THE POWER OF US

 

When I awoke yesterday morning I thought I would visit YouTube for any world news and was amazed at the mess our world has become. I saw an assassination, hatred, political protests, murders and drug addicted cities of America. Amidst all that chaos I saw one person so prominently that it had an incredible impact on me. I saw the enemy of all humanity.

Lately I have been reluctant to check out the world news because I have realised it has a downing effect on me but this morning it actually did the opposite. It awakened the warrior spirit in me that wants to defeat the enemy. I don’t know that I can change the world, but I can change me. And every soul that changes or remains faithful to God is one soul lost to the enemy.

I am of the opinion that the adversary is exerting his power now more than ever because the Millenium is drawing nigh and he knows this is the time when he will be powerless (D&C 101:28). And why will he be powerless? Because of the righteousness of the people who will be left to enjoy the Millenial era (1 Nephi 22:26).

The adversary has two goals: 1. To make all men miserable like himself (2 Nephi 2:27); and 2. To overthrow Christ who he rebelled against in pre-earth life (D&C 29:36-9). I once asked a friend of mine in Utah who is very well versed in scripture why Satan is called ‘the son of the morning’. Here is what he replied:

“My presumption is that the term ‘morning’ refers to the fact that he was born early on as a spirit offspring of the Father. Perhaps he might have even been second born vs his brother who was firstborn.

“We have so many fascinating stories among the great patriarchs of having two competing sons vying for the firstborn birthright and it almost seems as though these stories are a continuation of that which started in the pre-mortal life with the Saviour and Lucifer. You can even get that sense from a statement in D&C 88:115, about Lucifer having as his goal that of displacing his brother from his throne.” (Larry Keeler, 6 February 2023)

The adversary knows if he gets us, he gets Him….but that will never be. As I said in my recent post, it’s time to dust off our armour…..

There is a desire in my soul

That wants to conquer Goliath

And watch him fall….

This warrior within me never sleeps

And yearns to hear the angels’ call,

A call to battle to make the devil fall.

And when Christ comes in clouds so holy

He will conquer that enemy

And we will confess His glory.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Almost Time by Danny Hahlbohm)

ON HIGHER GROUND

Among the war chapters in the Book of Mormon is a highly educational story of a man called Amalickiah, a dissenter from the Church of God, who sought to be king and thereby caused a division among the Nephites, leading away many of them to destroy the foundation of liberty (Alma 46:10). By his cunning and deviousness, Amalickiah fled the land of Zarahemla with his many converts and gained the favour of the king of the Lamanites planning to dethrone him and make himself king (Alma 47:4).  Having convinced the king to go to battle against the Nephites, he again caused a division amongst the people. Those who would not consent to fight fled to the place called Onidah with a leader called Lehonti gathering themselves upon the top of the mountain Antipas. Here comes into play one of the most interesting stories in the Book of Mormon.

Amalickiah, being a 'subtle man to do evil' (Alma 47:4) devised the most clever plan to obtain the kingdom through Lehonti, who originally opposed him in every way. Causing his army to pitch their tents in the valley near the mount Antipas, Amalickiah proceeded to coax Lehonti to come down the mountain to speak with him. The record states that Lehonti at first would not dare to do so but Amalickiah was patient and persistent. After sending the third message to Lehonti, Amalickiah decided to get closer and ascended half way up the mountain enticing Lehonti to come to down to him with his guards to speak with him. On the fourth message Lehonti relented and came half way down the mountain. There Amalickiah lay open his plan before him as to how he could assist him in obtaining command of the whole army if he would place him, Amalickiah, as second in charge. Lehonti could not resist this temptation of power and came all the way down the mountain, took possession of the whole army through Amalickiah's assistance and became the leader he desired to be. There was only one problem. He had a dangerous man as his 'second in charge' who according to Lamanite custom stood to become chief leader if the chief was killed (Alma 47:17); a man who had plotted this very thing right from the beginning. The plan worked beautifully for Amalickiah instructed one of his servants to administer poison 'by degrees' to Lehonti and Lehonti died (Alma 47:18) leaving Amalickiah in charge of the entire army of the Lamanites. With such power under his belt, the whole kingdom fell into his hands as he proceeded with his evil plan and caused the death of the king by the hands of his servants. Thus by secret works, manipulating others to do his dirty work, did Amalickiah obtain the whole kingdom of the Lamanites.

The story of Lehonti, who took his army to the top of the mountain for physical safety has many parallels with us today. As the covenant people of God we have been invited to perserve our spiritual safety on top of another mountain, the mountain of the Lord's house, the temple (2 Nephi 12:2). Anciently mountains were always synonymous with temples or any form of higher worship. High places were also where prophets of old received instructions by the Lord, as in Moses' case when he received the Ten Commandments upon Mount Sinai (Exodus 19,20). Today, LDS temples are always built on the highest vantage point in the designated community suggesting that once we have entered into sacred covenants with God, we stand on higher ground. It also suggests that higher knowledge regarding man's salvation and ultimate exaltation is received in the temples of God. Those who adhere to their temple covenants and make their abode with God within its sacred walls, receive spiritual protection and power against the enemy of all righteousness. This, however, does not mean that this enemy sleeps or has no interest in those who have made temple covenants and enjoy the safety of such. On the contrary, the adversary takes no sabbaticals and has more interest in those who are endowed with temple covenants than those who are not and he will use all his skills to bring them down the mountain.

Viewing Amalickiah as a prototype of the adversary we can learn that our enemy is three things - he is subtle, he is persistent and he is cunning. He watches patiently and plots with dedication to bring about our demise. He knows which buttons to push and he will do so repeatedly until cracks in our resolve begin to appear. Using subtle means he will make his enticements appear appealing and even of good value. Like Amalickiah, he will meet us half way up the mountain and make his propositions difficult to resist appealing to our egos and "what's in it for me" attitude. Once we succumb, he will 'poison' us 'by degrees' until he succeeds in bringing about our spiritual death. Compromising ourselves in such a way where our obedience to the commandments suffers can only lead us down the slippery slope to the valley of shadow and death where we are eventually cut off from the presence of the Lord (Alma 50:20). This is what our enemy hopes for, works for and lives for.

When Amalickiah left the Nephites, he fled before the armies of Captain Moroni. There would have to be no two people in the scriptures more unlike than Amalickiah and Captain Moroni. Whereas one sought to destroy, the other sought to preserve; whereas one sought self-interest, the other sought the welfare of his people; whereas one rejected God, the other accepted Him with all his heart. Amalickiah, 'a subtle man to do evil' (Alma 47:4), had one goal only: to subject others to the yoke of bondage. When that desire slipped from his grasp, he cursed God (Alma 49:27). Moroni's one goal was to perserve the welfare and safety of his people (Alma 48:12). This he did by not relying on his sword alone but on God's goodness by preparing his people to be faithful to Him (Alma 48:7). Moroni, a captain of the Nephite armies was a 'strong and mighty man', 'a man whose heart swelled with thanksgiving to his God', 'a man who was firm in the faith of Christ' (Alma 48:11-3). And here is the clincher, Mormon's appraisal of this man reads like a plaque in the hall of fame: "Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men" (Alma 48:17).

Like Amalickiah, the adversary has only one goal: to put us in bondage. To achieve this he marches with his armies, like a thief in the night, seeking to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). He seeks to destroy us in the flesh and he seeks to destroy us in spirit. He is a collector of ruined lives, corrupted faith and lost spiritual destinies. Immediately preceding Christ's appearance to the ancient Americas, before He said anything else, the Saviour's voice was heard in the darkness as an explanation and a warning: "Wo, wo, wo unto this people; wo unto the inhabitants of the whole earth except they shall repent; for the devil laugheth, and his angels rejoice, because of the slain of the fair sons and daughters of my people; and it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen" (3 Nephi 9:2). Like Nephites of old, we are at war. The battle is raging and many are falling by the way. People's hearts are failing and the love of many is waxing cold (D&C 45:26,27). There is only one place of refuge, one place of safety, one place of power that will help us stand to the end. Stand firm. Don't come down the mountain.

OF INFINITE WORTH

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting;

The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star,

Hath had elsewhere its' setting,

And cometh from afar:

Not in entire forgetfulness,

And not in utter nakedness,

But trailing clouds of glory do we come

From God, who is our home.

-William Wordsworth

Before we consented to a mortal probation which we are now experiencing, we know through scripture (Abraham 3:22-26, that we lived and were nurtured in love as spirit children of God. We know little of our existence as intelligences before our spiritual birth but we know enough to believe that we have always had the potential to rise to the state of godhood for this was always the plan, an eternal plan that has always existed and that is incomprehensible to our finite minds. We came with eagerness, having voted for and fought for the plan that would one day crown us with glory and eternal life; each one of us hopeful, each one of us capable, fully believing in a God whose work and whose glory is 'to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man' (Moses 1:39). If we had not been born into this life, we would have followed the charismatic 'liar from the beginning' (D&C 93:25) who succeeded with his charms to persuade a third of the Father's children to follow Him. But here we are in our mortal tabernacles having withstood the forces of evil and thus reserving the right to tread the path to eternal life that was promised to us all. 

It pains me greatly when I hear someone say "the Church is not for everyone" or when someone walks away from the truth declaring "it's not for me". How could the Church which contains the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ not be for everyone when everyone chose it before this world began? How could salvation not be for everyone? The Gospel is universal and is meant for every child that belongs to the family of God. God is no respecter of persons, meaning He does not discriminate between His children declaring that godhood is only achievable by a handful of 'really smart kids'. He has never said to any of us 'you are just too dumb or too weak to get there'. He has never decreed that it is beyond any of us to reach the heights of His Kingdom of Glory. Why? Because He has provided the way.  To ensure even the weakest of us has a chance He has provided a Redemer for each one of His children without exception, irrespective of their race, colour, wealth, status, intelligence, background or outward appearance. Jesus did not die for just some of us and He did not die so we would receive the glory of the stars or the moon but the glory of the sun. Heavenly Father's plan is flawless and it is available to all. Nowhere can this be seen more plainly than in the early days of the Saviour's Church in the meridian of times. As we follow the missionary labours of the early Apostles, we learn that the Gospel was to be taken to all nations. Prior to Peter's vision in which he was commanded to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10), the Jews had supposed that they were the chosen people and as such salvation was exclusive to them. What they failed to understand up to that point is that they were a 'chosen' people to bring salvation to the nations of the earth and that as the descendants of Abraham, through them, all nations of the earth would be blessed. If God had been a partial God and a respecter of persons He would have contained the Gospel for His 'flock of favourites', the House of Israel, and none else. 

With the restoration of the Gospel in our dispensation came the reinforced command to take the Gospel to all the nations of the earth. As in the meridian of times, persecution followed, for wherever the truth is preached, the opposing forces are at work. The adversary's objective is not so much to destroy the Church, but to destroy us. He desires to destroy us because He knows we are of infinite worth. He also is no respecter of persons knowing the seeds of glory were sown within each of us long ago. He works his work of destruction without discrimination succeeding in making some of us believe that we are 'just not celestial material'. If there was no price paid for us (1 Cor. 6:20) we would know we were of no worth but the payment has been made and the battle for the souls of men continues to this day. The opposing forces are real as can be seen through this early Church missionary experience:

"It is recorded that about daybreak Sunday, July 10, 1837, Elder Isaac Russell who had been selected to preach at the Obelisk in Preston marketplace that day, and who occupied the second story of the lodging of the elders in Wilford Street, went up to the third loft where Elders Hyde and Kimball were sleeping, and called upon them to pray for him, that he might be delivered from the evil spirits that were tormenting him to such a degree that he felt he could not live long unless he obtained relief. The story is a most interesting one, but one that chilled the blood of the elders. It is told as follows by Elder Kimball: 'I had been sleeping on the back of the bed. I immediately arose, slipped off at the foot of the bed, and passed around to where he [Elder Russell] was. Elder Hyde threw his feet out, and sat up in the bed, and we laid hands on him, I being mouth, and prayed that the Lord would have mercy on him, and rebuke the devil. While thus engaged, I was struck with great force by some invisible power, and fell senseless on the floor. The first thing I recollected was being supported by Elders Hyde and Richards who were praying for me, Elder Richards having followed Russell up to my room. Elders Hyde and Richards then assisted me to get on the bed, but my agony was so great I could not endure it, and I arise, bowed my knees and prayed. I then arose and sat upon the bed, when a vision was opened to our minds, and we could distinctly see the evil spirits, who foamed and gnashed their teeth at us. We gazed upon them about an hour and half (by Willard's watch). We were not looking towards the window, but towards the wall. Space appeared before us, and we saw the devils coming in legions, with their leaders, who came within a few feet of us. They came towards us like armies rushing to battle. They appeared to be men of full stature, possessing every form and feature of men in the flesh, who were angry and desperate; and I shall never forget the vindictive malignity depicted on their countenances as they looked me in the eye; and any attempt to paint the scene which then presented itself or portray their malice and enmity, would be vain. I perspired exceedingly, my clothes becoming as wet as if I had been taken out of the river. I felt excessive pain, and was in the greatest distress for some time. I cannot even look back on the scene without feelings of horror; yet by it I learned the power of the adversary, his enmity against the servants of God, and got some understanding of the invisible world. We distinctly heard these spirits talk and express their wrath and hellish designs against us. However, the Lord delivered us from them, and blessed us exceedingly that day'. Elder Hyde supplemented this description as follows: 'Every circumstance that occurred at that scene of devils is just as fresh in my recollection at this moment as it was at the moment of its occurrence, and will ever remain so. After you were overcome by them and had fallen, their awful rush upon me with knives, threats, imprecations and hellish grins, amply convinced me that they were no friends of mine. While you were apparently senseless and lifeless on the floor and upon the bed (after we had laid you there), I stood between you and the devils and fought them and contended with them face to face, until they began to diminish in number and to retreat from the room. The last imp that left turned around to me as he was going out and said, as if to apologize, and appease my determined opposition to them, 'I never said anything against you!' I replied to him thus: 'It matters not to me whether you have or have not; you are a liar from the beginning! In the name of Jesus Christ depart!' He immediately left, and the room was clear. That closed the scene of devils for the time'. - D.H.C. 2:503. "Life of Heber C. Kimball", pp 130-131)"

The evidence of our worth is irrefutable through the sacrifice of our Saviour Jesus Christ. No man would offer himself to ridicule, rejection, pain and sorrow for something that had no intrinsic value. No man would willingly die so that countless others who had no eternal potential would live without rhyme or reason. For our sake was this world created and for our sake was the sacrifice made. We will encounter many voices on our journey of life. Some will lift us to higher ground and some will tell us we are worthless, incapable and unloved. May we be strong enough to recognise the difference, may we reject the darkness in favour of the light and may we receive the wages of him who we list to obey (D&C 29:45).

"A man travelling through the country came to a large city, very rich and splendid; he looked at it and said to his guide: 
'This must be a very righteous people, for I can only see but one little devil in this great city'. 
The guide replied:
'You do not understand sir. This city is so perfectly given up to wickedness, corruption, degradation and abomination of every kind that it requires but one devil to keep them all in subjection.'
Travelling on a little further, he came to a rugged path and saw an old man trying to get up the hillside, surrounded by seven great, big, coarse looking devils.
'Why, says the traveler, 'this must be a tremendously wicked old man! Only see how many devils there are around him'.
'This' replied the guide, 'is the only righteous man in the country; and there are seven of the biggest devils trying to turn him out of his path, and they all cannot do it'.

- Chinese Fable-

HE WHO HAS PAVED THE WAY

The Inspired Version of the Bible records that at the onset of His mortal ministry and following His baptism, Jesus was 'led up of the Spirit, into the wilderness, to be with God': "And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, and had communed with God, he was afterwards an hungered and was left to be tempted of the devil" (Matthew 4:1,2, Inspired Version, italics added). In the King James Version of the Bible, it is recorded that he was led by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. Bruce R. McConkie makes it clear that this was not the case: "Jesus did not go into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; righteous men do not seek out temptation. He went 'to be with God'. Probably he was visited by the Father, without question he received transcendent spiritual manifestations. The temptations came after he 'had communed with God', 'after forty days.' (McConkie, DNTC, 1:128; see also Mosiah 3:7). The King James Version in Matthew 4 continues to record that Jesus was taken by the devil here and there to be tempted of him. The Inspired Version constantly corrects this in the footnotes stating that the Spirit took Jesus and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and an exceedingly high mountain to show him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. This is an extremely important point we need to take notice of. If we did not have the Inspired Version we would be convinced by the erroneous account of the King James Version that the devil had the upper hand with Jesus and that he has the upper hand with us. This is simply not true. The devil has no upper hand in anything. He is simply an upstart and an outcast. He has no power over the children of men except what they give him. He cannot take away anyone's agency or make anyone do his bidding and he most certainly cannot take us anywhere. His only dominion lies in temptation. That is the extent of his power.

I heard an evangelist say on TV recently that the adversary has no power on his best day to take us out on our worst day. This is a sobering thought considering he is so well practiced and considering how well he knows us from pre-existence and from observation. Unknowingly we have taught him where our worst weaknesses lay by our repeated misuse of agency. He knows the traps, the pitfalls, human foibles and all weaknesses. So how can we be more powerful than him? Because of two things:

1. We have a body. This is our biggest advantage. We have kept our first estate and now we are on the second leg of our eternal journey. We stand to gain eternal life. He has already lost that chance. He stands to gain nothing for when all this is over he will be nothing. Isaiah said this of him: "Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake the kingdoms?" (Isaiah 14:15,16). In the end Satan will be stripped of the limited power he now has and his reign of horror on this earth will be over. For now he is considered 'the god of this world' but he will once again be just an outcast. 
2. We have once before chosen the God of Glory over Lucifer. We have the power to continue to choose Him who delivers us from the sting of sin and death and offers us ultimate freedom. When God revealed Himself to Moses, Moses beheld His glory and was taught of his divine origin as God repeatedly called him, 'Moses, my son'. When God withdrew, the devil appeared on the scene and wanted to be worshipped also. True to his character, he sought to make Moses believe he was lesser than he was by calling him 'son of man' (Moses 1:12). Satan knew that if Moses believed he was the son of God, he would also believe that he had God's power at his fingertips and could therefore resist him. Moses was not to be confused, however, and he pointed out to Satan that he had no glory, only darkness, and therefore he had no power over him (1 Moses:15) and by his conviction he was able to cast him out of his presence. When Jesus resisted the three temptations of the devil He proved to those who follow Him that all power to overcome lay within Him. We as his followers and disciples, through our faith on Him and by the virtue of our agency, have access to this power to overcome and conquer the enemy of all righteousness.

It was after the Saviour had made his covenants with the Father through baptism that Satan came to tempt Him. So it is with us. Often when we are baptised into the Church, we think we are safe and have 'arrived'. Nothing could be further from the truth. The adversary will work on us, the covenant people, more than he will work on those who have not made sacred promises to God. More often than not his temptations will come in three ways that he tempted the Saviour with: 1. a temptation of the appetite; 2. a yielding to the pride and fashion and vanity of those alienated from the things of God; 3. a gratifying of the passion, or a desire for the riches of the world or power among men (David O. McKay in CR, Oct 1911, p. 59). We who are his targets need to be vigilant at all times to recognise the subtle slide into sin that he constantly lays before us. Why? Because by it we stand to lose a lot. Here is a clear explanation of this fact:

"Repentance is, frankly, just plain smart, because sin makes you stupid. Stupid because you are deaf, dumb and blind to the ways of the Lord. Stupid because habitual sin drives the Spirit away, leaving you outside the protective influence of the Holy Ghost. Stupid because it makes you incapable of drawing upon the powers of heaven. Being stupid costs a lot. Sin costs a lot too. It can cost time, money, peace of mind, progress, self-respect, your integrity and virtue, your family, the trust of those you love, and even your Church membership. Sin is just plain stupid. And the cost is off the charts. So repent now. Repent daily. If you want to be sanctified, repentance is not optional" (Sheri L. Dew, You Were Born to Lead, You Were Born for Glory, BYU Speeches, December 2003)

We are powerful beyond our capacity to understand. This power is shown in the moments of our choices. The power within us comes from God. It is His gift to all those who commit to follow Him. We cannot afford to give this power away for it has the potential to crown us with eternal life and endless glory. We want this, we have always wanted this. We are His children who are destined to wear the crowns of godhood. He has paved the way and by it made us powerful enough to conquer and overcome through His sinless sacrifice. The path is straight, the road smooth, the journey easy if we walk it following the footsteps before us. The Atonement is the key and it can make us brilliant and holy and glorious beyond anything we can ever imagine (Cathryne Allen, How to Use the Power of the Atonement, November Blog 2013). Use it, call upon it and trust in it. The reward is yours and it is waiting.

"And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me."  (Moroni 7:33)

A LIFE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

"Yea, verily, verily, I say unto you, if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold and very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men" (Alma 48:17)

Imagine if this was said of you.  What kind of a life would you have to live for this to be true?  Would it be possible for you to distinguish yourself among your peers as an upholder of righteousness?  Could you imagine being so righteous that the adversary cringes at the mention of your name?  Joseph Smith recorded something to this effect in his history, the magnitude of which I am sure he did not fully understand at the time:

"It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom......" (JSH 1:20)

We, of this the last dispensation of times, have been sent to earth to be just that, 'disturbers' and 'annoyers' of adversary's kingdom for we have been sent to counteract evil and wickedness in this world by living a life of righteousness.

This week's Sunday School lesson offers a very valuable insight regarding this subject through the story of Abraham and Lot, his nephew.  Following their sojourn in Egypt, Abraham and Lot were blessed so abundantly that the land could not contain them and it became apparent they would have to go their separate ways (Genesis 13:7).  Abraham, being the man that he was, offered Lot his choice of the land first.  Lot who was not as generous and mindful of others, chose the fertile plain along the Jordan River and left Abram the rocks of upper Canaan.  At first sight, it appears Abraham was very much disadvantaged but not so.  The rocks of upper Canaan offered Abraham and his household refuge and distance from the wickedness of Sodom. Lot, who it would seem had every advantage by settling on the green, fertile part of the valley, was so close to the city he should have avoided at all cost, that he unwisely pitched his tent toward it (Genesis 13:12). One would assume that looking at something day in and day out would eventually entice you to it. This truly must have been the case with Lot because when messengers came from the Lord to do a little inspection of Sodom, Lot was no longer living toward Sodom, he was living in it.

Abraham tried to make a deal with the Lord.  He asked him to spare Sodom if there could be found 10 righteous people in it.  He knew Lot's family numbered that much but when the time came for Lot to leave, the scriptures record he only had his wife and two unmarried daughters with him. That's 4 out of 10.  His wife must have been of two minds too because she turned to look back, perhaps even attempting to go back and was lost in the process and his daughters later committed moral transgressions with their own father. Where did they learn such behaviour?  In Sodom.  In reality Lot had lost his whole family to the wickedness of the world.  Where did Lot go wrong?  I think Lot's cracks first started to appear when he grabbed for himself what he thought was the better part of the land not considering his good hearted uncle.  The second bad move he made was setting his sights on the 'world' which was so visible from his tent.  Sooner or later the world sucks you in if you are looking at it longingly enough.

Consider the opposite example in Abraham who had a desire for righteousness at the center of his heart. Sometime after he and Lot first settled in Canaan, a confederation of kings attacked the cities of that valley. Lot didn't fare very well in that attack and was captured with his family and taken away together with all their possessions.  Abraham felt it his duty to rescue his brother's son and together with his servants pursued the invading kings and conquered them bringing Lot and his family back.  When he returned to his home, there were two kings there to meet him: one was the king of Sodom and the other was the king of Salem called Melchizedek: the king of wickedness and the king of righteousness.

Abraham's experience with these two kings teaches us about being righteous in a world of wickedness.  The king of Sodom, being one of Abraham's allies in the conquest that was just made, offered Abraham all the booty he had captured in the war but Abraham refused to take anything from this king of wickedness.  His reply to this king was:

"I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich" (Gen. 14:21-23)

Not only did Abraham know and acknowledge the true source of his prosperity, he was careful not to be a partaker of anything that was unrighteous and unclean, that had the potential to make him a part of the world. Alma spoke of this very thing when he said:

"And now I say unto you, all ye that are desirous to follow the voice of the good shepherd, come ye out from the wicked, and be ye separate, and touch not their unclean things; and behold their names shall be blotted out that the names of the wicked shall not be numbered among the names of the righteous, that the word of God may be fulfilled, which saith: The names of the wicked shall not be mingled with the names of my people." (Alma 5:57)

Not only did Abraham abstain from taking the tiniest endowment from the king of wickedness, he willingly gave to the king of righteousness:

"And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.  And he gave him tithes of all." (Gen. 14:18-29)

Abraham's allegiance was to God and no earthly possession, entitlement or situation could entice him to be a part of the world of wickedness.  For this reason, his life was a model of righteousness.  Beside the Saviour, could there be a more righteous person than Abraham?