Alma 32

Teaching the Poor People

They went out and began to teach God’s word to the people. They went into their churches and their houses. They even taught in their streets. After a lot of hard work, they started having success with the poor people. These poor people had been kicked out of the churches because their clothes were too rough. They were not allowed to go into the churches to worship God. Other people thought they were dirty. They were poor. Their own brothers thought they were worthless. They were poor in the things of the world. They were also poor in heart.

Alma was teaching the people on the hill Onidah. A big crowd came to him. These were the people who were poor in heart because they were poor in the things of the world.

The Poor Ask for Help

They came to Alma. The one in front said to him: What should my brothers do? Everyone hates them because they are poor. The priests hate them most of all. They have kicked us out of our churches. We worked so hard to build those churches with our own hands. They kicked us out because we are so poor. We have no place to worship our God. What should we do?

When Alma heard this, he turned around to face him. He looked with great joy. He saw that their hard times had made them humble. They were ready to hear the word. So he said no more to the other crowd. He reached out his hand. He called to the people who were sorry for their sins. He said to them:

Alma Teaches About Being Humble

I see that you are humble in heart. If this is true, God blesses you. Your brother said: What should we do? We have been kicked out of our churches. We cannot worship our God. Do you think you can only worship God in your churches? Also, do you think you should only worship God once a week?

It is good that you were kicked out of your churches. This can help you be humble. This can help you learn wisdom. You need to learn wisdom. You were kicked out. Your brothers hate you because you are so poor. This has brought you to be humble in heart. You were forced to be humble. You were forced to be humble. God blesses you. Sometimes when a man is forced to be humble, he turns away from his sins. Anyone who turns away from sins will find mercy. Anyone who finds mercy and keeps going to the end will be saved.

I said that because you were forced to be humble, you were blessed. But don’t you think people are more blessed when they choose to be humble because of the word? The person who chooses to be humble and turns away from sins and keeps going to the end will be blessed. That person is much more blessed than people who are forced to be humble because they are so poor. God blesses people who choose to be humble without being forced. Or you can say it this way: God blesses the person who believes in God’s word and is baptized without a stubborn heart. This is better than being forced to know the word or being forced to know before you will believe.

What Faith Really Means

There are many people who say: If you show us a sign from heaven, then we will know for sure. Then we will believe. Is this faith? I say to you, no. If a man knows something, he does not need to believe it. He already knows it. How much worse is it for someone who knows God’s will and does not do it? That is worse than someone who only believes or only has a reason to believe and then does wrong. You must decide about this. It is the same on one side as it is on the other. Each man will get what his work earns.

About faith: Faith is not having perfect knowledge of things. If you have faith, you hope for things you cannot see that are true. I want you to remember that God is kind to all who believe in his name. First, he wants you to believe. He wants you to believe in his word. He gives his word through angels to men. Not only to men, but to women also. This is not all. Little children have words given to them many times. These words confuse the wise and the learned.

My dear brothers, you wanted to know what you should do because you are hurting and kicked out. I do not want you to think I am judging you only by what is true. I do not think all of you have been forced to be humble. I believe there are some among you who would choose to be humble no matter what happens to them.

The Word Is Like a Seed

I said that faith is not perfect knowledge. It is the same with my words. You cannot know they are true right away. You cannot have perfect knowledge at first. It is like faith is not perfect knowledge.

If you will wake up and use your mind to try my words, and use even a little bit of faith, even if you can only want to believe, let that want work in you until you believe enough to make room for some of my words. We will compare the word to a seed. If you make room for a seed to be planted in your heart, if it is a true seed or a good seed, if you do not throw it out with your lack of belief or fight against the Spirit of the Lord, it will begin to grow inside you. When you feel it growing, you will begin to say to yourself: This must be a good seed. The word must be good. It is making my soul bigger. It is making my mind understand more. It is starting to taste good to me. Wouldn’t this make your faith stronger? I say to you, yes. But it has not yet grown to perfect knowledge.

As the seed grows bigger and starts to grow, then you must say that the seed is good. Look, it is growing bigger and starting to grow. Are you sure this is a good seed? I say to you, yes. Every seed makes more of its own kind. Are you sure this is a good seed? I say to you, yes. Every seed makes more of its own kind. So if a seed grows, it is good. But if it does not grow, it is not good. So it is thrown away. Because you have tried it out and planted the seed, and it grows bigger and starts to grow, you must know that the seed is good.

Is your knowledge perfect? Yes, your knowledge is perfect about that thing. Your faith is sleeping now. This is because you know. You know that the word has made your soul bigger. You also know that it has grown. Your mind has started to understand more. Your mind has started to grow. Is this real? I say to you, yes. It is light. Whatever is light is good because you can see it. So you must know that it is good. After you have tasted this light, is your knowledge perfect? I say to you, no. You must not put away your faith. You have only used your faith to plant the seed. You wanted to try it out to know if the seed was good.

Taking Care of the Tree

As the tree begins to grow, you will say: Let us take care of it so it can grow roots. Then it can grow up and give us fruit. If you take good care of it, it will grow roots and grow up and give fruit. But if you forget about the tree and do not feed it, it will not get any roots. When the hot sun comes and burns it, it will die because it has no roots. Then you will pull it up and throw it out. This is not because the seed was bad. It is not because the fruit would not be good. It is because your ground is empty. You will not feed the tree. So you cannot have the fruit from it.

If you will not feed the word and look forward with faith to the fruit, you can never eat the fruit of the tree of life. But if you will feed the word, feed the tree as it begins to grow with your faith, with hard work, and with patience, looking forward to the fruit, it will grow roots. It will be a tree that gives everlasting life. Because you work hard and have faith and are patient with the word and feed it so it can grow roots in you, after a while you will eat the fruit. The fruit is very special. It is sweeter than anything sweet. It is whiter than anything white. It is purer than anything pure. You will eat this fruit until you are full. You will not be hungry. You will not be thirsty.

Then my brothers, you will get the rewards for your faith and your hard work and your patience and your long waiting for the tree to give you fruit.