In Alma 7:6, Alma begins a series of statements concerning the people of Gideon with the words "I trust":
I trust that ye are not in a state of so much unbelief as were your brethren
I trust that ye are not lifted up in the pride of your hearts; yea,
I trust that ye have not set your hearts upon riches and the vain things of the world; yea,
I trust that you do not worship idols.
According to Brant Gardner, these phrases must be seen in the context of Alma's introductory sentence from the previous verse: "I trust, according to the Spirit of God which is in me, that I shall also have joy over you . . .
To the modern reader, the phrase "I trust" might be understood as a very weak affirmative: "I trust you are well . . . I trust you had a good night's sleep." It is a polite way of asking the question while assuming the affirmative response.
Alma's usage is quite different. Note that his first "trust" comes "according to the Spirit of God." Now, that kind of trust has a much stronger and sure base. When Alma "trusts" that he will have joy in the inhabitants of Gideon, he does so because he has already had confirmation of that future fact from the Spirit. It is in that connection that we must understand his catalog of parallel "trusts" listed here. Alma is not hoping, he knows through the spirit that these things are true.
What is intriguing is the particular list of things that Alma chooses to highlight that the people of Gideon are not doing. Inasmuch as there were many possibilities of things that the people might not have been doing, one has to wonder just why Alma selected these particular items. Alma's first statement is the key to understanding why these items were selected. He says, "I trust that ye are not in a state of so much unbelief as were your brethren [at Zarahemla]." In other words, the people of Gideon are not in the same state of unbelief as were those at Zarahemla (and possibly elsewhere). Moreover, those particular things which Alma lists were probably the most egregious aspects of the mini-apostasy that was going on among the people at Zarahemla and elsewhere: "Pride," "riches," "vain things of the world," "idol worship."
To properly understand what this list of items implies, we must remember that Nephite society was based on agriculture, and everyone was still making and growing their own necessities. Commodities in surplus could be exchanged for other goods, but if they remained strictly within the community it would be difficult for one to become "rich" in Nephite society. A man becomes rich if and only if he can trade his surplus corn for something that other people recognize as valuable. This almost necessitates trade outside of the community. When a Nephite traded outside of the community, he was in contact with, in many instances, another culture. And from that other culture came "vain things of the world." Alma is clearly indicating that it is this desire for the things of the world that has become dangerous to the people, for it has also led to the worship of idols, the mark of foreign religions. Those who embrace the material goods too often embraced the economic/political/ religious system that generated the goods. [Brant Gardner, Book of Mormon Commentary, [http://www.highfiber.com/~nahualli/LDStopics/Alma/Alma7.htm], pp. 3-4]