Alma 47-48

Reading Assignment: Alma 47-48

Learning Activities:

1) What lessons can we learn from Amalakiah and Lehonti about resisting Satan and his temptations?
2) Who is the most inspirational person in these chapters to you?  Why?

Alma 48:19 “No less serviceable”

President Howard W. Hunter (1907–1995) explained what Mormon meant when he wrote that Helaman was “no less serviceable unto the people than was Moroni”:

“Even though Helaman was not as noticeable or conspicuous as Moroni, he was as serviceable; that is, he was as helpful or useful as Moroni. …

“Not all of us are going to be like Moroni, catching the acclaim of our colleagues all day every day. Most of us will be quiet, relatively unknown folks who come and go and do our work without fanfare. To those of you who may find that lonely or frightening or just unspectacular, I say, you are ‘no less serviceable’ [Alma 48:19] than the most spectacular of your associates. You, too, are part of God’s army.

“Consider, for example, the profound service a mother or father gives in the quiet anonymity of a worthy Latter-day Saint home. Think of the Gospel Doctrine teachers and Primary choristers and Scoutmasters and Relief Society visiting teachers who serve and bless millions but whose names will never be publicly applauded or featured in the nation’s media.

“Tens of thousands of unseen people make possible our opportunities and happiness every day. As the scriptures state, they are ‘no less serviceable’ than those whose lives are on the front pages of newspapers.

“The limelight of history and contemporary attention so often focuses on the one rather than on the many” (Howard W. Hunter, “No Less Serviceable,” Ensign, Apr. 1992, 64).

Alma 47:1–19 Don’t leave higher ground

One way Satan may try to entice us to lower our standards is in the way we discuss the gospel with friends and acquaintances. More and more is being written positively and negatively about the Church, online and in print. People who are honestly seeking the truth will naturally ask questions or even initiate discussions about the gospel. However, others intend only to argue for the sake of argument or to undermine faith.

• Have you ever had an experience in which someone in person or online found out you were a member of the Church and then tried to entice you into an argument?

Read the following statement by Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:

“Some may try to provoke us and engage us in argument. In the Book of Mormon, we read about Lehonti and his men camped upon a mount. The traitorous Amalickiah urged Lehonti to ‘come down’ and meet him in the valley. But when Lehonti left the high ground, he was poisoned ‘by degrees’ until he died, and his army fell into Amalickiah’s hands (see Alma 47). By arguments and accusations, some people bait us to leave the high ground. The high ground is where the light is. It’s where we see the first light of morning and the last light in the evening. It is the safe ground. It is true and where knowledge is. Sometimes others want us to come down off the high ground and join them in a theological scrum in the mud. These few contentious individuals are set on picking religious fights, online or in person. We are always better staying on the higher ground of mutual respect and love” (Robert D. Hales, “Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2008, 74).