Latest / Scripture Central / Alma 30–31 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource

Transcript

Alma 30–31 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource · Scripture Central

0:00
Hello there. My name is Tyler Griffin and
0:02
this is scripture study insights by Scripture Central today Alma
0:07
30 and 31 and these two chapters are they're an amazingly
0:15
difficult set of the the Book of Mormon history because what we
0:20
get is an Alma 30 Korahor coming and teaching his doctrine.
0:25
And then you get in chapter 31, the Zoramites embodying his
0:30
doctrine or applying his doctrine to their daily life.
0:33
So you see what it looks like when it plays out.
0:37
So at first pass, you may look at these two chapters and think,
0:40
wow, I, I don't want to engage deeply with these because it's
0:44
kind of depressing or it's darker, it's heavy.
0:49
I love the fact that the Book of Mormon becomes more than just a
0:53
window to the past, more than just a window to see other
0:57
people in far away places, far away settings, but it becomes a
1:02
mirror to our present, not just our life, but but our world
1:06
today. And the fact is, there are a lot
1:11
of things going on in Alma chapter 30 where we see
1:15
Korahor's teachings, his techniques, and the the ways
1:21
that he's trying to engage people in conversation to
1:24
persuade them to change their beliefs to align with his own,
1:30
that we see a lot of that happening in our world today.
1:34
And so consequently, we can learn incredible lessons about
1:38
how to recognize doctrines and techniques that seek to drag us
1:44
down or to turn us away from the Lord as well as we get to see
1:49
Alma the Younger interacting with Korahor and interacting
1:53
with the Zoramites. So we see patterns for what we
1:58
can do to not just be a victim of our circumstance or a victim
2:04
of our culture, but rather an agent for for good, an active
2:10
disciple of Christ who can discern these these techniques
2:16
as they're coming forth and then successfully combat them with
2:21
the Spirit. And so let's dive in the concept
2:27
that there there are two little lifelong learning overlays or,
2:31
or teaching perspectives that I want to focus on today.
2:35
The first one is we've talked before about the power of
2:41
identifying principles and then further understanding or
2:46
studying those principles or truths as they come to us from
2:51
the Scriptures. There are two kinds of scripture
2:58
truths or principles. If you, if you boil it down
3:01
there, the stated principles. And then there are the implied
3:08
principles that are on the Scripture page.
3:11
So if it's stated, you can just read it right off the page.
3:15
It's very obvious. If it's implied, it's not so
3:18
obvious. You have to read between the
3:21
lines. Look from different angles.
3:26
Read it a lot more carefully. Slow down in your reading.
3:30
Ask a lot more questions of those words that you're reading
3:34
and say, Now if that's true, that stated principle, what else
3:38
is implied? What?
3:39
What is what is he trying to get us to believe?
3:45
So we're going to see a lot of things that are stated on the
3:49
page for both negative principles from Corhor and
3:52
positive principles from Alma. But then we're going to spend
3:56
some time looking at those implied principles.
3:59
And I'll, I'll show you that. The second thing is consider if
4:05
you're teaching children or teaching in a classroom setting,
4:10
something you could do to engage a group with this particular
4:14
chapter. Alma 30 is my my favorite way to
4:17
teach these, these doctrines that Cora whore is trying to
4:22
convince people of is to use dominoes.
4:24
So you could bring a bag of dominoes or a box of dominoes,
4:28
hand them out to to the students, depending on the age
4:32
of your children or your students if you're teaching in a
4:35
church setting. And you could say we're going to
4:38
set up some dominoes on the table.
4:42
And it doesn't take long for any group of of students or children
4:46
to recognize the, the contrast between how difficult it is to
4:52
set up a line of dominoes or a pattern of dominoes compared to
4:58
how easy it is to knock them down.
5:03
In other words, I'll slide this to this side.
5:07
Creation or building takes a lot more effort than destruction or
5:18
tearing down South. The devil comes into the story
5:24
throughout different places of the scriptures and he never
5:28
builds anything. He never, he never adds to or
5:34
builds up what you've you have. All he does is he takes that
5:38
which God has created, and he seeks to get you to use it in
5:42
ways that would turn out destructive in the long run.
5:47
He tears down faith. He tears down belief, He tears
5:51
down commandments. He tears down the doctrines of
5:54
God. He tears down the teachings of
5:56
prophets. But sometimes he'll tell some
5:59
truths. Sometimes he'll give you some
6:03
stated principles that are accurate only to get you to
6:07
trust Him so that you'll then also believe the principles that
6:12
he's going to teach and imply in many cases that are destructive
6:16
in nature. So with that, let's jump in and
6:20
look at these these dominoes. So if you consider setting up on
6:28
a table a whole series of of dominoes in a row ready to ready
6:36
to be knocked over, you always start with the first domino.
6:41
And in this case you, you see in chapter 30, verse four, that the
6:48
people did have no more disturbance in all the 16th year
6:53
of the reign of the judges over the people of Nephi.
6:55
So it's a it's a good ending to that year.
6:59
And then verse five, it came to pass in the commencement of the
7:01
17th year of the reign of the judges, there was continual
7:04
peace. So no disturbance at the end of
7:08
the 16th and continual peace in the beginning of the 17th, and
7:12
everything looks great. But then the next word is but
7:16
implying, uh oh, there's going to be a shift here.
7:19
But it came to pass in the latter end of the 17th year
7:23
there came a man into the land of Zarahemla, and he was
7:27
Antichrist, for he began to preach unto the people against
7:31
the prophecies which had been spoken by the prophets
7:34
concerning the coming of Christ. So Korahor is one of our our
7:41
most prominent antichrists in the Book of Mormon.
7:45
What is an Antichrist? It's anyone or any group or any
7:51
movement that would teach any way that you can find salvation
7:59
or lasting hope in any way, shape or form without Jesus
8:05
Christ. It's to provide some other means
8:10
for people to think that they can arrive at the ultimate
8:14
destination that doesn't involve Jesus Christ.
8:17
The scriptures are very clear. There is no other way, nor means
8:22
nor name given under heaven whereby mankind can be saved
8:26
only in and through the name of Jesus Christ.
8:29
That's it. So any other doctrine or gospel
8:34
that people try to teach Corahor is going to put forth his here
8:39
that counters that would be in a technical sense considered
8:44
Antichrist. So in this case he he starts in
8:49
verse 12 with his actual teaching.
8:51
This Antichrist, whose name was Corahor, and the law could have
8:56
no hold upon him. He began to preach unto the
8:59
people that there should be no Christ.
9:03
And after this manner did he preach saying So if we make a
9:09
little row of dominoes here, they would all begin with the
9:15
letters. NO, there is no.
9:18
And the first domino is Christ, no Christ that is the foundation
9:27
or the pivot point that begins this long chain reaction.
9:32
So it starts in verse 13. O ye that are bound down under a
9:37
foolish and a vain hope. So we have to pause there.
9:45
In verse 12 you saw stated very clearly there was a stated
9:51
principle on the page that said Korahor taught clearly there
9:56
shall be no Christ. Now in verse 13 it doesn't say
10:02
now there will be no hope or you have no hope.
10:07
It's not stated that way. What he says is why are you
10:12
bound down under a foolish and a vain hope?
10:16
Why do you yoke yourselves with such foolish things?
10:21
So he made some statements. He but he implied that there's
10:28
really no such thing as hope for anything better in the future.
10:36
Any hope that you might talk yourself into having, or that
10:40
you assume you have from core horse perspective is foolish and
10:45
vain. In other words, there's no such
10:47
thing as real hope. Now the second thing in verse 13
10:52
says, why do you look for a Christ?
10:56
For no man can know of anything which is to come.
11:00
So this is stated and a little bit implied that there's no such
11:04
thing as prophecy. You you can't know the future,
11:11
no man can know anything which is to come.
11:15
And these prophets have been telling you that there is a
11:18
Christ coming in the future to save you, and you've based your
11:22
hope on that Christ. Notice how everything keeps
11:27
coming back to the beginning. Everything is rooted in this
11:32
first domino, this first doctrine that Christ is coming.
11:37
And because Christ is coming, we center our hope in Him and we
11:41
believe the prophecies about that coming of Christ from this
11:47
BC perspective here. Now what you could do with a
11:52
group of of students or children with dominoes is you can have
11:59
them start setting up more and more dominoes on the table as
12:04
they identify more of the teachings, both stated and
12:09
implied doctrines coming from Korahor.
12:14
For instance, verse 14 says, behold, these things which he
12:17
called prophecies, which he say are handed down by the holy
12:21
prophets. Behold, they are the, they are
12:24
foolish traditions of your father's.
12:29
So it's not just that there's no prophecy.
12:32
You can't know anything of the future based on wisdom from the
12:38
past. There's no such thing.
12:40
So it's kind of an implied principle that you shouldn't
12:44
look to your elders, you shouldn't look to the
12:47
generations before you for any wisdom or any direction on how
12:52
to live your life today. So he's in essence, cutting them
12:57
off from the the wisdom of ages past.
13:02
So here we are in the present, and he's cut us off from the
13:14
past. He's told us that you can't know
13:17
anything about the future. No man knows the future, no
13:23
wisdom from the past. Which leaves you with one thing.
13:26
It leaves you with the present. And quite frankly, if that's all
13:31
you have to worry about is me here now, the ability for the
13:38
devil to tempt us goes significantly higher because
13:44
there's nothing to live for. There's no hope.
13:46
There's nothing to look forward to in the future.
13:49
And all of these traditions of the past, they're, they're
13:51
foolish, they're vain, and they're, I'm being bound down.
13:57
I'm held back by those traditions that have come to me
14:01
from the past, from the from the generations that have come
14:04
before. If you push pause here before
14:10
you, you turn your children or your students loose on the next
14:14
set of verses. It would be interesting, I
14:17
think, for certain groups to pause and recognize what's just
14:23
happened. What is Cora Hort actually
14:27
teaching here? So we get his statements, we get
14:32
a few of his implications, but what is his overarching
14:35
implication? What is he really doing?
14:38
What is His end game? He's trying to get people to
14:42
completely cut themselves off, not just from a belief in
14:46
Christ, not just a belief in God, but everything that goes
14:51
with that so that they now turn their lives over to the natural
14:57
tendencies. In essence, what He has just
15:01
done is put on a silver platter for us.
15:05
What it would be like to live in the realm of the devil, to live
15:11
in hell. That's the only group who has no
15:17
claim on the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.
15:22
They will not be resurrected. They will not be redeemed.
15:27
So consequently, the devils down in hell have no hope.
15:33
They don't have any access to the Spirit of prophecy or
15:38
revelation. They don't know the future.
15:42
And the fact that there are prophets, Sears and revelators
15:45
and people walking on the earth who have the gift of prophecy in
15:49
revelation, that gift of the Spirit, it must drive them
15:52
crazy. So they're going to tear that
15:55
down. But they do that by first
15:58
attacking the doctrine of Christ, because if the doctrine
16:03
of Christ domino falls, then everything will fall downstream
16:09
from that. And so they're the only ones who
16:14
have no glorious future. They choose to ignore all wisdom
16:19
from the past up in heaven as the plan is being presented.
16:24
They reject all wisdom from God and accept or embrace the
16:30
doctrines and the the tactics that are being shared and spread
16:35
by Lucifer and those closest to him in that war in heaven.
16:40
So they have lost access to all future blessings.
16:45
So Korahor is doing more than just teaching random things.
16:51
He's actually revealing the characteristics, the attributes
16:57
and the the traits of the devil and those that followed him and
17:02
those that choose to give their life over to him in this life as
17:06
well. So you don't have to wonder what
17:10
it would be like to to follow that path.
17:13
Those dominoes will just keep falling once again.
17:17
Takes a lot more energy and effort and faith to build and
17:24
create than it does to destroy. Many of you have spent decades
17:32
building your conversion, building your faith in God,
17:35
building your testimony. Faith takes time.
17:40
It takes concerted effort. It takes careful discipleship.
17:45
Whereas destruction, anyone can come in and start destroying.
17:49
You don't have to measure. You don't have to ever fast or
17:52
pray or or do any any work of any kind to to destroy people's
18:00
belief or faith. You can cast seeds of doubt and
18:04
seeds of hatred very, very easily as we see core who are
18:09
doing here now. What you could do is worth with
18:13
verse 14/15/16 and 17, you could ask children or students to take
18:20
their dominoes and identify as many stated and implied
18:26
principles that Korahor is teaching.
18:29
What is he basically saying? There is no such thing as what?
18:33
And find as many of you as you can and then set those up on a
18:37
table to be knocked down because that's what he's doing.
18:40
So in verse 15, you see, how do you know of their surety?
18:45
Behold, you cannot know of things which you do not see.
18:49
There's no such thing as faith. It's it's fake.
18:53
If you can't see it, if you can't test it, if you can't
18:56
observe it, then it's not real is what core horse teaching
18:59
here. But that was an implied
19:01
principle. Therefore you cannot know that
19:06
there shall be a Christ. So again, attacking anything
19:10
that would be forward-looking or future prophecy fulfilling,
19:16
verse 16, you look forward and say that you see a remission of
19:19
your sins, but behold, it is the effect of a frenzied mind.
19:24
So there's no forgiveness that that you, you can't be forgiven
19:30
of sins. In fact, he goes on to say, and
19:33
this derangement of your minds comes because of the traditions
19:36
of your Father's which lead you away into a belief of things
19:39
which are not so. So you, you, you keep holding on
19:44
to this, but it's you, you see the words derangement, frenzied.
19:49
So he's throwing in these devilish tactics and these
19:52
belittling phrases to make people feel silly, foolish, as
19:59
if they're they're not thinking clearly if they hold on to this
20:04
faith because it's apparently not popular.
20:09
And then he goes on to verse 17 and many more such things Did he
20:12
say unto them, telling them that there could be no atonement made
20:16
for the sins of men? That's a critical domino.
20:20
And then he says for every man fared in this life according to
20:23
the management of the creature, so there's no, no promised
20:28
blessings, there's no covenantal connection with God that would
20:32
give you an outpouring of of God's mercy and grace.
20:36
Those things don't exist in Corahor's doctrine.
20:39
It's not really Corahor's doctrine.
20:41
This is the devil's doctrine. Corahor just happens to be the
20:44
mouthpiece for it. And he says that every man
20:49
prospers according to his genius, and that every man
20:53
conquered according to his strength.
20:55
And whatsoever a man did was no crime.
20:57
There is no crime, there is no law that that really matters.
21:02
Everything's just man made and it's survival of the fittest.
21:06
So according to your strength you're going to conquer or be
21:10
conquered and just enjoy life. Live it up is the essence of
21:16
Korahor's doctrine, which is fascinating because if you
21:19
compare him to Nihor in Alma chapter one, Nihor's doctrine
21:25
was God lives and he loves everybody and he's going to save
21:29
everybody. Korahor couldn't be more
21:32
opposite in his teaching. There is no God.
21:36
It doesn't matter what you do. There's nothing to look forward
21:40
to in the next life. There's no salvation because
21:42
there is no no life after this, this one, and you just need to
21:49
enjoy what you can based on the privileges of your strength and
21:53
your knowledge that you have right here, right now.
21:56
No wisdom from the past. Don't bind yourself down by the
21:59
commandments and don't worry about the future.
22:02
So you see that Nihor and Korahor are on polar opposite
22:06
ends of this doctrinal spectrum, but they're both Antichrist.
22:12
They're both preaching something that is completely contrary to
22:16
the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you throw Sharon into the mix
22:21
back in Jacob Chapter 7, he teaches that God lives and that
22:26
he loves you and he wants to save you, but you have to
22:30
perfectly keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.
22:34
So he would agree partly with Nihor on the fact that God
22:38
exists, but he disagrees with Nihor that you have to keep the
22:42
Law of Moses because the law saves you and Nihor says no,
22:46
God's going to save everybody. Are you noticing that there is a
22:50
thread of the devilish doctrine in all three of them and yet
22:54
they don't agree? One of the amazing things about
22:58
the gospel of Jesus Christ is that over time you will see this
23:03
convergence of the teachings and the doctrine all fitting
23:07
together in one circle, that the gospel overtime becomes more and
23:13
more clear. Whereas with the those who
23:17
represent the devil's teachings and the devil's techniques and
23:21
doctrines, they become more disparate and more separated.
23:27
He is out there trying to get people to believe and to follow
23:31
him using whatever doctrines, whatever techniques he can, and
23:37
they don't agree with each other.
23:38
There's one doctrine of Christ and there are there, there are
23:45
hundreds of approaches that would lead people away from
23:50
Christ, that would lead them carefully down towards hell.
23:57
So verse 18, here's the here's the end game as these dominoes
24:01
have fallen down the line. Verse 18 And thus he did preach
24:05
unto them, leading away the hearts of many, causing them to
24:10
lift up their heads in their wickedness.
24:14
You leading away many women and also men to commit whoredoms,
24:17
telling them that when a man was dead, that was the end thereof.
24:21
So there's no life after death. So they're now committing these
24:25
sins, thinking there's nothing wrong with this in it.
24:29
There's something exciting about it and I can live it up.
24:33
And so off they go, committing these whoredoms and lifting up
24:37
their heads in their wickedness, no longer feeling that godly
24:43
sorrow. So he now starts preaching more
24:49
widely among the people and he's brought to Elma the Younger,
24:57
which is such a fascinating contrast, Elma the younger, who
25:00
knows exactly what it's like to be doing the kinds of things
25:04
that Korahor is doing. And to have those two in
25:07
conversation is, is an interesting, it's an ironic
25:14
connection here. So before he's brought to Alma
25:18
the younger, he interacts with some other judges in in
25:23
different settings in different cities and notice some of the
25:26
things that he that the techniques, the tactics.
25:31
So these were the teachings and we saw some of his tactics of of
25:36
slandering, of preaching in such a way that it makes people feel
25:40
so foolish for even thinking for a moment that these teachings
25:45
from the prophets could be true. Look at this technique, verse
25:49
22. It came to pass that the high
25:51
priest said unto him, why do you go about perverting the way of
25:54
the Lord? Why do you teach this people
25:55
there shall be no Christ to interrupt their rejoicings?
25:59
And why do you speak against all the prophecies of the Holy
26:02
Prophet? So he's being asked these simple
26:04
questions. Now watch the tactic.
26:07
This high priest's name was Gadonna.
26:11
And Korahor said unto him, Because I do not teach the
26:14
foolish traditions of your Father's, and because I do not
26:16
teach this people to bind themselves down under the
26:19
foolish ordinances and performances which are laid down
26:23
by ancient priests to usurp power and authority over them.
26:29
The irony is thick that hears Korahor giving voice to the
26:36
devil's doctrines using the devilish techniques which are
26:40
intended to bind down and take captive those who will follow,
26:49
compared to the Lord's commandments which actually free
26:54
people up and give them more liberty, more agency, more
26:59
peace, more hope. So he's using devilish
27:02
techniques and tactics with devilish, devilish teachings to
27:07
superimpose those very same things on to the Lord, his
27:14
prophets and his commandments and his gospel and his grace, to
27:18
now turn it into something that is binding and foolish.
27:23
And it's just a tradition of the fathers in order for those
27:26
fathers to gain power and authority over the people, over
27:30
the masses, Which is exactly what these temptations from the
27:35
devil are seeking to do to these people is to take away their
27:40
power and their their authority to act in, in true freedom.
27:46
Verse 24, you say that this people is a free people.
27:50
Behold, I say they are in bondage.
27:52
If you want to see bondage, you don't look at souls in heaven.
27:58
You look at souls who are in hell.
28:00
That's real bondage. And he's given you the playbook
28:05
of the blueprints of how to become more like the devil.
28:10
And the irony is so thick that he's preaching the total
28:14
opposite about Christ. Verse 26 Ye also say that Christ
28:20
shall come. But behold, I say that you do
28:22
not know that there shall be a Christ.
28:25
And ye say also that ye shall be, He shall be slain for the
28:28
sins of the world. And then he goes on tearing down
28:33
that doctrine, coming back with most of his focus on that first
28:37
domino. Now, before this gets too heavy
28:42
or or makes you feel like you're being dragged through the mire
28:47
of these false teachings, it's important to recognize that the
28:53
opposite of these dominoes is in play in the Book of Mormon.
28:59
Korahor's message is that there is no Christ, there is no hope,
29:03
no prophecy, no future, no past worth looking at, no sin, no
29:09
law, no atonement, no life after this death.
29:12
All of these dominoes that he has set up and then or the the
29:15
prophets have set up and he has knocked them down, starting with
29:19
the the first one. Well, the entire message of the
29:24
Book of Mormon is that if you come to know these things, KNOW,
29:30
if you come to know Christ, then you will come to know hope, and
29:36
you'll know about prophecy, and you'll know about the future,
29:39
and you'll know about all of the blessings that come from the
29:42
commandments and the law and life after this death.
29:44
And you'll come to know the atonement.
29:47
So we build up faith rather than spend all of our time focusing
29:52
on the devil's efforts to tear down our faith.
29:56
I think the one of the main reasons why Mormon included
30:00
chapter 30 in the Book Mormon, he could have easily skipped.
30:03
This is the reality that he's writing for our day and he
30:10
recognizes and we should all recognize that opposition is
30:13
real. There are efforts to tear down
30:18
belief in Christ, which then causes all of these other
30:22
dominoes to to fall. Any teaching that would cause
30:28
you to believe less in or study less about or be less motivated
30:36
to follow Jesus Christ is not going to lead to building or
30:43
creating more faith in a better future for you or your family.
30:50
It's that simple. Anything that would disconnect
30:54
you from Christ to any degree or to turn away from him to any
30:59
degree is not going to lead you to become more like him.
31:04
It will lead you to become more like the the devil as we see
31:09
playing out on this page here. So he comes in front of Elma and
31:16
now you get this, this little discourse.
31:19
If you're teaching a class or teaching your family at home, a,
31:26
a fun little technique you can use when teaching is to do a
31:30
little reader's theater. So you can pick a narrator or
31:33
you as the parent or as the teacher could be the narrator
31:36
and you have different children or students in your Class B
31:40
voice for reading the different parts.
31:43
So you can you can start with the whole dialogue in, in verse
31:48
30, or you could shorten it and and pick it up halfway through
31:54
verse 35 with Alma asking the question.
31:59
And now believeth thou that we deceive this people that causes
32:03
such joy in their hearts. And then your narrator would
32:07
say, Ankorah answered him one word, Yeah, I believe that
32:12
you're, you're deceiving these people.
32:14
And then Alma said unto him, believeth thou that there is a
32:18
God? And he answered, Nay, he's
32:23
pretty good at these one word. Nay answers, and almost said
32:28
unto him, Will you deny again that there is a God, and also
32:31
deny the Christ? For behold, I say unto you, I
32:33
know there is a God, and also that Christ shall come.
32:38
So he's, he's taking on these dominoes that core horse been
32:43
trying to knock down. And he says, And now what
32:45
evidence have you that there is no God, or the Christ cometh
32:49
not? I say unto you that you have
32:52
none, save it be your word. Only you're putting a lot of
32:57
eggs in one basket, saying no man knows the future.
33:01
Korhor, just because you don't know the future doesn't mean
33:06
that prophets and certain individuals with the spirit of
33:10
prophecy and those that believe those prophets and prophecies
33:15
doesn't mean that they don't know the future and can have
33:19
faith and hope in that future to guide their their attitudes,
33:23
beliefs and behaviors today. He says, behold, I have all
33:28
things as a testimony that these things are true.
33:31
And you all have also have all things as a testimony unto you
33:34
that they are true and will you deny them?
33:37
Believest thou that these things are true?
33:39
And then he says, behold, I know that thou believest.
33:43
That's a bold statement coming from a guy who is a professed
33:46
atheist. I, I there is no God, there is
33:49
no Christ, is what Korahor said. And now Elma's bearing his
33:53
testimony for him. I know that you know Korahor.
33:57
And then Korahor in verse 43 says, if thou wilt show unto me
34:02
a sign that I may be convinced that there is a God, He's shown
34:06
to me that he has power. And then will I be convinced of
34:11
the truth of thy words? So core whores now setting up a
34:17
different kind of gospel formula.
34:20
He's saying if you do the work to show me a sign, then I will
34:27
believe what you're what you're teaching me.
34:30
Then I'll believe some of these other dominoes that I've knocked
34:33
down. But you have to do the work.
34:36
You have to build it up. Show me some sign.
34:40
Are you noticing that that takes zero effort on Core Horse Park.
34:47
He's he's showing you what it looks like.
34:51
If you choose to turn your life over to the devil, you become
34:56
more and more of a victim of what happens around you, of the
35:01
circumstances of your life or of the actions of other people.
35:06
And if those actions are good, then you'll believe.
35:09
And if those actions fail, then you'll disbelieve even more.
35:15
So Korahor is putting all of the pressure on Alma.
35:19
Show me a sign and then I'll believe.
35:22
So Alma tells him you had signs enough.
35:26
And he goes on to say in verse 44, all things denote there is a
35:29
God. It would be an interesting
35:32
exercise for a family or for a class to just pause for a moment
35:37
and look around. The the Come Follow Me manual
35:41
for this week has a a fun little exercise to go look out a
35:44
window. Or you could even take a walk
35:46
outside and look around and list as many things as you can see
35:50
that show you the fingerprints of the Lord, so to speak, to see
35:57
his hand all around us. All things to note that there is
36:01
a God It It would be a interesting exercise to make a
36:06
list as long as you could in 60 seconds or less for a group of
36:12
all the things that denote that there is a God.
36:17
So then he goes on core horse says in verse 45, I will deny
36:24
except you shall show me a sign. In other words, I'm not going to
36:29
do anything to change this, but if you want to change my belief,
36:31
then you have to show me a sign and only then will I believe you
36:38
see, he's changing the flow of of what happens when somebody
36:45
believes and then they receive a witness after the trial of their
36:50
faith. Faith is to have assurance and
36:54
hope in something that you can't see.
36:57
So Alma asks a really important question in verse 45.
37:00
He says, and yet do you go about leading away the hearts of this
37:04
people, testifying to them that there is no God, and yet will
37:09
you deny against all these witnesses?
37:12
And he said, yeah, I will deny, except ye shall show me a sign.
37:18
Once again, all of the burden of proof is on Alma.
37:22
I'm not going to do anything to build my faith.
37:26
If you want to cause me to believe, then simply show me a
37:29
sign, which is not faith. He's using a technique that is
37:36
really effective in the scientific world to discover
37:41
physical truths. We are so grateful for the
37:45
scientific method. We are grateful for brilliant
37:48
scientists who discover all kinds of truths using
37:53
intelligence and using the experiments in the laboratory
37:57
efforts to see and then believe before they start mass producing
38:04
products or resources for us to use.
38:08
That is a beautiful technique when it comes to physical things
38:11
on the earth, but it doesn't always translate into things of
38:17
eternity or things of heaven or the spirit, which is what Korhor
38:22
is trying to force here. Now he says verse 46, it came to
38:28
pass that Alma said unto him, Behold, I am grieved because of
38:31
the hardness of your heart, yet that you will still resist the
38:34
spirit of truth, that thy soul may be destroyed.
38:40
Such a contrast. Korahor is thinking that he's
38:44
teaching this liberating and freeing doctrine.
38:48
And in reality Alma says you're in the process of allowing the
38:52
the devil to destroy your soul. Now something shifts in verse
38:57
48. Now Corahor said unto him, I do
39:02
not deny the existence of a God, but I do not believe that there
39:06
is a God. And I say also that you do not
39:08
know that there is a God and except you shall or except you
39:11
show me a sign, I will not believe.
39:15
So now from shifting from an atheist viewpoint, he shifts
39:19
over to an agnostic. I don't know, and I don't think
39:23
you can know, and I don't think anyone can know.
39:26
So now Alma said, this will I give unto thee for a sign that
39:31
thou shalt be struck dumb, according to my words.
39:34
And I say that in the name of God you shall be struck dumb,
39:38
that you shall have no more utterance.
39:40
So here's the sign. Korhor receives it.
39:44
Korhor was struck dumb, and he didn't have utterance.
39:47
And he stretches out his hand. And they they write back and
39:50
forth. And Korahor reveals to us verse
39:54
52, I know that I am dumb, for I cannot speak.
39:58
And I know that nothing save it were the power of God could
40:02
bring this upon me. Yeah.
40:04
And I always knew that there was a God.
40:07
I always knew the truth, but I didn't teach it.
40:12
Brothers and sisters, this is an important concept for us to to
40:16
grapple with. The devil isn't in hell.
40:20
Wondering if there's a a Christ, wondering if God is real,
40:26
Wondering if the commandments are going to bless people.
40:31
He knows all of those things are true, but he's teaching against
40:35
them. That's the deception.
40:38
That's the the power of his destructive effort is He knows
40:44
all those things are true and he's fighting against them.
40:48
The trick for us is to figure out what we always knew to be
40:54
true, deep, deep down. But we've allowed to be buried
40:58
underneath attitudes or beliefs or behaviors or practices of our
41:03
life that have suppressed or kept those truths held back.
41:09
It's to figure out how to become free from those those cords that
41:14
bind us down, and allow the Saviour to cut those as we
41:20
connect more fully to Him. The closer you come to Christ,
41:25
the fewer chords of the devil can there are that can bind you.
41:32
Now you watch what just happened here, he said.
41:36
I always knew. In other words, I didn't need
41:41
Alma to show me a sign in order to believe.
41:45
I already knew that was true. I was just choosing to believe
41:50
differently or to put my behavior in a different
41:53
direction. So the sign of being struck dumb
41:57
didn't change what he knew. In fact, it doesn't change
42:02
Corahor's heart at all. Because you see this as he says,
42:07
verse 53, The devil hath deceived me, for he appeared
42:10
unto me in the form of an Angel. And he said unto me, Go and
42:13
reclaim this people, for they have all gone astray after an
42:16
unknown God. At which point Corahorse should
42:18
have asked that devil, appearing to him as an Angel.
42:22
If there is no God, who sent you?
42:25
And why should I care if there's no future, If there's no sin, if
42:29
there's no right and wrong, if every man fares according to his
42:32
genius and according to his power, then what difference does
42:35
it make for you to come and tell me to go reclaim the people?
42:39
Reclaim them for what? What's the intent?
42:42
But He didn't ask any of that. Why he?
42:45
He gives you the reason why? He said unto me, There is no
42:49
God. And He taught me that which I
42:51
should say, And I've taught His words, and I taught them.
42:56
Now here's the reason. Because they were pleasing unto
42:59
the carnal mind, and I taught them, even until I had much
43:02
success in so much that I verily believe that they were true.
43:06
And for this 'cause I withstood the truth, even until I have
43:09
brought this great curse upon me.
43:11
At which point Cora Horton now has a decision.
43:16
He can choose to go into building and creation mode, or
43:20
he can choose to remain in the destruction mode.
43:24
And he besought Alma in verse 54 that Alma should pray unto God
43:29
that the curse might be taken from him.
43:32
He sees Alma as the one who brought this curse upon him and
43:36
he says, Yep, I believe you won that game over.
43:40
I, I lost, you won. OK, let's, let's reset the, the
43:44
game now Alma, you pray to God and have this curse taken away
43:48
from me. Many of you are noticing that
43:52
core or hasn't changed his core. He he hasn't changed his, his
43:59
attitudes, beliefs and behaviors.
44:01
He already knew and now he's continuing to say, Alma, you do
44:06
all of this for me. You fix this problem for me.
44:11
And Alma told him that I'm not going to take this away, but if
44:15
God sees that you really have changed, I'll let him take it
44:18
away. And it didn't get taken away.
44:20
And he ends up among the Zoramites and he is going in
44:24
verse 58, from house to house, begging food for his support
44:30
among the people in the land of Antionum who are living his, his
44:38
doctrine. They're they're embodying
44:43
everything that he taught, which is basically survival of the
44:47
fittest. And now when he's not so fit, it
44:51
doesn't work very well for him. And it says that in verse 59, as
44:57
he went forth among the people, he among the people who had
45:00
separated themselves from the Nephites, called themselves
45:03
Ormites. It says he was run upon and
45:06
trodden down even until he was dead.
45:11
At which point Mormon jumps in with two.
45:16
Thus we see statements at the very end of this chapter.
45:20
Thus we see the end of him who perverts the ways of the Lord.
45:25
And thus we see that the devil will not support his children at
45:29
the last day, but does speedily drag them down to hell.
45:36
That's a haunting verse that the devil won't support his
45:42
children, people who have who he has inspired and directed and
45:48
guided their efforts. When they're ultimately
45:51
destroyed or in the moment of greatest need, the devil
45:54
abandons them, and then in the next phase of existence, he has
46:00
nothing to give them, no salvation, no redemption,
46:06
nothing constructive to offer them, but he speedily drags them
46:12
down to hell. Did you catch the word there?
46:16
Drag. When the devil gets people to
46:23
follow him, he does it with enticing techniques at the
46:28
beginning of the process. But the closer and closer you
46:32
get to the devil, the more and more miserable people become,
46:37
the more regret they feel, and the less they want to keep doing
46:43
it. But the more he has those flaxen
46:48
chords about them, and now he's dragging them.
46:53
Now you contrast the drag in verse 60 with what happens with
47:01
Alma leading a mission over to the Zoramites in verse five of
47:05
chapter 31. Now the preaching of the word
47:10
had a great tendency. So it's not a guarantee, It's a
47:14
tendency, a great tendency to lead the people to do that,
47:22
which was just. So we, our missionaries, our
47:26
parents, our leaders are prophets.
47:30
They teach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the principles both
47:34
stated and implied, because they believe this statement that the
47:39
preaching of the word has a great tendency to lead people to
47:43
do that, which is just to do the right.
47:48
So Satan seeks to deceive us until he can get enough cords
47:53
that he now drags us and the Lord leads us.
47:59
No person will ever get dragged into heaven to live with the
48:06
Lord. Dragging is what takes place
48:10
outside the gates of hell. Leading, shepherding, loving,
48:16
inviting is what happens in a heavenly context.
48:22
He goes on to describe the power of the word, verse 5.
48:26
Yeah, it had had more powerful effect upon the minds of the
48:29
people than the sword or anything else which had happened
48:32
unto them. Therefore, because of that
48:35
power, Alma thought it was expedient that they should try
48:39
the virtue of the Word of God. So if you look at a map of
48:45
what's going on to make sense of chapter 31, you have Alma and
48:49
his family living in Zarahemla. He is the high priest over all
48:52
the church and the Zoramites live in the land of Antionum,
48:58
which is down here on the southeastern part of the land of
49:02
Zarahemla, which is one of the four entry points between the
49:08
Lamanites and the Nephite lands. And the Nephites are very
49:12
concerned the Zoramites are going to become confederate with
49:17
the Lamanites and allow them this entry point into the land
49:22
of Zarahema, especially with Jershon over here on the east
49:27
seacoast where the anti Nephi Lehites are living.
49:32
This is a precarious situation. So Alma takes this what what is
49:36
often referred to as the dream team of missionaries with him in
49:39
verse six and seven saying, let's go preach the gospel to
49:44
these Zoramites who are teetering on the the fence that
49:48
they're this close to becoming Lamanites.
49:51
And we don't want that on our southeastern entry point into
49:55
the land. So he lists the people in verse
49:58
six and seven and they show up down among the Zoramites.
50:04
And you see this incredible contrast as they go in and see
50:09
the Zoramites are actually building synagogues.
50:12
They attend those synagogues. They pray every, every time they
50:18
go into the synagogue on top of a ramyamtam that is built in the
50:23
middle of the synagogue. They ascend that ramyamtam and
50:27
this is their prayer. Verse 15 through 18.
50:31
If you're teaching or if you're studying on your own or if
50:35
you're running a, a family scripture study with this
50:38
chapter, it's an interesting exercise to have people analyze
50:46
these good and bad examples. And you look at prayers because
50:51
you have the Zoramite prayer in verse 15 through 18, and then
50:56
you have the Prophet Alma's prayer in verse 26 through 36.
51:04
So you get a really bad example of how to pray and a really good
51:07
example on these two pages that are right next to each other.
51:12
So as somebody studies or or dives deeply into verse 15
51:18
through 18, one of the things you can have them look for as
51:22
students or you yourself is what is happening with this prayer?
51:29
What am I what, what are these people offering to do and what
51:36
are they thinking the Lord for? And maybe a better question
51:40
would be to whom are they actually praying?
51:43
Look at verse 15, Holy, holy God.
51:48
So right out of the chute a student would say, or a child
51:51
might say, well, they're praying to heavenly Father.
51:55
Be careful. Look at the descriptions that we
51:59
get of the person or the being to whom they are directing their
52:02
prayer. They're calling him holy, holy
52:06
God. But then they go on to say, we
52:09
believe that thou art God, and we believe that thou art holy
52:12
and that thou wast a spirit, and that thou art a spirit and that
52:18
thou wilt be a spirit forever. That doesn't describe Heavenly
52:22
Father. That describes only one group of
52:26
people that we've been talking about back in chapter 30.
52:30
And then it goes on to say, Holy God, we believe that thou has
52:33
separated us from our brethren and we do not believe in the
52:36
tradition of our brethren. Are you hearing the words of
52:39
Korahor come through here, which was handed down to them by the
52:43
childishness of their fathers? But we believe that Thou hast
52:46
elected us to be thy holy children, and also Thou has made
52:52
it known unto us that there should be no Christ.
52:57
Brothers and sisters, there can be no question as to who they're
53:01
praying to. Now, if you're to ask them, they
53:04
believe they're praying to God, but they, like Korahor, have
53:09
been deceived and they're putting all of their devotion
53:13
and their attention onto a being who has stolen the identity
53:20
attributes of God and taken them for himself.
53:24
He inspired Korhor, He's now inspiring these people and they
53:28
are giving him their devotion and their worship as he is
53:31
walking around with this stolen identity.
53:35
But then look at the next part. Thou art the same yesterday,
53:39
today and forever. That is an attribute of God that
53:44
the devil has now stolen. And thou has selected us that we
53:49
should be saved, whilst all around us are elected to be cast
53:53
by Thy wrath down to hell. We're saved by virtue of the
53:57
fact that we're Zoramites. They're saying, for which
54:01
holiness, O God, we think thee, and we also think that Thou has
54:04
selected us, that we may not be LED away after the foolish
54:08
traditions of our brethren, which does bind them down to a
54:10
belief of Christ, which does lead their hearts to wander far
54:14
from Thee, our God. And again we think the O God,
54:18
that we are a chosen and a holy people.
54:20
Amen. So they've followed this pattern
54:23
of the devil taking the many of these good attributes of God and
54:28
putting them on himself. And now they're doing the same
54:31
thing, taking attributes of righteous living and putting
54:33
them on themselves. We're saved and we don't need to
54:37
do anything about it. And he tells you that they left.
54:41
Everyone offered the same prayer, and then they all went
54:44
home. In verse 23, it says they
54:47
returned to their homes, never Speaking of their God again
54:50
until they had assembled themselves again to the Holy
54:53
stand. This remyamtam to OfferUp things
54:55
after their manner. Their religion doesn't cost them
55:01
anything. The Lectures on Faith statement
55:03
once again, a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all
55:07
earthly things never has the power sufficient to produce the
55:12
faith, faith necessary unto life and salvation.
55:16
And these people are basing their their salvation on their
55:21
belonging to the group called the Zoramites.
55:24
That they aren't bound down by these childish and foolish
55:27
beliefs and hopes of the Nephites and we don't need to do
55:32
anything to be saved. Just be a Zormite.
55:36
Now you contrast that false notion of prayer, that false
55:43
notion. There's no humility, there's no
55:45
meekness, there's no offering of agency.
55:48
There's no counselling with God going on here in verse 15
55:52
through 18. But now you contrast it with a
55:56
pleading, meek, humble prayer of a prophet of God in verse 26
56:02
through 36. It's a beautiful exercise to
56:05
work through these these verses and look for the phrases that
56:11
would show you this pleading, this longing heart of the
56:16
prophet Alma. And what is his discipleship
56:21
costing him? What is he willing to do in
56:24
order to help build up the Kingdom of God on the earth and
56:28
to extend more agency, more liberty, more freedom to more
56:33
people through this teaching? It is a powerful prayer.
56:38
You you sense the pleading with so often as he uses the phrase
56:42
oh God or oh Lord. It's a powerful exercise.
56:48
Now you jump down to verse 38, and it says in the Lord provided
56:51
for them that they should hunger.
56:53
Not neither should they thirst. Yeah.
56:56
And he also gave them strength that they should suffer no
57:00
manner of afflictions save it were swallowed up in the joy of
57:03
Christ. Can you see the contrast between
57:07
what the devil did with Korahor and what he's ultimately going
57:12
to do with the Zoramites compared to what the Lord Jesus
57:16
Christ did with Elma the Younger and the missionaries with him
57:20
and those that serve him and love him and devote their lives
57:23
to him today? Brothers and sisters, the devil
57:27
wants you to believe that discipleship is bondage.
57:31
The devil wants you to believe that keeping the commandments is
57:35
a lack of freedom. The devil wants you to believe
57:38
that covenant connection. Is this a prison, a foolish
57:45
childish belief, A a prison of of belief?
57:49
The reality is that verse 38 is just as applicable for you and
57:58
me today as it was for Elma and his missionary companions over
58:04
2000 years ago in this city of Antionum.
58:08
Once again we should suffer no manner of afflictions save it
58:13
were swallowed up in the joy of Christ.
58:16
And now this was according to the prayer of Elma, and this
58:20
because he prayed in faith. And it is not in question as to
58:27
whether or not we have prophets serious and revelators who are
58:31
praying for us today. There's no question of whether
58:37
or not we have Jesus Christ on the other side of the veil who
58:41
is pleading our cause before the Lord.
58:46
He is doing everything He can to build up our faith, and it
58:53
begins with our belief in Jesus Christ, which leads us to have
58:59
complete hope in the future and prophecy and revelation and
59:04
wisdom from the past, and accept the commandments and the laws
59:10
and the Scriptures and the teachings, both the stated and
59:13
the implied teachings of prophets through the ages, which
59:17
are all calculated to make us free and to give us the hope
59:22
that can be found only in and through Jesus Christ.
59:27
Brothers and sisters, there are many efforts that are like
59:33
Korahor and like the Zoramites that are going on in our world
59:37
today. I think that's why Mormon gave
59:39
us chapter 30 and 31, not so that we can be discouraged and
59:45
depressed, but so that we can recognize what's happening and
59:50
so that we can draw upon the power of the Lord Jesus Christ
59:54
to move forward in faith, not just for ourselves, but for our
59:59
loved ones and for those that we lead and and serve among.
1:00:05
In closing, I know God lives. I know Jesus is the Christ.
1:00:09
I know that our living prophets speak for him, and I know that
1:00:14
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is.
1:00:19
The vehicle that the Lord has provided in these last days to
1:00:23
teach a fullness of the gospel truths that He has in store to
1:00:29
reveal to us in the earth in these the latter days.
1:00:32
And I leave that with you. In the name of Jesus Christ,
1:00:35
Amen. Know that you're loved.