Book of Mormon Lesson
# 20 Mosiah 25–28, Alma 36
My Soul is Pained No More
Introduction
Last week we saw the liberation of two sets of people—the third
generation from the original settlers led by Zeniff who were living in the land
of Nephi with Limhi, and the righteous remnant of the second generation led by
Alma who had escaped into the wilderness only to be brought into bondage by the
priests of Amulon. Now we see how dramatically things can change with a new,
rebellious generation, led by Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah. It
should come as no surprise to us; it was just six years go that Proposition 8
was overturned by the Supreme Court, since when laws have changed rapidly, all
of which attack the notion of a “traditional” family. Truly Pres. Hinckley
foresaw our day when he presented “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”
fifteen years earlier in 1995. “We, the First Presidency and the Council of the
Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, solemnly
proclaim that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that
the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His
children. All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God.
Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such,
each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of
individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.” But everyone
has their agency and in Zarahemla about 120 BC, Mosiah’s sons and their friend,
Alma the son of Alma (the converted priest of Noah, remember) were exercising
theirs in rebellion. In their case, the Lord intervened directly.
A friend visited me a week ago—she counsels troubled teens and young
women primarily. One of the buzz phrases they use in counseling and advice is
“stop should-ing on yourself.” Don’t rue past mistakes. As we take the
sacrament each week and repent of the wrongdoings we have committed in the past
week, we go forward with a renewed determination not to repeat those errors. As the Lord helped Alma the Younger and the sons
of Mosiah, He helps us go forward.
1. Limhi’s and Alma’s people join Mosiah’s people in the land of
Zarahemla. Mosiah 25
We now have 4 distinct groups in Zarahemla, all of the same ethnic
background but coming from different time zones if you like—I have put a chart
at the end which helps with the flashbacks:
a. Limhi’s people, who were descended from Zeniff and the others who
returned from Zarahemla to the land of Nephi.
b. Alma’s people, who had broken away from the group descended from
Zeniff during the reign of Noah (including some of the children of the priests
led by Amulon).
c. The Nephites who had remained in Zarahemla.
d. The Mulekites, the original residents of Zarahemla.
So now is the time for Alma and Mosiah to re-establish the Church
established by Benjamin. Mosiah reads, as we have done, the records brought by
Limhi that he translated through the Urim and Thummim, then Alma speaks to them
and the people who desire to belong to the Church are baptized. There is a good
article on the new Book of Mormon Central website on baptism in the Book of
Mormon which helps explain the meaning of baptism to the people of the Book of
Mormon. You can find it here
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/what-is-the-purpose-of-baptism-in-the-book-of-mormon
https://knowhy.bookofmormoncentral.org/content/what-is-the-purpose-of-baptism-in-the-book-of-mormon
In light of my comparison with the challenges we as a Church are faced
with today, the question in the teacher’s manual is very apt: Mosiah authorized
Alma to “establish churches throughout all the land of Zarahemla” (Mosiah
25:19–20). How were the people able to remain “one church” after being
assembled into different congregations? (See Mosiah
25:21–24.) How can their example help us today as we face the challenges of
remaining “one” in a worldwide Church?
2. Many Church members are led into sin by unbelievers. Mosiah 26–27:7
Talking of the “rising
generation,” President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency emphasized
the need to teach the youth of the Church to believe in God: “No charge in the
kingdom is more important than to build faith in youth. Each child in each
generation chooses faith or disbelief. Faith is not an inheritance; it is a
choice. Those who believed King Benjamin learned that. Many of their children
chose later not to believe. The scriptures give as a reason, ‘for they would
not call upon the Lord their God’ (Mosiah 26:4)”
(“Inquire of the Lord” [remarks at an evening with Elder Neal A. Maxwell,
Feb. 2, 2001], 1, www.ldsces.org).
Speaking to the youth of
the Church, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
explained why older Church members mentor those younger than them: “So much
that we do in this church is directed toward you, those whom the Book of Mormon calls
‘the rising generation’ (Mosiah 26:1;
Alma 5:49).
We who have already walked that portion of life’s path that you are now on try
to call back to you something of what we have learned. We shout encouragement.
We try to warn of pitfalls or perils along the way. Where possible we try to
walk with you and keep you close to our side” (Ensign, May 1995, 38).
There is a progression
here; it reminds us that the devil wants us to be “miserable like unto himself”
(2 Nephi 2:27). Some of the younger generation, which later included Alma and
the sons of Mosiah, went from rebelling to sinning to getting others to sin
with them. Here is Pres. Benson: “The mind has been compared to a stage on
which only one act at a time can be performed. From one side of the wings the
Lord, who loves you, is trying to put on the stage of your mind that which will
bless you. From the other side of the wings the devil, who hates you, is trying
to put on the stage of your mind that which will curse you. You are the stage
manager—you are the one who decides which thought will occupy the stage.
Remember, the Lord wants you to have a fulness of joy like His. The devil wants
all men to be miserable like him. You are the one who must decide which
thoughts you will accept. You are free to choose—but you are not free to alter
the results of those choices. You will be what you think about—what you
consistently allow to occupy the stage of your mind.”[1]
Mosiah 26:26–36 contains
some wonderful divine counsel to Alma as the head of the Church at that time,
but it applies to all of us who are in a position to counsel others. And for a
time after he applied this counsel there was peace. Elder Cook: “Repentance and
living righteously allow for peace of conscience, which is essential for
contentment. Conscience is a moral compass pointing us toward peace. It is
activated by at least two sources: the Light of Christ, a glorious birthright
from our Heavenly Father (see Doctrine
and Covenants 88:6–13; 93:2),
and the gift of the Holy Ghost (see Doctrine
and Covenants 39:6). When there has been a major transgression, confession
is required to bring peace ‘Two sets of forgiveness are required to bring peace
to the transgressor—one from the proper authorities of the Lord’s Church, and
one from the Lord himself.’ [See Mosiah
26:29.] (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Spencer W. Kimball
[2006], 41)]. Perhaps there is nothing to compare with the peace that comes
from a sin-wracked soul unloading his or her burdens on the Lord and claiming
the blessings of the Atonement.”[2]
3. Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah are visited by an angel.
Mosiah 27:8–31; Alma 36: 1–23
There
is a wonderful quote by Wilford Woodruff on the ministering angels which I will
reproduce here but probably just excerpt for our lesson. Speaking of a man who had
prayed for the visitation of angels, President Wilford Woodruff (1807–98) said:
I said to him that if he were to pray a thousand years to
the God of Israel for that gift, it would not be granted, unless the Lord had a
motive in sending an angel to him. I told him that the Lord never did nor never
will send an angel to anybody merely to gratify the desire of the individual to
see an angel. If the Lord sends an angel to anyone, He sends him to perform a
work that cannot be performed only by the administration of an angel. I said to
him that those were my views. The Lord had sent angels to men from the creation
of the world, at different times, but always with a message or with something
to perform that could not be performed without. I rehearsed to him different
times when angels appeared to men. Of course, I referred to the angel visiting
Joseph Smith. The Revelator John said that in the last days an angel would fly
in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to them that
dwelt on the earth. The reason it required an angel to do this work was, the
Gospel was not on the earth. The Gospel and the Priesthood had been taken from
among men. Hence God had to restore it again. Now, I have always said, and I
want to say it to you, that the Holy Ghost is what every Saint of God needs. It
is far more important that a man should have that gift than he should have the
ministration of an angel, unless it is necessary for an angel to teach him
something that he has not been taught” (“The Administration of Angels,” in
Brian H. Stuy, comp. Collected
Discourses, 5 vols. [1987–92], 5:233).
And here’s my favorite Nibley quote on angels—bit more
succinct: “If you pray for an angel to visit you, you know what he'll do if he
comes. He'll just quote the scriptures to you—so you know you're wasting your
time waiting for what we already have. I'm quite serious about that.[3]
That being said, the Lord deemed it necessary for Alma’s
salvation to send him an angel and what an incredible experience it was.
Looking at that experience from a parental point of view, Elder Holland said, “Perhaps
no anguish of the human spirit matches the anguish of a mother or father who
fears for the soul of a child. … [But] parents can never give up hoping or
caring or believing. Surely they can never give up praying. At times prayer may
be the only course of action remaining—but it is the most powerful of them all”
(“Alma, Son of Alma,” Ensign, Mar.
1977, 80–81).
Elder Holland again, “No one should think that the gift of forgiveness is fully
realized without significant effort on the part of the forgiven. No one should
be foolish enough to sin willingly or wantonly, thinking forgiveness is easily
available. Repentance of necessity involves suffering and sorrow. Anyone who
thinks otherwise has not read the life of the young Alma, nor tried personally
to repent. In the process of repentance we are granted just a taste of the
suffering we would endure if we failed to turn away from evil. That pain,
though only momentary for the repentant, is the most bitter of cups. No man or
woman should be foolish enough to think it can be sipped, even briefly, without
consequence. … We learn that when repentance is complete, we are born
again and leave behind forever the self we once were. To me, none of the many
approaches to teaching repentance falls more short than the well-intentioned
suggestion that ‘although a nail may be removed from a wooden post, there will
forever be a hole in that post.’ We know that repentance (the removal of that
nail, if you will) can be a very long and painful and difficult task.
Unfortunately, some will never have the incentive to undertake it. We even know
that there are a very few sins for which no repentance is possible. But where
repentance is possible, and its requirements are faithfully pursued and
completed, there is no ‘hole left in the post’ for the bold reason that it is
no longer the same post. It is a new post. We can start again, utterly clean,
with a new will and a new way of life” (However
Long and Hard the Road [1985], 83–84).
The result is shown in this chart from the teacher’s manual
Wading through much tribulation (Mosiah
27:28)
|
Snatched out of an everlasting
burning (Mosiah
27:28)
|
In the gall of bitterness and
bonds of iniquity (Mosiah
27:29)
|
Redeemed from the gall of bitterness
and bonds of iniquity (Mosiah
27:29)
|
In the darkest abyss (Mosiah
27:29)
|
Beheld the marvelous light of God
(Mosiah
27:29)
|
Racked with eternal torment (Mosiah
27:29)
|
Soul pained no more (Mosiah
27:29)
|
Harrowed up by the memory of his
many sins (Alma 36:17)
|
No longer harrowed up by the
memory of his sins (Alma 36:19)
|
Felt exquisite and exceeding pain
(Alma
36:20–21)
|
Felt exquisite and exceeding joy (Alma
36:20–21)
|
Soul racked with horror at the
thought of being in the presence of God (Alma
36:14–15)
|
Soul longed to be in the presence
of God (Alma
36:22)
|
4. Alma and the sons of Mosiah dedicate themselves to preaching the
gospel. Mosiah 27:32–28:20; Alma 36:24
Having been so completely converted, what is
the first impulse of the sons of Mosiah? Not only to repair the wrongs they had
committed but going the extra mile (or many miles) for their brethren the Lamanites.
This must have been a huge leap of a nascent faith. Pres. Hunter said, “There
is the example of the four sons of Mosiah—Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni—who
received a forgiveness of sins through the Atonement and then labored for years
among the Lamanites to bring them to Christ. The record states that they could
not bear the thought that any soul should perish (see Mosiah 28:3). …
A great indicator of one’s personal conversion is the desire to share the
gospel with others. For this reason the Lord gave an obligation to every member
of the Church to be missionaries” (The
Teachings of Howard W. Hunter, ed. Clyde J. Williams [1997], 249). Elder L. Tom Perry said: “After
conversion comes the desire to share—not so much out of a sense of duty, even
though that responsibility falls on the priesthood, but out of a sincere love
and appreciation for that which has been received. When such a ‘pearl of great
price’ comes into our lives, we cannot be content just to admire it by
ourselves. It must be shared!” (Ensign,
May 1984, 79).
Regarding Mosiah 28:11, we had a discussion
about the Urim and Thummim. Here is a quote from President Joseph Fielding
Smith, “The people of Limhi brought to Mosiah a record, ‘… engraven on
plates of ore,’ [Mosiah
21:27] which record Mosiah translated by the aid of ‘two stones which were
fastened into the two rims of a bow.’ … Joseph Smith received with the
‘breastplate’ and the plates of the Book of Mormon, the Urim and
Thummim, which were hid up by Moroni to come forth in the last days as a
means by which the ancient record might be translated, which Urim and
Thummim were given to the brother of Jared [see D&C
17:1]” (Answers to Gospel Questions,
comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., 5 vols. [1957–66], 1:161–62).
