< ALMA 4 >
v. 6 And it came to pass in the eighth year of the reign of the judges, that the people of the church began to wax proud, because of their exceeding riches, and their fine silks, and their fine-twined linen, and because of their many flocks and herds, and their gold and their silver, and all manner of precious things, which they had obtained by their industry; and in all things were they lifted up in the pride of their eyes, for they began to wear very costly apparel.
Pride in the Church
This is the problem that Alma is going to address in Alma 5. The way to combat and prevent pride is to remember. Memory fades faster than comfort.
It can be easy to mistake organizational health for spiritual health (IE the curch is growing, ordinances are happening, so all is well in Zion!). To prevent this in the modern church we must follow Alma's counsel in Alma 5:
1) Deliberate remembrance: Remembering captivity, remembering deliverance, remembering that salvation was never earned.
2) Ongiong conversion: Pride isn't prevented by past righteousness. Prevention requires continual softening, not a one-time change. When the heart stops needing Christ, pride fills the vacuum.
3) Choosing downward mobility: Pride is prevented by voluntary humility: lifting the poor, refusing comparison, staying close to those in need and lifting them up.
4) Prophetic discomfort: we need to hear from our leaders, be taught so that we avoid pride.
Avoid the cycle!
1. Humility bring deliverance
2. Deliverance brings prosperity
3. Prosperity brings pride
4. Pride brings division
5. Division brings collapse.
Pride in the Church
This is the problem that Alma is going to address in Alma 5. The way to combat and prevent pride is to remember. Memory fades faster than comfort.
It can be easy to mistake organizational health for spiritual health (IE the curch is growing, ordinances are happening, so all is well in Zion!). To prevent this in the modern church we must follow Alma's counsel in Alma 5:
1) Deliberate remembrance: Remembering captivity, remembering deliverance, remembering that salvation was never earned.
2) Ongiong conversion: Pride isn't prevented by past righteousness. Prevention requires continual softening, not a one-time change. When the heart stops needing Christ, pride fills the vacuum.
3) Choosing downward mobility: Pride is prevented by voluntary humility: lifting the poor, refusing comparison, staying close to those in need and lifting them up.
4) Prophetic discomfort: we need to hear from our leaders, be taught so that we avoid pride.
Avoid the cycle!
1. Humility bring deliverance
2. Deliverance brings prosperity
3. Prosperity brings pride
4. Pride brings division
5. Division brings collapse.
v. 9 ... yea, there were envying, and strife, and malice, and persecutions, and pride, even to exceed the pride of those who did not belong to the church of God.
Pride rots the church
Alma 4 parallels Mormon 8 - the church descends into pride and wickedness and becomes a stumbling block for non-believers. Why this is so theologically serious:
Scripturally, God’s people are meant to be:
When that flips — when the church becomes a stumbling block — the covenant purpose is inverted. That’s why Mormon treats this as worse than military defeat. Empires fall. But when covenant communities misrepresent God, they actively push people away from Him.
Why this should sting modern readers
Because the critique isn’t aimed at outsiders, non-believers. It’s aimed at: believers, leaders, institutions, anyone who claims God’s name (remember taking the Lord's name in vain actually means not to take it through covenant and then live in a way that disrespects Him, or doesn't honor that covenant).
Mormon’s implicit warning is brutal: If people reject God because of us, the problem isn't God.
One quiet but powerful contrast
Notice what isn’t emphasized in either chapter:
Pride rots the church
Alma 4 parallels Mormon 8 - the church descends into pride and wickedness and becomes a stumbling block for non-believers. Why this is so theologically serious:
Scripturally, God’s people are meant to be:
- a light, a witness, and a sign
When that flips — when the church becomes a stumbling block — the covenant purpose is inverted. That’s why Mormon treats this as worse than military defeat. Empires fall. But when covenant communities misrepresent God, they actively push people away from Him.
Why this should sting modern readers
Because the critique isn’t aimed at outsiders, non-believers. It’s aimed at: believers, leaders, institutions, anyone who claims God’s name (remember taking the Lord's name in vain actually means not to take it through covenant and then live in a way that disrespects Him, or doesn't honor that covenant).
Mormon’s implicit warning is brutal: If people reject God because of us, the problem isn't God.
One quiet but powerful contrast
Notice what isn’t emphasized in either chapter:
- sexual sin
- doctrinal heresy
- disbelief
- pride
- wealth
- inequality
- neglect of the poor
- self-importance
v. 20 ... Alma delivered up the judgement-seat to Nephihah, and confined himself wholly to the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to the testimony of the word, according to the spirit of revelation and prophecy.
Alma goes to work
So Alma resigns the judgment seat, not because the law failed — but because the church’s moral failure required prophetic confrontation, not administrative efficiency. I'm a big fan of leaders who leave their office, get off the stand, and get to work. Some leaders are a bit too high and mighty for me.
Alma goes to work
So Alma resigns the judgment seat, not because the law failed — but because the church’s moral failure required prophetic confrontation, not administrative efficiency. I'm a big fan of leaders who leave their office, get off the stand, and get to work. Some leaders are a bit too high and mighty for me.