Latest / Scripture Central / Mosiah 29 - Alma 4 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited

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Mosiah 29 - Alma 4 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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Consider the question, what would it be like to live in a
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society where you could guarantee that your government
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leaders were wise people? They made perfect decisions that
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would benefit the most number of people for the longest period of
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time without taking any of the the glory or the credit or the
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power just for themselves or to gratify their own pride.
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What if you could also guarantee that those leaders before making
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any decision would always go to the Lord and plead for his
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guidance, his light, his direction in making those
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decisions that that would be an amazing, amazing scenario.
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Here's King Mosiah, you ready? You have.
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And he is named after his grandfather, obviously King
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Mosiah, the 1st that we have record of, and then his father,
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King Benjamin. So here's King Mosiah.
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He's come to the end of his life.
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He realizes he he's not going to live very much longer.
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And so he's also a great student of history.
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This is the king who translated the Jaredite record, which is
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loaded with stories of kings one after the other after the other,
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most of them being really, really wicked in that case, and
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the occasional really good king mixed in.
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But he saw that he has the brass plates.
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He knows the history of the House of Israel really well in
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this regard, that when Moses brought the children of Israel
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into the Promised land after Moses and Joshua, we turn the
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ruling of the people over to judges until that day when the
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people come and say, we, we want to be like all the other
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nations. They all have kings.
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We want to be like them. We want to be like the world.
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And so Samuel the prophet went to the Lord and said, what do
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you want me to do? They they want a king.
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And God said, no, Samuel, give them what they want, give them a
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king. They've not rejected you as my
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prophet. They've rejected me as their
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ultimate king. So this is the unique
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perspective that these three and Nephi at the very beginning of
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the book seem to bring into the story that most kings like the
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vast majority, the highest percentage of kings don't bring
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in, which is God is the king of kings, the king of heaven.
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And Jacob, the brother of Nephi teaches us very powerfully in
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Second Nephi chapter 10, and he's actually quoting God.
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For he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish.
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Think of King Noah. For I the Lord the king of
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heaven will be their king, and I will be a light unto them
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forever that hear my words. So as you read the Bible and as
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you read the Book of Mormon, this is actually one of the
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driving questions that creates the history of the people is
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them trying to figure out who's the king.
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And Nephi, through his brother Jacob reveals it.
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It's God. God is the king in all these
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stores that show up all over the Book of Mormon are people having
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conflict about, well, I want to be a human king.
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And what we learn from Mosiah is that God will allow that a human
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king under very specific circumstances.
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But what we also see is that God actually prefers that we empower
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people through agency to choose Him as the King.
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That's a wonderful perspective that what normally kings do in
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the history of the world, in the history of the House of Israel,
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in the history of the Book of Ether, all of the perspective
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that Mosiah has at his disposal, He's looking at the saying, wow,
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this normally doesn't go well. We've been very blessed in his
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family line in the recent history to say this, this is
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good. But he said it normally doesn't
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go well. Why?
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Because most kings take power and agency and liberty away from
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the people and take it to themselves.
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Whereas those who are successful in their kingship turn to God
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and recognize his authority as the King of kings, Lord of
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Lords, and they act like Jesus would servant leadership.
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And so it goes well. But here's the problem.
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He's nearing the end of his life.
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The people all want his son Aaron to be the next king.
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And and here's Mosiah in chapter 29 saying we have a couple
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problems with this one. Aaron doesn't want to be the
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king. He wants to be a missionary.
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And he's going on a mission down to the Lamanites that was
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already dealt with in in the previous couple chapters.
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So he has no interest in taking the throne, not not interested
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in politics. The second thing Mosiah knows
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from all of this history and from his own experience, he
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knows the struggles of being a king and the temptations that a
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king will face that other people won't.
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Temptations to to get lifted up in more pride and and get away
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with sin and iniquity that common people might not be able
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to to do. And he knows that his son has
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had a pretty rough past. Ammon, Aaron, Amnor and him and
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I, along with Alma the younger, they had some really rough times
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fighting against the church, caught up in sin and pride and
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iniquity. And he's concerned that should
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something happen and Aaron shift back to his old ways, he would
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undo all the good that has been set up.
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This is one of the the sad ironies of life.
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It takes a lot longer to build up a society, to build up faith,
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to build up a family, to build up goodness than it does to tear
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it down. You can wipe out generations of
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hard labour to build something up you.
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You can wipe it out very quickly.
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And he mentions it specifically. Go to verse 13 for starters.
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You're in chapter 29. Therefore, if it were possible,
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now you could circle the word if, because that's a big if,
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right? If it were possible that you
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could have just men to be your kings who would establish the
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laws of God and judge these people according to his
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commandments. See if you could have men for
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your kings who would do even as my father Benjamin did for his
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people. I say to you, if this could
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always be the case, then he would be expediently He should
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always have kings to rule over you.
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He's saying, look, short of having God himself live on the
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earth, the best form of government would be to have
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people like him as your leader. But that's great.
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There's no better form of government because he is going
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to serve you and keep all of God's laws at the forefront.
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And it's going to be righteous. It's going to be wonderful.
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And what's interesting about Benjamin is that he serves the
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people. He ministers to them.
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Now think about today in the world, most countries have a
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Prime Minister. We have a president of the
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United States. Most other countries have prime
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ministers. Do you know that the word
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minister comes from a very interesting word comes from the
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word minus that you're less than.
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How many world leaders do you know that actually try to put
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themselves underneath to support people and serve them?
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No, I'm at the top. Benjamin was this ideal leader.
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He truly ministered to the people.
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In fact, even another word that you've probably all heard of is
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the word night. Now we think of these as
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powerful people. In the German, this word
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literally means to be a servant. And again, what Tyler is
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teaching here is that it's very hard for typical humans to give
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up their pride for power, prestige, and authority over
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others. And the willingness to lower
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yourself and condescend so you can support others is very rare
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among many humans. And so we have this challenge
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here where these incredible leaders, Mosiah is realizing
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this is a rare thing. How can we create a society
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where we minimize the likelihood that we will fall into a lack of
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peace because of a bad king, like we saw all over the Old
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Testament, all over the Jaredite records, and particularly with
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Noah and Aaron? As you point out, he's always
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pride. He wanted to be.
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It was all about himself, and he's not repented.
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But what if he fell back into not wanting to be less than
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others? And that is, that's what Mosiah
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is trying to to figure out is how do you move forward in a way
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that can guarantee to a higher degree of certainty that wise,
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honorable, inspired people aren't going to be replaced by
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prideful, sinful, iniquitous people?
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Look at verse 18. Yeah, remember King Noah, his
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wickedness and his abominations and also the wickedness and
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abominations of his people. Behold what great destruction
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did come upon them. And also because of their
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iniquities, they were brought into bondage.
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Mosiah wasn't born yesterday. He, he understands the the
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complexities of this. He's been, he's been the king
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for 30 years. He knows what a king goes
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through and, and the struggles and the decisions that need to
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be made. And he knows his history, not
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just of the Book Mormon times, but of looking at King Saul,
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King David, King Solomon. None of those ended well.
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Then when Israel split into the northern Kingdom, in the
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southern Kingdom, you've got dozens of kings between those
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two kingdoms and only a small, small percentage of them turned
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out to be what you would consider a good king.
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So he's saying, look in the probabilities.
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He he's establishing a case to say we need to let God be our
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king and let's come up with a government system that is
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actually the opposite flow of what happened in the Old
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Testament. So he's like, we're going to go
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from the reigns of the kings the opposite direction and begin the
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reigns of the judges flipping what happened in the Old
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Testament. Look at verse 25.
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This is the key. Verse 25 and 26 therefore choose
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you by the voice of this people, judges that you may be judged
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according to the laws which have been given to you by our
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fathers, which are correct, and which were given them by the
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hand of the Lord. So you can see his new proposal.
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It's really quite simple. God gave laws to the kings that
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we're righteous. So he's referring mostly to King
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Benjamin and Mosiah, his grandfather.
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And he's not saying this. He's being very, very humble.
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But the reality is, is Mosiah has been an amazing king.
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He's not going to tell you that, but I will. 30 years of
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incredible seership. He he's a seer and a king and a
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prophet. He's all of these things
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amazing. And he's saying, look, we've got
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really good laws and back then there is no separation of church
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and state, right? It's it's the law of of Moses
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and these directions that have been given to him.
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That is their law. And he says, so we're going to
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give these now to judges and all they're going to do is judge the
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people according to what how they live, these incredible laws
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that have been given by God. It's pretty, pretty simple.
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The keyword here is voice of the people in verse 25.
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You could mark it by the voice of this people.
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Look at verse 26. Now it is not common that the
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voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which
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is right, But it is common for the lesser part of the people to
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desire that which is not right. Therefore this shall you observe
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and make it your law to do your business by the voice of the
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people. So it's a really profound thing
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when you say you have power in the masses of of these people to
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decide who your judges are going to be and what's going to
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happen. So he gives you the scenario of
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So what happens if the voice of the people chooses iniquity?
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What if more people want bad laws and we want to change the
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laws or change the form of government?
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He tells you, well, at that time, God's going to deliver you
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with to to destruction. You're going to have
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consequences for those choices. This introduces for US one of
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the most profound aspects of all of our very existence, which is
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this notion of agency and accountability.
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What he's doing here. For those of you who aren't very
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interested in politics or aren't really into the government kinds
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of things. Like it or not, this is a part
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of our entire existence, our life going clear back to heaven.
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Satan's attack was seeking to destroy the agency of man he's
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trying to overthrow. He's trying to get people to
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vote or to change the way they they see God and shift their
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focus to himself. Everything in leadership,
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everything in kingship is either trying to emulate the devil to
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1° or another, or trying to emulate the Savior to 1° or
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another. And there's no perfect analogy,
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But the point is, righteous kings act like Christ,
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unrighteous kings act like the devil, and the devil takes
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agency from the people and takes it to himself.
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Christ gives more. What is a synonym for liberty or
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for agency? Liberty, freedom, and he gives
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it out to the people to be able to make choices, but that then
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they have to be accountable for them.
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This is this is clearly laid out here.
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Now look at verse 38. Therefore, they relinquish their
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desire for a king and became exceedingly anxious that every
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man should have an equal chance. Throughout all the land, in
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every man expressed a willingness to answer for his
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own sins. One of Satan's lies and one of
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his greatest deceptions is that freedom is the ability to just
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do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want,
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however you want, with whomever you want.
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That's freedom. That's liberty.
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But he'll never tell you about the accountability that's
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attached to those choices, because that's how he binds us.
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That's how he actually takes away our agency.
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And so we live in a world that says things like we don't need
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organized religion, we don't need laws, we don't need
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commandments. God isn't doing things.
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Just eat, drink and be merry. Let's live it up.
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That's freedom. If you want to talk about
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freedom, go interview people who were in maximum security prison
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and ask them what it was like to enjoy that do whatever you want
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mentality. And now how much freedom do you
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have? Elder D Todd Christofferson
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wrote a great article years ago in the Enzyme called Moral
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Agency. And in there he has a really
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profound statement. He says if you want more
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freedom, if you want more agency, if you want more
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liberty, learn as many of God's laws as you can and keep them.
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That's how you get more freedom. Jesus is the ultimate example of
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freedom, of power, of agency, all of these, these things that
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people seek, and yet they seek it in the wrong direction.
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Follow Christ and what you'll do is keep to the best of your
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ability as many of God's laws as you can, which leads to more and
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more freedom. And you're not afraid of the the
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accountability aspects. So here's this grand shift.
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We're no longer going to have a king telling you what to do.
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You're going to tell the government what to do in this
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context, which in the US people get so, so concerned about who's
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in the White House. And if we're not careful, we'll
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be more concerned about who's in the White House than who's in my
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house. And the reality is, brothers and
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sisters, it doesn't matter where you live in the world.
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It doesn't matter what form of government you, you live under.
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As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
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Saints, we're taught to be law abiding, peacekeeping wherever
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possible, citizens who contribute to our societies.
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And it matters far less in in AUS context, it matters far less
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who's in the White House than who's in my house And the
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connections that my house is making to God in this, in this
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context, to say I'm going to see God as my King and I don't have
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to wonder if he's going to win the election this year in my
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house because As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
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Now, that doesn't mean we ignore government and our civic
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responsibilities. If King Mosiah were here, I
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think he would look at us and say get involved, let your voice
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be heard. If you live in a country or in a
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in a society where you have the capacity to vote, vote, be
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involved in peaceful, reasonable, meaningful ways in
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your government. Let's look again at this verse
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that Tyler had read back in verse 38, and as we're reading
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through Mosiah 29 through Almahor, you might look for the
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words equal inequality and iniquity.
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In fact, you can look for those throughout the Book of Mormon.
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Let's read this and I'm going to talk about why these words
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matter. Therefore, they relinquish their
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desires for a king and became exceedingly anxious that every
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man should have an equal chance throughout all the land.
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Now, in other places in this chapters that we're going to be
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done with today, there's a rise of iniquity and there's also an
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inequality that breaks out among the people because the laws are
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not obeyed or because people are trying to change the laws that
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have been revealed by God. And it's interesting, the word
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judges literally means the one who speaks.
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And what are they speaking? They're actually teaching the
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revealed laws. And the voice of the people is
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supposed to choose those who will teach and speak the laws to
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them. So here's where the word these
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two words of inequality and iniquity.
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If you go look at the foundation of these two words, the
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etymology, these two words actually come from the same root
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word. Inequality and iniquity really
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are essentially the same word. And when there's iniquity, it
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creates inequality and inequality creates iniquity.
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And you can see that pattern throughout the Book of Mormon
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and through other scriptures. There's this cycle.
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And what Mosiah was trying to do was say, how do we establish a
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society where there's more equality to minimize iniquity so
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we might live in peace. So again, just watch this
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pattern. How does iniquity Dr. Inequality
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and inequality drives iniquity? We embark on this new form of
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government. We have our first recorded in
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the Book of Mormon, our first recorded election where the
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people get to pick who are who are going to be our our judges.
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And our chief judge ends up being Alma the younger.
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And you would think, OK, now you have Alma, this great prophet.
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Who is sitting on the throne of of judgement, the chief
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judgement seat? I guess it's not a throne that
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would be for the kings. And you would think now
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everything's going to be easier for the Nephites.
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Well, you turn over to Alma chapter one and you say, how did
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things go in his first year on that judgement seat?
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And he's faced with a pretty serious struggle right out of
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the chute because you're introduced to a guy by the name
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of Nihor. I believe that the Book of
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Mormon is a serious lens through which we can see eternal truths,
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past, present and future. I don't believe it's just a book
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about historical people in one day, one time, 2000 years ago.
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But their stories then become this these lenses we put on and
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see all kinds of of prophetic visions of things as they really
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are. That's the definition of truth
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and knowledge of things as they really are, as they were and as
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they are to come. That's that's why I get so, so
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Gideon so excited about the Book of Mormon is because I love
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looking for my story and your story and his story and his
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story too, because what you get here in Alma chapter one, yet
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again, variations on eternal themes and in this case, an
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eternal premortal theme. So what you have is you have
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Nihor and you have Alma set up in this story.
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Nihor becomes a lens through which we can see the devil in a
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in a premortal context, Alma becoming a Christ figure for us
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in in a symbolic sense. So from start to finish,
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everything about this guy seems to be bad, and yet he started
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really good. He started really powerful.
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Now watch what happens as Nihor's story unfolds at what it
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reveals about the devil in the premortal context.
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Look at verse two. So there's a man who was brought
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before Alma in his first year to be judged, a man who was notice
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mark the adjectives here. He was large, noted for his much
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strength. Lucifer up in heaven was not a
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nobody. He was a son of the morning.
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He was powerful. CS Lewis taught the doctrine.
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I love this and I totally agree with him when he said you don't
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make devils out of rats, you make devils out of angels.
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The higher the Angel, the lower the devil when he falls, that's
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Lucifer. An extremely large, mighty, much
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strength until pride set in and this ambition started to take
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over. Look at verse three.
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So he had gone about among the people.
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Can you picture more than Nihor's story?
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Can you picture the devil doing this?
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And he was preaching to them that which he termed to be the
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word of God, bearing down against the Church, declaring
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under the people that every priest and teacher ought to
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become popular, and that they ought not to labor with their
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hands, but that they ought to be supported by the people.
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Are you noticing this? I I shouldn't have to work.
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I should be supported. Give me your work, your labor to
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benefit me. That's King Noah, and that's
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wicked leaders throughout history.
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That's the entirety of the Book of Ether, and that's most of
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Kings and Chronicles. And that's the opposite of King
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Benjamin and Mosiah. Absolutely.
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Now look at this verse four. This will sound very, very
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familiar in a premortal context. And he also testified under the
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people that market all mankind should be saved at the last day,
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and that they need not fear nor tremble, but that they might
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lift up their heads and rejoice for the Lord who created all
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men, and it had also redeemed all men.
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And in the end, all men should have eternal life.
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That's 100%. Wow, that sounds familiar.
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That is exactly Satan's deception.
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Satan's lie up in heaven. When I was younger, I used to
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think, man, what, what went wrong?
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Why did why did we pick the Lord's plan, the Heavenly
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Father's plan when Satan promised he could save
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everybody? It didn't take long for me to to
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grow in my spiritual maturity here, those teenagers and
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realize, oh, wait a minute, Satan really is the father of
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all lies and deception. And that was quite possibly his
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biggest lie of all time was I will save all of them.
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I will lose none of them. The reality being he was
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basically saying to us, I'm smarter than than God, I love
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you more than God, and I'm more powerful than God.
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Follow me, not God. Oh, and by the way, for putting
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me in charge, my only price tag is I get all the glory, I get
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the throne, I get to be the king.
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Are you noticing how that desire that that passion for power and
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the throne and the crown that you see throughout the Bible and
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the Book of Mormon, it wasn't invented here.
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These are just echoes of a pre mortal theme that keep playing
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out in in mortality on on the earth.
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So Satan stepping forward saying I will lose none of them give me
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all the glory and I will save all of you is the biggest lie in
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my opinion of all of eternity. The fact is Satan couldn't save
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you. He could only do what the Getty
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Ant robbers did, which is secretly murder and plunder and
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rob in order for him to get game.
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That's it. That's all that was going on in
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in an eternal context. So now here's the key.
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I don't think that that we were in that audience that day
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looking at that saying that's a valid option.
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I think we were looking saying that's a lie.
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You see, we've, we fought this battle once and we won.
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Everyone who was born on this earth chose to follow God's
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plan. And now the same techniques are
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being used. And it's very, quite frankly,
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it's a very appealing to a certain part of our mortal
27:03
existence. Now to say, huh, I could, I
27:07
could lift up my head and rejoice.
27:09
I, I could eat, drink and be merry.
27:11
I could do whatever I want and I'm still going to be saved.
27:14
Then why in the world would I ever try to limit myself, my
27:20
desires, appetites, and passions based on God's commandments?
27:23
If it doesn't matter if the people who are living it up out
27:26
in the world are going to be saved just like I'm going to be
27:29
saved, then why try? Let me just experience all of
27:33
the pleasures of mortality. That's the message.
27:36
Now here's the grand irony. Nihor never once mentions the
27:41
name of Christ. He doesn't refer to the Messiah,
27:44
he doesn't talk about Jesus. And yet we consistently refer to
27:48
Nihor as one of the three biggest Antichrist in the Book
27:51
of Mormon. Sherem, Nihor, Korahor.
27:55
And yet that middle guy Nihor here, he never mentions Christ.
28:00
Brothers and sisters, you don't have to mention the name to be
28:04
Antichrist. Just because Korahor and Sherem
28:08
mention him, but Nihor doesn't, doesn't mean he's not an
28:11
Antichrist because an Antichrist is anyone who preaches any
28:17
doctrine about regarding your salvation or lack of salvation
28:23
in Corhor's case, without mentioning Christ and the gospel
28:28
of Jesus Christ and the the plan of our Heavenly Father.
28:32
If there's any other path to to salvation other than through
28:37
Christ, then it's an Antichrist doctrine.
28:40
So no, he doesn't mention the name of Christ like Cherum did
28:44
and like Corahor is going to do, but he is one of your biggest
28:47
Antichrist because he's his doctrine.
28:49
If everyone's going to be saved in the end, all mankind should
28:53
have eternal life period, end of story.
28:55
All of a sudden there's no need for a Christ.
28:58
I don't need Jesus if his doctrine is true.
29:01
If, if what Satan taught is true, I don't need Jesus.
29:04
Now here's the here's the comparison.
29:07
In the Premortal Council, the father presents his plan and
29:12
says, whom shall I send? Because in that plan there were
29:16
two problems, death and sin. Agency is going to result in
29:23
poor choices. So we needed somebody to come
29:26
down to help us overcome death and hell, death and sin.
29:31
Whom shall I send who is both willing and able to overcome
29:34
both of those deaths for all of God's children in that moment?
29:39
I don't believe, and by the way, I have no authority for this,
29:43
but I don't believe for a minute that everybody in the vast
29:48
council of heaven started looking around saying that's a
29:51
good question. Who could we put on the ballot?
29:54
Who should he send to overcome those two deaths?
29:56
I don't believe that for a minute.
29:58
I believe with all my heart that when the Father asked, Whom
30:01
shall I send that? Every eye in the audience turned
30:05
simultaneously and looked at one individual and one individual
30:10
alone who was probably standing right next to the Father on the
30:15
right hand to see what his reaction would be to that
30:19
question. And then in that moment I can
30:21
imagine my heart just bursting with love as the Lord Jesus
30:27
Christ, the great Jehovah in the pre mortal Council steps forward
30:31
and says, Father, here am I send me.
30:34
I will be thy Son and the glory be thine forever.
30:38
It was Elder Maxwell who said something like never has one
30:42
individual offered to do so much for so many in so few words as
30:51
here am I send me. And you can imagine that moment
30:55
being shattered when this other voice comes out Here am I send
31:00
me. I will lose none of them, and
31:03
the glory be mine forever. Do you see the contrast?
31:06
Satan offering to be our king, the way the world's kings
31:10
largely have acted, which is I don't want to suffer.
31:15
I don't want any cross, but I want the crown.
31:19
I don't want the thorns, but I want the throne versus Jesus
31:24
saying I will take the burden of all of you, I will stand betwixt
31:31
you injustice. I will suffer intently for you.
31:34
I will serve you, I will minister to you, but I don't
31:37
want the glory. I want the glory to stay with
31:40
the Father. Give God the glory.
31:42
Don't don't give it to me, but I'll do all the suffering.
31:45
Can you see the contrast that we had available to us?
31:48
I can imagine that in that moment we were going around
31:56
preaching, have faith in Christ, trust Jesus.
32:00
He'll do what he said he'll do. And you can picture the devil
32:03
and his servants going around preaching a totally different
32:07
doctrine, a doctrine of just support me, give me your money,
32:13
give me your your glory, and I'll save you.
32:16
It's all good. Look at verse 6.
32:19
Nihor began to be lifted up in the pride of his heart,
32:23
underwear, very costly apparel and even began to establish a
32:26
church after the manner of his preaching.
32:29
Are you seeing the replay? Are you seeing the variation on
32:31
this pre mortal theme? So then he comes across the guy
32:34
by the name of Gideon. Here he is growing in his
32:37
success and then he meets this Gideon, who if you do the math,
32:40
it's been about 54 years ago roughly when Gideon drew his
32:44
sword and said I'm going to kill King Noah and goes and fights
32:47
him and climbs up on the tower and has that whole interchange
32:50
with Noah. That was 54 years ago, so if the
32:53
guy was in his mid 20s then, he's now close to 80 years old.
32:57
He's this venerable old man. Power used to be this big mighty
33:02
man. Now he's older and he withstands
33:06
me whore in this in this war of words, in this debate of
33:11
doctrine. And instead of admitting defeat,
33:14
Nihor gets frustrated, draws his sword and begins to smite Gideon
33:18
in verse nine and ends up killing the guy.
33:20
That is what brings Nihor in front of Alma.
33:24
The chief judge is the murder of Gideon.
33:27
And he's he verse 11. He is pleading for himself with
33:30
much boldness, but Alma judges him according to the law which
33:35
has been given. He's not giving his personal
33:37
opinion. He's saying, look, based on the
33:39
law, here's what happened, and Nihor is condemned to die in
33:43
verse 14. He's taken to the the hill manta
33:47
in verse 15, and there he suffered an ignominious death, a
33:50
shameful death. And you think, OK, good, Nihor's
33:54
gone, we're good. What's the next word?
33:57
Look at the first word of verse 16.
34:00
Nevertheless, in other words, in spite of the fact that Nihor
34:04
died in ignominious death, there's something bad happening
34:08
here. This did not put an end to the
34:10
spreading of priest crafts through the land.
34:12
So the doctrine of Nihor is now going to spread, and it's going
34:17
to create all kinds of problems. Turn the page over to Chapter 2,
34:21
skipping a whole bunch of things here, but going to Chapter 2.
34:24
You're now in the fifth year of Elma's reign when look at this,
34:29
Nihor is gone, but his doctrine isn't.
34:32
But wait a minute, it wasn't really his doctrine, was it?
34:37
It was his doctrine, and he's not gone and his doctrine isn't
34:41
gone. So there's another guy that is
34:45
going to come in and take the place of this devilish figure in
34:50
the Book of Mormon, in contrast to a Christ figure that's the
34:54
same Alma and Amilisi is that guy.
34:58
Look at verse one, halfway down in verse one, there's a man
35:01
being called Amilisi. He being a very cunning man.
35:05
Yeah, a wise man. As to the wisdom of the world
35:08
being after the order of the man that slew Gideon by the sword.
35:12
So now you're seeing a different lens, a different side to the
35:17
story of what the devil did and what the devil's trying to do
35:21
today. He's very wise, very cunning,
35:24
knows a lot in the wisdom of the world.
35:26
Right. Look at verse two.
35:28
He had drawn away much people after him, Even so much that
35:31
they began to be very powerful. They began to endeavour to
35:33
establish amilicide, to be a king over the people.
35:36
Good grief, this just keeps going, doesn't it?
35:39
Just when you finish with one guy, another one's there to take
35:43
his place to say, we're going to keep doing the things that
35:48
Lucifer did up in heaven to try to take away the freedoms and
35:52
the liberties and the the power of individuals and families and
35:56
take it unto ourselves and bring them into bondage and destroy
35:58
the agency of man. That's what all of these are are
36:02
happening. So what do you do?
36:03
If you're Alma, you say, well, we're supposed to govern by the
36:06
voice of the people. So he says there's a big enough
36:08
group who's demanding this, let's let's have a vote.
36:12
Voice of the people, they have a vote.
36:14
Is this sounding familiar? Again, we have a vote.
36:16
And the vote goes in favor of Alma and the chief judge rather
36:21
than this guy who's trying to overthrow the government and set
36:24
himself up as a king. And what do you do if you're
36:28
Emlysite and you lost a vote? You didn't get what you wanted,
36:32
You're not voted in as the king. What do you do if you're
36:35
following this guy and you lost the vote?
36:38
Well, I'll tell you what you do. You start a war and that's
36:41
exactly what happens here. So he arms his people and then
36:46
the Nephites prepare for war as well in verse 12.
36:50
And so we have this huge civil war that's going to lead to the
36:53
death on the next page of of nearly 20,000 Nephites. 20,000
36:59
people are going to die because one man wanted all the power for
37:03
himself as what it really boils down to.
37:05
And he's promised power to people who will support him, of
37:08
course, because that's how it always works.
37:11
But it's it's really because of one guy.
37:13
Now you get verse 16, Alma being the chief judge and the governor
37:19
of the people of Nephi. Therefore he went up with his
37:21
people. Yeah.
37:21
With his captains and chief captains.
37:24
Yeah. At the head of his army against
37:26
the Amlocytes to battle. So I can picture this, this
37:31
imagery of you and me fighting with Christ in this, in this
37:36
very real struggle up in heaven that now you're seeing play out
37:41
on the earth, this battle between good and evil, between
37:44
freedom and captivity, between liberty and bondage.
37:48
And Alma prays for help and he actually is able to defeat the,
37:56
the Amylocytes. The problem is we not only have
38:00
this civil war, but a numerous Lamanite army comes in to the
38:05
land of Zarahemla. And the Amylocites join with
38:08
them. Makes you think that they've
38:10
been in communication in league with these Lamanites to say,
38:15
hey, we're, we're doing this, come and help us.
38:17
And we'll take over the, the ruling of the Nephites from the
38:21
the judges. And so we have all of these
38:24
struggles and all of these issues to tackle.
38:28
And it's coming at these poor people who are trying to be
38:31
good. It's coming at them all at once.
38:33
If you turn to chapter 3, this is where Mormon, the chief of
38:38
Bridger, he, he shifts into editing mode or redaction mode
38:42
where he's trying to help us make sense of everything that's
38:45
gone on. And there's a lot of stuff in
38:47
here that the world in the 21st century tries to, to superimpose
38:53
our perspectives back in time on Mormon and on these people at
38:57
living at the time of Nihor and Alma.
38:59
And that's, that's a difficult thing to do.
39:02
And so there are a lot of questions here.
39:03
And we're not going to get into all of those.
39:05
But I, I want to point out verse 19, Mormon's commentary
39:10
regarding the Amylocytes who were Nephites that wanted to now
39:14
identify as Lamanites. They wanted to shift their
39:17
loyalties, so to speak. Look at verse 19.
39:20
Now I would that you should see that they brought upon
39:23
themselves the curse, and Even so does every man that is cursed
39:27
bring upon himself his own condemnation.
39:31
Brothers and sisters, once again, it matters far less who
39:37
who your government leaders are then then you may be suppose
39:44
what matters most is how you approach your relationship with
39:48
God. We can try to blame our problems
39:51
on other people, but but eventually there comes a time
39:54
when we have to say, I'm going to take whatever freedoms I have
39:58
in my country or in my civilization, my society, and
40:02
I'm going to be the very best citizen I possibly can under my
40:07
form of government, looking to God as my ultimate king.
40:12
I'm going to be accountable for the agency and the liberties and
40:15
the freedoms which I do have, whatever level they are.
40:18
That's what I'm going to be true to, I'm going to be loyal to,
40:22
and Mormon is really doing a great job of pointing that out.
40:25
And then my favorite verse in chapter 3 is actually verse 27.
40:30
For every man receiveth wages of him whom he listeth to obey, and
40:36
this according to the words of the Spirit of Prophecy.
40:39
Therefore let it be according to the truth, we're going to
40:43
receive wages of whomever we list to obey.
40:47
It's as if it's as if 2 masters are giving you a blank check and
40:56
you get wages from whomever you serve.
41:00
Wherever you work, they're going to pay you.
41:03
Both of these individuals want to pay you their wages.
41:07
Both of them have given you a blank check.
41:09
You get to decide who signs your check and the check is written
41:14
out. All that I have is being offered
41:18
to you. On the one side.
41:20
You get all of the glorious, eternal, endless, mind blowing.
41:28
We can't even I hath not seen here, hath not heard it, neither
41:31
hath it entered into the heart of men.
41:33
What glorious things He has in store to share with us as joined
41:37
heirs with Christ, if we sign up to serve Him and obey Him, and
41:42
He's willing to give you everything He has.
41:45
What does He have? Weeping, wailing, gnashing
41:49
darkness. No hope, nothing good.
41:54
Bondage, captivity, no real freedom, no agency.
41:58
That's what he wants to give you.
42:00
That's what he has. And he's willing to share it all
42:02
with you. And so as we've, as we've been
42:06
covering these stories, I hope you haven't gotten the
42:09
impression that, wow, we're focusing an awful lot on the
42:11
devil. The reason is, is because the
42:13
Book of Mormon reveals this sharp contrast to hopefully
42:18
inspire you and me today to say, wait a minute.
42:22
I need to pay closer attention to the the impressions and
42:26
promptings that come from above and the temptations and the
42:29
enticements that come from beneath.
42:31
Knowing their source and knowing what their end game is, it will
42:35
probably make it a little easier for each of us to overcome our
42:39
our struggles with with sin and temptation.
42:42
With that perspective in mind now we shift over to chapter 4,
42:46
our last chapter for today, and something fascinating occurs
42:52
here. Elma, he holds two really,
42:56
really important positions or offices.
43:00
He's the prophet of the people. He's the head of the church and
43:05
he's also the head of the government.
43:07
There is no separation of church and state in this in this
43:10
situation. He's he is the top man in both
43:12
areas. Now here's Alma looking at his
43:15
society. We've come through the Nihor.
43:18
We've come through the Amlasite and the Amlasites situation in
43:21
the war with the Lamanites thrown in the mix there.
43:24
We've gotten through that and he's noticing that the the sin
43:28
and pride and iniquity of the the Nephites is just getting
43:31
deeper and deeper and deeper. The human natural response might
43:37
be to say I'm going to ramp up the government pressure on being
43:42
good. But I think Elmer recognizes
43:45
that would probably be the way the means the devil would have
43:48
used to get to that end, which is forcing, trying to constrain.
43:54
And So what does he do? He does the opposite of what a
43:56
natural man response might be, which is to say the people are
44:01
struggling. So I'm going to give up the
44:03
worldly power and I'm going to focus 100% of my time on
44:09
teaching them the gospel of Jesus Christ and trying to
44:12
reclaim them by increasing their faith in Christ and getting them
44:16
to repent and keep the law of Moses still because we're still
44:19
in that time frame. But these Nephites have the
44:22
Gospel and I'm going to go and not judge them anymore.
44:27
I'm going to minister to them. I'm going to teach them.
44:30
This is the hard Rd. This is the more difficult Rd.
44:34
This is easier. I mean, you, you can force it,
44:37
right? But you can't force people to
44:40
come under Christ. You could force conformance to
44:43
laws, but you won't force them to be better people.
44:46
This brings up an interesting question.
44:47
And this is a fascinating thing for parents, for bishops and,
44:52
and, and church leaders to consider is how big does the
44:58
book of rules have to be if you're going to try to enforce
45:04
or, or force conformance to certain behaviors?
45:08
If your society is struggling, how many laws do you have to
45:11
have in order to keep that society as peaceful as possible?
45:15
If this is a, a measuring rod of, of goodness.
45:21
So let's say that a society is right here on the level of
45:27
goodness. How many laws do those people
45:30
need in order to to be good? The reality is, is they're
45:34
holding themselves accountable to God.
45:38
So they don't need a lot of laws for men to tell them what to do
45:41
and what not to do because they're they're being held
45:44
accountable to a higher order, to God himself.
45:49
So they're governing their own behavior.
45:53
A society down here doesn't care what God thinks.
45:58
So you as a government leader or as a government body are going
46:02
to have to to mandate what they can and can't do because they're
46:06
not holding themselves accountable to this higher
46:08
power. If you look at your family and
46:10
you notice that things are struggling and you're going to
46:13
get inspiration for your own family.
46:15
So this isn't a blanket statement for everybody, but
46:17
it's a principle to at least consider in the process.
46:21
What difference would it make if you went to God as a parent or
46:25
as a sibling or as a as a trusted adult in somebody else's
46:29
life and said, how could I love this person and minister to this
46:34
person's needs more fully in a way that would help them feel of
46:39
God's love and encourage and invite on based on correct
46:44
principles to live their life in such a way that they start
46:49
turning more to God and move on up the scale.
46:56
In General Conference, it was quoted the concept from
46:59
President Benson. The world changes people from
47:03
the outside, changes their environment.
47:05
God changes people from the inside and then they change
47:10
their environment. That's exactly what's happening
47:12
here with Alma. And by the way, it's going to be
47:15
really successful in places like Gideon and Milek.
47:19
It's going to be somewhat successful in Zarahemla, his
47:21
missionary efforts, and it's going to really struggle in
47:24
places like Ammaniah, which we're going to be covering in in
47:28
a couple of weeks. These next few weeks are going
47:31
to be what happens when Alma goes around and starts teaching
47:35
the people. So in conclusion, God is the
47:41
king. Jesus has offered us everything.
47:45
He sacrificed everything. He consecrated his whole life,
47:49
his whole being, to, to God and to us, and he's offering to give
47:56
us everything that he has if we'll just keep striving to turn
48:00
to him. And the forces of the the
48:05
adversary forces of darkness are real.
48:08
Nihor's doctrines aren't Nihor's.
48:11
They were the devils, and they're still alive and well
48:14
today. Amilisi's ambitions didn't die
48:18
with Amilisi because they weren't really analyzize in
48:22
isolation. They were the devils, and
48:24
they're alive today. Just know that God is in his
48:27
heavens. Jesus is the Christ.
48:30
We have more hope now than we've ever had before that we can
48:35
carry off this Kingdom with his help triumphantly.
48:39
We can gather the elect out of the four corners of the world
48:43
and bring them into the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the
48:46
only place where they will find not only peace, but where they
48:49
will find freedom, liberty and increased agency and be able to
48:54
spread that to to our families and to those that you have
48:58
influence with is our greatest desire and our hope, and we
49:02
leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.