The prophet Alma had been doing double duty as both the high priest of the Church and the chief judge in the land of Nephi—sort of like if the president of the Church were also the president of the United States!
No surprise that this proved to be too much work for Alma, especially when many Church members started to be wicked (see Alma 4:11). So he left his “day job” to focus full-time on leading the Lord’s church.
Then we get a report of the prophet’s messages in the cities of Zarahemla and Gideon. But notice how different those sermons were! Prompted by the Spirit, Alma said what the Church members in each city needed to hear:
- The prideful, unrighteous people of Zarahemla needed a somber message of chastisement and piercing questions (see Alma 5).
- The people of Gideon—who were humbly living the gospel and didn’t need much correction—got to hear a joyful message about the Savior (see Alma 7).
Imagine the prophet were going to give you a personalized talk. What kind would it be—the Zarahemla kind, or the Gideon?