Alma 40

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 8/20 Green 5/21 yellow green 5/21 8/22 Brown 9/23)

CHAPTER 40

Christ brings to pass the resurrection of all men—The righteous dead go to paradise and the wicked to outer darkness to await the day of their resurrection—All things will be restored to their proper and perfect frame in the Resurrection. About 74 B.C.

  1 Now my son, here is somewhat more I would say unto thee; for I perceive that thy mind is worried concerning the resurrection of the dead. It’s always good to be concerned about the next life...no, not just good, but critical! Seems like King Lamoni or his father were worried about this too. Is it common for the "sinner" to worry about the next life? 
  2 Behold, I say unto you, that there is no resurrection—or, I would say, in other words, that this mortal does not put on immortality, this corruption does not put on incorruption—his definition of resurrection until after the coming of Christ. Someone at Education Week taught that the Spirit World is part of our Second Estate. The last part of this statement "...this corruption does not put on incorruption" until the resurrection, sounds like it could mean that we are still learning, repenting, subject to temptation until we are resurrected. Just a thought...
  3 Behold, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead. But behold, my son, the resurrection is not yet. Now, I unfold unto you a mystery; nevertheless, there are many mysteries which are kept, that no one knoweth them save God himself. What we don’t know is much greater than what we do know. This one fact should keep us humble and diligently seeking.  But I show unto you one thing which I have inquired diligently of God that I might know—that is concerning the resurrection. What is the process of inquiring diligently?
  4 Behold, there is a time appointed Already determined; set that all shall come forth from the dead. Now when this time cometh no one knows; but God knoweth the time which is appointed.
  5 Now, whether there shall be one time, or a second time, or a third time, that men shall come forth from the dead, it mattereth not; for God knoweth all these things; and it sufficeth me to know that this is the case—that there is a time appointed that all shall rise from the dead.
  6 Now there must needs be a space betwixt the time of death and the time of the resurrection.
  7 And now I would inquire what becometh of the souls of men from this time of death to the time appointed for the resurrection?
  8 Now whether there is more than one time appointed for men to rise it mattereth not; for all do not die at once, and this mattereth not; all is as one day with God, and time only is measured unto men.
  9 Therefore, there is a time appointed unto men that they shall rise from the dead; and there is a space between the time of death and the resurrection. And now, concerning this space of time, what becometh of the souls of men is the thing which I have inquired diligently of the Lord to know; and this is the thing of which I do know. He "asked and he received"
 10 And when the time cometh when all shall rise, then shall they know that God knoweth all the times which are appointed unto man.
 11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, wow! That is quite an answer to prayer! that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. I like this teaching. I wonder how long this visit is. It seems like this meeting with God would enhance the feelings of hell for those who then have to go to Spirit Prison or be buffeted by Satan still...
 12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow. I think this is the hope of those who take their own life. They think they will be able to rest from all their troubles, cares and sorrow. I’m not sure that is the case...
 13 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of the wicked, yea, who are evil—for behold, they have no part nor portion of the Spirit of the Lord; for behold, they chose evil works rather than good; therefore the spirit of the devil did enter into them, and take possession of their house— this is proof right here that we can literally be possessed by the devil when we choose evil. I think most people don’t believe this or feel like it is very rare, when it’s very common. So much of the confusion in the world is a result of people being possessed by these “lying spirits” and these shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth, and this because of their own iniquity, being led captive by the will of the devil. What is being captive by the will of the devil if not possession by evil spirits?
 14 Now this is the state of the souls of the wicked, yea, in darkness, and a state of awful, fearful looking for the fiery indignation of the wrath of God upon them; thus they remain in this state, as well as the righteous in paradise, until the time of their resurrection. What about the preaching to the Spirits in prison? What if they are converted? Do they still remain in prison until their resurrection? If spirits have already been resurrected, what is the "morning of the first resurrection"? I understand that if all is as one day to God, so that "morning" can be a looooong time, but I've always thought of the "morning" of the first resurrection as being at the time of His coming...
 15 Now, there are some that have understood that this state of happiness and this state of misery of the soul, before the resurrection, was a first resurrection. Yea, I admit it may be termed a resurrection, the raising of the spirit or the soul and their consignation to happiness or misery, according to the words which have been spoken.
 16 And behold, again it hath been spoken, that there is a first resurrection, a resurrection of all those who have been, or who are, or who shall be, down to the resurrection of Christ from the dead.
 17 Now, we do not suppose that this first resurrection, which is spoken of in this manner, can be the resurrection of the souls and their consignation to happiness or misery. Ye cannot suppose that this is what it meaneth.
 18 Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but it meaneth the reuniting of the soul with the body, of those from the days of Adam down to the resurrection of Christ. So, there is a resurrection of those in spirit prison? Are they still taught the gospel after this time or has that already been enough time to teach those who are willing to listen? Is it a kind of pre-judgment time? Is their judgment day the day of their resurrection? I think he said in vs 17 that it’s not tied to their final judgment. 
 19 Now, whether the souls and the bodies of those of whom has been spoken shall all be reunited at once, the wicked as well as the righteous, I do not say; let it suffice, that I say that they all come forth; or in other words, their resurrection cometh to pass before the resurrection of those who die after the resurrection of Christ. For the righteous, that means there could be a lot of ministering angels that are resurrected beings. 
 20 Now, my son, I do not say that their resurrection cometh at the resurrection of Christ; but behold, I give it as my opinion, that the souls and the bodies are reunited, of the righteous, at the resurrection of Christ, and his ascension into heaven.
 21 But whether it be at his resurrection or after, I do not say;  This is a little confusing. Seems like he’s saying he knows, but then he doesn’t know...but this much I say, that there is a space between death and the resurrection of the body, and a state of the soul in happiness or in misery until the time which is appointed of God that the dead shall come forth, and be reunited, both soul and body, and be brought to stand before God, and be judged according to their works.
 22 Yea, this bringeth about the restoration of those things of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets.
 23 The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame.
 24 And now, my son, this is the restoration of which has been spoken by the mouths of the prophets—
 25 And then shall the righteous shine forth in the kingdom of God.
 26 But behold, an awful death cometh upon the wicked; for they die as to things pertaining to things of righteousness; for they are unclean, and no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of God; but they are cast out, and consigned to partake of the fruits of their labors or their works, which have been evil; and they drink the dregs of a bitter cup.

Alma 11

(All of my own thoughts are in red type 6/20 Green 4/21 orange 7/22 Brown 7/2023)

Chapter 11

The Nephite monetary system is set forth—Amulek contends with Zeezrom—Christ will not save people in their sins—Only those who inherit the kingdom of heaven are saved—All men will rise in immortality—There is no death after the Resurrection. About 82 B.C.

  1 Now it was in the law of Mosiah that every man who was a judge of the law, or those who were appointed to be judges, should receive ^awages ^baccording to the time which they labored to judge those who were brought before them to be judged.
  2 Now if a man owed another, and he would not ^apay that which he did owe, he was complained of to the judge; and the judge executed authority, and sent forth officers that the man should be brought before him; and he judged the man according to the law and the evidences which were brought against him, only according to the law and thus the man was compelled to pay that which he owed, or be stripped, of all he owned? clothes? job? respect? or be cast out from among the people as a thief and a robber. Were these his 3 choices? Pay; be stripped; be cast out?
  3 And the judge received for his wages ^aaccording to his time—a ^bsenine of gold for a day, or a senum of silver, which is equal to a senine of gold; and this is according to the law which was given.
  4 Now these are the names of the different pieces of their gold, and of their silver, according to their value. I'm always amazed at how far back silver and gold were given value And the names are given by the Nephites, for they did not reckon after the ^amanner of the Jews who were at Jerusalem; neither did they measure after the manner of the Jews; but they altered their reckoning and their measure, according to the minds and the circumstances of the people, in every generation, until the reign of the judges, they having been ^bestablished by king Mosiah.
  5 Now the reckoning is thus—a senine of gold, a seon of gold, a shum of gold, and a limnah of gold.
  6 A senum of silver, an amnor of silver, an ezrom of silver, and an onti of silver.
  7 A senum of silver was equal to a senine of gold, and either for a measure of barley, and also for a measure of every kind of grain.
  8 Now the amount of a seon of gold was twice the value of a senine.
  9 And a shum of gold was twice the value of a seon.
 10 And a limnah of gold was the value of them all.
 11 And an amnor of silver was as great as two senums.
 12 And an ezrom of silver was as great as four senums.
 13 And an onti was as great as them all.
 14 Now this is the value of the lesser numbers of their reckoning—
 15 A shiblon is half of a senum; therefore, a shiblon for half a measure of barley.
 16 And a shiblum is a half of a shiblon.
 17 And a leah is the half of a shiblum.
 18 Now this is their number, according to their reckoning.
 19 Now an antion of gold is equal to three shiblons.
 20 Now, it was for the sole purpose to get ^again, secret combination because they received their wages according to their ^bemploy, therefore, they did ^cstir up the people to ^driotings, and all manner of disturbances and wickedness, that they might have more employ, that they might ^eget ^fmoney according to the suits which were brought before them; therefore they did stir up the people against Alma and Amulek. You can be certain that there are those "stirring" people up right now to get gain. George Soros said, ‘I have always harboured an exaggerated view of my self-importance.’ ‘To put it bluntly’, he said, ‘I fancied myself as some kind of god or an economic reformer like Keynes, or, even better, like Einstein’. Soros clearly enjoys playing God and believes that he doesn’t have to shoulder much responsibility for the destructive consequences of his actions. Indeed, when confronted with the devastating results of his currency speculation on Far Eastern economies in 1997, he replied: ‘As a market participant, I don’t need to be concerned with the consequences of my actions.’
 21 And this Zeezrom began to question Amulek, saying: Will ye answer me a few questions which I shall ask you? Now Zeezrom was a man who was ^aexpert in the ^bdevices of the devil, Do you know what the "devices" of the devil are? Do you understand and believe that there are those who are “expert” in these “devices” of the devil? Do you realize they are targeting YOU?  that he might destroy that which was good; therefore, he said unto Amulek: Will ye answer the questions which I shall put unto you?
 22 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, if it be according to the ^aSpirit of the Lord, which is in me; for I shall say nothing which is contrary to the Spirit of the Lord. I want to be that confident that the Spirit of the Lord is with me! And that disciplined that I will not speak ANYTHING that is contrary to what the Spirit would have me speak or that I would be silent if I was told to speak nothing or was told nothing. And Zeezrom said unto him: Behold, here are six onties of silver, and all these will I ^bgive thee if thou wilt deny the existence of a Supreme Being. You can have anything in this world for money... Is this a type of the 30 pieces of silver that were given to betray the Savior? 
 23 Now Amulek said: O thou ^achild of hell, why ^btempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations? God is the giver of all true riches If you want to be numbered among the righteous, you must not yield to any temptation for riches. You must not deny Christ for anything!
 24 Believest thou that there is no God? I say unto you, Nay, thou knowest that there is a God, but thou lovest that ^alucre more than him. Ahh...the bold truth! He doesn’t even let him answer and tells him the truth about what he is really thinking.
 25 And now thou hast lied before God unto me. Thou saidst unto me—Behold these six onties, this must be why Mormon took the time to help us understand how much this was which are of great worth, I will give unto thee—when thou hadst it in thy heart to retain them from me; and it was only thy desire that I should deny the true and living God, that thou mightest have cause to destroy me. And now behold, for this great evil thou shalt have thy reward.
 26 And Zeezrom said unto him: Thou sayest there is a true and living God? Notice Zeezrom ignores everything that was just said...
 27 And Amulek said: Yea, there is a true and living God.
 28 Now Zeezrom said: Is there more than one God?
 29 And he answered, No. Isn't the Father a God? Isn't the Holy Ghost a God? Why say there is only one God? Is it because Jesus is responsible for this world so He is the "one" God we should concern ourselves with? What about the commandment to pray to the Father then? We clearly have 3 Gods to concern ourselves with in this life...But we know they are "one" in purpose.
 30 Now Zeezrom said unto him again: How knowest thou these things?
 31 And he said: An ^aangel hath made them known unto me. An angel made them known to Amulek. Do we have record of this? Alma 10:10 says it was while Alma was staying with him. Nice!
 32 And Zeezrom said again: Who is he that shall come? Is it the Son of God?
 33 And he said unto him, Yea. So, doesn't that say there are two Gods? A Father and a Son?
 34 And Zeezrom said again: Shall he save his people ^ain their sins? And Amulek answered and said unto him: I say unto you he shall not, for it is impossible for him to deny his word. At this point it almost sounds like Zeezrom is really listening and wondering if Amulek is speaking the truth. 
 35 Now Zeezrom said unto the people: See that ye remember these things; for he said there is but one God; yet he saith that the Son of God shall come, but he shall ^anot save his people—as though he had authority to command God. Really? These are your "expert" words?  We can see now, that Zeezrom was just questioning Amulek like a true lawyer. Ask a question. Let them answer. Ask another. etc. until you think you’ve got them in a trap...made by twisting the answers to your narrative. Notice the question was "will Jesus save us IN our sins" and the answer was "no" and Zeezrom restates his own question with the statement that Amulek had said "no" to the question "will Jesus will not save his people". That was not the question! 
 36 Now Amulek saith again unto him: Behold thou hast ^alied, for thou sayest that I spake as though I had authority to command God because I said he shall not save his people in their sins.
 37 And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their ^asins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that ^bno unclean thing can inherit the ^ckingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.
 38 Now Zeezrom saith again unto him: Is the Son of God the very Eternal Father? Ok...he’s going to have to ask more questions to set another trap...
 39 And Amulek said unto him: Yea, he is the very ^aEternal Father of heaven and of earth, and ^ball things which in them are; he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last;
 40 And he shall come into the ^aworld to ^bredeem his people; and he shall ^ctake 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 ^ano redemption made, except it be the loosing of the bands of death; for behold, the day cometh that ^ball shall rise from the dead and stand before God, and be ^cjudged according to their works.
 42 Now, there is a death which is called a temporal death; and the death of Christ shall loose the ^abands of this temporal death, that all shall be raised from this temporal death.
 43 The spirit and the body shall be ^areunited again in its ^bperfect 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, ^cknowing even as we know now, and have a bright ^drecollection of all our ^eguilt. If this is literal, then we will only remember our guilt and not that of others. Remember WE are on trial, not others. We are agents unto our selves, so it doesn’t matter how guilty others are. We are/were free to choose our response. Their guilt doesn’t justify our guilt. These past few years have really caused me to pull back and not focus so much on what others should be doing. Not that I don't care what they do, but if they aren't asking for my opinion and I haven't been prompted to speak, I don't. I really do, however, want to speak as Alma and Amulek, with power and authority from God and according to the words He would give me. But I don't want to speak of myself or my opinion or judgments. I'm really praying for the "mighty change" so I can be or more influence and an instrument in the hands of God to help His children.
 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 ^arestored 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 ^bFather, and the Holy Spirit, which is ^cone Eternal God, to be ^djudged according to their works, whether they be good or whether they be evil. It sounds like all three will be present at our judgment seat.
 45 Now, behold, I have spoken unto you concerning the ^adeath of the mortal body, and also concerning the ^bresurrection of the mortal body. I say unto you that this mortal body is ^craised to an ^dimmortal body, that is from death, even from the first death unto life, that they can ^edie no more; their spirits uniting with their bodies, never to be divided; thus the whole becoming ^fspiritual and immortal, that they can no more see corruption.
 46 Now, when Amulek had finished these words the people began again to be astonished, and also Zeezrom began to tremble. And thus ended the words of Amulek, or this is all that I have written. Truly Amulek spoke according to the Spirit. He spoke of death and judgment in such a way that they were all astonished! It’s important to see that the word of God, accompanied by the Spirit can confound even the most “expert” servant of Satan. Live your life to be worthy of the constant companionship of this Spirit.