Alma 54-55 – It’s hard to just read one chapter because sometimes you really want to know what happened next. Such was the case this morning. What does Moroni do with Ammaron’s proposal to exchange prisoners?
At first Moroni was impressed to exchange a prisoner for a family. I thought that was a great idea. He rethought this however, and decided it not wise to strengthen the enemy’s army in such a way. His solution has always intrigued me and is a reminder to us that liquor weakens – individuals as well as communities. They got the enemy’s guards drunk! At that point, there was no protection and Moroni was free to pass weapons to his people to free them.
Relate this on a personal level. We set our standards high – i.e. righteous families, temple marriage, kingdom-building, covenant people. How many of our finest people have been weakened and made to forget the covenants they have made by such a simple thing as a drink of wine (aka liquor)? The road to captivity is short after this one infraction. No wonder the Lord includes abstinence from strong drink part of the Word of Wisdom (D&C 89). I’ve seen good people do things with liquor in their bodies that they would never have considered if sober. It destroys lives, families and joy!
Oh, the result? Moroni frees his people and takes an entire city. How? Giving free liquor to the Lamanite guards.
The Lamanites tried this same trick on the Nephites to try and weaken them. Did it work? No! Why? They remembered.
I also read Elder Samuelson’s conference talk about testimonies this morning. A sure testimony is available to all of us. We just have to want it bad enough to nourish it. He called it the simple things: daily sincere prayer, scripture study, attend all church meetings, temple worship and faithful home and visiting teaching. The list is short; the rewards are eternal.
No comments:
Post a Comment