What have Church leaders said about Alma 36-38? (2024)

This week’s “Come, Follow Me” study guide covers Alma 36-38, which includes Alma’s counsel to his sons Helaman and Shiblon.

Following are a few quotes from past and present Church leaders about these chapters.

Alma 36

“I know that we are all children of God, that He loves us, and that we are not alone. I invite you to come and see that He can lighten your burdens and be the refuge you are seeking. Come and help others find the refuge that they so yearn for. Come and stay with us in this refuge, which will help you resist the storms of life. There is no doubt in my heart that if you come, you will see, you will help and you will stay.

“The prophet Alma testified the following to his son Helaman: ‘I do know that whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day’ (Alma 36:3).”

— Elder Ricardo P. Giménez, General Authority Seventy, April 2020 general conference, “Finding Refuge from the Storms of Life”

“Confessing and forsaking are powerful concepts. They are much more than a casual ‘I admit it; I’m sorry.’ Confession is a deep, sometimes agonizing acknowledgment of error and offense to God and man. Sorrow and regret and bitter tears often accompany one’s confession, especially when his or her actions have been the cause of pain to someone or, worse, have led another into sin. It is this deep distress, this view of things as they really are, that leads one, as Alma, to cry out, ‘O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death’ (Alma 36:18).

“With faith in the merciful Redeemer and His power, potential despair turns to hope. One’s very heart and desires change, and the once-appealing sin becomes increasingly abhorrent. A resolve to abandon and forsake the sin and to repair, as fully as one possibly can, the damage he or she has caused now forms in that new heart. This resolve soon matures into a covenant of obedience to God. With that covenant in place, the Holy Ghost, the messenger of divine grace, will bring relief and forgiveness. One is moved to declare again with Alma, ‘And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I [do] behold; yea, my soul [is] filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain’ (Alma 36:20).”

— Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2011 general conference, “The Divine Gift of Repentance”

“Even though our understanding of the gospel may not be as deep as is our testimony of its truth, if we place our confidence in the Lord, we will be sustained in all of our difficulties, our trials and our afflictions (see Alma 36:3). This promise from the Lord to His Saints does not imply that we will be exempt from sufferings or trials but that we will be sustained through them and that we will know that it is the Lord who has sustained us.”

— Elder Benjamín De Hoyos, then a General Authority Seventy, April 2011 general conference, “Called to Be Saints”

“Satan will try to make us believe that our sins are not forgiven because we can remember them. Satan is a liar; he tries to blur our vision and lead us away from the path of repentance and forgiveness. God did not promise that we would not remember our sins. Remembering will help us avoid making the same mistakes again. But if we stay true and faithful, the memory of our sins will be softened over time. This will be part of the needed healing and sanctification process. Alma testified that after he cried out to Jesus for mercy, he could still remember his sins, but the memory of his sins no longer distressed and tortured him, because he knew he had been forgiven (see Alma 36:17–19).”

— Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2007 general conference, “Point of Safe Return”

“There may be some of you who have been involved with that which is evil or unclean. Take hope in the doctrinal and historical fact that Alma’s faith in the Lord led him to repent, and as a direct result of his repentance he experienced such happiness through the power of the Atonement of Christ that, in his words, ‘there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy’ (Alma 36:21). Such will be your experience as you seek the Lord through repentance.”

— Elder Marcus B. Nash, of the Seventy, October 2006 general conference, “The Great Plan of Happiness”

“Standing tall begins with our own conversion, for when we taste the gospel’s ‘exceeding joy’ (Alma 36:24) we want to share it. The casseroles and quilts we have made to relieve suffering are splendid acts of kindness, but no service — I repeat, no service — compares with that of leading someone to Christ. Do you want to be happy? I mean really happy? Then nurture someone along the path that leads to the temple and to Christ.”

— Sister Sheri L. Dew, then the second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, October 2000 general conference, “Stand Tall and Stand Together”

“We will climb our spiritual mountains rejoicing. … Each insight, each spiritual view should fill us with a spirit of thanksgiving that spills over into the lives of those around us. We sisters in Zion have the best reasons to thank the Lord.

“Thank the Lord for your testimony. Thank Him for being alive now. When your challenges come, thank the Lord for your knowledge that He lives, and feel peace knowing He loves you. As you work hard, say, ‘The Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of my labors’ (Alma 36:25).”

— Sister Elaine L. Jack, then the Relief Society general president, April 1992 general conference, “Look Up and Press On”

Alma 37

“Prayer is one of the most basic and important foundational building blocks of our faith and character. Through prayer we are able to express our gratitude, love and devotion to God. Through prayer we can submit our will to His and in return receive the strength to conform our lives to His teachings. Prayer is the avenue we can follow to seek His influence in our lives, even revelation.

“Alma taught, ‘Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day’ (Alma 37:37).

“Sharing our thoughts, feelings and desires with God through sincere and heartfelt prayer should become to each of us as important and natural as breathing and eating.”

— Bishop Dean M. Davies, then the second counselor in the presiding bishopric, April 2013 general conference, “A Sure Foundation”

“Alma taught his son Helaman:

“’By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. …

“’And by very small means the Lord … bringeth about the salvation of many souls’ (Alma 37:6–7).

“Brothers and sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ is simple, no matter how much we try to make it complicated. We should strive to keep our lives similarly simple, unencumbered by extraneous influences, focused on those things that matter most.”

— Then-Elder M. Russell Ballard, later president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2011 general conference, “Finding Joy through Loving Service”

“Not long before his death, the prophet Alma entrusted the sacred records of the people to his son Helaman. He reminded Helaman that the scriptures had ‘enlarged the memory of this people, yea, and convinced many of the error of their ways, and brought them to the knowledge of their God unto the salvation of their souls’ (Alma 37:8). He commanded Helaman to preserve the records so that through them God might ‘show forth his power unto future generations’ (Alma 37:14).

“Through the scriptures, God does indeed ‘show forth his power’ to save and exalt His children. By His word, as Alma said, He enlarges our memory, sheds light on falsehood and error, and brings us to repentance and to rejoice in Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.”

— Elder D. Todd Christofferson, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2010 general conference, “The Blessing of Scripture”

“At the moment, these four guides — prayer, obedience to God’s commandments, daily scripture study and a commitment to follow the living prophet — may seem like small and simple things. Let me remind you of the scripture found in Alma: ‘Behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass’ (Alma 37:6). When applied in our everyday lives, these four ‘small and simple’ guides… will combine to provide the most powerful source of courage and strength there is: faith in our Heavenly Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ.”

— Sister Ann M. Dibb, then the second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, April 2010 general conference, “Be of a Good Courage”

“It is precisely because [gospel] principles are plain and simple that many times they are not considered when there are challenges to face that affect family life. At times we have the tendency to think that the more serious the problem, the bigger and more complex the solution should be. That idea can lead us, for example, to seek help from people or institutions outside the home when in reality the most effective solution will come by applying the glorious principles of the gospel in our homes in the small actions and duties of everyday life. The scriptures remind us ‘that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass’ (Alma 37:6).”

— Elder Francisco J. Viñas, then a General Authority Seventy, April 2004 general conference, “Applying the Simple and Plain Gospel Principles in the Family”

Alma 38

“Shiblon was righteous, like his brother Helaman. The counsel I want to emphasize is Alma 38:12, which reads in part, ‘See that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love.’

“‘Bridle’ is an interesting word. When we ride a horse, we use the bridle to guide it. A good synonym might be to direct, control or restrain. The Old Testament tells us we shouted for joy when we learned we would have physical bodies. The body is not evil — it is beautiful and essential — but some passions, if not used properly and appropriately bridled, can separate us from God and His work and adversely impact our testimony.”

— Elder Quentin L. Cook, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2022 general conference, “Be True to God and His Work”

“My Book of Mormon hero is a perfect example of a wonderful and blessed soul who was truly good and without guile. Shiblon was one of the sons of Alma the Younger. We are more familiar with his brothers Helaman, who would follow his father as the keeper of the records and the prophet of God, and Corianton, who gained some notoriety as a missionary who needed some counsel from his father. To Helaman, Alma wrote 77 verses (see Alma 36–37). To Corianton, Alma dedicated 91 verses (see Alma 39-42). To Shiblon, his middle son, Alma wrote a mere 15 verses (see Alma 38). Yet his words in those 15 verses are powerful and instructive.

“’And now, my son, I trust that I shall have great joy in you, because of your steadiness and your faithfulness unto God; for as you have commenced in your youth to look to the Lord your God, even so I hope that you will continue in keeping his commandments; for blessed is he that endureth to the end.

“‘I say unto you, my son, that I have had great joy in thee already, because of thy faithfulness and thy diligence, and thy patience and thy long-suffering among the people’” (Alma 38:2-3). …

“It appears that Shiblon was a son who wanted to please his father and went about doing what was right for right’s sake rather than for praise, position, power, accolades or authority. Helaman must have known and respected this about his brother, for he gave Shiblon custody of the sacred records he had received from his father. Surely Helaman trusted Shiblon because ‘he was a just man, and he did walk uprightly before God; and he did observe to do good continually, to keep the commandments of the Lord his God’ (Alma 63:2). As seems truly characteristic of Shiblon, there is not much recorded about him from the time he took possession of the sacred records until he gave them to Helaman’s son Helaman (see Alma 63:11).

“Shiblon was truly good and without guile. He was a person who sacrificed his time, talents and effort to help and lift others because of a love for God and his fellowmen (see Alma 48:17-19; 49:30).”

— Elder Michael T. Ringwood, General Authority Seventy, April 2015 general conference, “Truly Good and without Guile”

“Alma counseled his son Shiblon to ‘bridle all [of his] passions, that [he] may be filled with love’ (Alma 38:12). Significantly, disciplining the natural man in each of us makes possible a richer, a deeper, and a more enduring love of God and of His children. Love increases through righteous restraint and decreases through impulsive indulgence.”

— Elder David A. Bednar, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, April 2013 general conference, “We Believe in Being Chaste”

“We cannot change the doctrines of the restored gospel, even if teaching and obeying them makes us unpopular in the eyes of the world. Yet even as we feel to speak the word of God with boldness, we must pray to be filled with the Holy Ghost. We should never confuse boldness with Satan’s counterfeit: overbearance (see Alma 38:12). True disciples speak with quiet confidence, not boastful pride.”

— Elder Robert D. Hales, then of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, October 2008 general conference, “Christian Courage: The Price of Discipleship”