Alma Preaches in City of Gideon

Event 75

Reference: Alma 6:7-8; 7:1-27

And now it came to pass that when Alma had made theseregulations he departed from them, yea, from the churchwhich was in the city of Zarahemla, and went over upon theeast of the river Sidon, into the valley of Gideon, therehaving been a city built, which was called the city ofGideon, which was in the valley that was called Gideon,being called after the man who was slain by the hand ofNehor with the sword. 8 And Alma went and began todeclare the word of God unto the church which wasestablished in the valley of Gideon, according to therevelation of the truth of the word which had been spokenby his fathers, and according to the spirit of prophecy whichwas in him, according to the testimony of Jesus Christ, theSon of God, who should come to redeem his people fromtheir sins, and the holy order by which he was called. Andthus it is written. Amen.MormonValley of Gideon83 B.C.The words of Alma which he delivered to the people inGideon, according to his own record.1 BEHOLD my beloved brethren, seeing that I have been permittedto come unto you, therefore I attempt to address you in mylanguage; yea, by my own mouth, seeing that it is the first timethat I have spoken unto you by the words of my mouth, I havingbeen wholly confined to the judgment-seat, having had muchbusiness that I could not come unto you. 2 And even I could nothave come now at this time were it not that the judgment-seat hathbeen given to another, to reign in my stead; and the Lord in muchmercy hath granted that I should come unto you. 3 And behold, Ihave come having great hopes and much desire that I should findthat ye had humbled yourselves before God, and that ye hadcontinued in the supplicating of his grace, that I should find that yewere blameless before him, that I should find that ye were not inthe awful dilemma that our brethren were in at Zarahemla.AlmaValley of Gideon83 B.C.4 But blessed be the name of God, that he hath given me to know,yea, hath given unto me the exceedingly great joy of knowing thatthey are established again in the way of his righteousness. 5 And Itrust, according to the Spirit of God which is in me, that I shallalso have joy over you; nevertheless I do not desire that my joyover you should come by the cause of so much afflictions andsorrow which I have had for the brethren at Zarahemla, for behold,my joy cometh over them after wading through much afflictionand sorrow. 6 But behold, I trust that ye are not in a state of somuch unbelief as were your brethren; I trust that ye are not liftedup in the pride of your hearts; yea, I trust that ye have not set your hearts upon riches and the vain things of the world; yea, I trust thatyou do not worship idols, but that ye do worship the true and theliving God, and that ye look forward for the remission of yoursins, with an everlasting faith, which is to come.AlmaValley of Gideon83 B.C.7 For behold, I say unto you there be many things to come; andbehold, there is one thing which is of more importance than theyall—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer livethand cometh among his people. 8 Behold, I do not say that he willcome among us at the time of his dwelling in his mortaltabernacle; for behold, the Spirit hath not said unto me that thisshould be the case. Now as to this thing I do not know; but thismuch I do know, that the Lord God hath power to do all thingswhich are according to his word. 9 But behold, the Spirit hath saidthis much unto me, saying:Cry unto this people, saying—Repent ye, and prepare the wayof the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; forbehold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of Godcometh upon the face of the earth. 10 And behold, he shall beborn of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers,she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall beovershadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost,and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God. 11 And he shallgo forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of everykind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith hewill take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. 12And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands ofdeath which bind his people; and he will take upon him theirinfirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, accordingto the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how tosuccor his people according to their infirmities.The Spirit13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of Godsuffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him thesins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressionsaccording to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this isthe testimony which is in me. 14 Now I say unto you that ye mustrepent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not bornagain ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come andbe baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from yoursins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh awaythe sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from allunrighteousness.Alma15 Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin,which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down todestruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God thatye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant withhim to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this dayby going into the waters of baptism. 16 And whosoever doeth this,and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, thesame will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according tothe testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me. 17 Andnow my beloved brethren, do you believe these things? Behold, Isay unto you, yea, I know that ye believe them; and the way that Iknow that ye believe them is by the manifestation of the Spiritwhich is in me. And now because your faith is strong concerningthat, yea, concerning the things which I have spoken, great is myjoy. 18 For as I said unto you from the beginning, that I had muchdesire that ye were not in the state of dilemma like your brethren,even so I have found that my desires have been gratified.AlmaValley of Gideon83 B.C.19 For I perceive that ye are in the paths of righteousness; Iperceive that ye are in the path which leads to the kingdom ofGod; yea, I perceive that ye are making his paths straight. 20 Iperceive that it has been made known unto you, by the testimonyof his word, that he cannot walk in crooked paths; neither doth hevary from that which he hath said; neither hath he a shadow ofturning from the right to the left, or from that which is right to thatwhich is wrong; therefore, his course is one eternal round. 21 Andhe doth not dwell in unholy temples; neither can filthiness oranything which is unclean be received into the kingdom of God;therefore I say unto you the time shall come, yea, and it shall be atthe last day, that he who is filthy shall remain in his filthiness.22 And now my beloved brethren, I have said these things untoyou that I might awaken you to a sense of your duty to God, thatye may walk blameless before him, that ye may walk after the holyorder of God, after which ye have been received. 23 And now Iwould that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle;easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; beingtemperate in all things; being diligent in keeping thecommandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever thingsye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returningthanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive. 24 And seethat ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will alwaysabound in good works.25 And may the Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless,that ye may at last be brought to sit down with Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been ever since theworld began, having your garments spotless even as their garmentsare spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out. 26 Andnow my beloved brethren, I have spoken these words unto youaccording to the Spirit which testifieth in me; and my soul dothexceedingly rejoice, because of the exceeding diligence and heedwhich ye have given unto my word. 27 And now, may the peace ofGod rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands, and uponyour flocks and herds, and all that you possess, your women andyour children, according to your faith and good works, from thistime forth and forever. And thus I have spoken. Amen.