Dear Reader,
There are moments in scripture that confront us with suffering so deep that only faith can interpret it.
In Alma 14, the prophet Alma and his companion Amulek are forced to watch as women, children, and sacred writings are burned by their persecutors. The scene is almost unbearable—yet in the stillness of that fire, Alma hears the Spirit:
“The Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory.”
The silence of God is not absence. It is a trust in eternity. The fire that destroys the body refines the soul.
The Ancient Witness
In this passage, Alma’s refusal to act is not weakness but surrender to divine will. Like Christ before His accusers, he embodies faith that does not demand rescue. The martyrs’ deaths become living testimony that grace cannot be consumed.
The Medieval Witness: Joan of Arc
Fifteen centuries later, another soul stood in the fire. Joan of Arc, a teenage girl who obeyed her divine call, was condemned and burned in 1431.
Her courage lit a nation and proved that conscience guided by faith outlives its persecutors. She declared:
“I am not afraid… I was born to do this.”
Her flames echoed the faith of Alma’s followers—the same fire of purification, not defeat.
The Modern Prophet: Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith’s final moments in Carthage Jail mirror Alma’s captivity. Both faced mobs inflamed by fear and pride. Both met death with faith unbroken.
Joseph’s cry, “O Lord my God!”, rises with the same conviction that no bullet, no flame, can end the light of truth. His life and death became a modern witness of restoration and grace.
The Collective Witness: The Holocaust
And then, in our own age, came a darkness that sought to erase an entire people.
The burning of Torah scrolls and the murder of Jewish families during the Holocaust repeat Alma 14’s tragedy on a scale the world can barely fathom. Yet survivors like Viktor Frankl bore the eternal message of grace:
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”
That freedom—the freedom of the spirit to love, forgive, and remember God—is grace itself.
The Eternal Thread
From Alma’s martyrs to Joan’s pyre, from Carthage Jail to Auschwitz, the pattern holds:
Human cruelty cannot extinguish divine mercy.
Every age has its witnesses who remind us that faith is stronger than fire.
Eternal grace does not prevent the flames—it transforms them into light.
And in that light, we glimpse the truth of the Resurrection: death is not the end of faith, but its revelation.
Closing Reflection
Perhaps the purpose of Alma 14 is not to make us question God’s power but to awaken our trust in His promise.
For every soul who stands steadfast in love and truth, the fire becomes holy ground.
The same grace that received Alma’s martyrs still burns quietly in the hearts of all who choose faith over fear.
“Neither death, nor life… shall be able to separate us from the love of God.”
— Romans 8:38-39
Perhaps you have your own thoughts on faith over fear. Share them.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen
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