“And now, my brethren, I wish from the inmost part of my heart, yea, with great anxiety even unto pain, that ye would hearken unto my words, and cast off your sins, and not procrastinate the day of your repentance;”
This is the reality of those who hold this holy order. They feel absolute charity toward others. It causes them “great anxiety even unto pain” to consider how others might be lost. This was exactly the same charity that motivated the born-again sons of Mosiah to perform their missionary labors at great personal peril. (Mosiah 28: 3.)
When you hear such a man after this order speaking in plain, even blunt words, it is not because they are unkind. It is not because they are uncharitable or brash. It is because they are filled with care, concern, and longing to share eternal life with those who would otherwise be lost.
Look at his words. What does it mean that Alma’s motivation now comes from “the inmost part of my heart?” How is it possible that Alma can have such concern that it causes him “great anxiety even unto pain?” Why does he long so for others to “hearken unto his words?”
Is this motivation for Alma the same as he described Melchizedek having?
Is the plea to “cast off your sins” the same plea which Melchizedek made to his people?
If this is the plea of both Melchizedek and Alma, and it is a burden which causes pain for fear that the mission would fail, where do we find such souls today crying repentance? Are they among us? Do we have ministers using the words of angels, declaring a message from heaven, who suffer anxiety and pain at the thought we will not repent?
Are you one of them?
If you are not, then why procrastinate? Why not also join in the process? All that is required is repentance to make yourself clean, followed by keeping the word of God until you entertain angels, receive your assignment, and having been commissioned to then proclaim repentance to others.
Alma is inviting people to join the order after the Son of God, becoming thereby sons of God themselves. This is the great message of the Book of Mormon. I’ve discussed in six books the mysteries of godliness, using primarily the Book of Mormon as the scriptural source to explain these doctrines. It is the most correct book we have to set out these doctrines and inform us of the process. It is interesting how little of that message we’ve uncovered as yet.
So let us proceed…..