7 And Aaron answered him and said unto him: Believest thou that there is a God? And the king said: I know that the Amalekites say that there is a God, and I have granted unto them that they should build sanctuaries, that they may assemble themselves together to worship him. And if now thou sayest there is a God, behold I will believe.
Ammon begins to preach to the king, or in other words, teach him. For is that not what preaching is? Except the teaching is done by the power of the Holy Ghost. Perhaps that’s technically what preaching is— or is supposed to be— teaching by the power of the Holy Ghost. For it does say in the D&C that “...if ye have not the Spirit, ye shall not teach”.
In the 1828 Webster dictionary, it adds this:
“To preach up, to discourse in favor of.”
To preach is to teach the gospel, but in such a way as to convince someone of the truth. It is not to simply inform or dispense information. It is to do so in a manner that will convince the audience to accept the truth.
Aaron starts from the beginning with a foundational question that we seem to take for granted today when speaking about the Gospel. And that is, whether of not someone actually believes in God. What question could possibly be more important? Because To know the truth from God one has to either believe in God or be willing to accept that he may exist. That is why belief in God is the first principle of the Gospel and the first article of faith.
How can our lives and hearts be changed without a knowledge, or rather faith, that God exists? He is the one that gives us a new heart. That cleanses and sanctifies us. He is the one that fills us with the love that infuses our beings with love and makes us a new creature. He is the source of truth. Of course it would be the first thing Aaron would speak of and ask the king.
When we are trying to “share the Gospel”, share the good news about Christ and our Father, do we focus enough on whether or not our audience believes is God? Even in our own congregations there may be those who doubt the exist of God. It seems to me that addressing that principle is paramount.
The king answers, in a round about way, that he knows the Amalekites believe in God, and almost proudly points out that he gave them permission to worship a God he didn’t believe in- but admits that he doesn’t know whether or not there is a God. At this point the king is what we would call today an agnostic. He has not made a determination one way or the other about the existence of God.
But! The king is so impressed with Ammon and his brethren that he says he WILL believe if he is told that there is a God. And this faith which seems to be built upon the examples and Spirit that Ammon and his brethren have shown. If they had not been an instrument in Gods hands showing such a loving example, the king would have had nothing to do with them. It was love! It was love that reached into the angry king’s heart, and opened it up to the truth. The love of his son, Lamoni, and his love for the angry king, as shown by sparing his life and not taking half of his kingdom.
So, the angry king seemed just about as willing as his son to believe, because of the loving and powerful example of Ammon and his brethren. The power of example!
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