Alma's appeal to his listeners was direct. He carried his message right into their hearts. He did not seek, with a show of great emotion to soften the blows he delivered; nor did he excuse any evil existing among his people. Profoundly, and with a feeling of deep concern, he denounced the iniquity of which some were guilty. Alma portrayed the awful state in which one will find himself at that last moment, when, naked, with nothing to hide under, he must acknowledge before God, his wickedness while in the flesh. Alma also asked all those in his congregation to imagine, if they could, their remorse, if when standing in God's presence, they remembered, perfectly every time while on earth they defied His holy laws or rejected His commands. 3 In this we are reminded of the words of Ezekiel:
And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. (Ezekiel 20:43)
The seriousness evinced by Alma in his queries made the counsel he gave more convincing. Yet every sentence he spoke, each word he said, was interwoven with a fatherly love as for a wayward child. He did not condemn them, only their wicked ways. He admonished them all that when that day should come they would be able to look up to God, having clean hands, and with a pure heart.
We can well imagine that Alma, himself, remembered the words of Jacob, the son of Lehi, to his brethren, spoken almost 500 years previously, and which were written upon Nephi's smaller plates:
O, my beloved brethren, remember the awfulness in transgressing against that Holy God, and also the awfulness of yielding to the enticings of that cunning one. Remember, to be carnally-minded is death, and to be spiritually-minded is life eternal. (II Nephi 9:30)