Alma 13-16 - Alma, Amulek, Zeezrom, and the city of Ammonihah

When we left off from my previous post, Alma had become discouraged by the hard-heartedness of the people of Ammonihah, and had been about to depart for the city of Aaron to preach there instead, when the Lord through an angel told him to go back and try again, and where Amulek, having seen an angel, was prepared to feed Alma.

Protect Ourselves by Listening and Being Humble

So many times in ancient history, we've read about the Lord sending prophets to go back to a city that wouldn't listen, and to try again. Abinadi did this for King Noah's people, and Lehi did this for the wicked city of Jersusalem. Each time that the people did not listen, their cities were destroyed, and the people either died or were taken into bondage. The same thing happens with Ammonihah, that boasts in Alma 9:4-5 that they cannot be destroyed in a day. In Alma 16:3, 9, 10, we read "... and the people of Ammonihah were destroyed; yea, every living soul of the Ammonihahites was destroyed, and also their great city, which they said God could not destroy." The Lord loves his children and it was reaffirmed to me again that he sent prophets back again and again because he truly wanted to give the people an opportunity to listen and repent, and in some cases, some heard and repented.

It is a great reminder not to be lifted up in the pride of our hearts, never to forget that our gifts come from the Lord, and that they should be used to lift others up, not for our own pride.

This scripture from earlier came to mind as I was reading this section of scriptures: Mosiah 4:30: "But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of Our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not." 

Alma reminds us in Alma 13:28-29, "But that ye would humble yourselves before the Lord, and call on his holy name, and watch and pray continually, that ye may not be tempted above that which ye can bear, and thus be led by the Holy Spirit, becoming humble, meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering; Having faith on the Lord; having a hope that ye shall receive eternal life; having the love of God always in your hearts, that ye may be lifted up at the last day and enter into his rest."

In Alma 13, alma reminds of us Melchizedek, whose people had forgotten to be humble and forgot their God. However, Melchizedek exercised much faith, and preached repentance to his people. They listened, and as a result, it says in Alma 13:18, "... Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days."

The Opportunity for Repentance

The sad thing about these cities being lost and destroyed is that it was entirely preventable if people would stop hardening their hearts. I thought it was interesting and maybe a little ironic that Alma had to content with the savvy lawyer Zeezrom because Zeezrom might not have realized that when Alma was younger, he was just like Zeezrom, preaching things that were opposite to the word of God (see Mosiah 27). 

Remember, Zeezrom was one of the very successful lawyers at the time, and the reason he sought to destroy Alma and Amulek was because if people and were good, then they didn't need to be brought before the judges, which then took away the livelihood of the lawyers. They wanted people to make mistakes because it was very profitable for them. So, it is interesting that as Zeezrom sought to destroy Alma and Amulek with words, he suddenly realized that he was truly talking to men of God, and that he had made a terrible mistake preaching against them. In Alma 14, Zeezrom tried to right his wrongs but the people that had previously listened to him not cast him out too. Alma and Amulek were then taken to jail, and many of God's followers were burned in a fire. 

Zeezrom wouldn't know that the Lord was with them and protected them, and killed the evil lawyers and judge by having the prison walls come down upon them, until the two arrived in Sidon and found the people that had fled. Sounds familiar? Alma was following some of the patterns of his father, taking people out of the city with him that were believers of God, and in Alma 15:12, it says, "Alma baptized Zeezrom unto the Lord; and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people." Just like Alma's father who used to be one of King Noah's evil high priests, just like Alma who used to preach against God, Zeezrom learned that he had been following the wrong path, repented, and devoted his life to preaching the word of God.

The Power of Sacrifice

Amulek, Alma, and Zeezrom all made great sacrifices to preach the word of God. Amulek was a wealthy man with much respect and friends. It says in Alma 15:16 that he lost the support and respect of his father, his friends, and he had to give up his worldly possessions as he left them behind in Ammonihah. 

I thought it was beautiful though that Amulek met Alma when he first fed him after Alma had fasted many days, and after their harrowing experience in Ammoniah, that Alma took Amulek back to Zarahemla, and in Alma 15:18, it says that he "took him to his own house, and did administer unto him in his tribulations, and strengthened him in the Lord." 

Amulek had to watch a lot of good men and women die for their their beliefs too, and that was hard for him to see, and though we are reminded that "the Lord receiveth them up unto himself in glory" (see Alma 14:11) I don't think that necessarily lifted the sorrow from their hearts. But the Lord was with them and they were blessed as they continued to choose God over their fears and the pride of the world.

We are Equals in the Lord's Eyes

My final thought this week was that we are truly equal in the Lord's eyes. There are unfortunately a lot of voices out there saying otherwise, or trying to demean the voices asking for equality by shrugging it off as not a "real" issue, or using callous labels to demean others or lay unfair blame on the door of an entire race, and pretending injustices aren't happening. The Lord sees all of us, and he sees how we choose to live each moment of our lives. In ancient times he uses angels more frequently, in modern times, he gives us promptings to be each other's angels, to lift each other up, as equals, brothers and sisters and children of a Heavenly Father.

In Alma 16:14 we are reminded, "And as many as would hear their words, unto them they did impart the word of God, without any respect of persons, continually." Alma and Amulek preached to anyone who would listen, as the gospel is for everyone. 

In Alma 16:15 we learn that though the scriptures here talk about Alma and Amulek, "many more" were "chosen for the work." 

And in Alma 16:16, it says, "And there was no inequality among them; the Lord did pour out his Spirit on all the face of the land to prepare the minds of the children of men, or to prepare their hearts to receive the word which should be taught among them at the time of his coming."

"Jesus Christ Will Come to Redeem His People" - Alma 8-12

As I read Alma 8-12 this week, a much-quoted line that I believe originated from President Thomas S. Monson in his October 2012 talk, "Consider the Blessings," came to mind. He said, "... Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and will help us as we call upon Him for assistance. I believe that no concern of ours is too small or insignificant. The Lord is in the details of our lives." Today I want to share some thoughts about how I have seen that this is true.

The Lord Sends Missionaries to Save His People
This week's theme from the "Come Follow Me" manual is "Jesus Christ Will Come to Redeem His People." Our Heavenly Father has always used servants of God to help teach and serve, and these chapter are no different. In Alma 8, Alma has stepped down from the Chief Judgement seat, which was a place of honor and power, as the judges had replaced the king in the land. He did this because his heart ached for every soul that had not come to God.

By Alma 8:15, Alma was "weighed down with sorrow." While he had been successful in his missionary journeys to Zarahelma, Gideon, and Melek, at this point he was weighed down because he had left Ammonihah, and there, the people were so hard-hearted that they "spit upon him, and caused that he should be cast out of their city." (Alma 8:13.) Alma was crushed by the wickedness of his people. Contrast this to people like Nehor and Amlici in previous chapters, that were seeking fame and fortune. Alma just wanted to save souls.

I had this confirmation that the Lord is in the details of our lives as an angel visited Alma in Alma 8:15 and asked him to "lift up they head and rejoice, for thou has great cause to rejoice; for thou has been faithful in keeping the commandments of God." He then asked Alma to return to Ammoniah to preach repentance.

The Lord Prepares a Way
The Lord also sent an angel to Amulek to prepare him for Alma's return to Ammoniah, letting him know that Alma would need to be fed, and that Amulek and his family would be blessed for it.

This preparing of the way reminded me of the Acts 10 in the Bible, that was written in the years after Jesus died on the cross, and his apostles had gone out to continue teaching his word. This chapter talks about a devout man that feared and prayed to God but did not have the full gospel of Jesus Christ in his life. He was a Gentile. Cornelius was told by an angel to send for Simon Peter in the same way that Amulek was told to wait for Alma. Both were blessed for their faith. In both cases, a prophet of God visited with them because the prophet was also listening to the Lord.

In Alma 9:25 it says, "And now for this cause, that ye may not be destroyed, the Lord has sent his angel to visit many of his people, declaring unto them that they must go forth and cry mightily unto this people, saying: "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is night at hand." I love this reminder that the Lord expects us to live up to the level of light and knowledge we have about the gospel of Christ but that he does not want us to fail. He sends prophets, preachers, scriptures, and more to give us ample reminders lest we forget to be as Alma says in chapter 7:32: humble, submissive and gentle, easy to be entreated, full of patience and long-suffering, temperate in all things, diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all time, always returning thanks unto God, with faith, hope, and charity, always abounding in good works.

Pride Cometh Before the Fall
In Alma 9:4-5, the people of Ammonihah that refuse to listen to Alma brag that a city as great as theirs could not be destroyed. Alma immediately reminds them that Jersualem said the same thing in 1 Nephi 1 when Lehi preached repentance to his people. This theme happened in the scriptures, and is happening in the world, over and over again. When we forget the Lord, become puffed up in pride and greediness, the cities we build, the wealth we've gained, will eventually come crumbling down. Alma reminds them in Alma 9:8, "how have ye forgotten the tradition of your fathers; yea how soon ye have forgotten the commandments of God."

He reminds the people in Alma 9:26, "And not many days hence the Son of God shall come in his glory; and his glory shall be the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace, equity, and truth, full of patience, mercy, and long-suffering, quick to hear the cries of his people and to answer their prayers."

We must forget that our blessings and our gifts come from the Lord. If we can remember, we can focus on how to use our brief time here on earth wisely, to be kind, gentle, patience, and to keep the commandments of God.

Choosing Greed Before God
In Alma 10 and 11 the lawyers fight against Alma and Amulek, hoping to make them look bad because if the people repent, and no longer needs lawyers to defend themselves from the judgement seat, then those lawyers lose some of their income. This is reminiscent of Corinthians in the Bible, where in some areas of the land, Aphrodite was worshipped, and metal workers greatly profited from making metal idols. They also fought the word of God because the more people that turned to God, the less people they had to buy their metal works. How neat would it have been if these lawyers and metal workers could have looked for way to re-target their talents and skills?

During this Covid-19 pandemic, and the great mourning of our Black brothers and sisters as they fight for true equality, I have seen people successfully shift their skills rather than fight for greed before God. For instance, in response to the pandemic, a local restaurant that made a great deal of their money by catering to wedding events, and likely had a little more money than some of the other smaller, struggling businesses, paid their employees that now no longer had any work, to go and volunteer at the other businesses that were struggling to get by. To support our Black community, the global tech company where I work has created new education channels and donated $1 million to the EJI that defends human righhts, among other activities. I am citing examples that are close to me but I wanted to share these two examples from groups that don't represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day but are being Christ-like, the way that Cornelius and Amulek may not have known God well, but sought to be Christ-like, and chose God before Greed.

In Alma 10:4-5, Amulek was a successful man but he stated that despite his successes, he hadn't known God, until he realized that he did. He says in Alma 10:5, "... 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."

Themes from Come Follow Me guide
I want to briefly touch on some of the topics in the Come Follow Me guide and how some of the thoughts above relate.

1. "My efforts to share the gospel may require persistence and patience."
This goes along with what I was reminded that the Lord prepares a way - but he doesn't always prepare the pay we might expect, in the timeline we might expect. I talked about this earlier, when Alma's father, Alma, was leading his people away from evil King Noah. They were in bondage for some time to the Lamanites before they could escape. Persistence and patience is always a theme in life and it's worth it. I compare it to the patience of earning a high school diploma or a college degree, getting ready to run a 5K from not having run before, recovering from an illness and getting your body healthy and strong again.

2. "God's plan is a plan of redemption."
God has commandments in place for us to return to him but he very clearly does not want us to fail. That is why he sends us so many maps, so many guides. We have the Bible, the Book of Mormon, teachings from our prophets and leaders that are recorded on our church website, and in words of the prophets books, among other places. We have prophets, bishops, and weekly sacrament. It is all in place to help us to success in his plan.

3. "If I will not harden my heart, I can receive more of the word of God."
The more we listen, the more we get to learn. I loved what Amulek said about this in Alma 10:4-5, that I referenced above. In Alma 11and 12, Zeezrom, a lawyer, tries to convince the people that Alma and Amulek are wrong. He thinks he can do this because he's a very skilled lawyer. I think it's interesting that Alma used to go about preaching against the word of God. Essentially, he was Zeezrom before an angel of the Lord struck Alma dumb and called on him to repent. Alma knew exactly what he was doing. He let Amulek do the talking and before long, Zeezrom was shaking as he heard the truth.

I affirm that the Lord is in the details of our lives. He sees us, he knows us, and as we willingly place our trust in him, he will help us, though the path may be steep and not so very straight.