Author: Will

• Amalickiah arises as the leader of a group that is so opposed to Helaman that they want to kill them.
• Amalickiah wants to be king; the lower judges want that too as they seek for power.
• The situation is described as “precarious” (uncertain) and “dangerous”
• We need to beware of danger from without (represented by the Lamanites) and within (represented by deserters).
• Human beings have a natural tendency to forget the Lord and follow Satan.
  • “8 Thus we see how quick the children of men do forget the Lord their God, yea, how quick to do iniquity, and to be led away by the evil one.”
• Note the negative affect one man can have.
• Moroni gets really bothered by what is going on and produces the Title of Liberty
  • “In memory of our God, our religion, and freedom, and our peace, our wives, and our children”
• Moroni invites everyone that believes in liberty to participate in maintaining it
  • “20 Behold, whosoever will maintain this title upon the land, let them come forth in the strength of the Lord, and enter into a covenant that they will maintain their rights, and their religion, that the Lord God may bless them.”
• Many came “running” to covenant
  • It’s interesting how they came; running implies quickly exerting significant effort
  • “the people came running together with their armor girded about their loins, rending their garments in token, or as a covenant, that they would not forsake the Lord their God; or, in other words, if they should transgress the commandments of God, or fall into transgression, and be ashamed to take upon them the name of Christ, the Lord should rend them even as they had rent their garments.”
  • “We covenant with our God, that we shall be destroyed, even as our brethren in the land northward, if we shall fall into transgression; yea, he may cast us at the feet of our enemies, even as we have cast our garments at thy feet to be trodden under foot, if we shall fall into transgression.”
• The Title of Liberty became a unifying thing that brought peace:
  • “37 And they began to have peace again in the land; and thus they did maintain peace in the land until nearly the end of the nineteenth year of the reign of the judges. 38 And Helaman and the high priests did also maintain order in the church; yea, even for the space of four years did they have much peace and rejoicing in the church.”
• When Amalickiah saw that those against him were greater than those with him and that his people were starting to doubt their cause, he took those that would follow him into the land of Nephi.
• Moroni cut off Amalickiah’s group in the wilderness. A few escaped with Amalickiah; the rest were taken back to Zarahemla. Back in Zarahemla, those dissenters that would not covenanted to the “cause of freedom” were killed, “and there were but few who denied the covenant of freedom.”
• Moroni “planted the standard of liberty among the Nephites”.
  • It’s interesting that the the people would need to be reminded of this standard. Goes to show how quickly we can degrade and abandon good principles.
  • I suppose “The Family” is a similar standard that needed to be erected. Who would have guessed our society would have degraded so significantly to where it is today when the proclamation was made in 1995.

• The Nephites recognize that the Lord has delivered them.
  • As a result, the give thanks.
  • The also, “did fast much and pray much, and they did worship God with exceedingly great joy.”
• Alma prophesies of the Nephites destruction 400 years after the coming of Christ.
• Alma disappears.
• Helaman and his brothers establish churches throughout the land and call priests and teachers.
• A dimension arises among the people due to wealth.

• Moroni testifies that the Lord is with his army and that He has delivered the Lamanites into their hands
  • “ye behold that the Lord is with us; and ye behold that he has delivered you into our hands.”
  • “Now ye see that this is the true faith of God; yea, ye see that God will support, and keep, and preserve us, so long as we are faithful unto him, and unto our faith, and our religion; and never will the Lord suffer that we shall be destroyed except we should fall into transgression and deny our faith.”

• Laminates wanted power and to enslave the Nephites.
• Nephites wanted liberty and to be left alone.
• Moroni was the captain of the Nephites armies.
• The Lamanites came to battle against the Nephites.
• The Nephites had armor and the Lamanites did not, so they were afraid.
• The Nephites prayed to the Lord to know how to protect themselves. The Lord told them what to do.
• The Nephites had the right motivation: “45 Nevertheless, the Nephites were inspired by a better cause, for they were not fighting for monarchy nor power but they were fighting for their homes and their liberties, their wives and their children, and their all, yea, for their rites of worship and their church.”
  • 46 And they were doing that which they felt was the duty which they owed to their God; for the Lord had said unto them, and also unto their fathers, that: Inasmuch as ye are not guilty of the first offense, neither the second, ye shall not suffer yourselves to be slain by the hands of your enemies.
  • 47 And again, the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. Therefore for this cause were the Nephites contending with the Lamanites, to defend themselves, and their families, and their lands, their country, and their rights, and their religion.
• Once the Lamanites were terrified of total destruction, Moroni showed compassion and stopped fighting.

• Adam and Eve started off in a state where they did not sin and would love for ever.
• Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit and became fallen man.
  • Spiritual death
    • They were cast out of the presence of God.
    • They were able to sin and subject to punishment through the law of justice.
  • Physical death
    • Their bodies became mortal and subject to death.
• The atonement is the process of man being reconciled to God; overcoming spiritual and physical death.
  • “15 And now, the plan of mercy could not be brought about except an atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a merciful God also.”
• Law is in place as a deterrent for man to sin. Breaking law always results in a punishment. Therefore, if man breaks a law, he is punished by the law of justice. The punishment is supposed to help man be afraid to sin.
• Mercy is extended by God because He loves us. Jesus Christ suffered for our sins and satisfied the demands of justice. That gave Him power to be merciful to each one of us and grant forgiveness on different achievable terms.
  • “22 But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise, justice claimeth the creature and executeth the law, and the law inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be destroyed, and God would cease to be God.”
  • “23 But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works, according to the law and justice.”
• Justice is satisfied and those that repent are saved.
  • “24 For behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly penitent are saved.”
• Everyone is welcome to come unto Christ and benefit from His atonement. No one is forced. Everyone will be restored to their nature based on who they became and what they did.
  • “27 Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come the same is not compelled to come; but in the last day it shall be restored unto him according to his deeds.”
  • “28 If he has desired to do evil, and has not repented in his days, behold, evil shall be done unto him, according to the restoration of God.”
• Only let sin bother you enough to motivate repentance.
  • “29 And now, my son, I desire that ye should let these things trouble you no more, and only let your sins trouble you, with that trouble which shall bring you down unto repentance.”

• If you don’t study the scriptures, you’re more likely to go far astray.
• Everything will be restored; good to good and bad to bad.
  • “if their works were good in this life, and the desires of their hearts were good, that they should also, at the last day, be restored unto that which is good.”
  • “And if their works are evil they shall be restored unto them for evil.”
  • “Therefore, all things shall be restored to their proper order, every thing to its natural frame—mortality raised to immortality, corruption to incorruption—raised to endless happiness to inherit the kingdom of God, or to endless misery to inherit the kingdom of the devil, the one on one hand, the other on the other—“
  • “If he hath repented of his sins, and desired righteousness until the end of his days, even so he shall be rewarded unto righteousness.”
• Resurrection is part of a greater restoration of all things.
• Restoration is a question of nature; what is my nature when I die. That’s what I’ll be restored to.
  • “10 Do not suppose, because it has been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be restored from sin to happiness. Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.”
  • “12 And now behold, is the meaning of the word restoration to take a thing of a natural state and place it in an unnatural state, or to place it in a state opposite to its nature?”
  • “13 O, my son, this is not the case; but the meaning of the word restoration is to bring back again evil for evil, or carnal for carnal, or devilish for devilish—good for that which is good; righteous for that which is righteous; just for that which is just; merciful for that which is merciful.”

• Jesus Christ was the first to be resurrected.
• There is a time between death and the resurrection
  • Everyone goes back to God
    • 11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, 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.
  • Righteous go to paradise
    • 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.
  • Wicked go to outer darkness
    • 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—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.
• Righteous are resurrected first; those before Christ coming before those after Christ.
• Body and soul/spirit come back together in the resurrection. Judgement before God comes next.
• A restoration takes place
  • 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.
• the righteous go on to live in the kingdom of god
• The wicked are cast out and “die as to things pertaining to righteousness.”

• Alma confronts his son Corianton about sexual sin.
• “thou didst go on unto boasting in thy strength and thy wisdom.”
  • Did Corianton not rely on the Lord and when temptation came, he wasn’t strong enough to withstand it on his own?!
• “Thou did forsake the ministry…”
• “Thou… did go… after the harlot Isabel.”
• Sin hierarchy:
  • Deny the Holy Ghost
  • Murder
  • Fornication/Adultry
• Repent or the sins will testify against thee at the judgement day
  • “Now my son, I would that ye should repent and forsake your sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross yourself in all these things; for except ye do this ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God. Oh, remember, and take it upon you, and cross yourself in these things.”
• “counsel with your elder brothers in your undertakings;”
  • Alma commands Corianton to counsel with his righteous brother when making decisions.
• Corianton’s bad example made it hard to share the gospel and led away many to sin.
• Part of repentance is going back to those you’ve lead astray and confess
• “Seek not after riches nor the vain things of this world; for behold, you cannot carry them with you.”

• Family slogan candidates:
  • Put your trust God
  • Trust in the Lord
  • Keep the commandments of God and ye shall prosper in the land
• Alma speaks with his son Shiblon (Alma 38)
• “inasmuch as ye shall keep the commandments of God ye shall prosper in the land;”
  • God always keeps his promises
• “inasmuch as ye will not keep the commandments of God ye shall be cut off from his presence.”
  • Don’t want to know what it’s like to be cut off in this life or the next.
• Shiblon “wast in bonds” and “wast stoned for the word’s sake” yet he still turned to the Lord.
  • “thou didst bear all these things with patience because the Lord was with thee”
    • the Lord gave him strength to bear the burdens with patience.
  • “now thou knowest that the Lord did deliver thee.”
    • Shiblon knew where the strength came from: it was a type of deliverance by the Lord.
• A promise from the Lord through Shiblon’s father:
  • “Shiblon, I would that ye should remember, that as much as ye shall put your trust in God even so much ye shall be delivered out of your trials, and your troubles, and your afflictions, and ye shall be lifted up at the last day.”
    • If we trust in the Lord, we’ll be delivered from trials, troubles, and afflictions during this life (short-term) and granted eternal life after this life (long-term).
• Alma bears testimony that his knowledge was given to him by the Holy Ghost since he’d been born again.
• Cry unto the Lord and receive a remission of sins.
  • How do I reconcile statements like “…cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy…” and “I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul” where it appears we should follow Alma’s example and pray to the Lord Jesus Christ and His council to pray to the Father in His name?
• Christ is the only means whereby a person can be saved.
• Avoid pride and boasting
• Be bold but not overbearing
• “Bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love…”
  • This leads me to believe that if we don’t control ourselves, we can’t be filled with love.
  • As I’ve studied the effects of pornography, I’ve learned that this type of addict loses the ability to experience real love. I think this is an example of what this scripture is warning us of.

Impressions

• Shelby should read her patriarchal blessing every day>