
“And he fastened on his head-plate, and his breastplate, and his shields, and girded on his armor about his loins; and he took the pole, which had on the end thereof his rent coat, (and he called it the title of liberty) and he bowed himself to the earth, and he prayed mightily unto his God for the blessings of liberty to rest upon his brethren, so long as there should a band of Christians remain to possess the land (Alma 46:12,13).
Maurine
Notice how he puts on his armor before he raises this banner. He is putting on the whole armor of God as he raises this title of liberty. On it are the things worth fighting for. When God, religion, freedom, peace, and family are on the line, you cannot be passive.
Then Elder Ezra Taft Benson gave a stellar talk in 1966 called “Protecting Freedom—An Immediate Responsibility” where he also quoted several other prophets about the importance of defending freedom.
Scot
Elder Benson said, “History, both sacred and secular, clearly records that the struggle to preserve and safeguard freedom has been a continuous one. Prophets of God as watchmen on the towers, have proclaimed liberty. Holy men of God have led the fight against anarchy and tyranny. Moses was commanded to “proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” (Lev. 25:10.)
“Why have prophets of God been commanded to proclaim liberty and lead the battle to preserve freedom? Because freedom is basic to the great plan of the Lord. The gospel can prosper only in an atmosphere of freedom. This fact is confirmed by history, as well as by sacred scriptures. The right of choice–free agency–runs like a golden thread throughout the gospel plan of the Lord for the blessing of his children.”
Maurine
Elder Benson quoted President David O. McKay had said at that time, “I do not know that there was ever a time in the history of mankind when the Evil One seemed so determined to take from man his freedom.”
Then Elder Benson quoted a message from the First Presidency given in 1942 saying,
“Satan is making war against all the wisdom that has come to men through their ages of experience. He is seeking to overturn and destroy the very foundations upon which society, government, and religion rest. He aims to have men adopt theories and practices which he induced their forefathers, over the ages, to adopt and try, only to be discarded by them when found unsound, impractical, and ruinous. He plans to destroy liberty and freedom–economic, political, and religious, and to set up in place thereof the greatest, most widespread, and most complete tyranny that has ever oppressed man. He is working under such perfect disguise that many do not recognize either him or his methods. . . . Without their knowing it, the people are being urged down paths that lead only to destruction. Satan never before had so firm a grip on this generation as he has now.” (“Message of the First Presidency,” The Improvement Era, Nov. 1942, p. 761.)
Scot
And if these prophets said that then, think how far we have traveled toward losing our freedom since those statements more than 50 years ago, especially in today’s world where so many have a stated goal to cancel America and foment a new revolution that directly unravels our founding.
Elder Benson continued, “In spite of the scriptural evidence and the counsel of modern-day prophets during the past more than 100 years, there are still some who seem to feel we have no responsibility to safeguard and strengthen our precious God-given freedom. There are some who apparently feel that the fight for freedom is separate from the gospel. They express it in several ways but it generally boils down to this: Just live the gospel; there’s no need to get involved in trying to save freedom and the Constitution…
That counsel is dangerous, self-contradictory, unsound.”
Maurine
He continued, “The Book of Mormon pays tribute to General Moroni in these words: “And Moroni was a strong and a mighty man; he was a man of perfect understanding, yea, a man that did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose soul did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country, and his brethren from bondage and slavery; . . .
“Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the faith of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defend his people his rights, and his country, and his religion, even to the loss of his blood.” (Alma. 48:11,13.)
Scot
And then Moroni is paid this high tribute: “Yea, verily, verily I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men.” (Alma. 48:17.)
Elder Benson said, “Now, part of the reason we may not have sufficient priesthood bearers to save the Constitution let alone to shake the powers of hell, is because unlike Moroni, I fear, our souls do not joy in keeping our country free, and we are not firm in the faith of Christ nor have we sworn with an oath to defend our rights and the liberty of our country.”
Maurine
He continued, “Moroni raised a title of liberty and wrote upon it these words: “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children.” Why didn’t he write upon it: “Just live your religion; there’s no need to concern yourselves about your freedom, your peace, your wives, or your children”? The reason he didn’t do this was because all these things were a part of his religion, as they are of our religion today.
“Should we counsel people, “Just live your religion. There’s no need to get involved in the fight for freedom”? No, we should not, because our stand for freedom is a most basic part of our religion; this stand helped get us to this earth, and our reaction to freedom in this life will have eternal consequences. Man has many duties, but he has no excuse that can compensate for his loss of liberty.” (Ezra Taft Benson, Protecting Freedom—An Immediate Responsibility).
Scot
Moroni rallies the people. We read that “he went forth among the people, waving the arent part of his garment in the air, that all might see the writing which he had written upon the rent part, and crying with a loud voice, saying:
“Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and aenter into a covenant that they will bmaintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.
Maurine
“And…behold, the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments” (Alma 46: 19-21).
This is a covenant scene, and I wonder how often we recognize that it is. Remember that covenants have covenant blessings, but they also have what is sometimes called covenant cursings.
Scot
Right. Remember the covenant on the promised land in 2 Nephi 1 given to Lehi. As long as the people remember their covenants and Jesus Christ is the God of this land, it will be protected, preserved and prospered, but, if the day shall come when they turn from their covenants, God will bring other nations to them and they will be scattered and smitten.
A covenant is a serious commitment.
What strikes me about this scene of rallying the people is its similarity to something that happened during the Revolutionary War.
Maurine
George Washington faced a grim moment January 1, 1777. All enlistments for the Continental Army had expired on that date and all of the army, or at least what was left of it, was free to go home. This would not just cripple the Revolution, but probably end it.
He gathered his troops together, the drum roll began, and the general asked all those willing to extend their tours to step forward. Not one soul moved. Then, as Tim Ballard tells it “A depressed Washington turned his horse and began riding away. Then suddenly he stopped, returned to his men, and said:
Scot
“’My brave fellows, you have done all I asked you to do, and more than could be reasonably expected, but your country is at stake, your wives, your houses, and all that you hold dear. You have worn yourselves out with fatigues and hardships, but we know not how to spare you. If you will continue to stay one month longer, you will render that service to the cause of liberty, and to your country, which you can probably never do under any other circumstances.’
“If ever there was a Captain Moroni/Title of Liberty moment during the American war for independence, this was it,” writes Ballard.
Of course, they re-enlisted and changed the lives of generations to follow.
Maurine
If Moroni was the symbol of valiancy, standing for freedom and for God, we have in these chapters his antithesis in Amalickiah. His name has an interesting meaning. We know that in Hebrew, the word “melek” means king, and the “iah” suffix on the name means Jehovah. So his name would mean, “My king is Jehovah,” except for one little thing.
Scot
That “A” at the beginning of his name negates the rest, so is name means “My God is not Jehovah.” Or one Hebrew scholar translates it as, “I rule as Jehovah.” A whole discussion on this is in my new eBook we talked about at the beginning of the podcast. The perfect nemesis for the noble Moroni and a name so appropriate for one who sought to destroy the religion and freedom of the people.
Let’s trace his use of deception to rise to power.
Historically, leaders and political movements, however evil they are, gain power by posing themselves as standing for something good—social justice or ridding their followers of a group they dislike. Amalickiah first sought to lead the Nephites, but seeing “that the people of Moroni were more numerous than” his followers, and that some of his own people were “doubtful concerning the justice of the cause in which they had undertaken” (Alma 46:29), he took those people who would come with him and departed into the land of Nephi, where the Lamanites lived.
Maurine
The idea was if you can’t gain position or power with the Nephites, why not become king of the Lamanites? With his flattering words, silver tongue and sheer presence, he might have made headway, but in addition, his absolute ruthlessness, will to power, and ability to deceive and betray won him what he wanted. From the beginning as he pretended to be a friend, he had it in his mind the dethrone the king. A reminder that those who would grab power are not always who they appear to be.
First, Amalickiah stirred up the anger of the Lamanites to go to war against the Nephites, convincing the king to send out a proclamation of war. But fearful for their lives, many Lamanites were “fixed in their minds with a determined resolution that they would not be subjected to go against the Nephites” (Alma 47:6) and these many gathered at the top of a hill called Antipas. They were led by a man named Lehonti.
Scot
Amalickiah is put in charge of the Lamanite army who will fight and goes to the base of the mount Antipas with a strategy in mind. “It was his intention to gain favor with the armies of the Lamanites, that he might place himself at their head” (Alma 47:8)
Now we have a story that demonstrates subversion by degrees, the old frog put into a lukewarm pot where the temperature is raised so gradually, he doesn’t realize it’s boiling.
At night Amalickiah sent a secret embassy into the Mount Antipas, asking Lehoni to “come down to the foot of the mount for he desired to speak with him” (Alma 47:10) Lehonti is too afraid to come. Yet Amalickiah persists. He sent a message a second time and then a third with the same request.
Maurine
Then the fourth time, Amalickiah sends a message to come to the base of the mountain and asks Lehonti to bring his guards with him. And, you know, this time he agrees! What are you thinking Lehonti? It reminds me of a movie where you know the killer is just behind the door at the end of the hall and you watch the protagonist walk to the end of that hall and begin to open the door. Watching this, you want to scream, “Don’t do it. Please don’t do it.”
Scot
That’s right. Don’t do it, mate, it’s not worth it.
Maurine
I have wondered after standing against these devious requests for three times what made Lehonti finally relent and go down that mountain? Obviously Amalickiah knew just how to appeal to his susceptibilities or vanity or weakness.
Now Amalickiah betrays the Lamanite army he is leading as well, as he makes a secret deal with Lehonti to bring his army down to surround the camp of the king’s army that Amalickiah commands. He makes Lehonti the chief commander if Amalickiah could be his second. It appears he is giving up his own army to Lehonti. Not so.
Scot
Here’s what happens to the king’s army, commanded by Amalickiah.
“When they saw that they were surrounded, they pled with Amalickiah that he would suffer them to fall in with their brethren, that they might not be destroyed. Now this was the very thing which Amalickiah desired” (Alma 47:15) and because it was the custom among the Nephites that if their chief leader was killed, they appoint the second leader to be their chief leader.
“And it came to pass that Amalickiah caused that one of his servants should administer poison by degrees to Lehonti, that he died” (Alma 47:18) . It was his intention to gain favor with the armies of the Lamanites, that he might place himself at their head.
Maurine
Wow. Lehonti. Destroyed by degrees, first in coming down that mountain when you knew better and then poisoned just a little at time by the man who thought you could trust.
It reminds me of a talk BYU professor Kerry Muhlestein, gave about why you must be wholeheartedly holy. It is easy to leave the path of discipleship by degrees.
He said, “During the two decades I have been teaching the Old Testament, I have found that for most of us it just seems weird when we read about ancient Israel’s struggles with idolatry. We cannot imagine why they would stop worshipping Jehovah and instead worship things carved from wood or stone or molded from metal. We ask ourselves, “What were they thinking? What is wrong with them?” Yet I have found that we should never ask ourselves, “What is wrong with them?” Instead we should ask, “What is wrong with them and me?” If ancient Israel struggled with something, surely we struggle with it as well. We should not ask ourselves if we struggle with the things that tempted them; rather, we should ask how we do the same thing.
Scot
He continued, “I have also found that we can more easily answer this question when we come to a more accurate view of exactly what ancient Israel was struggling with. I believe we are wrong when we think they stopped worshipping Jehovah and started worshipping other gods. While some did stop worshipping God, most kept worshipping Him—they just added the worship of other gods. They worshipped Jehovah and Asherah or Jehovah and Anat, Ba’al, Chemosh, Molech, and so on.
“The problem is that everyone around them was doing this. Their neighbors had gods that they focused on, but they were also willing to adopt new gods as they encountered them. As Israel drank in the culture around them, it seemed only natural to keep worshipping Jehovah but also to worship the things their neighbors worshipped. Most likely many of them felt just fine about doing this because they continued to feel quite devout toward Jehovah. It is this attempt to worship more than one god at the same time that Elijah addressed on Mount Carmel when he challenged the priests of Ba’al. During that contest he thundered out to Israel: ‘How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him’ (1 Kings 18:21).
Maurine
Muhlestein said, “The word halt here does not mean “stop,” as we usually think it does. It is used in this scripture in the same way that it is used in the New Testament: to mean that someone is lame or unable to walk. Perhaps a better translation would be ‘How long limp ye between two opinions?’ Elijah was not asking them why they couldn’t choose which god to worship but rather was pointing out that they could not really go anywhere as long as they were trying to worship both gods.
“Now that we know ancient Israel was worshipping both the true God and false gods at the same time, our task is, as I said earlier, not to ask ourselves if but instead how we do the same thing. I believe there is no doubt that we all worship more than one god… Over the last twenty years, as I have tried to observe the ways in which we struggle with idolatry, I have become convinced that on the whole we struggle with one kind of false god more than any other. We tend to worship the ideas of the world…”
Scot
These ideas of the world move us by degrees.
As Muhlestein continues, “The problem is that the world has been shouting its ideas at us loudly and incessantly from the time we were very small. We encounter these ideas in our schools, from kindergarten through college. We are inundated with them as we read newspapers, watch TV and movies, or listen to the radio—and in a hundred other ways. Many of the concepts we encounter are harmless enough, but most of the time we are not very careful in sifting through the ideas we hear, and I am certain we have all swallowed a lot of fallacious and dangerous ideas without even realizing it. As President Thomas S. Monson said at the rededication of the Boise Idaho Temple, you “walk in a world saturated with the sophistries of Satan” (“Boise Idaho Temple: ‘Again Hallowed,’” Church News, 24 November 2012, ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/62997/Boise-Idaho-Temple-Again-hallowed.html#).
Maurine
He said, “Sadly, Satan’s ideas are so prevalent and often so subtly, consistently, and insidiously conveyed that we usually are not aware we have adopted them. We drink so heavily from the well of the world’s influence that such influence can become part of the fabric of who we are without our even realizing it.
“Perhaps I can add an illustration from my own classes. Back when I regularly taught world civilization courses, we would discuss the cultures found in ancient Mesoamerica. A small part of our time was spent discussing the violent rituals of human sacrifice that the Spanish conquistadors encountered there. As I tried to frame a discussion about these violent acts and their effect on cultural interaction, I often asked my students what they thought about the horrific rituals we were discussing. I found that if I asked about the ritual practice, it was quickly condemned. But if I phrased the question in terms of what my students thought about this element of ancient culture, I was lucky if even one student would speak negatively of it. My students had been taught so regularly and thoroughly that we must be tolerant of other people’s cultures that they could not bring themselves to say that human or child sacrifice was a bad element of culture.”
Scot
He notes, “Now, I believe the Bible is fairly clear on this point. A number of passages make it very plain that God finds this practice completely unacceptable. Yet too often my students could not quite commit to this gospel truth because it conflicted with the ideas of the world that they have been immersed in since their youth. Without realizing it, they had begun to struggle with trying to worship God and the ideas of the world at the same time. If they had a hard time condemning human sacrifice, I can only imagine what else the world had convinced them that they should not call wrong.”
Maurine
He said, “my impression is that Latter-day Saints tend to follow the trends of the world around them, lagging just a little behind. The rates of successful marriages, family sizes, the immodesty of our clothing, and the crudeness of our entertainment usually follow the trends of the world—we just stay slightly better. We kid ourselves that we are being holy because our shorts or skirts are not as short as everyone else’s and our topics of conversation are not as crude as those of the world around us. But the reality is that if our standards are so constantly affected by the world’s, it does not matter if we are doing better than everyone else; the world is still setting our standards instead of God” (Kerry Muhlestein, “Why We Must be Wholeheartedly Holy”
https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/kerry-m-muhlestein/why-we-must-be-wholeheartedly-holy/
We drift from the Lord by degrees.
Scot
Lehonti is poisoned by degrees, and it appears that Amalickiah triumphs. He becomes the chief commander of the army, murders the Lamanite king while making sure his own guards are blamed for it and even manages to wed the wife of the king. You have to think about the Book of Mormon giving us so much detail about someone so deceitful. It is because we would also encounter it in our time.
And, of course, Amalickiah dies with a javelin to his heart in his sleep. He doesn’t triumph in the end, but he hurts thousands in his wake.
Maurine
That’s all for today. We’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and this has been Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. Next week we’ll study Alma 53-63, Preserved by His Marvelous Power. Transcripts for this podcast are at latterdaysaint.mag/podcast. Thanks to Paul Cardall for the beautiful music that beings and ends this podcast and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins, our producer. See you next time.
