"Now I say unto thee: Go, and remember the captivity of thy fathers in the land of Helam, and in the land of Nephi; and remember how great things he has done for them; for they were in bondage, and he has delivered them. And now I say unto thee, Alma, go thy way, and seek to destroy the church no more, that their prayers may be answered, and this even if thou wilt of thyself be cast off.
And now it came to pass that these were the last words which the angel spake unto Alma, and he departed."
Mosiah 27:16-17
This is an interesting angelic appearance. Most of the stories I hear about angels are stories of comfort and protection, but this is clearly one of rebuke. It is awesome that Alma and his friends, all of whom were pretty evil at the time, turned their lives around after this. They chose to listen and obey, rather than continue to rebel, unlike Laman and Lemuel in the early chapters of the Book of Mormon, who also saw an angel. I think from that example we can conclude that the repentance was not a foregone conclusion, or something that any of us would do when confronted by an angel, but rather a specific choice that Alma and all of these men made to change their lives and try to make up for the harm they had done.
Today, let's remember that the Lord rebukes us because he wants to help us change for the better... and let's do as Alma did and open our hearts and our lives to God and allow him to change us as we follow his advice and do his will.
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