This is a continuation
of my previous post about the results of Alma’s visit to the city
Ammonihah. To review:
In Alma, chapters 14 – 16 we read of the aftermath of Alma’s and
Amulek’s teachings to the Ammonihahites.
You’ll recall that after Alma and Amulek finished addressing the people
of Ammonihah, some of the people believed what they had been taught, but most
did not… they were angry about being
called to repentance. They took Alma and Amulek, treated them roughly and put
them in prison.
In considering the events of these chapters, I saw four different viewpoints...
In my last post I told the story of Zeezrom and the story of the Believers…
those that believed Alma’s and Amulek’s teachings. I now continue with two more perspectives.
The Ammonihahites story:
We read about this group: “Now Satan had gotten great hold upon the
hearts of the people of the city of Ammonihah; therefore they would not hearken
unto the words of Alma” (Alma 8:9). Satan had done his work well in this
city.
If I were to describe this group’s point of view in one sentence,
it would be: “They liked things the way
they were”. The composition of this
group of people included the leaders of the city, i.e. the chief judge,
lawyers, teachers and others who opposed Alma’s and Amulek’s words. Alma tells us that the people were primarily
of the Order of Nehors, with beliefs that were contrary to the true
Gospel. You will remember that Nehor
was a public figure in the first year of the reign of the judges (approximately
ten years before Alma comes to Ammonihah).
He gained popularity by teaching his ‘beliefs’: that Preachers should become popular and be
supported by the people; that all people would be saved at the last day, and
people need not fear God but rejoice because everyone would be redeemed no
matter what they do. Nehor killed the
elderly Gideon, who testified of the true Gospel and vigorously disagreed with
Nehor (see Alma 1 for the story).
So Nehor’s “beliefs” were practiced by the leaders of
Ammonihah. The leaders in Ammonihah used
their Nehor faith to “get gain” – enhance and justify their lives. They were supported by the people, they reveled
in their sins, and they probably had lavish and expensive life styles. Furthermore, the teachings of Alma and Amulek
would have destroyed their way of living.
This gave the people every reason to try to discredit, persecute and
even prosecute Alma and Amulek.
These people were clearly in charge and held power in
Ammonihah. Over the course of the next
few days, weeks and months they abused their power to do unspeakable things to
Alma, Amulek, the people that believed their words, and to innocent women and
children.
This part of the story should be noted: I don’t doubt that there were good people in
Ammonihah; in fact Alma and Amulek converted many. But there were many more in Ammonihah who
followed their misguided leaders, allowed terrible things to happen, and ultimately
perished. Let’s take a lesson from this
story: In our lives we will have
questions about the church and the gospel.
Ideas, beliefs or practices may be presented to us that sound plausible,
or even sound true. We need to be on
guard against what the Nehors of our time may tell us. I would suggest that there are three
questions that we can ask ourselves when presented with a concept that we’re
unsure of. 1) Did this concept come from
the prophet (or apostle, or an authorized representative) of the Lord? 2) If I pray about this concept, do I get an
assurance of its validity? 3) If I
believe and/or live this concept, will it bring me closer to the Lord and will
my testimony be strengthened? The Holy
Spirit will guide us as we ask these questions.
May we always heed and adhere to Moroni’s promise: “And
when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God,
the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if
ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he
will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may
know the truth of all things” (Moroni 10:4-5).
Satan’s efforts were fruitful with the Ammonihahites; they already
had a grudge against Alma from his first visit there. They would only hear the things that offended
them and refused to listen to the truths spoken by Alma and Amulek. The lawyers and teachers tried their best to
trip up Alma and Amulek in the things that they taught. It’s interesting to note that these people obviously
knew the gospel to some degree. The
questions they asked Alma and Amulek were gospel-centric and they knew enough
to phrase their questions and statements correctly. It appears that they were willingly ignoring
the truths that they were being taught by Alma and Amulek in order to promote
their own agendas. I hope that I never
will disregard a gospel lesson, even if it is inconvenient. Perhaps this happens more than we may think,
though. Do we follow the prophet?
Even though the Ammonihahites couldn’t stop Alma and Amulek from
completing their assignment, the wicked people temporarily prevailed against
them. They took Alma and Amulek, bound
them and roughed them up, spitting upon them and "gnashing their teeth
upon them" (I’m not sure how that worked). The people imprisoned
them, bound and naked, in the local prison and withheld food and water from
them.
Shortly after imprisoning Alma and Amulek, the chief judge had
them brought to a place where they were forced to witness women and children
being burned to death in the fire that was fed by the scriptures and records of
the true believers. The Ammonihah
leaders felt they had really disgraced Alma and Amulek. “…The
chief judge of the land came and stood before Alma and Amulek … and he smote
them with his hand upon their cheeks, and said unto them: After what ye have
seen, will ye preach again unto this people, that they shall be cast into a
lake of fire and brimstone? Behold, ye
see that ye had not power to save those who had been cast into the fire;
neither has God saved them because they were of thy faith. And the judge smote
them again upon their cheeks, and asked: What say ye for yourselves? And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek
answered him nothing; and he smote them again, and delivered them to the
officers to be cast into prison” (Alma 14:14-15, 16). I find it remarkable that a people who have
embraced liberty, as the Nephites had done, would degrade into such a lawless
society, as they had in Ammonihah. As we
have already read, Satan had a great hold upon the hearts of these people. And King Mosiah spoke truly when he said “… if the time comes that the voice of the
people doth choose iniquity, then is the time that the judgments of God will
come upon you; yea, then is the time he will visit you with great destruction
even as he has hitherto visited this land” (Mosiah 29:27). As we live our lives trying to be righteous,
we have a responsibility to assure that “the people” do not choose
iniquity. It is a daunting task, I know
– just look around at our society.
Still, we are not excused from keeping our society from completely
becoming an Ammonihah.
After this horrible experience, the Ammonihah leaders regularly
came to the prison to mock, abuse and degrade Alma and Amulek. I imagine that these leaders, lawyers and
teachers reveled in their depraved “fun”, thinking that they could do these
things with impunity. After "many days" of this treatment, one
day a large group of the judges and lawyers, including the chief judge, came to
Alma and Amulek and once again repeated their brutality. As the group stood
there mocking the prisoners, Alma and Amulek arose and somehow burst their
bands. The Ammonihah leaders were so astonished that they fell to the
ground and couldn’t move. The earth started shaking and the walls of the prison
fell upon the chief judge and all of his wicked entourage, crushing them to
death. I wonder if the last thing they thought of was that somehow
Zeezrom had managed to avoid this calamity.
Hearing the tumultous racket from the earthquake and the
subsequent prison collapse, the remaining people of Ammonihah ran to the prison
and saw Alma and Amulek emerging unscathed. The people were so shocked
that they ran away in fear. Later, recovering from the whole affair, the
Ammonihahites explained away the events by telling each other that Alma and
Amulek were devils and used the devil's power to escape. Self-justification
(a.k.a. self-deception) is quite commonly used by people, and even more-so by
Satan and his minions.
We learn from chapter 16 that shortly (2 to 3 months) after Alma
and Amulek left Ammonihah, a Lamanite army came “into the city of Ammonihah, and began to slay the people and destroy
the city… before the Nephites could
raise a sufficient army to drive them out of the land, they had destroyed the
people who were in the city of Ammonihah; yea, every living soul of the
Ammonihahites was destroyed, and also their great city, which they said God
could not destroy, because of its greatness” (Alma 16:2-3,9).
The take-away lesson from this story may be that Satan does not
support his followers in the end. At
Ammonihah, he accomplished his goal – to cause men “…to choose captivity and death... for [the devil] seeketh that all men
might be miserable like unto himself” (2 Ne 2:27). Who does support each and every member
of mankind no matter what? Our Father in
Heaven does.
Alma and Amulek's story:
I think Alma felt good about the delivery of the warnings,
messages and teachings to the people. Alma had fulfilled the Lord’s
commandment to warn the residents of the city of their impending destruction. Both Alma and Amulek were guided and uplifted
by the Spirit throughout their confrontation.
When Alma finished his discourse, many cried to the Lord for forgiveness
and sought for repentance. Alma must
have been delighted that these people would recognize the truths he had taught
and that it had affected them so. If you
have you ever been present when a person who is being taught the gospel begins
to feel the powerful message the Spirit delivers, you probably know how Alma
felt. If only we could feel this way
each time we bear testimony.
On the other hand, imagine Alma's dismay when the rest of the
people were angry because of the things he had said. But Alma and Amulek
had delivered the message that God had commanded them to. They submitted themselves to the
Ammonihahites, and endured the awful treatment at the hands of the leaders of
the city. The leaders "arrested" them and had the people bind
them by the hands and feet to be carried off to be “tried” and imprisoned. “And
the people went forth and witnessed against them—testifying that they had
reviled against the law, and their lawyers and judges ... and also of all the
people that were in the land; and also testified that there was but one God,
and that he should send his Son among the people, but he should not save them”
(Alma 14:5).
Throughout the proceedings the wicked people of the city hit them,
spit on them, "gnashed their teeth" upon them and tethered them,
naked, in strong ropes. While this
happened, the people, led by the chief judge, lawyers and teachers, drove those
that believed Alma and Amulek's words from the city and sent men to throw
stones at them. The people then took the families of the believers and
slaughtered them in the most barbaric way - by fire. Alma and Amulek were taken to see these
innocent people being burned to death. Amulek,
obviously agonizing over what was happening, said to 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”
(Alma 14:10). Alma, in what must have
been a monumental and difficult moment of obedience to the spirit, replied: “The Spirit constraineth me that I must not
stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in
glory…” (Alma 14:11). I’m sure that
Amulek was supremely disappointed by this.
He said: “Behold, perhaps they
will burn us also. And Alma said: Be it according to the will of the Lord. But,
behold, our work is not finished; therefore they burn us not” (Alma 14:
12-13). John Bytheway teaches this
lesson from Alma and Amulek’s interchange:
We are on the earth at this moment because our work is not yet
finished. No matter how things are
going in our lives, we are still on the Lord’s errand. Do you know what the Lord wants you to be
doing? Are you actively doing it?
Alma and Amulek were held prisoners for a long time*, being
mistreated, starved, left bound and naked, and regularly beaten and abused. After "many days*" of being being
beaten, spit upon, and mocked by the chief judge, his lawyers and his teachers,
Alma and Amulek stood in the majesty of righteous dignity, calling upon God to
break his bonds. When Alma and Amulek were miraculously freed, the
dumfounded group of tormentors fell to the floor of the prison in fear.
Alma and Amulek walked out of the prison safely, while the ground quaked,
causing the prison walls to fall, killing the chief judge and his followers.
As Alma and Amulek emerged from the prison, the wicked Ammonihahites who
had come to see what the commotion was all about fled from them in fear.
Alma and Amulek were commanded to leave Ammonihah, and made their
way to the city of Sidom, a much more righteous community. There they were cared for, and proceeded to
teach the people. In Sidom they found
the people who had been driven out of Ammonihah, including Zeezrom. They
were summoned by Zeezrom, who was deathly ill, a result of the guilt he felt
for his part in the Ammonihah fiasco. He was healed by the ministration
of Alma after professing his belief in Jesus and in Alma's teachings.
Zeezrom, a changed man, went about ministering to the people of Sidom
thereafter. Alma and Amulek also had the
unenviable task of breaking bad news about the families of those who had been
banished from Ammonihah. Sometimes in
our service to God and to others we are burdened by a duty like this. I’m sure Alma, guided by the Spirit, was gentle
and comforting. This is a good example
for us in dealing with a hard task that is part of our callings. All things can be done better or easier when
we are guided by the Spirit.
Alma, Amulek and Zeezrom proceeded to do God’s work… “And
Alma established a church in the land of Sidom, and consecrated priests and
teachers in the land, to baptize unto the Lord whosoever were desirous to be
baptized. And it came to pass that they
were many; for they did flock in from all the region round about Sidom, and
were baptized” (Alma 15:13-14).
Finally, after being away for almost a year, Alma took Amulek, who
had “forsaken all his gold, and silver,
and his precious things, which were in the land of Ammonihah, for the word of
God, he being rejected by those who were once his friends and also by his
father and his kindred… therefore,
Alma took Amulek and came over to the land of Zarahemla, and took him to his
own house, and did administer unto him in his tribulations, and strengthened
him in the Lord” (Alma
15:16-17). May the Lord bless all who,
like Amulek, have given up all to live the Gospel. May we all have the courage and convictions that
Amulek had.
I have only pointed out a few of the things I have learned from
this story. Read the chapters about
Alma, Amulek and Ammonihah and I know you’ll get a lot from the
experience. I’m grateful for my life and
my heritage. I’m grateful that I haven’t
been burned, mocked or beaten for my testimony.
Perhaps we will someday have to face dire circumstances and stand up for
what is right; I hope I can live up to the example shown by Alma and Amulek.
Don
* “Long time” and “Many
days”
A long time is a
relative term… Alma wrote that they were
imprisoned for “many days”. If we look
at the timeframes involved we can get a sense of how long Alma and Amulek endured
imprisonment. In chapter 8 of Alma we
learn that Alma left home bound for Melek and Ammonihah at the beginning of the
10th year of the Reign of the Judges. At
the end of chapter 15 we read that he returned to Zarahemla with Amulek at or
near the end of the 10th year of the Reign of the Judges. This means that the events in Melek,
Ammonihah and Sidom took an entire year.
Here is my attempt at
assembling a time line for year 10 of the Reign of the Judges as it pertains to
Alma’s experience. I’ll use a calendar
familiar to us so that we can more fully appreciate the elapsed time.
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January
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Beginning of year 10
(let’s say the 3rd week of the month; January 16th: Alma departs for Melek.
3rd week plus
4 days; January 20th: Alma arrives at
Melek and begins to teach the people.
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February
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March
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6 weeks later; March 3rd: Alma finishes his work at Melek and leaves
for Ammonihah.
3 days later; March 6th: Alma arrives in Ammonihah and prepares to
teach the people there.
2 weeks later: March 20th: Alma tries to teach and warn the people, but
is cast out of Ammonihah.
2 days of traveling;
March 22nd: Alma returns to
Ammonihah after journeying toward the city of Aaron. He meets Amulek.
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April
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May
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8 weeks later; May 17th: Alma and Amulek began to address the people
of Ammonihah.
Three days later; May 20th: Alma and Amulek complete their assignments
to the warn and teach the people and are taken into custody.
1 week later; May 27th: Alma and Amulek have been falsely accused,
tried, and imprisoned.
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June
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1 week later; June 3rd: The believers are driven out of Ammonihah and
their families are put to death by fire.
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12 weeks; August 26th: Alma calls upon God for strength, the prison
walls fall, Alma and Amulek leave the prison and Ammonihah
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September
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1 week later; September
2nd: Alma and Amulek arrive
at Sidom after a hard journey from the city of Ammonihah
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October
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8 weeks after; October
28th: Alma and Amulek heal
Zeezrom, teach and baptize people;
organize churches in the area; preach, teach, and set the spiritual affairs of
the people in and around Sidom in order.
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November
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December
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1 week later; November 4th: Alma, Amulek and Zeezrom return to
Zarahemla. Remainder of the year Alma
gets Amulek situated and comfortable in his new life.
As I’m sure you realize,
these dates are complete speculation, guided by the small amount of information
I could glean from the Ammonihah chapters.
Your guess is as good as mine, but I think the time frame is
plausible. Certainly, it is at best a thought-out
guess and at worst a total mess of inaccuracy.
What it did, though, was satisfy my curiosity. I hope you are intrigued by the scriptures
and have a curiosity that is anchored by the knowledge that the scriptures are
true.
Don
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