Alma 14-15

Alma 14

Alma and Amulek’s preaching creates great waves in Ammonihah! There are many people who believe and begin to repent, and believe it or not, the lawyer Zeezrom who originally led the interrogation of Alma and Amulek, is greatly impacted by their words.

Unfortunately, the majority of the people are angered by Alma and Amulek, and bring them tied and bound to the Chief Judge of their land, who is an awful guy. When the believers, including converted-Zeezrom, try to stick up for Alma and Amulek in their unfair trial, they are chased out of the land by the unbelievers. And most horribly, the wives and children of the believers are gathered together and thrown into a pit of fire to be burned along with their scriptures. Alma and Amulek are forced to watch this awful scene. 

Why don’t Alma and Amulek call upon God to save these innocent people? Why does God allow terrible things to happen to good people? We probably won't understand all the answers in this life; but in this case, Alma tells Amulek just one reason why God sometimes allows bad people to do bad things to good people:

10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames.

 11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.

 12 Now Amulek said unto Alma: Behold, perhaps they will burn us also.

 13 And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. But, behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not.

After witnessing this awful scene, Alma and Amulek are thrown into prison for days where they are stripped, starved, and beaten, and every day the Chief Judge and his entourage come to question them, mock them, and beat them more. Alma and Amulek refuse to speak.

After many days of this routine, Alma and Amulek finally cry to God for deliverance while their crowd of oppressors are in the prison, and the entire prison crashes to the ground. Every person in the prison is killed except for Alma and Amulek, who walk out free.

Alma 15

The Lord commands Alma and Amulek to leave the city of Ammonihah, where the people remain hard-hearted and attribute Alma and Amulek’s power to the devil.

They go to the neighboring town of Sidom where they find all the men who had believed Alma and Amulek and fled from Ammonihaha. Alma and Amulek tell them the tragic news of what happened to their wives and children, and also what happened to them in prison.

A miracle of healing occurs in vs. 3-12 for Zeezrom—remember, the bad lawyer turned good? I’ll let you read it yourself.

Alma and Amulek establish the church in the land of Sidom, and then they are able to rest and rejuvenate from their labors for a time. Even the prophets have to re-coop sometimes!

Alma 12-13

Alma 12

Parts of the Plan of Salvation (or God's plan for His children) are discussed in this chapter.

Alma continues to debate with the town lawyers, although Zeezrom is starting to back off because he has been affected by what Amulek taught. There are a few important doctrines I'd like to highlight that Alma teaches in this chapter.

1.  Our personal understanding of spiritual things AND our personal spiritual freedom are directly related to the “hardness” of our hearts—how willing we are to learn and believe. And it’s a spiral, either upward or downward.

10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.

11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell.

2.   Our lives, and the state of our hearts, will stand as irrefutable testimony against us (or for us) in the Final Judgment when we stand before God, which will happen for every single person.

13 Then if our hearts have been hardened, yea, if we have hardened our hearts against the word, insomuch that it has not been found in us, then will our state be awful, for then we shall be condemned.

 14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.

Alma obviously chose to emphasize the bad-case-scenario here, because he is speaking to a hard-hearted group of people. These verses can definitely come across as gloomy or threatening… OR they can be a hopeful, helpful warning before it’s too late, of the reality that our very own consciences will burn within us before God someday IF we choose to ignore his mercy and waste our time on earth.

The end of vs. 15 tells us that if we are not prepared to meet God then we will “acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance”—meaning that there is nothing unfair or unkind about his judgments, and we had the option to accept His mercy but we know fully well in our hearts that it was our own choice to ignore it.

3. There is an important purpose to our lives—we are here to become more like God, and to prepare to meet Him again after we die. Don't waste this time!

 24 And we see that death comes upon mankind, yea, the death which has been spoken of by Amulek, which is the temporal death; nevertheless there was a space granted unto man in which he might repent; therefore this life became a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God; a time to prepare for that endless state which has been spoken of by us, which is after the resurrection of the dead.

4. God had His whole plan laid out (including a plan for resurrecting all His children) before He ever sent Adam and Eve down to earth to start the human race!

25 Now, if it had not been for the plan of redemption, which was laid from the foundation of the world, there could have been no resurrection of the dead; but there was a plan of redemption laid, which shall bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, of which has been spoken.

5. Because life has a purpose, and God has a plan for it all, He communicates with mankind so we will know all we need to know in order to fulfill our purpose here and be able to return to Him. His plan centers around Jesus Christ as our Savior. It is available to all, but He forces no one.

30 ...therefore God conversed with men, and made known unto them the plan of redemption, which had been prepared from the foundation of the world; and this he made known unto them according to their faith and repentance and their holy works.

 31 Wherefore, he gave commandments unto men… knowing good from evil, placing themselves in a state to act, or being placed in a state to act according to their wills and pleasures, whether to do evil or to do good—

 32 Therefore God gave unto them commandments, after having made known unto them the plan of redemption, that they should not do evil, the penalty thereof being a second death, which was an everlasting death as to things pertaining unto righteousness; for on such the plan of redemption could have no power, for the works of justice could not be destroyed, according to the supreme goodness of God.

 33 But God did call on men, in the name of his Son, (this being the plan of redemption which was laid) saying: If ye will repent, and harden not your hearts, then will I have mercy upon you, through mine Only Begotten Son;

Alma 13
The Book of Mormon is full of prophecies about the coming of Christ (keep in mind that this part of the Book of Alma was written about 82 B.C.). See in this passage how much Alma is looking forward to that day:

 24 For behold, angels are declaring it unto many at this time in our land; and this is for the purpose of preparing the hearts of the children of men to receive his word at the time of his coming in his glory.

 25 And now we only wait to hear the joyful news declared unto us by the mouth of angels, of his coming; for the time cometh, we know not how soon. Would to God that it might be in my day; but let it be sooner or later, in it I will rejoice.

 26 And it shall be made known unto just and holy men, by the mouth of angels, at the time of his coming, that the words of our fathers may be fulfilled, according to that which they have spoken concerning him, which was according to the spirit of prophecy which was in them.

 

Alma 10-11

Alma 10

Amulek takes the stage to preach to the people! We learn that he is from an impressive blood-line, and that he is actually a wealthy and well-known person in the community, which is why the people of Ammonihah are so surprised to see him up preaching with Alma!

Even though Amulek was from a blood-line of influential religious leaders, he confesses that he had never really been into the religion thing. I appreciate the accountability Amulek is willing to take for his decision to ignore spiritual things earlier in his life:

5 Nevertheless, after all this, I never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries and marvelous power. I said I never had known much of these things; but behold, I mistake, for I have seen much of his mysteries and his marvelous power; yea, even in the preservation of the lives of this people.

6 Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times and I would not hear; therefore I knew concerning these things, yet I would not know;

He tells the people that he now believes Alma and what he testifies. Amulek has an advantage, because an angel came to him to tell him to help and accept Alma. But he also believes because of his own personal experience with Alma:

 11 For behold, he hath blessed mine house, he hath blessed me, and my women, and my children, and my father and my kinsfolk; yea, even all my kindred hath he blessed, and the blessing of the Lord hath rested upon us according to the words which he spake.

I don’t think this just means that Alma “blessed his house” by touching each person’s head and uttering a blessing, like a priest would do. I think it means that Amulek saw change and goodness and benefits come to his family as a direct result of Alma being there. That, to me, is the real evidence of a true servant of God.

Amulek then begins to preach repentance, warning the people of Ammonihah that they need to repent or they will be destroyed. You will find this warning he issues to be very relevant later: 

22 Yea, and I say unto you that if it were not for the prayers of the righteous, who are now in the land, that ye would even now be visited with utter destruction;

23 But it is by the prayers of the righteous that ye are spared; now therefore, if ye will cast out the righteous from among you then will not the Lord stay his hand; but in his fierce anger he will come out against you;

Also I will add, many people aren’t very comfortable with the concept of the fierce anger of the Lord or the destructive power of the Lord. Usually I’m not either and I don’t think God is like that in most cases… but just wait until you see how horrendous these people really are—and you might feel some fierce anger, too!

Alma 11

The Nephite Lawyers and Judges like to stir up trouble in their cities, because they are paid per gig. Zeezrom, one particularly cunning lawyer, steps forward to debate with Amulek and tries to trip him up in his words and make the crowd angry with him.

I appreciate Zeezrom’s trouble-making-attempts, actually, because during this exchange we learn some beautiful and important doctrine from Amulek, including:

• Christ can and will save every single person from our sins IF we properly repent and access his power in the way he has laid out for us. But if we choose not to use this gift he has provided, he cannot save us IN our sins if we refuse to change. (vs. 34-37) 

37 And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.

• Similar to the point above, each person must choose to believe and follow Christ in order to utilize his redemptive power. To those who choose to reject Christ, it is as though no redemption was made EXCEPT that they will all live again, no matter what (i.e. every person will be resurrected thanks to Christ’s sacrifice, but the conditions and rewards thereafter will differ according to personal choice and worthiness). Did you know that?? This doctrine is incredible to me (read the verses below, they are amazing)!

40 And he shall come into the world to redeem his people; and he shall take upon him the transgressions of those who believe on his name; and these are they that shall have eternal life, and salvation cometh to none else.

 41 Therefore the wicked remain as though there had been no redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that all shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be judged according to their works.

42 Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the bands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death.

43 The spirit and the body shall be reunited again in its perfect form; both limb and joint shall be restored to its proper frame, even as we now are at this time; and we shall be brought to stand before God, knowing even as we know now, and have a bright recollection of all our guilt.

44 Now, this restoration shall come to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, both the wicked and the righteous; and even there shall not so much as a hair of their heads be lost; but every thing shall be restored to its perfect frame, as it is now, or in the body, and shall be brought and be arraigned before the bar of Christ the Son, and God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, which is one Eternal God, to be judged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil.