Did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi? And was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God, and my father Alma believe them? And according to his faith there was a mighty change wrought in his heart. Behold I say unto you that this is all true. And behold, he preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end; therefore they were saved. (Alma 5:11-13)
The story of Alma is a profound example of the power we have to change, to come unto Christ, and to be a force for good. Alma had been ordained as a priest to the wicked Kind Noah, and was surrounded and immersed in the wicked culture of Noah’s court. So then, what was it that Alma did to turn his entire life around? How did he pull himself out? He believed the words of a prophet.
Did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi?
Can you imagine the humility that would have required? He had been taught that he and the other priests were the religious authority. What humility would it have taken to accept that some nobody prisoner had come with a genuine message from God? Yet, somehow he did. He recognized Abinadi as a prophet. But how?
Was he not a holy prophet? Did he not speak the words of God?
Prophets speak the words of God. Prophets come with a message. The prophets in Jerusalem during Lehi’s life came with the message from the Lord about the fall of Jerusalem. Lehi believed them, and because he believed them—and acted on that knowledge, and sought the Lord—he himself became a prophet. It took time. It took effort. It took a pillar of fire and a vision where he wasn’t sure if he was in his body or out. But he received a commission to become the Lord’s servant.
The same thing happened with Alma. He listened, he believed, he had a mighty change of heart. Then, because of that mighty change of heart, he was able to commune with the Lord and receive a commission to go out and preach.
He preached the word unto your fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts.
Just as Lehi heard the message, received it, communed with the Lord, and became a prophet himself, so did Alma hear the message, receive it, commune with the Lord, and become a prophet himself. He converted and baptized many. That’s the power of a mighty change of heart. A soft heart can receive truth, and God can and will utilize a soft heart. To hear and speak the words that the Lord has given you to preach is to be a prophet.
I love the story in Numbers about the two men who prophesied in the camp. Some were offended by it, thinking that only Moses should be able to prophesy. When they ran, concerned, to tell Moses and insist that he forbid those men to prophesy, Moses’ reaction is beautiful.
Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them! (Numbers 11:29)
Moses knew that he didn’t have a monopoly on God’s word. He rejoiced when others were able to hear the Lord’s voice and prophesy themselves. He wished for it to happen more often!
This is so important to remember, because when we read about these prophets—and the people that they brought to Christ, and the visions they saw—it’s easy to think of them as inherently better than us, or on a higher level that we can’t reach. This is unfortunate, because not only do we turn them into idols (which is a no-no), but we also imagine that it’s not our place to become like them. And when we do that, we handicap ourselves. If we think that we are by default unable to ever purify ourselves enough to receive the words of the Lord, then what chance do we have of doing it? We cripple our faith when we put limits on what we believe we can become—when we decide that the prophets we read about became prophets only because they were extra special. That utterly contradicts the principles of agency, and the fact that God is no respecter of persons. We are all commanded to become perfect, and if perfection is attainable, then there is no communion with God that we cannot have.
We are extraordinarily good at limiting ourselves because of our own imagined, impenetrable barriers. The Lord is not the one to set up those barriers. With God all things are possible. By ourselves, perfection is impossible. But with Christ…
Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness… that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God. (Moroni 10:32)
I have always viewed the Book of Mormon as a historical record. It was only recently that I heard someone talking about how it might just all be one big metaphor. It’s not a historical account so much as a collection of stories meant to teach lessons about God.