Monday, February 22, 2016

Alma 44:1 - 44:5

Alma 44: 1 And it came to pass that they did stop and withdrew a pace from them. And Moroni said unto Zerahemnah: Behold, Zerahemnah, that we do not desire to be men of blood. Ye know that ye are in our hands, yet we do not desire to slay you.

With the army of the Lamanites in the Nephites mercy, Moroni withdrew his forces a few paces away. Moroni then tells Zerahemnah that the Nephites are not a blood thirsty or looking for revenge.

Alma 44: 2 Behold, we have not come out to battle against you that we might shed your blood for power; neither do we desire to bring any one to the yoke of bondage. But this is the very cause for which ye have come against us; yea, and ye are angry with us because of our religion.

Moroni tells Zerahemnah that the Nephites are not in this fight to conquer the Lamanites or to bring the Lamanites into bondage or slavery to the Nephites. However, this is the motivation of the Lamanites towards the Nephites. They not only want to make slaves of the Nephites but destroy their religion as well.

Alma 44: 3 But now, ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands. And now I would that ye should understand that this is done unto us because of our religion and our faith in Christ. And now ye see that ye cannot destroy this our faith.

Moroni then tells Zerahemnah that is by the power of the Lord that the Nephites now have the Lamanites at their mercy. It is because of the faith and loyalty of the Nephites to God that they are now in control of the situation and that their faith cannot be destroyed.

Alma 44: 4 Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.

The Lamanites now know that it is because their faith and religion is the only true faith that they are now in control. And the Nephites will ever be in control as long as they live up to the religion they espouse and not become sinners and turn their backs on their religion.

Alma 44: 5 And now, Zerahemnah, I command you, in the name of that all-powerful God, who has strengthened our arms that we have gained power over you, by our faith, by our religion, and by our rites of worship, and by our church, and by the sacred support which we owe to our wives and our children, by that liberty which binds us to our lands and our country; yea, and also by the maintenance of the sacred word of God, to which we owe all our happiness; and by all that is most dear unto us—

Moroni now makes the follow demand of Zerahemnah. And Moroni can make this demand on account of their faithfulness to their God who gave the Nephite army the strength to bring the Lamanite army into their control, their religion, to their liberties and their families. This will always be the case as long as the Nephites maintain their loyalty to the gospel.

This is a great message to us Americans. If we will have loyalty towards the gospel, we will be able to maintain our liberties and religious freedoms. But if we don't, we risk losing our freedoms. The gospel is the only thing keeping us free, not our armed forces. If we turn our backs on the Lord, he will withdraw His power from us and we will become weak like the rest of the world. We must as a nation realize this or we will not last as a country.

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