18 But behold, I say
unto you that if ye persist in your wickedness that your days shall not be
prolonged in the land, for the Lamanites shall be sent upon you; and if ye
repent not they shall come in a time when you know not, and ye shall be visited
with cutter destruction; and it shall be according to the fierce danger
of the Lord.
19 For he will not
suffer you that ye shall live in your iniquities, to destroy his people. I say unto you, Nay; he would rather suffer
that the Lamanites might destroy all his people who are called the people of
Nephi, if it were possible that they could fall into sins and transgressions,
after having had so much light and so much knowledge given unto them of the
Lord their God;
20 Yea, after having
been such a highly favored people of the Lord; yea, after having been favored
above every other nation, kindred, tongue, or people; after having had all
things made known unto them, according to their desires, and their faith, and
prayers, of that which has been, and which is, and which is to come;
21 Having been visited
by the Spirit of God; having conversed with angels, and having been spoken unto
by the voice of the Lord; and having the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of
revelation, and also many gifts, the gift of speaking with tongues, and the
gift of preaching, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of translation;
22 Yea, and after
having been delivered of God out of the land of Jerusalem, by the hand of the
Lord; having been saved from famine, and from sickness, and all manner of
diseases of every kind; and they having waxed strong in battle, that they might
not be destroyed; having been brought out of bondage time after time, and
having been kept and preserved until now; and they have been prospered until they
are rich in all manner of things—
Alma 9:18-22
Continuing to warn the Ammonihahites, Alma reminded them,
unless they repent and obey God’s commandments, the time of their destruction (“utter destruction”) is near.[1]
He then explains why they face destruction. Their wickedness has the potential of
destroying the Nephites, and the Lord will not allow that to occur. During Nephi’s great vision, he saw the role
the Lamanites will play in the future.
“And
it came to pass that I looked and beheld the people of my seed gathered
together in multitudes against the seed of my brethren; and they were gathered
together to battle … And while the angel spake these words, I beheld and saw
that the seed of my brethren did contend against my seed, according to the word
of the angel; and because of the pride of my seed, and the temptations of the
devil, I beheld that the seed of my brethren did overpower the people of my
seed. And it came to pass that I beheld, and saw the people of the seed of my
brethren that they had overcome my seed; and they went forth in multitudes upon
the face of the land” (1 Nephi 12:15, 19-20).
He makes it clear the Lord would rather have his people
destroyed than to have them fall into transgression after having had the word
of the Lord made clear to them. Mormon
would later sum up this situation and its consequences. “And
thus we can plainly discern, that after a people have been once enlightened by
the Spirit of God, and have had great knowledge of things pertaining to
righteousness, and then have fallen away into sin and transgression, they
become more hardened, and thus their state becomes worse than though they had
never known these things” (Alma 24:30).
Alma explains further why they are facing destruction.
They had been a highly favored people of the Lord.
They had things made known to them through their faith and
prayers.
They had been visited by the Spirit of God.
They had spoken with angels.
They had the spirit of prophecy and revelation.
They had received the gift of speaking in tongues and
translation.[2]
They had been saved from famine, sickness, and diseases.
“Apostasy had so infected the people of Ammonihah that many
had no understanding of the doctrines and principles of the gospel. At one time
in the glorious past, they had been ‘a highly favored people of the Lord’ (Alma
9:20)”.[3]
We don’t know what led to the Ammonihahites apostasy from
the gospel truths. Joseph Smith once
addressed situations like this. “In a similar vein, Joseph Smith once told a
member of the church that ‘When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve
God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back
on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve it will be by the
instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his
servant.’41 This is the principle taught by Alma…[4]
[1] As
we know, this will occur. “And now it came to pass, before the
Nephites could raise a sufficient army to drive them out of the land, they had
destroyed the people who were in the city of Ammonihah, and also some around
the borders of Noah, and taken others captive into the wilderness” (Alma
16:3) and “And thus ended the eleventh
year of the judges, the Lamanites having been driven out of the land, and the
people of Ammonihah were destroyed; yea, every living soul of the Ammonihahites
was destroyed, and also their great city, which they said God could not
destroy, because of its greatness” (Alma 16:9).
[2]
This implies at one time, they had records in addition to the records of the
Nephites.
[3] The
Temple in Time and Eternity – Conflicting Orders: Alma and Amulek in Ammonihah,
Thomas R. Valletta, Maxwell Institute, accessed March 19, 2015.
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