I'm just warning you now that this will be a long one and probably ramble a bit. You may get to the end and think, "So what was the point?" Sometimes this just helps me kind of organize my thoughts and remember the thoughts I've had.
As I keep thinking about and preparing my Sunday School lesson for this coming Sunday, my thoughts keep swirling around two main topics: how the Lord brings back and uses and is aware of those who have fallen away; and what it truly means to be saved and to have faith in Christ and be truly converted and what we need to do to have that.
Today I'm going to focus on the first of those two thoughts and leave the second for another post on another day. Lucky you.
The scriptures are full of examples of people who either didn't believe in the first place, or who for one reason or another had fallen away and were eventually brought back or brought to believe. Paul is one. The prodigal son is one. Alma the elder, Zeezrom, Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah are some. The scriptures do not always tell us the motivations of those people for not believing, persecuting, and/or leaving.
We know that Paul, when he was known as Saul, was a high-ranking Pharisee. To believe would have meant the end of his high status and regard in the community and the church. He not only persecuted and imprisoned many believers, but sent many to their deaths. He was not someone you would expect would ultimately give his life for his belief in Christ.
While the prodigal son was simply a character in one of the Savior's parables (I say simply, but don't mean to make the parables less than they were), we can learn something from him. He took his inheritance early and left his home in order to live the high life, to live as he wished - in a manner which probably seemed to him to be free and popular and unrestrictive. How many of us know people like this or have been like this at one time or another? He eventually lost everything he had - his friends wouldn't help him, but left him destitute. He returned home where his father welcomed him with open arms.
With some like Zeezrom and Alma the elder, they lived among people who had broken off from the main group of Nephites and eventually became wicked. Their way of life was considered the norm. They both became believers after being taught by prophets and missionaries.
Alma the younger and the sons of Mosiah had fathers who were of high standing and authority in the Church and the community. They went "about to destroy the church of God" (Mosiah 27:10), and led many people away.
One who is not often mentioned is a man named Aminadab. Many people probably don't even know who Aminadab was. He had dissented from the Nephites and lived among the Lamanites. He was present when the Lamanites went to the prison where they held Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman, with the intent to slay them, only to find them encircled about by fire. A dark cloud overshadowed them and they heard the voice of the Lord telling them to repent and to seek no more to destroy His servants (to read it in greater detail, go to Helaman 5 in the Book of Mormon). They were frozen with fear. But this one man, Amindadab, who had once been a believer, was able to turn and look to see the faces of Nephi and Lehi shining like the faces of angels and saw them talking to someone they could see. He was able to tell the other Lamanites to turn and look, and when they did and then asked what they should do, he was able to tell them what they needed to do to get the dark cloud to disperse.
It is so incredible to me that the Lord knew that this one man, weak though he was - he had not been like the Ammonite warriors (last week's lesson), he had fallen away, this one man would be present and would be the means of helping 300 souls come to Christ.
In an earlier post, I talked about becoming scattered as we physically move away from the homes and families we love. For many of us, and I'm sure for all of us at one time or another, this scattering can be much less tangible than a physical move. We can feel ourselves drifting far from those around us as we doubt, wonder, and sometimes choose to do those things that we have been taught to not do. None of us are perfect and we all struggle at one point or another. But there are times when this kind of spiritual or mental scattering can also help preserve us.
We can be like Aminadab who, though he had fallen away, was able to be in the right place at the right time to be able to give others and especially himself a firm resolve to do what was needed and to gain a stronger faith in Christ.
It may be a long time between when we begin to doubt and when we finally are in the right place at the right time, longer sometimes than we think it should take, but the Lord knows each of us. He knows what we need and He loves us. He will give us many opportunities and gives us many people who love and care about us and are willing to help to no longer be scattered, but to be gathered in once again and feel the peace of the Gospel.
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