Mormon writes that under Alma’s leadership “there was nothing preached in all the churches except it were repentance and faith in God” (Mosiah 25:22). To “preach repentance” is to preach the gospel, to declare the reality of Jesus Christ and him crucified, and to proclaim that salvation is in him and through the principles and ordinances of his gospel. In commanding his people to “preach nothing but repentance,” it was not the intent of Alma or Mosiah to preclude the preaching of other doctrines and principles, even including that which the scriptures call the mysteries of the kingdom.
Rather, the teaching of the first principles must precede and thus lay the foundation for that which must and will follow. It is a sad commentary when someone utilizes such a text to cover spiritual lethargy, to excuse himself from the responsibility to feed his spirit and thus continue to grow in gospel understanding (see Hebrews 5:12-14). To limit our teaching to two principles of the gospel would seem to question the wisdom of the Lord in giving us the marvelous truths found in the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and, for that matter, the Bible, all of which he has commanded us to teach.