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Alma 30-31 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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I'm Taylor and I'm Tyler. Today, Alma 30 to 31, we're
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going to begin today with a short discussion about
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exaltation and actually how it connects to some of the themes
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that show up in Alma 30 to 31. First of all, we're going to
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spend some time talking about several words in English and
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then in Hebrew and how they show up in the Scriptures and what
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that might mean to help us better understand various,
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various messages in the Scriptures.
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Let's start with the word exaltation.
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So I really enjoy skiing. I'm not, I didn't grow up in
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Utah, grew up in Minnesota actually lovely place, not a lot
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of awesome ski mountains in Minnesota.
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So I love being in Utah because we have an awesome ski resort
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called Alta and it actually literally just means high or
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tall. And it's interesting.
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It's related to this word exaltation.
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And X actually means like out of this world.
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So instead of just being high or tall, exaltation is far beyond.
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And that's really what God is offering us, to take us far
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beyond our present circumstances.
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Exaltation is to take us out of what we know, into his realm,
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far beyond comprehension. And by the way, the word
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exaltation is also related to other words we use all the time
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in our language. We often don't even think about
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the word alta is related to the word elder.
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You can actually even hear it where the A becomes the E, the L
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is still there, the T and the D, The word elder actually comes
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from the word older. So exaltation is this idea of
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being older and mature and being grown up and high OK?
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How does this relate to some of the things we'll see in these
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chapters today? The Hebrew word ram actually
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means exaltation or high and lifted up.
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Tyler's going to teach you a whole bunch of other things to
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understand all of the false doctrine that core whore taught
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and how to avoid being LED away by false doctrine.
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But you might also want to look for these particular themes
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going on in these chapters. So let me actually lay out some
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names that you probably are familiar with and show you how
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they connect with this theme of being high or lifted up or even
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exaltation. So the first name is Abram in
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the Old Testament, our ancient forefather Abraham, his original
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name was AB Rahm. And the name AB means father.
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And Rahm, as you know, means exalted.
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So his name probably means exalted father.
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And it's probably referencing who Abraham or Abram was
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actually worshipping, but also tells us something about what we
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all can become if we follow the gospel path, that we can become
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exalted mothers and fathers. Well, then we have other names
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in the Book of Mormon like Zoram, like the Zoramites.
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And again you see the word Rahm, which is exalted or high or
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lifted up. And Zoram may mean he who is
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lifted up. Now what's interesting is the
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Zoramites, what do they do? They lift themselves up.
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They're prideful, they're self exalting, kind of interesting.
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In fact, How do they do that? They build a high tower.
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And what's the name of that high tower where they can lift
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themselves up? You got it.
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It's a ram high tower, Ramyamtum.
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So it's very interesting. In the name ramyamtum we
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actually have the Hebrew word ram, which means to be higher
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lifted up. And so God wants to exalt us,
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but to think that we should do it on our own is a core problem.
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We cannot exalt ourselves. We can't.
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Doesn't matter how tall the tower is.
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The people at the Tower of Babel tried this, it just didn't work.
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That was the same thing. The Zoramites probably should
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have read their scriptures. That tall tower is getting
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yourself into heaven always, and in disaster and confusion.
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One more name that I think is really fun is the word Hiram.
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Now in ancient Hebrew, this name was actually spelled slightly
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differently as high rum. Notice the word exaltation or
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higher lifted up and actually in Hebrew you'd have this little
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word letter ah in there and ah Hiram means my brother where ah
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is brother and the little I in there makes it my my brother is
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exalted. I just love that Joseph Smith's
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brother's name is my brother's exalted.
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The great witness for what God did for Joseph Smith because of
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his faithfulness. All the action here is as you're
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looking through the scriptures, you're looking for messages for
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how God will exalt us and how we can avoid the the devil's trap
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of trying to self exalt. And partly what we're seeing
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here in Alma 30 to 31 is a group of people led by a man who
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exalts himself and sets an entire religion around self
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exaltation. And what we learn is that that
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is a disaster, but it's not a disaster when we let God exalt
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us through his Son Jesus Christ, who truly is the Exalted 1.
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OK, let's dive right in. This is this is an amazing block
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of scripture where we see some incredible truths regarding the
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doctrine of Korahor. And it's interesting to see how
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much airtime Mormon gives to this chief Antichrist in the
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Book of Mormon. Now before you dive into
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Korahor, look closely at Alma chapter 30, verse 4 and five.
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Let's start there. And thus the people did have no
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disturbance in all the 16th year of the reign of the judges over
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the people of Nephi. And I came to pass in the
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commencement of the 17th year of the reign of the judges, there
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was continual peace. Now many of us would read that
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and think, you know, why can't we just have every verse in the
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Book of Mormon be like that? That there was goodness and
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there was peace and there was righteousness and there was hope
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and everybody was happy and serving each other.
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Wouldn't the Book of Mormon be a lot more uplifting if that's all
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it had? Some have wondered why so much
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evil? Why so much from people like
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Korhor, this Antichrist? And why so much war in Alma and
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Helaman and 3rd Nephi? The question here is what would
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happen if our Book of Mormon only focused on just the
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positive and totally ignored the negative?
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I want to share a little concept with you.
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There's an educational philosophy out there.
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Taylor has talked about this in a previous episode.
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The idea that we as learners don't fully grasp a concept if
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all we ever see are the positive examples of that concept.
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In order to truly understand it, you have to see and be able to
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distinguish the difference between the positive and the
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negative examples. So let me demonstrate totally
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made-up concept. You can't find this if you
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Google it or anything, it doesn't exist.
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So it's just made-up concept to teach this principle, we'll call
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it the concept of Zot. OK, I'm going to show you
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multiple examples of what Zot is.
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OK, you ready? Here we go really fast.
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This is Zot. This is Zot.
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This is Zot. This is Zot.
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This is Zot, This is Zot. This is Zot.
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This is Zot, This is and this is Zot.
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There, I just showed you, I don't know, a dozen or so
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examples of what Zot is. And my guess is that you're
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sitting there really confused, wondering what in the world I
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just did because it made no sense.
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And quite frankly, you have very little idea of what Zot really
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is. Now watch what happens when you
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see what Zot is not. This is Zot that is not Zot.
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This is Zot. But this is not Zot.
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This is clearly not Zot. Zot is any writing, any marking
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on the board that doesn't touch the borders.
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It only took two or three non examples for all of the positive
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examples to all of a sudden make more sense.
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If our Book of Mormon only had Nephi and Abenidai and King
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Benjamin and Samuel and Alma. But we didn't have all of the
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stories involving Lehmann and Lemuel and King Noah and the
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Malachiah and Korhor and Nihor and Sharim.
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Our understanding of faith, of goodness, of hope, of obedience,
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of covenant path, discipleship, of connection with the Lord.
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It would be greatly limited the fact that the doctrines of the
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gospel, the Lord chose to give them to us in a story form and
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in these speeches and in these interactions where he he's
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giving both the good and the bad right next to each other, it
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enhances our understanding of both and we canmore clearly
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understand those doctrines. Now let's dive into Corhor's
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doctrine because when we understand Corhor's doctrine, we
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understand the person who inspired Corhor to teach that
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doctrine and understanding where the devil's doctrine is coming
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from and what it's trying to do. Then I believe from my own
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experience that it then enhances our ability to understand better
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the true doctrines that are coming to us from the Lord Jesus
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Christ as we move forward on that covenant path in the faith.
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So we pick up verse four and five.
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Again, there was all this continual peace and it doesn't
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just keep going because then there's verse 6.
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But it came to pass in the latter end of the 17th year.
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They there came a man into the land of Zarahemla and he was
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Antichrist. So here they are, peace and
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prosperity. And it doesn't get to just keep
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going as peace and prosperity. Here comes some major opposition
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in the form of a man who is Antichrist.
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So Korahor comes along and we are going to play a little game
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with Korahor. We're going to play dominoes.
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And by the way, for any of you who have ever spent any time
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setting up dominoes and then knocking them down, you
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understand the reality that it takes a lot longer to establish
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and to set up dominoes than it does to knock them down.
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So it is with faith. You can spend a a lifetime
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building up faith and if you, if you choose to do things that
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that are inappropriate or unwise, you can knock down years
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of building efforts in a very short period of time when it
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comes to faith and testimony and conversion.
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So Korahor comes along and these prophets and these people have
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been spending this time trying to establish some dominoes of
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faith and he's going to start knocking them down.
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Now watch closely at what the first domino is that Korahor
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attacks. Look at verse 12.
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This Antichrist, whose name was Korahor, and the law could have
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no hold upon him, began to preach unto the people there
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should be no Christ. Notice that the first domino
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he's going to attack is there will be no Christ.
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Now if you knock over that domino, it's going to knock down
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a whole series of dominoes downstream.
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If there's really no Christ, look what follows verse 13.
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O ye that are bound down under a foolish and a vain hope.
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That's his way of saying there is no such thing as true hope.
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You have no hope. And the hope that you think you
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have, it's foolish and it's vain.
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It's it's a total waste of your time.
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There is no hope. Look at verse 13's conclusion.
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Why do you look for a Christ? For no man can know of anything
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which is to come. There is no such thing as
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prophecy. You can't know what's coming in
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the future. By the way, you'll notice that
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with Sharon as well back in Jacob Chapter 7, they say no man
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can know anything which is to come in the future.
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And then they turn right around and say, now let me tell you
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what isn't going to be in the future.
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There is not going to be a Christ anywhere in the future.
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The the contradiction, the logical fallacy there is quite
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remarkable. But sometimes we miss that.
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The fact that they're telling you, you can't know the future,
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but then they're telling you the future.
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There is no Christ in the future for him.
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Look at verse 14. Behold these things which you
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call prophecies, which you say are handed down by the holy
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prophets. Behold, they are the foolish
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traditions of your Father's. There's no such thing as past
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wisdom to be gained from the prophets in the past.
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Anything that they pass down that they claim to be, it's all
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foolishness. It's just a tradition of your
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Father's. There is nothing to be gained
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from the past. That's interesting.
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Here we stand in the present. And what does Korahor in essence
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do? I learned this from from a dear
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friend and A and an amazing mentor, Brother Rex Reeve.
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He showed this to me that Korahor or the devil is doing
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everything he can to cut us completely off from the past and
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to blind us and cut us off from the future.
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Leaving us with me here now, when Satan can help us or, or
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cause us to be cut off from the past and the future, the ability
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that he has to tempt us in such a way that we fall the the odds
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go through the roof. And that's exactly what's
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happening here. Now.
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Before I go any further down the domino line, before we play any
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more of this domino game with Korahor, I need to stop and make
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something very clear here. It's not just that Korahor is
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teaching these doctrines to try to get people convinced to go
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out and sin. There's a reason why I think I
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believe that God inspired Mormon to put so much of, of Korahor's
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doctrine in here that there's a lot he, he opened up the
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playbook of the devil here right before our very eyes in Alma
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chapter 30 as well as anywhere. I know in all of scripture,
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you're getting a glimpse into doctrines of devils and what
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they teach. But even more than that, I
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believe the Lord inspired this because what's happening here is
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the Lord is revealing what it's like for people that follow the
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devil in the pre mortal counsel and for sons of perdition
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someday. In other words, is there a group
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of people who have no Christ? Is there a group of people who
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really do have no hope, who have no spirit of prophecy, and who
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don't benefit at all from any past wisdom?
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And the answer is yes, there are people.
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They live in hell with the devil.
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What Korahor is doing is he's revealing on a silver platter to
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you exactly what it would be like to be a devil.
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You have no claim on a Christ. And because you have no claim on
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Christ, you have none of these things.
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And the Book of Mormon taught us earlier on, misery likes
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company. He seeks that all may be
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miserable like unto himself. So if you want the true
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definitions of misery, you just keep playing this game with
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Korhor and watch these dominoes fall.
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So go to verse 15. How do you know of their surety?
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Behold, you cannot know of things which you do not see.
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Therefore you cannot know that there shall be a Christ.
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You can't know that which you can't see.
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There's no such thing as faith in in believing until you can
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see something. Verse 16 You look forward and
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say that you see a remission of your sins.
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That's the effect of a frenzied mind.
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There's no such thing as forgiveness.
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Look of 17 Many more such things did he say unto them, telling
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them that there could be no atonement made for the sins of
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men. But every man fared in this life
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according to the management of the creature.
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Therefore every man prospered according to his genius, and
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that every man conquered according to his strength.
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And whatsoever a man did was no crime.
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You noticing this? He is attacking every core
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doctrine that you can imagine. There is no atonement.
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There's no need for it even, because why?
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There's no crime. Remember Satan's plan in the
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beginning. I will save all of them.
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I will lose none of them. You can see echoes of that
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coming through Korahor's doctrine here.
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Look at verse 18. Thus he did preach unto them,
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leading away the hearts of many, causing them to lift up their
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heads in their wickedness, to glory in their wickedness,
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basically. Yeah.
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Leading away many women and also men to commit whoredoms, telling
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them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof.
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There is no life after death and after, after this life, it's
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done. So just live it up, enjoy what
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you've got. Take advantage of it.
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These dominoes, they fall in succession.
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But brothers and sisters, it's really critical to note again,
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to come back to the beginning. It's all rooted in Jesus Christ
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because quite frankly and very honestly, if you take Jesus
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Christ out of the picture, what Korahor taught is accurate.
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If there is no Christ, then you and I have no hope for any of
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these things that are, that are the remaining dominoes.
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And so you'll notice that prophets, both ancient and
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modern, their number one goal is to testify of Jesus Christ and
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to get us to believe in Christ and to come unto Christ and be
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perfected in him. Because once you put him in
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place, all of these other dominoes can be set up.
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So the contrast in the Book of Mormon, that zot not zot idea
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here we're getting not Zot, but the whole all, all of the
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prophets in the Book of Mormon are trying to teach us the
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opposite, which is the positive side, which is to come to know
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Christ. And when we come to know Christ,
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when we really know him, then we will really know hope.
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And then we will really know about prophecy and know about
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the past wisdom and gain more from it and so on and so forth
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down the line of the dominoes until we come to the knowing all
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about the atonement because we've experienced the Saviour's
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infinite mercy and power and grace in our own life and in
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life is our families. So.
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Before we move forward into the rest of Corhor's story, we need
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to make this very clear that this isn't just about an
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Antichrist. This is simply revealing the
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doctrine of devils and the the attributes of devils so that we
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can better understand what's going on when prophets stand up
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and preach the truth. And we can then make better
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sense when we're and find ourselves in the moments of
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temptation realizing who it is that's really tempting us and
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what he's trying to do and what's happening with us.
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Now moving on, look at verse 20. He goes to the people in the
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land of Jershon, the people that Ammon, Aaron, Omner and Himni
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and their companions had taught of the Lamanites.
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They didn't buy his doctrine. They kicked him out.
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He went to Gideon. They, they don't really buy his
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doctrine and then they take him to the high priest over all the
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land. The story gets really, really
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fun when we find this, this interesting scenario between
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Alma the Younger and Korahor. Here's the reality.
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Alma the Younger of all of our Book of Mormon prophets.
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I can't think of a better person to have in this interaction with
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Korahor because of Alma the Younger's past.
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Alma the Younger knows what teaching this doctor and his
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like because he spent some of his lifetime doing it when he
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was younger, and he knows very well where Korahor's coming
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from. But Korahor doesn't have a clue
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about where Alma's coming from. And that's the reality of of
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good and evil. Good goodness knows an awful lot
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about Goodness and Vadnais, but Vadnais doesn't know very much
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about either one. That's ACS Lewis concept and I,
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I like that. Before we now go into the
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interaction between Alma and Korahor, I want to point out
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something else here. Korahor is teaching these
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doctrines are other antichrists in the Book of Mormon.
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So we have Cherum. He's back in Jacob Chapter 7.
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Cherum's doctrine is also Antichrist, but he says that God
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lives. He doesn't believe in a God, at
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least at this point. Hold that thought.
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We'll get to it later. Sherm says that the law of Moses
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will save you. And he is really frustrated
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because the people are going after worshipping this, this
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Christ that will come. And he says you can't know the
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future and there is no Christ. That's how you're saved.
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Keep the law of Moses. The law will save you.
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So his Antichrist doctrine is very different, totally
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different flavor from core horse.
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Then you get Nihor in Alma chapter one, and his doctrine is
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different as well. In fact, we've mentioned it
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before. He never even mentions Christ,
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but we call him Antichrist because he says that God doesn't
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just live, but God will save all, He will save everyone and
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it doesn't matter what you do or what you don't do, you're going
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to be saved. So can you see that if you were
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to put Corhor Sherman Nihor on a on a debate stage, they would
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not agree with each other. Now, they would agree on certain
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points, but they across the board are coming from totally
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different extreme angles, but they're all inspired by the same
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guy. That's probably why we call it
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doctrines of devils and we call it the doctrine of Christ
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because he doesn't change his doctrine.
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Now we change Prince or practices in the church and
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policies and procedures, but the doctrine doesn't change.
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The doctrine of Christ is there is none other way nor means
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whereby we can be saved only in and through the coming of the
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Son of God. Because God sent him into the
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world to suffer the infinite atonement for us.
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And then we keep the laws and ordinances and the principles of
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His gospel in order to continually accept and access
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His grace. There's only one path in this
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case. There are three major variations
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and extremes on ways to sink our souls into into any state other
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than salvation. So as we move forward, recognize
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Satan doesn't care which doctrine you fall for.
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He just doesn't want you to follow the doctrine of Christ.
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He wants you to fall for one of his tactics and he's got many.
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This is just three of many ways that Satan will try to destroy
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us. Now he comes in front of Alma
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and the the showdown begins in verse 31.
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Notice he did rise up in great swelling words before Elma and
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did revile against the priests and the teachers, accusing them
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of leading away the people after the silly traditions of their
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fathers for the sake of glutting on the laborers of the people.
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So interesting that a that a person inspired by the devil
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would throw that accusation. The being who doesn't want to do
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any work but wants all of the benefit.
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That's Satan. He wasn't willing to sacrifice
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his life for us like Jesus was, but he wanted us to do all the
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work in him to get all the glory and all of the benefit.
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The irony is thick. The conversation goes on in this
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initial phase. Now look at verse 39.
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Now Alma said unto him, will you deny again that there is a God,
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and also deny the Christ? For behold, I say unto you, I
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know there is a God, and also that Christ shall come.
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So he bears his testimony very firmly, very resolutely to to
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Korahor here. And then verse 40 is beautiful.
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Now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ
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cometh not? I say unto you that ye have
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none, save it be your word only. It's interesting that in this
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case Korahor is laying the burden of proof at the feet of
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Alma, saying basically prove it. And we're going to see that here
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in a minute. You can't prove that there isn't
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a God. In fact, it was Elder Gerald
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Lund years and years ago in an Enzyme article who talked about
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this. He said in order to prove that
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there isn't a God, you would have to be able to go into all
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parts of the vast universe looking for him and find no
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evidence of of divinity. And then he said the only
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problem is, is by the time you get through looking through all
26:53
parts of the universe, God could have moved.
26:57
So he said, to really prove that there is no God, what you have
26:59
to do is have your mind be able to contemplate every square inch
27:07
of the OR cubic inch of the vast expanse of the universe in an
27:11
instant. And only a God can do that.
27:15
Brothers and sisters, the existence of God is not intended
27:20
to be something proved by scientific inquiry or by
27:23
scientific evidence. It's a matter of faith.
27:27
And I love the fact that here Elma is saying, look at verse
27:30
41. Behold, I have all things as a
27:34
testimony that these things are true.
27:36
And you also have all things as a testimony unto you that they
27:38
are true and will you deny them? He's saying, look, everywhere I
27:42
look I'm seeing signs of a God and you're seeing signs of a non
27:46
non existence of a God. But you can't prove it, nor can
27:51
I prove to you. But I can bear my testimony to
27:53
you, and I can. I can explain the witnesses that
27:56
I've seen. At this point Korahor shifts the
27:59
discussion. Look at verse 43.
28:01
Now Korahor said unto Elma, If thou wilt show unto me a sign
28:05
that I may be convinced that there is a God, yeh show unto me
28:08
that he hath power, and then will I be convinced of the truth
28:12
of thy words. Alma, let's make this really
28:15
simple. Show me a sign, prove it, prove
28:18
that God lives. Then I'll believe.
28:20
Let me see it, then I'll believe it.
28:23
That whole doctrine or that that foundation of seeking truth is a
28:28
wonderful one when it comes to scientific inquiry, when it
28:32
comes to things of the earth, physical laws, that is wonderful
28:38
to to use that scientific method of I've got to see it, then I'll
28:41
believe it. I personally don't want to get
28:43
onto an airplane of somebody who has no scientific
28:47
experimentation or built on laws of nature and and lots of tests
28:54
and trials and errors. The let me see it then believe
28:58
it is a wonderful way to seek truth when it comes to things of
29:02
the physical natural world in which we live.
29:05
But it's not a good way to seek truth with things of eternity.
29:10
The Book of Mormon later on is going to teach us that we
29:13
receive no witness until after the trial of our faith, which
29:18
means we have to believe first and then see second.
29:26
It's only after the trial that we get the witness.
29:29
So now watch what happens with this sign seeking.
29:32
If you'll show me a sign then I'll believe.
29:36
It was Jesus who taught the doctrine that it is a wicked and
29:40
an adulterous generation that seeketh after science.
29:44
Joseph Smith repeated that doctrine once when he said sign
29:48
seekers are adulterers. Basically, is the concept that
29:52
he taught That's odd. What?
29:54
What does sign seeking and adultery have in common that
29:57
would make them so connected in the mind of the Savior that he
30:00
would teach that a wicked and adulterous generation seeketh
30:03
after signs? Think about what an adulterer
30:09
wants and what they're willing to do.
30:11
An adulterer is not willing to work and to pay the price to go
30:18
through a long phase of, of dating and courtship and
30:21
engagement and marriage. They don't want to go to all the
30:24
work. They just want what they want
30:26
right here right now and they don't care what it costs because
30:31
they just they want that that passion or that desire fed in
30:37
the immediate present. What is sign seeking?
30:40
I don't want to have to go to the work of reading my
30:43
scriptures and praying and fasting and going to church and
30:47
serving and paying tithing and struggling to gain a testimony
30:54
of these things. I just, I want what I want and I
30:57
want it right now, but I don't want to have to work for it.
31:00
So just show me a sign. Let's cut to the chase.
31:02
Let me just see what I want to see and then I'll believe at
31:06
that point. Done.
31:07
It didn't cost me anything. I didn't have to put anything
31:09
into this, but I get all of the benefit with none of the pain or
31:14
none of the labor leading up to it.
31:16
Notice that Alma tells him you've had signs enough.
31:21
Verse 44. He continues to press Korahor on
31:25
this saying you, you know more, you know better, and are you
31:29
going to keep denying you going to do this?
31:31
Look at verse 48. Now Korahor said unto him, I do
31:34
not deny the existence of a God, but I do not believe that there
31:38
is a God. And I say also that you do not
31:39
know that there is a God, and except you show me a sign, I
31:42
will not believe. That's odd.
31:44
Our chief atheist in the Book of Mormon who didn't believe in the
31:49
existence of God and the existence of Christ, he doesn't
31:52
really say that as much. But everything he's talking
31:54
about, there's no life after this life.
31:57
There's nothing to be gained from the past.
31:59
Everything he's describing is godless.
32:02
It's atheistic. But now in verse 48 he shifts
32:08
and he becomes fully agnostic, an agnostic saying I don't know
32:16
and I don't think you know and I don't think anyone can know.
32:19
Well watch this. Look at verse 49.
32:22
Alma said unto him, This will I give unto thee for a sign.
32:25
Thou shalt be struck dumb according to my words.
32:29
And I say that in the name of God ye shall be struck dumb.
32:33
Thee shall no more have utterance.
32:35
And at that point Korahor is struck dumb.
32:37
He can't speak anymore. So look at verse 52.
32:41
First thing he writes, Korhor put forth his hand and wrote,
32:44
saying, I know that I am dumb, for I cannot speak and I know
32:49
he's bearing testimony now as he writes this.
32:51
I know that nothing save it were the power of God could bring
32:54
this upon me. Yeah.
32:56
And I always knew that there was a God.
33:00
I always knew that there is a God.
33:03
Turns out he's a theist all along.
33:06
So your question for Korhor at this point would be, really,
33:10
Then why did you do what you did?
33:11
Why did you teach what you taught?
33:13
He answers it before we even asked the question.
33:16
Look at verse 53. But behold, the devil hath
33:20
deceived me, for he appeared unto me in the form of an Angel,
33:24
and said unto me, Go and reclaim this people, for they have all
33:28
gone astray after an unknown God.
33:31
And he said unto me, There is no God.
33:35
Now, at that point, pause. You would want Korahor to ask a
33:38
few questions of that Angel, wouldn't you, When you want him
33:41
to say something like, really, if there's no God, then where
33:45
did you come from? Who sent you, and why did you
33:48
care to come? And if there really is no God,
33:51
then what difference does it make what anybody believes?
33:54
Really, at the end of the day, nothing matters.
33:58
But Korahor didn't ask any of those questions.
34:00
Look what he says. I taught his words, and I taught
34:04
them because they were pleasing unto the carnal mind, and I
34:08
taught them even until I had much success in so much that I
34:12
verily believed they were true, because they pleased the carnal
34:15
mind. And so many people seem to
34:18
follow and believe them true as well.
34:20
I believed that they were true. You're thinking to yourself, OK,
34:24
well, if you show me a sign, then I will be able to believe.
34:31
So now he's had his sign. Now he should be able to
34:34
believe, right? But his declaration was, I've
34:37
always believed. I didn't need Elma to show me a
34:40
sign to believe in God because I always knew there was a God.
34:44
I've just been teaching these things because they were so
34:46
pleasing and so many people like them.
34:48
But that was a good, good lesson for me.
34:50
I, I've learned it. Now let's move on.
34:53
I'm, I'm ready to, to be a good guy.
34:54
Now look at verse 54. Now when he had said this, he
34:58
besought that Elma should pray unto God that the curse might be
35:01
taken from him. Brothers and sisters, verse 54
35:04
for me is one of the saddest verses in this entire chapter
35:09
because what it tells me is that nothing has changed.
35:13
Korahor hasn't really changed. He just doesn't like the
35:17
consequence that he's now experiencing.
35:20
But his heart is no different than it was before because he's
35:24
doing the same thing as he was before.
35:27
He's turning to somebody else to do all of the work for him so
35:32
that he can get the rewards and the fruits and the benefits of
35:35
that labor. I don't know.
35:37
I have no authority for these things.
35:39
But I believe with all my heart that if verse 54 had said and it
35:45
came to pass, the Korahor fell to the ground and he poured out
35:50
his whole soul and his heart to God, pleading for remission of
35:55
his sins and his iniquities and for all that he had done to lead
35:59
away so many hearts away from Christ, pleading to know what
36:04
God would have him to do to to be forgiven of these sins.
36:09
I think we would have had a different ending to the story.
36:12
I think we would have seen a changed heart turning to God
36:16
asking for for direction on what God would have him do and he
36:20
would be willing to do it meekly.
36:22
And then I think the next verse might have said, and it came to
36:24
pass the core whore who was passed out for three days,
36:28
because that seems to always be the pattern when people are
36:30
making this kind of a transition.
36:32
But we don't see that because Korahor's heart doesn't seem to
36:36
have changed. He's turning to Alma saying, you
36:38
take this away from me because I've learned my lesson.
36:41
I'm a I'm a good boy. Now look at verse 55.
36:44
But Alma said unto him, if this curse should be taken from thee,
36:47
thou wouldst again lead away the hearts of these people.
36:49
Therefore it shall be unto thee even as the Lord will.
36:53
So he's he's saying, look, I'm not going to take it away.
36:55
But if because I think you're going to keep leading people
36:58
astray, but if God wants to take it away, I'll let him.
37:00
God doesn't. Now Korahor goes down among the
37:04
Zoramites in Antionum. This is the one place among the
37:09
Nephites where people should have embraced him and and
37:13
celebrated him. But notice what happened bottom
37:16
of verse 58. Korahor did go about from house
37:19
to house begging food for his support.
37:23
His doctrine isn't going very well.
37:25
Now, he told us before that every man prospers according to
37:29
his genius, So every dog for himself, right.
37:32
Well, now it's not going very well for him as he's begging.
37:36
And it came to pass it as he went forth among the people.
37:38
Yeah, among the people who had separated themselves from the
37:40
Nephites, called themselves Zoramites, being led by a man
37:44
whose name was Zoram. And as he went forth amongst
37:47
them, behold, he was run upon and trodden down.
37:50
Even until he was dead. Mormon couldn't hold himself
37:54
back. He has to jump in and say, did
37:57
did you get it? Did you see the message?
37:59
Look at this. It comes to us in two.
38:01
Thus we sees in verse 60. Thus we see the end of him who
38:05
perverteth the ways of the Lord. And thus we see that the devil
38:09
will not support his children at the last day, but does speedily
38:13
drag them down to hell. You'll notice a little contrast
38:17
on your scripture page there. If you have your physical
38:20
scriptures open, you could circle the word drag because
38:24
that's what Satan does. He drags people down to hell.
38:29
Look at the contrast over in chapter 31 verse 5 just right
38:33
next to it on the page. Now as the preaching of the word
38:35
had a great tendency to lead the people to do that, which was
38:40
just contrast zot with not zot. Contrast good with evil, Christ
38:48
with Satan. Satan drags, Christ leads.
38:54
He will never force anyone into heaven.
38:56
He will never reach into your heart and squeeze you and say
38:59
you will love me. That is not his way.
39:02
He will lead you with kindness, gentleness, meekness,
39:05
persuasion, love, and feigned all of those beautiful things in
39:08
section 121 that he describes. That's how God does his work.
39:12
As we say farewell to Korahor and turn our attention to
39:17
Chapter 31 with the Zoramites, just know that his doctrine is
39:23
appealing. There is a part of our being
39:25
that would very much like to have his doctrine be true.
39:29
If we let it go, my brothers and sisters, there is no happiness
39:34
in following that doctrine or allowing those dominoes to keep
39:39
falling and thinking we're going to somehow find lasting or
39:43
enduring joy. It doesn't exist.
39:46
That will only lead us to be bound more and more and more
39:50
with more flaxen cords from the devil, allowing him to drag us
39:54
more and more against our will versus turning to the Lord
39:58
saying I want thee to be my God and I want to be thy people and
40:03
moving forward in faith. Now we shift our attention to
40:06
Chapter 31 after the Korahor incident.
40:09
Alma is really concerned because down there if you, if you look
40:13
at the the map of the land northward in Zarahemla, you have
40:18
the capital in the center of the land.
40:20
It always talks about it, the capital city.
40:22
That's where this event with Korhor probably happened.
40:25
And Antionum is clear down here on the bottom right hand side.
40:31
It's one of the few entry points between the Lamanites and the
40:34
Nephite lands over here in Antionum.
40:36
The Zoramites have separated themselves from the Nephites,
40:39
and Elma is very, very concerned, and you can see
40:41
strategically on the map why that would be a concern for him.
40:44
He does not want these Zoramites becoming friendly with the
40:48
Lamanites because then you've got that flank opened up for the
40:53
enemy to be able to get into your lands.
40:54
So he decides to take a group of missionaries, perhaps called the
40:58
Dream Team of Missionaries, to go down there and teach these
41:02
people why. Look closely at 31, verse 5.
41:06
Now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency,
41:11
you'll notice he's had some experiences in other cities and
41:14
he realizes it doesn't always work, but it has a great
41:17
tendency to lead the people to do that which was just.
41:22
Yeah. It had had more powerful effect
41:24
upon the minds of the people than the sword or anything else
41:27
which had happened unto them. Therefore, Alma thought it was
41:30
expedient that they should try the virtue of the Word of God or
41:35
the power of the Word of God. He's saying let's go and teach.
41:38
So he takes this dream team with him described in verse six,
41:42
Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Amulek and Zezrum.
41:46
Don't you love the fact that Zezrum is on the team with the
41:48
missionaries? Now, this lawyer from Ammoniha
41:51
who had previously been trying to destroy them, I love that he
41:55
doesn't take Helaman, but he took with him Shiblon and
41:58
Coriantan. And we go on this mission down
42:01
here to the Zoramites. Now when we get there, there's
42:04
this fascinating thing that they discovered.
42:07
The Zormites have built synagogues and they're
42:09
worshipping on the Sabbath day. And he's like, oh, maybe we're
42:12
good. So they go into the synagogue
42:14
with them to see what they're doing.
42:15
Lo and behold, they've built an interesting structure inside of
42:19
the synagogue. Taylor's speaking about this,
42:22
this whole symbolism of the Ramiomptam and what it means.
42:28
Now look closely at the wording of the prayer offered on top of
42:31
the Ramiomptam, and you tell me in your mind, who inspired this
42:36
prayer or to whom are they really praying, whether they
42:40
know it or not? Look at verse 15.
42:43
Holy, holy God, we believe that thou art God, and we believe
42:46
that thou art holy, and that thou wast a spirit, and that
42:49
thou art a spirit, and that thou wilt be a spirit forever.
42:55
Who fits that description? And if you're thinking through
42:59
all the words literally, you're saying, well, nobody does.
43:02
There's no holy, holy God who has been a spirit, is a spirit,
43:06
and will be a spirit forever. The reality is that Satan is
43:09
really, really good at identity theft.
43:11
So he's taken attributes of God's holiness and he's
43:15
declaring that for himself. But his identity is I've always
43:20
been a spirit, always will be a spirit.
43:22
There's no hope for a body for him in the future.
43:26
Look at verse 16. Holy God, we believe that Thou
43:29
has separated us from our brethren, and we do not believe
43:32
the tradition of our brethren, which was handed down to them by
43:34
the childishness of their fathers.
43:36
But we believe that Thou hast elected us to be thy holy
43:40
children, and also Thou hast made it known unto us that there
43:43
shall be no Christ. Sounds a lot like Korahor's
43:47
doctrine now coming through. Look verse 17.
43:50
You're the same yesterday, today, and forever.
43:53
You see how he's stealing attributes of God.
43:56
Thou hast elected us, that we shall be saved, whilst all
44:00
around us are elected to be cast by Thy wrath down to hell, for
44:03
which holiness we thank Thee that Thou hast elected us.
44:07
What does their salvation cost them?
44:09
What faith, what trust, What hope do they have to have?
44:13
You'll notice after they finish the prayer and get off the
44:15
Ramiempton, they go home and they never think about or talk
44:20
about God until the following week when they get back up on
44:22
the Ramiempton. Their covenant, their
44:26
discipleship costs them nothing. Their salvation is given to
44:31
them, but everybody around them is not going to be saved.
44:36
That sounds very similar to the devil's doctrine.
44:39
Up in heaven sounds very similar in ways to Nihor's doctrine.
44:43
We know these guys are after the Order of the New Horse as well.
44:45
So the finishing of this is in verse 24.
44:50
Now when Elma saw this, his heart was grieved for he saw
44:53
that they were a wicked and a perverse people.
44:55
Yay. And he saw that their hearts
44:56
were set upon gold and upon silver and upon all manner of
44:59
fine goods. But if you were to interview any
45:01
one of them walking out of the synagogue on a given Sabbath day
45:04
and say, how are you doing on the righteousness scale?
45:07
They'd be saying, I'm good, I'm going to be saved, I'm great.
45:10
But here's a prophet of God saying, Oh no, we have our work
45:14
cut out for us. Now you have an apostate prayer
45:18
on page 286. This is Ornamite Ramyamtam
45:23
prayer. So isn't it interesting that
45:26
Mormon would choose to give us Alma's prophetic prayer on the
45:32
very next page? You get a prayer to the devil
45:36
with with deceptive identity theft going on, and then you get
45:41
a prophet's true prayer and you see pleading and you see what it
45:45
costs him and what he's willing to put on the altar in this
45:48
work. Look at the phrasing here.
45:50
Verse 26. He lifted up his voice to
45:52
heaven, and he cried, saying, O how long, O Lord, wilt thou
45:56
suffer that thy servant shall dwell here below in the flesh,
45:59
to behold such gross wickedness among the children of men?
46:03
Behold, O God, they cry unto thee.
46:05
And he goes on, and on and on. Now look towards the end. 32 O
46:10
Lord, wilt thou comfort my soul, and give unto me success, and
46:14
also my fellow laborers who are with me?
46:16
Yeah, wilt thou comfort their souls in Christ?
46:20
They're at the end of the verse. Why He's asking for comfort.
46:23
So that they can be an instrument in the hands of the
46:25
Lord to establish those correct dominoes again for the people to
46:31
put things back in place for the Zoramites to be able to believe
46:36
and to understand. And at the end, notice verse 36.
46:40
It came to pass it when Elma had said these words, that he
46:42
clapped his hands upon all them who were with him.
46:44
And behold, as he clapped his hands upon them, they were
46:47
filled with the Holy Spirit. As we come to the to the end of
46:52
this next week's lesson, we're going to get into chapters
46:55
323334, which are the teachings of Alma and Emila and Zezrim and
47:03
these other missionaries among the Zoramites, where they have
47:06
success and where they don't have success.
47:09
Brothers and sisters, nothing that we've spent time talking
47:12
about today, and I mean nothing that we've talked about today
47:17
matters at all if there isn't a Christ and if there isn't a God.
47:23
But I'm here to tell you everything we've talked about
47:26
today does matter because there is a God and there is a Christ,
47:31
and there is his infinite atonement.
47:34
And there is past wisdom to be gained from the Scriptures and
47:38
from our ancestors and those who have gone before and from our
47:41
own lives in the past. There's great power in that, and
47:45
there's great power in looking to the future, and there's great
47:48
power in believing in things which we can't yet see and in
47:53
strengthening our faith to the point where we have deep trust
47:57
in God to move forward based on what we do know, on the covenant
48:01
path following Christ back to that place where he intends us
48:06
to go, which is into the presence of our of our loving
48:09
Heavenly Parents. So in closing, know that God
48:13
lives, know that Jesus is the Christ, and know that you're
48:16
loved. And we leave that with you.
48:18
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen