by President Freeman
Sometimes I am tempted to get caught up in the complexity of our times and think that it is harder to do the right thing today than it might have been at an earlier time. Even worse, I think that the complexity of our times sometimes clouds my understanding of what the right thing is. There is some truth to the complexity of our times. There are an estimated 2.87 million apps available to us for download on our devices. There are 600 million blogs out there for us to read. Add to that complexity the 2.4 million podcasts, 82 million songs on Spotify, and now over 200 different streaming services around the world. With all of this input, you can definitely see a complex cluster of voices, all vying for our time and attention.
I love The Book of Mormon. The words of Christ that The Book of Mormon contains cut through complexity for me and “tells me all things what I should do” (2 Nephi 32:3). I love the clarity that I get as I read about the lives of men and women trying to live the gospel anciently just like I am trying to do in 2022. The other day I was especially touched by a couple of verses in the life of the prophet Alma (the elder). He heard the words taught by the Prophet Abinadi and he repented (Mosiah 18:1…just because it was one verse does not mean that it was easy). From that point, he began teaching and preaching those things that he heard from Abinadi and he formed the church of Christ. Check out verses 19-20 of Mosiah 18:
“And he commanded them (priests) that they should teach nothing save it were the things which he had taught, and which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets.
Yea, even he commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord, who had redeemed his people.”
And later, when Alma’s people join up with the people of King Mosiah, Mosiah desired that Alma should speak to the people. Guess what Alma’s message was…
“And Alma did speak to them, when they were assembled together…preaching unto the people repentance and faith on the Lord.” (Mosiah 25:15)
That which had been spoken by the mouth of the holy prophets and preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord. I love that recipe for us as a plan to successfully navigate the amazing and complex times that we live in today. I know that the accounts we read in The Book of Mormon are true testaments that can help all of us remember the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ and follow the teachings of his prophets to have faith and repent. And that just might be all we need to know.
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