Alma 31

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 7/20 Green 5/21  8/22 Brown 8/23.)

Chapter 31

Alma heads a mission to reclaim the apostate Zoramites—The Zoramites deny Christ, believe in a false concept of election, and worship with set prayers—The missionaries are filled with the Holy Spirit—Their afflictions are swallowed up in the joy of Christ. About 74 B.C.

  1 Now it came to pass that after the end of Korihor, Alma having received tidings that the Zoramites were perverting the ways of the Lord, and that Zoram, who was their leader, was leading the hearts of the people to ^abow down to dumb ^bidols, Never understood the draw to worship idols his heart again began to ^csicken I am beginning to understand this phrase. I was grieving today and my heart was sick because of child sex trafficking:(  because of the iniquity of the people. The Zoramites is where Korihor went and met his demise.
  2 For it was the cause of great ^asorrow to Alma to know of iniquity among his people; therefore his heart was exceedingly ^bsorrowful because of the separation of the Zoramites from the Nephites. He has worked so hard to reclaim people and it makes him so sad when people separate themselves from the righteous.
  3 Now the Zoramites had gathered themselves together in a land which they called ^aAntionum, which was east of the land of Zarahemla, which lay nearly bordering upon the seashore, which was south of the land of ^bJershon, which also bordered upon the wilderness south, which wilderness was full of the Lamanites.
  4 Now the Nephites greatly feared that the Zoramites would enter into a ^acorrespondence with the Lamanites, and that it would be the means of great loss on the part of the Nephites.
  5 And now, as the ^apreaching of the ^bword had a great tendency to ^clead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God. I am assuming this is seen when the word is preached with the spirit and power of God. Missionaries preach the word all the time and people are not convinced. I assume they have a measure of the spirit as well. He does qualify this with the words "tendency" meaning not all the time. But testimony doesn't come by the sword or force and experiences vary according to how we interpret them.
  6 Therefore he took Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner; and Himni he did leave in the church in Zarahemla; but the former three he took with him, and also ^aAmulek and Zeezrom, who were at ^bMelek; and he also took two of his sons. One of the things I love about the new Book of Mormon videos is that it shows the wives of the prophets. The Book of Mormon doesn't mention the wife of Alma at all, but he certainly had one if he had sons. And what great sacrifice she made to have him gone so much and for so long preaching. This is quite a missionary force he took with him!
  7 Now the eldest of his sons he took not with him, and his name was Helaman; Why not? To care for his family? but the names of those whom he took with him were ^aShiblon and ^bCorianton; and these are the names of those who went with him among the ^cZoramites, to preach unto them the word.
  8 Now the Zoramites were ^adissenters from the Nephites; therefore they had had the word of God preached unto them.
  9 But they had ^afallen into great errors, for they would not observe to keep the commandments of God, and his statutes, according to the law of Moses.
 10 Neither would they observe the ^aperformances of the church, to continue in prayer and supplication to God daily, that they might not enter into temptation. Do we see daily prayer as a “performance of the church”?  Do you pray daily to not enter into temptation? Do you believe it matters if you do or don’t pray daily? 
 11 Yea, in fine, they did pervert the ways of the Lord in very many instances; therefore, for this cause, Alma and his brethren went into the land to preach the word unto them. How are we "perverting" the ways of the Lord? 
 12 Now, when they had come into the land, behold, to their astonishment they found that the Zoramites had built synagogues, and that they did gather themselves together on one day of the week, which day they did call the day of the Lord; and they did ^aworship after a manner which Alma and his brethren had never beheld;
 13 For they had a place built up in the center of their synagogue, a place for standing, which was high above the head; and the top thereof would only admit one person.
 14 Therefore, whosoever desired to ^aworship must go forth and stand upon the top thereof, and stretch forth his hands towards heaven, and cry with a loud voice, saying:
 15 Holy, holy God; we believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy, and that thou wast a ^aspirit, and that thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.
 16 Holy God, we believe that thou hast separated us from our brethren; and we do not believe in the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by the childishness of their fathers; but we believe that thou hast ^aelected us to be thy ^bholy children; and also thou hast made it known unto us that ^cthere shall be ^dno Christ. So they believe in revelation? 
 17 But thou art the same yesterday, today, and forever; and thou hast ^aelected us that we shall be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast by thy wrath down to hell; for the which holiness, O God, we thank thee; and we also thank thee that thou hast elected us, that we may not be led away after the foolish traditions of our brethren, which doth ^bbind them down to a belief of Christ, which doth lead their hearts to wander far from thee, our God.
 18 And again we thank thee, O God, that we are a chosen and a holy people. Amen.
 19 Now it came to pass that after Alma and his brethren and his sons had heard these prayers, they were astonished beyond all measure. I wonder what made up their wonder. Was it that these people had moved from the same teachings to this weird place? How did they come to believe this prayer?
 20 For behold, every man did go forth and offer up these same ^aprayers.
 21 Now the place was called by them Rameumptom, which, being interpreted, is the holy stand.
 22 Now, from this stand they did offer up, every man, the selfsame prayer unto God, thanking their God that they were chosen of him, and that he did not lead them away after the tradition of their brethren, and that their hearts were not stolen away to believe in things to come, which they knew nothing about. It kind of had the makings of Korihor's teachings, but still professed belief in a God that had made them special. The kind of copied the story of the Lamanites believing the false stories of their fathers and made it a Nephite problem of believing different false stories of their fathers. 
 23 Now, after the people had all offered up thanks after this manner, they returned to their homes, ^anever speaking of their God again until they had assembled themselves together again to the holy stand, to offer up thanks after their manner. Sounds like it's all a show...
 24 Now when Alma saw this his heart was ^agrieved; for he saw that they were a wicked and a perverse people; yea, he saw that their hearts were set upon gold, and upon silver, and upon all manner of fine goods. Which they probably justified as evidence of their chosen status. Do we do that too because of our wealth?
 25 Yea, and he also saw that their hearts were ^alifted up unto great boasting, in their pride. This is a common occurrence among Christians who go to church on Sunday and then never think of God again the other six days, or even 5 minutes after they get home from church. Happens among our members as well. We are probably worse since when we think we are a “chosen” people as well, and think other Christians don’t worship “right” and rest on our supposed “election” to save us, not seeking to truly follow Christ 24/7.
 26 And he lifted up his voice to heaven, and ^acried, saying: O, how long, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that thy servants shall dwell here below in the flesh, to behold such gross wickedness among the children of men? Child Sex Trafficking is trending in social media right now. The awareness of this atrocious evilness is starting to reach mainstream consciousness. A movie was made (outside of Hollywood) that has sold 17 million tickets since July 1st. It's even more in the awareness than ever. Sound of Freedom is the name.
 27 Behold, O God, they ^acry unto thee, and yet their hearts are swallowed up in their pride. Behold, O God, they cry unto thee with their mouths, while they are ^bpuffed up, even to greatness, with the vain things of the ^cworld.
 28 Behold, O my God, their costly apparel, and their ringlets, and their ^abracelets, and their ornaments of gold, and all their precious things which they are ornamented with; and behold, their hearts are set upon them, and yet they cry unto thee and say—We thank thee, O God, for we are a chosen people unto thee, while others shall perish.
 29 Yea, and they say that thou hast made it known unto them that there shall be no Christ. So they don't believe in sin? They believe God will save all men because he created them? Oh wait...not all men...just them. Why would God save just them?
 30 O Lord God, how long wilt thou suffer that such wickedness and infidelity shall be among this people? O Lord, wilt thou give me strength, that I may ^abear with mine infirmities. For I am infirm, and such wickedness among this people doth pain my soul.
 31 O Lord, my heart is exceedingly sorrowful; wilt thou comfort my soul ^ain Christ. O Lord, wilt thou grant unto me that I may have strength, that I may suffer with patience these ^bafflictions which shall come upon me, because of the iniquity of this people.
 32 O Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and also my fellow laborers who are with me—yea, Ammon, and Aaron, and Omner, and also ^aAmulek and Zeezrom, and also my ^btwo sons—yea, even all these wilt thou comfort, O Lord. Yea, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ. What does this mean exactly? Is it in Christ's victory over evil and death?
 33 Wilt thou grant unto them that they may have strength, that they may ^abear their afflictions which shall come upon them because of the iniquities of this people. What afflictions are they going to face? How do they keep walking into the fire?
 34 O Lord, wilt thou grant ^aunto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.
 35 Behold, O Lord, their ^asouls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee. They have had amazing success stories with the Lamanites. These are their own people whom they once associated with. They know people can change, though apostates are harder to convince...
 36 Now it came to pass that when Alma had said these words, that he ^aclapped his ^bhands upon all them what does this mean? who were with him. And behold, as he clapped his hands upon them, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. I assume they all had been baptized and received the Holy Ghost...even been Born Again and had the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. So what was the "filling" of the Holy Ghost? Maybe they hadn’t been Born Again and this was it? Either way, this would make them powerful teachers full of the Spirit.
 37 And after that they did separate themselves one from another, ^ataking no thought for themselves what they should eat, or what they should drink, or what they should put on. Total trust!
 38 And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of ^aafflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in ^bfaith. Such a powerful promise and example. Alma's faith brought down the power of God on his missionary companions. How does one suffer affliction while being swallowed in the joy of Christ? This is important for what is coming!  Truly God honors faith. There is a scripture that says we are his ‘elect’ because of our faith. We limit God by saying nothing is done that isn’t “His will”. But maybe His will is that we exercise faith in Him and His loving desire to grant us good things according to our faith...