Alma 32

Preaching to the Poor

They went out and began preaching God’s message to the people—in their synagogues, in their homes, even in the streets.

After much effort, they began to see results among the poor. These were people who had been kicked out of the synagogues because their clothes were too shabby. They weren’t allowed to enter and worship God. They were treated like dirt. Their own people looked down on them as worthless. They were poor in material things, and they were also poor in spirit.

As Alma was teaching on the hill Onidah, a large crowd came to him—these same people I’ve been describing, poor in spirit because of their poverty.

One man stepped forward and spoke for the group: 'What should my brothers do? Everyone despises them because they’re poor—especially the priests. They’ve kicked us out of the synagogues we worked so hard to build with our own hands. They threw us out because we’re too poor, and now we have nowhere to worship God. What are we supposed to do?'

When Alma heard this, he turned to face them immediately. His face lit up with joy, because he could see that their hard times had truly humbled them and made them ready to hear the truth. He stopped speaking to the other crowd, reached out his hand toward these truly repentant people, and called out to them:

Alma’s Teaching on Humility

'I can see you’re humble in heart. If that’s true, you’re blessed.' 'Your spokesman asked, 'What should we do? We’ve been thrown out of the synagogues, so we can’t worship God.''

'Let me ask you something: Do you really think you can only worship God inside a synagogue?' 'And another question: Do you think you only need to worship God once a week?'

'I’m telling you—it’s actually good that you were thrown out of the synagogues. It made you humble. It forced you to learn wisdom. And you needed to learn wisdom. Being cast out and despised by your own people because of your poverty—that brought you to a place of humility. Your circumstances forced you to be humble.' 'Now, because you were forced to be humble, you’re blessed. Sometimes when someone is forced to be humble, they start searching for repentance. And whoever truly repents will find mercy. And whoever finds mercy and stays faithful to the end will be saved.'

'I just said that being forced to be humble is a blessing. But don’t you think people are even more blessed when they choose to humble themselves because of God’s word?' 'The person who truly humbles themselves, repents of their sins, and stays faithful to the end—that person is blessed. Far more blessed than those who are only humble because poverty forced them to be.' 'So blessed are those who humble themselves without being forced to. Or to put it another way: blessed is the person who believes God’s word and is baptized without a stubborn heart—without needing to be dragged to the truth or forced to know before they’ll believe.'

'Many people say, 'Show us a sign from heaven, then we’ll know for sure. Then we’ll believe.'' 'Is that faith? No. If you already know something, you don’t need to believe it—you know it.' 'Here’s a harder question: Who’s in worse shape—someone who knows God’s will and doesn’t follow it, or someone who only believes and falls into sin?' 'You’ll have to judge that for yourselves. But I’ll tell you this: it works out the same either way. Everyone will be judged according to their actions.'

The Nature of Faith

'Now, back to faith. Faith is not having perfect knowledge. So if you have faith, you’re hoping for things you can’t see yet—things that are true.' 'Remember this: God is merciful to everyone who believes in his name. So first, he wants you to believe—to believe his word.' 'He shares his word through angels—not just with men, but with women too. And it’s not just adults. Little children often receive messages that confound the wise and educated.'

'You came to me because you’re suffering and cast out, wanting to know what to do. I don’t want you to think I’m judging you only by appearances.' 'Not all of you were forced to be humble. I truly believe some of you would humble yourselves no matter what your circumstances.'

'I said that faith is not perfect knowledge. Well, the same is true of my words. You can’t know for certain right away that they’re true—just like faith isn’t perfect knowledge.'

The Seed Experiment

'But if you’ll wake up and use your mind—if you’ll experiment with my words and exercise even a tiny bit of faith—even if all you have is a desire to believe, let that desire grow in you until you can make room for some of what I’m saying.'

'Think of the word as a seed. If you make room for a seed to be planted in your heart—if it’s a true seed, a good seed—and you don’t throw it out through unbelief or resist the Spirit, it will begin to swell inside you. When you feel it growing, you’ll start to think, 'This must be a good seed. This word must be good, because it’s expanding my soul. It’s enlightening my understanding. It’s starting to taste sweet to me.'' 'Wouldn’t that increase your faith? Of course it would. But even then, you don’t have perfect knowledge yet.'

'As the seed swells and sprouts and begins to grow, you’ll have to admit the seed is good. It’s swelling, sprouting, growing. Now, are you sure this is a good seed? Yes—because every seed produces its own kind.' 'Are you sure this is a good seed? Yes, because every seed produces its own kind.' 'So if a seed grows, it’s good. If it doesn’t grow, it’s not good, and you throw it away.'

'Now, because you’ve tried the experiment, planted the seed, and it’s swelling and sprouting and beginning to grow—you know the seed is good.'

'Is your knowledge perfect now? Yes, your knowledge is perfect about that one thing, and your faith can rest for a moment. Because now you know. You know the word has expanded your soul. You know it’s sprouted up, that your understanding is being enlightened and your mind is expanding.' 'Isn’t this real? Yes, it is—because it’s light. And whatever is light is good, because you can see it clearly. So you know it’s good. Now, after you’ve tasted this light, is your knowledge perfect?'

'No. And you can’t set aside your faith yet either. You’ve only used your faith to plant the seed—to try the experiment and see if the seed was good.'

Nourishing the Tree

'As the tree begins to grow, you’ll say, 'Let’s take great care of it so it can develop roots, grow tall, and give us fruit.' And if you do nourish it carefully, it will root, grow, and produce fruit.'

'But if you neglect the tree and don’t think about feeding it, it won’t develop roots. When the heat of the sun beats down and scorches it, it will wither away because it has no roots. Then you’ll just pull it up and throw it out.' 'That’s not because the seed was bad, and it’s not because the fruit wouldn’t have been wonderful. It’s because your ground is barren and you wouldn’t nourish the tree. That’s why you can’t have the fruit.'

'If you won’t nourish the word—if you won’t look forward with faith to its fruit—you’ll never taste the fruit of the tree of life.' 'But if you will nourish the word—if you’ll nourish the tree as it grows through your faith, with great effort and patience, looking forward to the fruit—it will take root. And it will become a tree that grows into eternal life.'

'Because of your hard work, your faith, and your patience in nourishing the word so it can take root in you—eventually you’ll pick its fruit. That fruit is precious beyond measure. It’s sweeter than anything sweet, whiter than anything white, purer than anything pure. You’ll feast on it until you’re completely satisfied, never hungry or thirsty again.' 'Then you’ll reap the rewards of your faith, your hard work, your patience, and your endurance—waiting for the tree to bring forth its fruit.'