Alma 55
Moroni will not exchange prisoners and devises a plan to have one of his men (a defected Lamanite) go with several others with wine over to the Lamanite guards who are guarding their people. They claim they have defected from the Nephites and share their wine. The guards become drunk and fall asleep. At this point, Moroni throws weapons of war into their people and they walk out without a hitch. Then the Nephites take the city of Gid and the Lamanites there become their prisoners. Moroni puts them to work fortifying the cities they have taken.
Again, I really like how several places in the Book of Mormon we are taught that work is how to keep people from causing trouble. But that won’t be my focus this morning.
What was the tool Moroni used to defeat the Lamanites? Wine! In our day, the Lord has blessed us with the Word of Wisdom (Section 89 of the Doctrine and Covenants) for a wise purpose. Warning us against the dangers of strong drinks is one of them. Strong drinks or drugs remove all sense of defense from those who partake of it. They lose control of the words they say and their actions.
I guess today’s efforts just reaffirm my commitment to avoid those things that weaken the body and the mind.
This chapter causes me to see the cities as much smaller than something we call a city today. I can’t say seeing the ruins in Mexico a few years back changed that opinion much. Oh how I would love to have a peek into the real deal – to really see how big everything is. Sometimes it sounds huge. Today’s reading made it look rather small. This is just my random and rather meaningless thought.
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