BOOK OF MORMON
Alma - Chapter 15 Critique
Setting: Alma and Amulek are released from prison and ordered out of Ammonihah. They establish a church in Sidom and Zeezrom is healed. Alma and Amulek return to Zarahemla in 81 BCE America.
Verse 1: And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek were commanded to depart out of that city; and they departed, and came out even into the land of Sidom; and behold, there they found all the people who had departed out of the land of Ammonihah, who had been cast out and stoned, because they believed in the words of Alma.
Note: Will you believe in person of Jesus Christ or the empty words of the BOM?
John 14:1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me."
Verse 2: And they related unto them all that had happened unto their wives and children, and also concerning themselves, and of their power of deliverance.
Note: Are you a servant of Jesus Christ? Is there a plan for you to serve God?
2 Timothy 4:17 But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
Verses 3-5: And also Zeezrom lay sick at Sidom, with a burning fever, which was caused by the great tribulations of his mind on account of his wickedness, for he supposed that Alma and Amulek were no more; and he supposed that they had been slain because of his iniquity. And this great sin, and his many other sins, did harrow up his mind until it did become exceedingly sore, having no deliverance; therefore he began to be scorched with a burning heat. Now, when he heard that Alma and Amulek were in the land of Sidom, his heart began to take courage; and he sent a message immediately unto them, desiring them to come unto him. And it came to pass that they went immediately, obeying the message which he had sent unto them; and they went in unto the house unto Zeezrom; and they found him upon his bed, sick, being very low with a burning fever; and his mind also was exceedingly sore because of his iniquities; and when he saw them he stretched forth his hand, and besought them that they would heal him.
Note: Are you a servant of Jesus Christ? Is there a plan for you to serve God?
2 Timothy 3:10-11 But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra—what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me.
Verses 6-9: And it came to pass that Alma said unto him, taking him by the hand: Believest thou in the power of Christ unto salvation? And he answered and said: Yea, I believe all the words that thou hast taught. And Alma said: If thou believest in the redemption of Christ thou canst be healed. And he said: Yea, I believe according to thy words.
Note: The Mormons teach that there is no salvation outside of the freedom of worship.
Freedom of worship is one of the basic doctrines of the gospel. Indeed, in one manner of speaking it is the most basic of all doctrines, even taking precedence over the nature and kind of being that God is, or the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God, or the vesting of priesthood and keys and saving power in the one true church. By this we mean that if there were no freedom of worship, there would be no God, no redemption, and no salvation in the kingdom of God. Bruce R. McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith.
Verses 10-12: And then Alma cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord our God, have mercy on this man, and heal him according to his faith which is in Christ. And when Alma had said these words, Zeezrom leaped upon his feet, and began to walk; and this was done to the great astonishment of all the people; and the knowledge of this went forth throughout all the land of Sidom. And Alma baptized Zeezrom unto the Lord; and he began from that time forth to preach unto the people.
Note: Are you a servant of Jesus Christ? Is there a plan for you to serve God?
Mark 1:30-31 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told Him about her at once. So He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her. And she served them.
Verses 13-14: 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.
Note: Christian baptism was unknown in BCE America.
Nearly all Christian churches baptize. They follow the example of Saint John the Baptist and the instructions of Jesus Christ and Saint Paul, as set forth in the New Testament. Most churches consider baptism to be the main ceremony signifying a person's entry into the Christian community. 2004 World Book Encyclopedia.
Verse 15: But as to the people that were in the land of Ammonihah, they yet remained a hard-hearted and a stiffnecked people; and they repented not of their sins, ascribing all the power of Alma and Amulek to the devil; for they were of the profession of Nehor, and did not believe in the repentance of their sins.
Note: Mormons teach that everyone outside the LDS church is of the devil.
(Matthew 8:12 commentary) Children of the wicked one (not children of the kingdom, as the King James Version has it), but children or followers of the devil. All who do not follow Christ and keep his commandments are so classified. (Alma 5:38-40.) Children of the kingdom are faithful members of the Church who adhere to the standards of the kingdom. They are followers or disciples of the Master, having accepted the doctrines and obeyed the ordinances of the Church or kingdom. Bruce R. McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols.
Verses 16-17: And it came to pass that Alma and Amulek, Amulek having 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, after Alma having established the church at Sidom, seeing a great check, yea, seeing that the people were checked as to the pride of their hearts, and began to humble themselves before God, and began to assemble themselves together at their sanctuaries to worship God before the altar, watching and praying continually, that they might be delivered from Satan, and from death, and from destruction—
Note: Are you a servant of Jesus Christ? Is there a plan for you to serve God?
Luke 1:74-75 To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
Verses 18-19: Now as I said, Alma having seen all these things, therefore he 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. And thus ended the tenth year of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
Note: Are you a servant of Jesus Christ? Is there a plan for you to serve God?
2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
Note: Jesus Christ is not a church based in Utah.