Ammon Rejoices over Lamanite Converts

Event 93

Reference: Alma 26:1-37

AND now, these are the words of Ammon to his brethren,which say thus:MormonLand of Ishmaeland land of Nephi91 to 77 B.C.My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how greatreason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when westarted from the land of Zarahemla that God would have grantedunto us such great blessings? 2 And now, I ask, what greatblessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell? 3 Behold, Ianswer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness,yea, even in the darkest abyss, but behold, how many of them arebrought to behold the marvelous light of God! And this is theblessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have beenmade instruments in the hands of God to bring about this greatwork.Ammon4 Behold, thousands of them do rejoice, and have been broughtinto the fold of God. 5 Behold, the field was ripe, and blessed areye, for ye did thrust in the sickle, and did reap with your might,yea, all the day long did ye labor; and behold the number of yoursheaves! And they shall be gathered into the garners, that they arenot wasted. 6 Yea, they shall not be beaten down by the storm atthe last day; yea, neither shall they be harrowed up by thewhirlwinds; but when the storm cometh they shall be gatheredtogether in their place, that the storm cannot penetrate to them;yea, neither shall they be driven with fierce winds whithersoeverthe enemy listeth to carry them.7 But behold, they are in the hands of the Lord of the harvest, andthey are his; and he will raise them up at the last day. 8 Blessed bethe name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us givethanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever. 9For if we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these ourdearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly beloved us, wouldstill have been racked with hatred against us, yea, and they wouldalso have been strangers to God.10 And it came to pass that when Ammon had said thesewords, his brother Aaron rebuked him, saying:MormonAmmon, I fear that thy joy doth carry thee away unto boasting.Aaron11 But Ammon said unto him:MormonI do not boast in my own strength, nor in my own wisdom; butbehold, my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I willrejoice in my God. 12 Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to mystrength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I willboast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea,behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, forAmmon which we will praise his name forever. 13 Behold, how manythousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; andthey are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because of thepower of his word which is in us, therefore have we not greatreason to rejoice? 14 Yea, we have reason to praise him forever, forhe is the Most High God, and has loosed our brethren from thechains of hell. 15 Yea, they were encircled about with everlastingdarkness and destruction; but behold, he has brought them into hiseverlasting light, yea, into everlasting salvation; and they areencircled about with the matchless bounty of his love; yea, and wehave been instruments in his hands of doing this great andmarvelous work.AmmonLand of Ishmaeland land of Nephi91 to 77 B.C.16 Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, wewill rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever.Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can saytoo much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, Icannot say the smallest part which I feel. 17 Who could havesupposed that our God would have been so merciful as to havesnatched us from our awful, sinful, and polluted state? 18 Behold,we went forth even in wrath, with mighty threatenings to destroyhis church. 19 Oh then, why did he not consign us to an awfuldestruction, yea, why did he not let the sword of his justice fallupon us, and doom us to eternal despair? 20 Oh, my soul, almostas it were, fleeth at the thought. Behold, he did not exercise hisjustice upon us, but in his great mercy hath brought us over thateverlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of oursouls.21 And now behold, my brethren, what natural man is there thatknoweth these things? I say unto you, there is none that knoweththese things, save it be the penitent. 22 Yea, he that repenteth andexerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayethcontinually without ceasing—unto such it is given to know themysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal thingswhich never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given untosuch to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has beengiven unto us to bring these our brethren to repentance. 23 Now doye remember, my brethren, that we said unto our brethren in theland of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of Nephi, to preach untoour brethren, the Lamanites, and they laughed us to scorn? 24 Forthey said unto us:Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to theknowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince theLamanites of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers,as stiffnecked a people as they are; whose hearts delight in theshedding of blood; whose days have been spent in the grossestiniquity; whose ways have been the ways of a transgressor fromthe beginning?People Now my brethren, ye remember that this was their language. 25And moreover they did say:AmmonLand of Ishmaeland land of Nephi91 to 77 B.C.Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and theiriniquity out of the land, lest they overrun us and destroy us.People26 But behold, my beloved brethren, we came into the wildernessnot with the intent to destroy our brethren, but with the intent thatperhaps we might save some few of their souls. 27 Now when ourhearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, theLord comforted us, and said:AmmonGo amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with patiencethine afflictions, and I will give unto you success.The Lord28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them;and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have sufferedevery privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house,relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies ofthe world alone but upon the mercies of God. 29 And we haveentered into their houses and taught them, and we have taughtthem in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon theirhills; and we have also entered into their temples and theirsynagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, andmocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we havebeen stoned, and taken and bound with strong cords, and cast intoprison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have beendelivered again. 30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions,and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving somesoul; and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps wecould be the means of saving some.Ammon31 Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our labors;and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many; yea, and wecan witness of their sincerity, because of their love towards theirbrethren and also towards us. 32 For behold, they had rathersacrifice their lives than even to take the life of their enemy; andthey have buried their weapons of war deep in the earth, becauseof their love towards their brethren. 33 And now behold I say untoyou, has there been so great love in all the land? Behold, I say untoyou, Nay, there has not, even among the Nephites. 34 For behold,they would take up arms against their brethren; they would notsuffer themselves to be slain. But behold how many of these havelaid down their lives; and we know that they have gone to theirGod, because of their love and of their hatred to sin. 35 Now havewe not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never weremen that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the worldbegan; yea, and my joy is carried away, even unto boasting in myGod; for he has all power, all wisdom, and all understanding; hecomprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being, even untosalvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name.36 Now if this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my lifeand my light, my joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is the name of my God, who has beenmindful of this people, who are a branch of the tree of Israel, andhas been lost from its body in a strange land; yea, I say, blessed bethe name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in astrange land. 37 Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful ofevery people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numberethhis people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Nowthis is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will givethanks unto my God forever. Amen.AmmonLand of Ishmaeland land of Nephi91 to 77 B.C.