Book of Mormon Commentary CofC - Odessa, Missouri Community ...

Book of Mormon Commentary
Alma Chapter 3
Thus Alma preached to the people to stir them to repentance and to invite them to accept "the arms
of mercy ...extended towards them" (57).
Alma 3:62 Behold, I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call you; yea, and in his own name he
doth call you, which is the name of Christ;
Alma did not spare their feelings. Only the truth could set them free. "The devil is your shepherd,
and ye are of his fold; and now who can deny this?" (65) .He laid down a principle: "Whatsoever
is good, cometh of God, and whatsoever is evil, cometh from the devil" (67).
ALMA GIVES HIS TESTIMONY, VER. 71-!08
Alma 3:74 Yea, I am commanded to stand and testify unto this people the things which have been
spoken by our fathers, concerning the things which are to come.
This command was "according to the holy order of God, which is in Christ Jesus" (73). He did not
know of the things "whereof I have spoken" of himself, but they were made known of a "surety"
by the "Holy Spirit of God" (75-82). "I have fasted and prayed many days, that I might know these
things of myself' (79).
Alma then told the people that by this same Spirit he knew that what he should say of the future
was true. Then he testified that "Jesus Christ shall come" (83). "It is he that cometh to take away
the sins of the world" (84). "Behold, the glory of the King of all the earth, and also the King of
heaven shall very soon shine forth among. all the children of men" (88).
Alma 3:94 Yea, will ye persist in supposing that ye are better one than another;
A basic principle of the gospel is stewardship, with the steward consecrating all to God and giving
his surplus for the poor and needy. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor
in spirit, who come unto me; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:5). "In your
temporal things you shall be equal, and this not grudgingly, otherwise the abundance of the
manifestations of the Spirit shall be withheld" (D. and C. 70:3d). The sins of pride and envy lead
to inequality, with some supposing themselves to be better than their brothers.
Alma 3:105 And now I say unto you, that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken
unto his voice, he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep;
Alma closed his discourse by an appeal to those of the church to yield their lives to the will of
Christ. And to "those who do not belong to the church, I speak by way of invitation, saying, Come,
and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life" (108).